Using my Axe-FX II in a Mesa Boogie Mk 5 effects loop.

guitars53

Member
One of the ways I'm using my Axe-FX II is through my Mesa Boogie Mk 5's effects loop. It is affecting the sound of my amp a lot. All channels. The tone or eq of the amp is changed a lot. And that's even with all the effect blocks in the Axe-FX II bypassed. I've tried both the standard effects loop wiring and also the 4 cable method. I've followed all the instructions from the manual in setting up my presets. I'm guessing it's just the sound of the Axe-FX II. But I was thinking that the high quality of the unit, that it would be pretty neutral. Has anybody else had this issue with a Mk 5 or any other amp using the amps effects loop or does anyone have suggestions?

Thanx!!!
 
I would suggest a wet/dry setup or wet/dry/wet rig for best results with a tube amp. IMO tube amps sound better with nothing plugged into the loop. My experience so far is the axe fx II is not a Tube amp-Preamp.
 
Another suggestion might be to take a small patch cable and connect the in and out of the loop together. This would remove the Axe from the audio stream and see if the amp's tone changes, suggesting the effects loop might add some "flavor" just by using that pathway. Always nice to rule out the other parts of the signal path.

Cheers,

Lee
 
Mark amps are sensitive, especially the FIVE. You can hear the difference between 2 quality cables, and there isn't an effects unit or pedal made that won't do that.

I'm still using my Gforce with the Mark V because the way it changes the tone is a little more pleasing to me, but it still robs the life compared to the raw amp.

What I really like about the Mark IV is that you could completely bypass the FX loop for when raw tones were needed.

EDIT: Make sure the Send level of the FX loop on the Mk V is at noon or past, that makes a big difference.
 
IMO the problem is with the fx loop. Try this: run a cable from send to return and a/b with loop on and off.

Hear a difference?
 
Try using a Suhr minimix or Xotic stereo blender in the effects loop, this will give you a parallel loop not series.
You will avoid your amp tone from passing through a/d/a conversion, set all effects for 100% wet.

This should make a huge difference!

Good luck!
 
I sold my Mk 5 a week ago. It is a wonderful amp on its own but incorporating it in a big rig including midi switching did not work for me. 4 cable method with the axe is really noisy and completely out of the question (I own a stock axe 2 mark 1). Loop on does color the tone. you could try to find a balance with loop on loop off switch though. I kind of did but in the end I thought owning such an expensive piece of gear and compromising tonewise when using effects just wasn't for me. Also owning a Mk5 just for the sake of it for me was a luxury I could not afford. So I went for the axe 2-matrix gt1000fx combo and I am really happy with the versatility and portability. It's also 90-95% tonally there for me. sure I miss the added 5-10% tonally but weighing the pros and cons the setup i have now is a winner. For what it's worth though if you re looking for an amp with the most transparent loop I would go Diezel. I 've owned 2 in the past and the clarity of the Fx loop is phenomenal. Mk5 on its own though is an amp to die for.

hope you figure it out

Ravaya
 
Try using a Suhr minimix or Xotic stereo blender in the effects loop, this will give you a parallel loop not series.
You will avoid your amp tone from passing through a/d/a conversion, set all effects for 100% wet.

This should make a huge difference!

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion. I may try that.
 
As you know(I own a Mark V too) there is the hard loop bypass on Mark V -->so allready there you can hear a big auditibel difference.I use the AXe from time to time with the 4CM method and usually it coulours tone a bit,but not much.You may want to be sure that you match in and output levels on AXe correctly and you set it up totally hiss free.Also make sure the Mark V power cable is far away form any of your effects (and/or speaker) cables and are fairly short.An other thing is to have a firly non microphonic tube ion V1

my 2 cents

Roland
 
As you know(I own a Mark V too) there is the hard loop bypass on Mark V -->so allready there you can hear a big auditibel difference.I use the AXe from time to time with the 4CM method and usually it coulours tone a bit,but not much.You may want to be sure that you match in and output levels on AXe correctly and you set it up totally hiss free.Also make sure the Mark V power cable is far away form any of your effects (and/or speaker) cables and are fairly short.An other thing is to have a firly non microphonic tube ion V1

my 2 cents

Roland

Thanks Roland. I will check that out.
 
