[Video] Recommendations for the setting the Out 1 level

Smittefar

Smittefar

Axe-Master
Lately, there has been quite a lot of questions and discussion about how to set the Out 1 level on the AX8. Different people have different strategies, some people also just set it at noon and don't think much about it :)

In this video, I try to show a few different situations and how to adapt to them. The video is fairly technical and systematic, probably downright boring, but I think it has to be to get the point across.



The short of the video is
  1. Set your preset levels using the vertical bar in the VU meters on the AX8
  2. Ideal situation Turn out 1 all the way up and plug into a +4 dBU line input without any gain added on the mixing desk/audio interface
  3. If 2 is not possible, and you have to go through mic pres, ask the sound guy to reduce the input trim/gain/sensitivity on your channels to minimum, then turn Out 1 level up as loud as possible keeping a healthy amount of headroom, so you are not clipping the input of the next device
  4. NEVER clip the input of the mixing desk, audio interface or FRFR speaker - keep at least 10 dB of safety margin. If you are coming in too hot - reduce the Out 1 level.
The general idea is that you should send as much signal as possible out of your AX8 but never more than the next device can handle. This ensures you get the best signal to noise ratio in all situations. If you send less signal out of the AX8, your tone will still be the same, at it will most likely sound great, but you will have slightly increased noise.

I hope this will clear up some of the confusion. Let's help each other get better. Comment! Did I miss something? Is anything still unclear? ask, and maybe we can learn together.
 
Great video. I’ve deployed 3 AX8s as well as a II XL+ unit, and this is how I configured them. If the downstream gear has +4 dBu line inputs and you’ve leveled your presets to the VU meter, they should be roughly hitting nominal on that downstream gear (as your video clearly demonstrates).

I totally get the other side of the coin, and many folks using AX8s are guitarists and not engineers. So they’ll have a harder time figuring out why their FR cab or USB interface is clipping when the AX8 output is maxed. Hopefully your video will help. If not, just turn that output knob down, it won’t hurt anything.
 
Great video! Exactly the kind of stuff I've been trying to explain but a video demonstrates it so much better. This should be linked to any time the topic comes up.
 
Thanks, I was getting tired of the endless discussions, where meanings get lost in words :)

I hope this will help
 
Smittefar said:
Lately, there has been quite a lot of questions and discussion about how to set the Out 1 level on the AX8. Different people have different strategies, some people also just set it at noon and don't think much about it :)

In this video, I try to show a few different situations and how to adapt to them. The video is fairly technical and systematic, probably downright boring, but I think it has to be to get the point across.



The short of the video is
  1. Set your preset levels using the vertical bar in the VU meters on the AX8
  2. Ideal situation Turn out 1 all the way up and plug into a +4 dBU line input without any gain added on the mixing desk/audio interface
  3. If 2 is not possible, and you have to go through mic pres, ask the sound guy to reduce the input trim/gain/sensitivity on your channels to minimum, then turn Out 1 level up as loud as possible keeping a healthy amount of headroom, so you are not clipping the input of the next device
  4. NEVER clip the input of the mixing desk, audio interface or FRFR speaker - keep at least 10 dB of safety margin. If you are coming in too hot - reduce the Out 1 level.
The general idea is that you should send as much signal as possible out of your AX8 but never more than the next device can handle. This ensures you get the best signal to noise ratio in all situations. If you send less signal out of the AX8, your tone will still be the same, at it will most likely sound great, but you will have slightly increased noise.

I hope this will clear up some of the confusion. Let's help each other get better. Comment! Did I miss something? Is anything still unclear? ask, and maybe we can learn together.
Click to expand...


FANTASTIC video, thanks so much. I am still perplexed by 1 thing. In the AX8 Manual it says to get the levels on the VU meter to 0dB. On this video you are a but different than that. Should I still be confused or am I just overthinking it or did I miss something? I totally understand the OUT1 to be the loudest it can be without clipping, I just want all of my amp models in mt preset bank to be the same output level for live use. Again thanks so much!!
 
