Using a Mic Preamp with the Axe...sounds real good

200man

Power User
First, no matter how many times I’ve tried, I can’t tone match my acoustic’s output against a traditional mic.

Having said that I finally did the right thing and used a mic.
I had a one channel grace design model 101 preamp sitting in a box collecting dust.
An AKG 451 mic.
A Mark Knopler Martin dreadnought with a fishman piezo output
Plugged the guitar and preamp in and ....gee guys it sounds really good. :)

This mic preamp is perfect for the axe...simple, pure analog...wish I had another!
Here’s the one I have: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/grace-design-model-101
Here’s the latest: https://gracedesign.com/products/microphone-preamplifiers/m101/

I think I like the original better, no SMPS, no frills...oh well
 
Yep, your mic needs to go through a preamp before sending it to the Frac for tone match. And that AKG 451 is going to need phantom power, which the Fractal obviously doesn't provide. But yes, tone match is awesome! Turns those horrible plastic sounding peizo's into something rich and pleasing!
 
Yep, your mic needs to go through a preamp before sending it to the Frac for tone match. And that AKG 451 is going to need phantom power, which the Fractal obviously doesn't provide. But yes, tone match is awesome! Turns those horrible plastic sounding peizo's into something rich and pleasing!
Thanks Mark...
I do use a mic pre for the mic but tone matching simply doesn’t work.
 
Yes, many times. :)
I need to re-engage with product support on this.
My test setup is easy:
1 mic into one hi end analog mic pre into an input in the axe(I used to use my rme's mic pre but wanted to simplify the problem)
1 guitar with piezo pickups into the front panel
1 preset with a tone match block
set the reference and source correctly
set it to live
take a reference shot of the mic'ed part(I get a nice lopping hill shape on the screen)
take a source shot (looks wilder and more of the same on the high side)
tone match
crazy result
 
hmmmmm.....so are you saying the tone match doesn't sound good or doesn't play, or does something else happen?

Sorry for asking stupid questions like "did you turn the power on?" but are you sure you have the inputs set correctly in the tone match utility? Also make sure in the global config you have what ever input you are using for the mic (input 2 most likely) set to "both". When I had it set to only L or R I had trouble with the tone match.
 
@Mark Scrivener Mark, thanks for the suggestion. I had input 2 for stereo originally...tried input 2 as left only and exact same result.
Global IO settings
global io settings.JPG
mic pre input to axe fx
mic input.JPG
reference and local shots
ref and local.png
tone match result
tone match result.png
 
Your reference curve doesn't look right. For some reason the mic signal is not getting into the tone match block. Have you tried using live mode?
 
Try it with a very simple preset containing just input 1, tone match, and output 1 blocks. If you need extra level on the local, just use a PEQ block and adjust the level.

Do all your meters look OK?
 
Try it with a very simple preset containing just input 1, tone match, and output 1 blocks. If you need extra level on the local, just use a PEQ block and adjust the level.

Do all your meters look OK?
Yes on the meters.

Thank you for responding!

First off, @Mark Scrivener found the first inaccuracy in the lack of mic signal and that part is corrected.

But I think there is a bug in that the pictures above show I was configured for input 2 yesterday, yet today when I booted up the Axe I noticed it said input 3 ! This would explain why input 2 was set, meters look good, but no ref signal...because the ref was actually looking at input 3.

Second, would someone please tell me how to clear tone match data. Resetting the block does not clear out the tone match data. If you have a bad tone match, the axe may squeal! And while the user is trying to fix the issue the preset cannot be used.

Thirdly, I am still investigating the tone match signal levels. Will respond asap. Again thanks for the support. :)
 
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