The Mark V may suffer from dry signal bleed from the fx loop- My road king had those problems- so when you'd use like a wah or something it would sound awful...
Switching to a seperate preamp and poweramp (triaxis/290) fixed that...

IDK how that works with the Mark V w/four cable or otherwise but it may be an issue adding to the sound

(This was with a gsystem not an axe- but any unit would cause the prefxloop signal to be heard faintly with the postfxloop tone
 
4 cable method with the axe is really noisy and completely out of the question

I have the opposite experience. But you have to set up your levels correctly. Once you do, it sounds identical with the Axe in bypass as it does with the Mark V's loop and the Axe engaged.

Make sure both output levels on the Axe are at maximum. The channel volumes on the Mark V work best in the 10-12:00 range, no higher. Watch your meters on the Axe so you aren't clipping the inputs. And you'll have to set your input levels too.

There's always been this "consensus" that the Mark V sounds, and I quote, "AMAZING" with the effects loop in hard bypass compared to with it on. I've always been afraid to try it that way because I use the loop all the time and I didn't want to be disappointed if there was a better option out there. But one day I decided to check it out so as to remove any doubt. Yeah, the claims are a bit...overblown. I literally couldn't tell any difference once I adjusted for volume, and that's what I think people are hearing: volume difference with the channel volumes as opposed to using the master/channel volume combination. Set the volume the same and no difference at all.

As far as the noise goes, yes, at higher gain settings there is noise post preamp. Put a gate/expander right after the Axe's FX Loop block and set it appropriately. Problem solved.

If this works for Petrucci and Lifeson (both using a Mark V with the Axe II), you can make it work too.
 
I have the opposite experience. But you have to set up your levels correctly. Once you do, it sounds identical with the Axe in bypass as it does with the Mark V's loop and the Axe engaged.

Make sure both output levels on the Axe are at maximum. The channel volumes on the Mark V work best in the 10-12:00 range, no higher. Watch your meters on the Axe so you aren't clipping the inputs. And you'll have to set your input levels too.

There's always been this "consensus" that the Mark V sounds, and I quote, "AMAZING" with the effects loop in hard bypass compared to with it on. I've always been afraid to try it that way because I use the loop all the time and I didn't want to be disappointed if there was a better option out there. But one day I decided to check it out so as to remove any doubt. Yeah, the claims are a bit...overblown. I literally couldn't tell any difference once I adjusted for volume, and that's what I think people are hearing: volume difference with the channel volumes as opposed to using the master/channel volume combination. Set the volume the same and no difference at all.

As far as the noise goes, yes, at higher gain settings there is noise post preamp. Put a gate/expander right after the Axe's FX Loop block and set it appropriately. Problem solved.

If this works for Petrucci and Lifeson (both using a Mark V with the Axe II), you can make it work too.

Thank you for you thoughts and help on my issue. I wiil give them a try.
 
The Mark V may suffer from dry signal bleed from the fx loop- My road king had those problems- so when you'd use like a wah or something it would sound awful...
Switching to a seperate preamp and poweramp (triaxis/290) fixed that...

IDK how that works with the Mark V w/four cable or otherwise but it may be an issue adding to the sound

(This was with a gsystem not an axe- but any unit would cause the prefxloop signal to be heard faintly with the postfxloop tone

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
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I'm using a Mark IV combo for my class A & B sonic purity & punch without screwing around with tone-sucking loops AND I use the Axe (sometimes with a Crown class D and two 112 cabs) for L & R wets (and backup). This is a PHENOMENAL wet/dry/wet rig offering terrific versatility with every amp tone and effect imaginable, failover redundancy, and portability. No pedalboards (just patch switching and continuous controller pedals), no racks, not even mics because both, the Mark and the Axe can DI straight into the board when I'm not pushing stage cabs, but when I am running cabs, OMG, it's awesome. From cleans to blues, to hard rock, to rip-your-face-off metal, the tone is so pure and and the sound image huge.
 
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Yeah I sold my mark V and just went with the AxeFx on it's own because of this.

The Fx loop on the mark V is not great. Using it with anything colours the sound a lot, and unfortunately, going through a digital unit exaggerates the problem.
 
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