What causes 'hollowness' in modeling?

Steinmetzify

Inspired
Got my Axe II yesterday and as you know, I'm completely blown away. This thing is far and away the best I've ever played. I seriously can't believe most of the stuff in here. Updated to 18 immediately, grabbed a preset and got lost for an hour....hit a bunch more and started writing riffs, playing other stuff I know, etc...

Did a cheesy clip and it was a preset I'd grabbed off of Axechange, that a guy called Kevinerror did to approximate a Devin Townsend tone. I really like it and it sounds great. Recorded, it sounds like the mids are kind of sucked out of it.

This is by no means an Axe problem...I usually use a lot of delay/echo and whatnot, as I'm a big Devy fan and cop a lot of tones like he uses. Every single modeler I've ever used does this, all the way back to the red bean POD. I'm just wondering why this is and if any of you geniuses can tell me. I did another clip last night as well and used a Recto patch I'd tweaked a bit. No hollowness. Any ideas? Is it all the delays, maybe?
 
I would say the IR you use. I hear hollowness in some IRs and some not. Try switching the one you're using. Different Cab + Mic combination will have different peaks and drops.
 
I find that with the Axe I tend to use way more treble and presence than I would on an amp.


I also find that I like to boost the overall mids on the amp, but then make specific cuts by using notch filters. For example, I may have the mids high on the amp, but then go in the amp EQ on the graphic, or use a parametric EQ after the amp and cut specific frequencies, like 400, 500, or 700.
 
Those headphones are described as "extended range with deep accurate bass and outstanding high-frequency extension."

To me, that means it boosts the lows and highs, thus scooping the mids :)
 
Those headphones are described as "extended range with deep accurate bass and outstanding high-frequency extension."

To me, that means it boosts the lows and highs, thus scooping the mids :)

Makes sense Chris, but like I said it doesn't do it to other patches...mostly just this one and ones like it; heavily effected distortion type tones. It's weird.
 
I used to find hollowness a problem when playing thru a real cab with no cab block, I solved this by messing around with depth, dynamics, and low res on the speaker page.
 
Those headphones are described as "extended range with deep accurate bass and outstanding high-frequency extension."

To me, that means it boosts the lows and highs, thus scooping the mids :)

Actually the highs look like where things start to drop on these. And the bass is very high as well. I did the graph next to the Beyerdynamic because I know a lot of people around here like them and I know they are an example of pretty flat headphones.

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=4313&graphID[]=963&scale=20
 
Too much reverb, or reverb mixed too high, has been my experience.

This!!! I find if you drench a tone in reverb and then pile some delay over it as well, the sound gets tinny and "hollow". Turn off all effects first before tweaking the amp and cab.
 
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