Well, after a few shows I have a complaint

Pete1959 said:
My only issue I noticed is in using single coils on my Strats and Tele: Noisier than expected compared to my GT100.

I would dial up the noise gate to compensate which interfered with the sound when the volume pot was rolled back. It seems that the AX8 is far more sensitive to input than my old setup.

Bought Lace Sensor Gold, Rainbow and Fishman Fluence pickups. My first goal was to eliminate the hum and noise. Also eliminate the need to put the noise gate so high as to experience that spitting sound you get when the input signal is fighting the gate when the volume pot is very low.

With the Lace & Fishman installed on the Strats, I brought down the noise gate on the AX8 and am able to get that wonderful gain roll off much more so than ever by a wide margin. Happy camper here! Mind you, my Fenders were always stock pickups.
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So my recommendation (to all new to FAS) would be to not use your GT or other less expensive modeler as a guage. This was something I had to come to terms with when I got my XL+. I was struggling with noise and scratchiness that I couldn't dial out. My GSP1101 gate seemed to work better, and the tones just seemed more 'polished' than what I was getting from the Axe. I was told that I had to remember that the #1 priority for the Axe was modeling accuracy - and tube amps are noisy, scratchy messes - ie: get used to it. At the time, it made me wonder if I had made a mistake....maybe the cheaper modelers were one step ahead - clean up the noise and take advantage of the 'digital' opportunity to remove the downside of tube amps. In fact, that's what makes cheaper modelers so easy to work with, even for novices. But after spending time with the Axe and AX8, I've realized that what the cheaper modelers give up for those more polished tones are feel, dynamics and sensitivity. The best analogy is buying your first DSLR after owning only point & shoots. Anybody can take good pics with a P&S, but your first experience with DSLR is likely to be disappointing. It takes work to get shots as good as a P&S, but then as your skills develop, you realize you can do FAR better.

FWIW...
RR
 
After reading the OP I started thinking... Hey, I just figured this out myself. Can't wait to share my "turning the gate down to -99". Looks like I'm too slow as many others beat me to the punch, but it really does work for me.
 
One other thing I'd check is the master volume of the amp. If that's relatively low, you won't get the dynamics you want when rolling down the volume. I like to keep the Plexi style amps master at 10, or pretty close.
 
Turn the input gate off and use a gate block after the amp block.

This is the best way if you want to use the gtr volume. If you want to use your gtr volume control, the way your guitar hits the amp block is important.
 
Freman's comment is worth repeating. If you need the gate for higher gain/higher noise sections, you can always assign it to a pedal.
 
RafterRattler said:
The best analogy is buying your first DSLR after owning only point & shoots. Anybody can take good pics with a P&S, but your first experience with DSLR is likely to be disappointing. It takes work to get shots as good as a P&S, but then as your skills develop, you realize you can do FAR better.
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Great analogy! I think a lot of new users need to go through some sort of paradigm shift in order to appreciate their new Fractal gear; they are expecting this plug and play heaven when actually what they are getting is the real amp and real nuances that it has.

That said, a lot of the amps do work very well with little tweaking, and the problem is mostly not the amp but more the cab or other config around it.
 
I've got my AX8 a week ago and I was noticing the same issue, I'm gonna tweak the settings on the Noise Gate and then share my experience. Thanks a lot for the info, guys!
 
lordtoneking said:
I do use the gate. Without getting into the editor I have it set at like 11:00
I'm using a 50w jumped Marshall setting without a boost except for when I solo
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I've seen some experienced guitarists approach preset making as if it were just like having a traditional amp and pedal board configuration. Fractal products are different in the fact that items like noise gates or compressor "stompboxes" are really not required. If you're seeking tone authenticity, then run the amplifier at Master 6-10 with your customizations and try the volume roll off with a simple preset (AMP + CAB only). Try starting more simple to the approach and see where it goes from there, took me a bit to understand this concept as well.
 
like this:
scene 1 : threshold 100 (so you can use your volume pot) - wait, just put the block on bypass ;)
scene 2 : threshold 80 (for basic lead playing)
scene 3 : threshold 65 (for rhythm)
scene 4 : threshold 40 (for anyone who ask you "yeah, but does it djent ? ")
 
fremen said:
like this:
scene 1 : threshold 100 (so you can use your volume pot) - wait, just put the block on bypass ;)
scene 2 : threshold 80 (for basic lead playing)
scene 3 : threshold 65 (for rhythm)
scene 4 : threshold 40 (for anyone who ask you "yeah, but does it djent ? ")
Click to expand...


Priceless tip!!!!

Thanks!
 
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