V10 - don't know what to think yet

axes

axes

Experienced
I used to love my Axe II with V8 and V9. It sounded so smooth but at the same time had this amazing clarity I've never heard from any other modeler units.
After installing V10, I'm kind of torn between liking it and disliking it.
Some amps improved a lot, for example, the Plexis - I'm just amazed how close they sound to the real thing now. Same goes for the 5153, spot on. Also the overall feel of playing became quite more realistic, I like how the pick attack sounds and feels now, I like how pinch harmonics sound exactly like they do through a tube amp, I absolutely love how playing dynamics work.
On the other hand, though, all the mid and higher gain amps that I used to like a lot seem to have lost their clarity now and became quite muddy and boomy on the low end. I've tried dialing it out with the Global EQ and also with the amp controls but I couldn't get as far as I wanted yet, just closer to what I'd want to hear.
It's also very interesting how much I loved my Axe with my LP and how much I hated it with my Tele - now it's more like the other way around, and it's mostly due to my Tele being correctly bright now, but at the same time my LP becoming way too muddy.
It could be that MIMIC really brought us closer to the original amps, but right now I'm not entirely sure that it is worth the price, because in my case, I'm yet to find the sounds that I've loved on V9, and V10 is actually supposed to be much more realistic and better, if you like.
What do you guys think? Is it just that the Axe requires more tweaking now or do you feel what I feel?

Edit:

Thank you for all your advices guys.
I had more time to spend with my Axe II today and my jaw has finally officially dropped so low that I can't pick it up.
I found out a few things about V10 that might be worth to notice for people who are struggling with it:
1. The "mud" can be super easily dialed out with the Air and Room parameters in the Cab block, and now everything I thought was muddy sounds super uber mega holy shitballs cool!
2. For some reason I didn't notice that my output levels were quite a lot lower than what I was used to in V9, I turned it up and it immediately got a whole lot better.
3. I've found my BEST lead tone ever with the Legacy today, sustaining as long as I hold it, frequency nirvana, gain nirvana, tonal armageddon. My conclusion of discovering this is that the factory patches should never even be considered if you are really after a serious tone, because they can be very far from what you can achieve with tweaking.
4. V10 definitely needs more tweaking if you are used to V9 because everything that needed little adjustments needs quite radical changes now.
5. The new cabs are great but we shouldn't forget about the old cabs neither because they still sound fabulous and I think that many people who are struggling should change back to the old cabs from the new ones - the new cabs require absolutely different dialing in on the amp side of things, too, and could be hard to dial in correctly for the first time.

So yeah, as always, Cliff was right, I was doing things wrong, and now I'm absolutely stunned and satisfied with V10! :)
 
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You made the statement that its probably because they are more like their actual counterpart, I would agree with you 100%. Those higain amps are beasts, that you have to beat into submission, they are going to take a little bit of time to beat down, Im afraid. that's my take anyway.
 
i just bought myself a pair of equtor D5 and it sounds really awesome on them. I tried today to use the studio headphones...but idk if it has been always the case, but it sounded really bad ^^

did you try to reset all settings? did you load the new presets etc etc etc..??
 
FractalAudio said:
I don't see this as the "consensus". In fact I see an overwhelming number of people who love it and a handful that are probably doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

True Cliff. I'm one of those who love it, my statement was based on the few threads that I replied to earlier. It is not a consensus. My opinion is that sometimes in these situations it's best to start over, because the models have changed enough, that redoing is a better solution, then trying to make something old work.

Edit: Fixed
 
I love it! I'm currently working the 6160 block to my liking and havent had a problem with mud/lack of clarity or boomyness. Its all what you put into it man.
 
As with a real amp, you've got to use filters to limit the freq content down to a point where it will fit in a mix. Also, some amps default to having the depth turned up. I turn it down normally or I struggle to get the low end right.

My context is fitting in with a live band, not jamming by myself. Don't be afraid to get radical with post cab filters.
 
I Love it !!! Rockin My World ! Best Sounding presets so far and very little tweaking to get them!! 10 is INCREDIBLE!! Initialize the whole block and redial it, Amp ,Drive ,and Cab ! Works great for me!!!
 
I love V10 some patches needed very little tweaking some changed a lot and I had to tweek more. The amps are sounding more real than ever. The Best Investment I have ever made.
Thanks, Gary Norris
 
Axes, I think it's because the amps are so much like their real counter parts, the chances are that your LP will sound muddy through the real amps that are modeled.
 
What I can say is (Playing mainly Strats and Tele's) that yes mid to high gain became more bassy-but then again it is not all amps,just a few, through.

While the JVM is spot on (A/B with my JVM410) you cannot tell the difference ,and (thank you Cliff) a presence 5 on Axe is a Precence 4,5 to 5,5 on the JVM(or the other way round).

The other to A/B( as I cannot comment on Amps I never have heard life in reality) the Mark V in my beloved Mark II C+ mode has this bassy muddy thing,but on one side it is hard to compare ( I use a well broken in EVM12L in an oak cabinett(boosts high frequency) and on the other side a Mark V in IIC+ channel is not a real Mark IIC+.

What I did do is work on the damping (thanks to Cliff pointing me there for annother matter) which acts as negative feedback adjustment-->i got it all back after a little tweak there

Still i dont know wether that would work on all amps in question

Roland
 
V10 is great progress in every area.
A lot of amps I didn't bond with before, now feel and sound so much better.

