Unwanted Breakup

CactusTone

Inspired
I can't seem to eliminate the breakup in my presets. I'm posting just 3 short examples, and chose clean presets to illustrate, but it's in all models and gain settings. You'll hear most clearly what I'm talking about in the samples where I roll the guitar's tone knob all the way down.

I'm using a PRS McCarty and Mogami cable straight into the AXE. Tried several cables (all high quality). Presets are Austin Buddy unedited. Thoughts?

VibroKing Clean:


Morgan Clean:


C45 Clean:
 
is your I/O Input level set correctly? are you certain the Input meters on the front panel aren't showing red?

also, any preset can break up if the guitar is sending more signal to it than the preset creator's guitar. you may need to adjust the Input Gain or Trim lower to compensate for this.

but at first listen, it sounds like the I/O Input is possibly clipping? hard to tell.
 
is your I/O Input level set correctly? are you certain the Input meters on the front panel aren't showing red?

also, any preset can break up if the guitar is sending more signal to it than the preset creator's guitar. you may need to adjust the Input Gain or Trim lower to compensate for this.

but at first listen, it sounds like the I/O Input is possibly clipping? hard to tell.
Thanks, Chris!
I/O is set correctly according to the instructions in the manual. Red occasionally flickers as specified. I don't think it's the Gain or Input Trim since the amount of breakup present is audible in clean, low, medium, and high gain settings, and audibly interferes with the "wanted" breakup/crunch/distortion. It's more of a digital artifact than a natural type of breakup to my ear, and since the I/O is set correctly leaves me baffled.
 
What kind of pickups? If they are active a low battery could cause this.
Bareknuckle Juggernaut scatter wound passive humbuckers in the PRS (samples above), but also happens on my Heritage stock neck position humbucker pickup (Kenny Burrell Groovemaster).
 
Interesting!! All these years and I missed that feature! What setting do you use?
Well, I no longer have a II... But I personally never used it for my own stuff.

The other guitarist in my band bought my old Axe Fx II and I used that when he was trying out my presets with a Fender Fat Strat that had pretty hot pickups to keep it from breaking up.

In that case we turned it down to about -5 or -6 if I remember right.
 
I have my input drive on some clean presets as low as 0.7 ... I compensate by increasing the level. I like crystal clear cleans.
 
@CactusTone i hear the artifacts that you are talking about it sounds like it’s clipping somewhere in the chain, either through the interface you are using or something else.
 
@CactusTone i hear the artifacts that you are talking about it sounds like it’s clipping somewhere in the chain, either through the interface you are using or something else.
Thanks, marc0810!
Unfortunately, this is all AXE as far as interface. Headphones, too; not just through external monitors or into DAW (which is straight USB from AXE to Mac.
 
Have you tried a super clean amp like the USA Clean or Jazz 120? Could also try Band-Commander, ODS-100 Clean, or even the Prince Tone.
 
If it were coming through real speakers I would say it almost sounds like something is vibrating...I will say some of those AustinBuddy presets are not pristine cleans so try what @Wired said.
 
Have you tried a super clean amp like the USA Clean or Jazz 120? Could also try Band-Commander, ODS-100 Clean, or even the Prince Tone.


Jazz120. I reset the amp block to be sure there were no AB settings remaining. Here's a screen shot of the stock settings used in the attached sample.
Screen Shot 2020-01-16 at 8.51.39 PM.png
 
I get breakup intermittently when I have the USB connected to my computer. I also get breakup when I am overdriving one of the blocks. I usually find that by turning off all the blocks and checking that the bypassed signal is OK. Then I turn stuff back on until it breaks up.
 


Jazz120. I reset the amp block to be sure there were no AB settings remaining. Here's a screen shot of the stock settings used in the attached sample.
View attachment 62326

Interesting. Thanks for the recording.
Can you also share screenshots of the following:
Input Gate
Comp
Cab
Delay
Reverb
Output

You could also post the preset. I don’t have my II anymore, so screenshots would be helpful.
 
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