You're welcome :)

The VU meter has its zero around the vertical line, so I think,I say the same as the manual.
 
Great info!
Just a thought - one last piece of the puzzle that you may want to cover is sending signal through SPDIF. Not much magic happening there, but I think SPDIF should be covered as well for all the people wondering what's the difference and how it should be set up.
 
I thought about that, but my only spdif cable is too short to reach my audio interface from the AX8 on the floor :)

However, it should work exactly like a dedicated line input.
 
Smittefar said:
Lately, there has been quite a lot of questions and discussion about how to set the Out 1 level on the AX8. Different people have different strategies, some people also just set it at noon and don't think much about it :)

In this video, I try to show a few different situations and how to adapt to them. The video is fairly technical and systematic, probably downright boring, but I think it has to be to get the point across.



The short of the video is
  1. Set your preset levels using the vertical bar in the VU meters on the AX8
  2. Ideal situation Turn out 1 all the way up and plug into a +4 dBU line input without any gain added on the mixing desk/audio interface
  3. If 2 is not possible, and you have to go through mic pres, ask the sound guy to reduce the input trim/gain/sensitivity on your channels to minimum, then turn Out 1 level up as loud as possible keeping a healthy amount of headroom, so you are not clipping the input of the next device
  4. NEVER clip the input of the mixing desk, audio interface or FRFR speaker - keep at least 10 dB of safety margin. If you are coming in too hot - reduce the Out 1 level.
The general idea is that you should send as much signal as possible out of your AX8 but never more than the next device can handle. This ensures you get the best signal to noise ratio in all situations. If you send less signal out of the AX8, your tone will still be the same, at it will most likely sound great, but you will have slightly increased noise.

I hope this will clear up some of the confusion. Let's help each other get better. Comment! Did I miss something? Is anything still unclear? ask, and maybe we can learn together.
Click to expand...


@Smittefar Thanks for video. The owner’s manual does not explain this issue. Perhaps it should. To clarify, I have adjusted all my levels using the VU meter but have been using the output knob at about noon. To run my output 1 at 100%, I should not have to readjust the levels, correct?
 
You should not need to re-adjust the levels of your preset, but you probably need to readjust the level of the device you are playing into (mixer/Audio interface/FRFR) - Don't clip the input of the next device.
 
It’s a very nice video. Gives good insight.

But I gotta say that I don’t share the advice regarding the position of the output level knob, when it comes to live sound.

The floor noise level of the AX8 is so low, that it is nothing to worry about.

Making sure that the mixer doesn’t clip is far more important and the output level knob makes that easy (if needed).
 
I think that is in perfect agreement with the video.

EDIT: except that I still believe you should go out of the AX8 as hot as possible as long as you keep a safe distance from any chance of clipping the mixer.
 
Last edited:
yek said:
The floor noise level of the AX8 is so low, that it is nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...
My experience with this is that it isn't the noise from the AX8 that you have to worry about as much as noisy, old, junky mixers themselves that hiss like crazy when you have to crank the preamp gain up to compensate for a low level coming in.
 
Smittefar said:
You're welcome :)

The VU meter has its zero around the vertical line, so I think,I say the same as the manual.
Click to expand...

OK cool, I must have missed that in your video. So setting the output meter on the AX8 at 0dB is what I am shooting for correct? Thanks so much for your help. This is great information.
 
This was a helpful video for me. Thank you Smittefar.

My takeaway is that the AX8 VU meter is positioned before the OUTPUT 1 knob. (Probably a no brainer for most of you, but I'm a little slow.) What would be of benefit for me would be a optional meter I could toggle that displays dB output after the OUTPUT 1 knob. If this could be done in a FW update, that would be on my wish list.
 
Smittefar said:
Yes, that would be correct :)
Click to expand...

I figured I would ask you a question if possible. I am wondering what the trick is or what parameters I need to adjust to really stand out in the mix for solo work. I have a great rhythm sound with the Cameron amp block but when I go to solo in a song it stays somewhat buried in the mix without really cutting through. If you have any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much
 
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