There are a couple of high-gainers which sound a bit dull / mushy. The VH4-4 comes to mind.
I haven't owned the real one though, and it's just a matter of bumping Presence.
 
I don´t get it ?

If you turn down the bass and depth control to zero your sound is still to muddy ?






axes said:
I used to love my Axe II with V8 and V9. It sounded so smooth but at the same time had this amazing clarity I've never heard from any other modeler units.
After installing V10, I'm kind of torn between liking it and disliking it.
Some amps improved a lot, for example, the Plexis - I'm just amazed how close they sound to the real thing now. Same goes for the 5153, spot on. Also the overall feel of playing became quite more realistic, I like how the pick attack sounds and feels now, I like how pinch harmonics sound exactly like they do through a tube amp, I absolutely love how playing dynamics work.
On the other hand, though, all the mid and higher gain amps that I used to like a lot seem to have lost their clarity now and became quite muddy and boomy on the low end. I've tried dialing it out with the Global EQ and also with the amp controls but I couldn't get as far as I wanted yet, just closer to what I'd want to hear.
It's also very interesting how much I loved my Axe with my LP and how much I hated it with my Tele - now it's more like the other way around, and it's mostly due to my Tele being correctly bright now, but at the same time my LP becoming way too muddy.
It could be that MIMIC really brought us closer to the original amps, but right now I'm not entirely sure that it is worth the price, because in my case, I'm yet to find the sounds that I've loved on V9, and V10 is actually supposed to be much more realistic and better, if you like.
What do you guys think? Is it just that the Axe requires more tweaking now or do you feel what I feel?
Click to expand...
 
As allways: tweak with your ears, not your eyes. Some amps require zero bass and depth, as Thomas kind of said ^
 
Have you setup your pickups height correctly?
That was a major issue on my guitar. The side on the low string was setup too high resulting in too much bass comming out of my guitar.
Try to balance the output so the output level is the same for the low and high strings and work from there.
 
Thank you for chiming in guys, and especially thanks to Cliff for correcting my sloppy writing - my English is not that good yet, sorry.
What I wanted to say, and said in my similar topic in the Bugs section is that V10 seems much harder to dial in and not as much out of the box as the previous firmwares were. This is the case for me, and maybe Cliff is right and I'm doing something wrong.
Everything is set up as it should be (guitars, speakers, etc.), so it could be that I simply became too lazy with tweaking and is still too used to V9.
dkijc also hit the nail on it's head - I didn't even think about this before. I moved away from tube amps quite some time ago and maybe forgot how muddy my LP is - this is actually proving how accurate MIMIC is.
I didn't want to offend anyone, especially Cliff. I didn't want to make a consensus neither. I just wanted to express what I feel right now, and also wanted to get some opinions and ideas - now I have a few, so really thank you guys :)
 
axes said:
Thank you for chiming in guys, and especially thanks to Cliff for correcting my sloppy writing - my English is not that good yet, sorry.
What I wanted to say, and said in my similar topic in the Bugs section is that V10 seems much harder to dial in and not as much out of the box as the previous firmwares were. This is the case for me, and maybe Cliff is right and I'm doing something wrong.
Everything is set up as it should be (guitars, speakers, etc.), so it could be that I simply became too lazy with tweaking and is still too used to V9.
dkijc also hit the nail on it's head - I didn't even think about this before. I moved away from tube amps quite some time ago and maybe forgot how muddy my LP is - this is actually proving how accurate MIMIC is.
I didn't want to offend anyone, especially Cliff. I didn't want to make a consensus neither. I just wanted to express what I feel right now, and also wanted to get some opinions and ideas - now I have a few, so really thank you guys :)
Click to expand...

Don't worry. The forum exists to help people.

To rule out all other factors, I'd start off "fresh". Which means: reset the system parameters. Adjust I/O and Global afterwards where necessary. Start a new blank preset. Choose an amp you know well, and select an appropriate cab. Add nothing else to the preset. Don't touch the Cab parameters for now. Also, don't tweak the global EQ, because what works well for one amp, may destroy another one's tone. Look at the Wiki to see what amp controls exist on the real analog amp, and limit yourself at first to adjust those controls in the amp. Don't be afraid to crank Presence if necessary. Leave Master Volume at the default setting. If you don't get results you like, try another cab. If the tone gets in the right direction but needs finetuning, try additional amp controls (Thunk, Character, Input Trim, MV Trim, etc.), buty only if you must.

Take note of which guitar you use. A preset with a Fender amp model, optimized for a telecaster, will probably sound muddy and distort when used with humbuckers.

Contrary to your opinion, I think dialing in amps never got easier than with fw 10. FWIW, I don't adjust any of the parameters on the ADV, SPKR, DYN and EQ pages, neither Dyn. Presence or Dyn. Depth. Except for Input Trim in some cases.
 
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I have the total opposite feel about v10: Never touched so few parameters when dialing in new amp tones before!
I hardly ever go to the advanced page anymore. drive, bass, middle, treble, presence ... that's all I need now. I hardly adjust depth or MV anymore because most amps default to an appropriate value now. Finally, the Axe feels less like rocket science with an update instead of more.
 
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