What am I doing wrong?

I'm positive it's a basic amp block with no trickery going on, the point of the video was to illustrate the impact IRs have on your tone and even calls the setup "deceptively simple". That tone is also direct as well as the camera mic which is something I forgot to account for haha
 
That tone is also direct as well as the camera mic which is something I forgot to account for haha

I think the camera mic is automatically muted when he's not speaking.

It sounds like the first riff section he does at 1:11 is direct only, and it's only when he's talking at the same time at 1:23 that you can hear the string clicks from the camera mic.

This is even more evident at 2:03, when he has just stopped talking and begins to play; you hear a single string click from the camera mic, and then the camera mic is muted and you hear only direct tone.


The in-the-room-string-sound thing is important to consider, though. Lots of demos and playthroughs can sound brighter and crispier and tighter when you can hear the extra attack of the pick on the strings.
 
This is a long standing problem with sharing presets. They can get you part way there, but almost never completely. The problems range from:

-Playing style (biggest IMO.)
-Guitar used.
-Input levels
-Recording levels
-Etc, etc, etc.

We used to see this obsessively over EVH's tone (pick your era/album.) There was a whole industry around getting *that* sound, and millions of pages of chat boards with amps, settings, pickups, picks, neck radius, recording tips...it gets crazy. The vast majority were able to come close. There were a few where is was posted 'dude, you're 99% THERE!' To which I will argue that to cover that 1%, you actually have to be EVH.

Work with what you have, and start playing around with things and make YOUR ear fit it (rather than your benchmark be only an internet recording). We certainly have enough tweaking options to satisfy anyone.

Good luck.

R
 
Could this be explained by a less-than-ideal recording setup or incorrect settings? I recall seeing a post in the last week or two that mentioned something about how recording a certain way through USB (maybe in mono) could make the result sound 2-D or lifeless. I can't seem to find that post right now.

I'm actually in a similar situation. I use an Alto TS112A as a monitor when playing out and at home. It's not the best solution out there, but it does the job for me and I still get inspired by the tones I hear.

When I record through USB (in mono or in stereo) in Reaper, the result is nowhere near as full, dynamic, and rich as what I hear through the Alto. (I know in-the-room tone is going to be different, but this is a nearly-FR nearly-FR speaker reproducing the tone, not a guitar cab that suddenly sounds much different when mic'ed.) My recorded tones sound nasal, honky, shrill, and lifeless, and there is far less low end than what I hear through the Alto (or through wedge monitors onstage when I play out, or a different brand of PA speakers at a friend's house). It sounds uninspiring, like I'm playing through a cheaper modeling unit. This is the case when I listen back using Sennheiser HD280s, a Sony stereo receiver into Bose bookshelf speakers, or several different pairs of earbuds. While these options are not the most ideal, when I use them to listen to demos or tutorials with unprocessed, direct-out audio (like Bulb's or Mikko's or Burg's), they are capable of conveying full, warm, pleasing tones with dynamics and punch and clarity, so it seems like my recorded tones should be capable of sounding as least as good as the demos through the same devices.
I'll have to experiment with using the headphone out and comparing that to the recorded result to see if there's a difference or if I'm relying too heavily on the Alto for my reference, but like I said, the Alto sounds like what I hear through wedges and other PA equipment.

Here's an example recording, USB direct into Reaper:


Through the Alto this preset sounds fat and bouncy and creamy, and has the dynamics and feel and squish of a cranked amp, but in the recording it's pretty dull and harsh and uninspiring. When I first recorded it I felt like it sounded decent through my Bose speakers, but as I listen with earbuds or the HD280s or even the Boses with a more critical ear, it's kind of disappointing.

When I record in stereo I'm selecting the track in Reaper and changing the "input" setting from mono to stereo. Should I be panning something? In my preset I use a stereo cab with L and R panned respectively, but I think I'm either summing L+R in the Axe or maybe "Copy L to R". My preset goes AMP -> CAB -> REVERB -> OUTPUT. Should I change a stereo setting on the Axe? Is something in the reverb block or later destructively interfering or losing stereo information?

[EDIT: Another recording I did with similar results used the UltraRes sample 4x12 Vox Beatle IR in mono, so I don't think the Axe stereo settings are the cause of this issue.]


In any case, in the video in OP's post, Misha pulls up a default amp model with settings at noon into a specific cab model and records direct out, eliminating all of the variables like advanced settings, FRFR choice, in-the-room sound, etc. It seems like someone (like OP) with a similar guitar with the same wood, same pickups, playing into the same amp model with the same settings and with the same cab model should expect to hear a result maybe 90% similar to what's in the video. I think his recording sounds maybe 60 or 70% similar.

Can pickup height, a master-built guitar, pick type, and other relatively small details really account for ~40% of the final tone? At around 1:15 in the video you can see that he's strumming with a somewhat loose wrist, not attacking the strings or anything, and he's playing simple chords and palm muting, not anything that would be in the realm of "tone is in the fingers."
 
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I was the guy who posted a similar thread.

I don't know to be honest. To hear somebody else (with a much more SIMILAR guitar than what I had) also not really be in the ballpoark makes me think that these demos that we are given are not accurate representations of the cabs and the results you can get.

I would love to see somebody manage to get a ballpark sound with the same setup that Misha demo'd in that clip.
 
Check the whole chain, weak cable can rob the life out of your tone. With that much gain I doubt fingers have that much to do with it.
 
I was the guy who posted a similar thread.

I don't know to be honest. To hear somebody else (with a much more SIMILAR guitar than what I had) also not really be in the ballpoark makes me think that these demos that we are given are not accurate representations of the cabs and the results you can get.

I would love to see somebody manage to get a ballpark sound with the same setup that Misha demo'd in that clip.
so you think you are being intentionally mislead to sell a product?
 
so you think you are being intentionally mislead to sell a product?

I know that's how marketing works, but there's a difference between being mislead and outright being told lies.

I kinda feel that if we're told: "You can get this sound by doing <X>" we should be able to get pretty damn close.
 
and numerous people do and have....you aren't speaking for the majority, just listen to some of the clips around here....
 
Oh I've heard people do some awesome things with an AFX.

But was it with those settings?
 
Different FW, different players, etc....settings rarely translate, especially after massive FW changes. That video is pretty old.
 
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