What could be causing my A string to clip?

Jeff B

Jeff B

Inspired
Hey all!

So, I was fiddling around with my newly-purchased OH IR's tonight and I was noticing something odd (no matter what IR I am using)... I was just chunking on some open strings to mess with my low end and such and I noticed that I kept getting this deep room-vibrating frequency and the red "clip" light kept coming on for my OUT 1. After a bit of messing around, I realized that it's just my A string that is doing it. I can "chunk" on my open low E and nothing. I can do the same on my D string... nothing. I palm mute and "chunk" on my open A and after a few picks, the cab is vibrating, shaking the room and my clip light is glowing red. I understand that things have a resonant freq. where notes can begin to shake things, but that shouldn't affect my OUT 1 clipping... I wouldn't think.

I've been working on trying to get rid of my cab "boominess" a bit and I had just noticed that this is a big cause of it, I believe. Can anyone maybe help fill me in on why/how this is happening? Thanks! :)
 
Try turning the level down on your cab, actually go through your whole preset and gain stage every block.
 
You can also add a bit of compression prior to your amp to smooth out the output from all strings.
 
Rotaholic said:
Try turning the level down on your cab, actually go through your whole preset and gain stage every block.
Click to expand...

I know that this is going to be a very "noob" question, but can you please clarify a bit more on your comment of "...go through your whole preset and gain stage every block". The one thing that I find more confusing for me with the AFX is that there are many levels, volume, etc. per block it seems and many times I'm not sure what to turn down because there's so many to choose from. Not exactly sure of what you're referring to when you speak of "gain stage every block".

Sorry if this is a really dumb question, but I do appreciate your response and help. Thanks!! :)
 
a simple solution...perhaps...

check where the low res frequency is set at in the speaker page of the amp block

if it's set at 114hz, that's almost the frequency of the A string. lower it to 90Hz and see if the clipping goes away
 
Have you tried another guitar?
And/or have you tried that guitar through another Amp or Modeller?
Just curious if this may be an issue with the tone coming from the guitar?
(could be a guitar set up issue)
 
simeon said:
a simple solution...perhaps...

check where the low res frequency is set at in the speaker page of the amp block

if it's set at 114hz, that's almost the frequency of the A string. lower it to 90Hz and see if the clipping goes away
Click to expand...

I will take a look once I get home this evening to see where that "knob" is set at and see if that doesn't help.


BBN said:
Have you tried another guitar?
And/or have you tried that guitar through another Amp or Modeller?
Just curious if this may be an issue with the tone coming from the guitar?
(could be a guitar set up issue)
Click to expand...

Yes, I have played this guitar through my real amp/cab setup as well as other "plug-in" modelers and such and have never had this issue before, which is why I'm thinking it's something with a setting within the Fractal. Probably something simple that I'm just not seeing. Also, since it's clipping the OUT 1, it's indicating to me that its definitely something from IN the fractal, as if this was the cab resonating alone, then it wouldn't have any bearing on the output of the signal. If it was the guitar, then it would occur on other platforms, I would think.

I will try to narrow this down with some of these tips from you guys. Thanks! :)

BTW... the patch I'm using that I noticed it was the FAS Modern (stock). I will try it with an array of other patches this evening to see if there are others that it happens with as well and give my feedback. :)
 
the fas modern has it's low res set at 90, so it won't be that. you've just got too much bass somewhere and the peak is around 110hz or a harmonic, or an octave of that
 
Maybe your room modes "Support" the frequency with your new Cab IR more than before...to me it Sounds like the room could be the Problem....

i correct my Monitor System with the ARC II, without it my Little Studio in the basement of my house would Sound horrible...frequencies at 140 Hz get Cut Out almost completely without the ARC, and frequencies at 59 Hz boom like hell...

have you tried to Set the "Cut" Switch at your high Gain Amp? i've Done it with the HBE...and it clears the a-String of my Sevenstring perfect without losing too much bass...
 
Moltenmetalburn said:
Sounds like the resonant frequency.
Click to expand...

Exactly. And I can see that the resonant freq. could make the cab vibrate a lot and produce all this vibration throughout a room, etc. But a resonant freq. alone wouldn't make the AFX output clip just on that string... ???

I used to have a resonant freq. thing going on in my old apt. many years ago... I had an acoustic guitar hanging on the wall and sometimes I'd just be jamming out and the guitar would start to shake a lot and strings would ring out when I hit my open G... which is understandable. But my amp or none of my gear lights were clipping. That was just the physical sound waves triggering this resonance. That's why I'm thinking it's something from the signal chain.

Maybe I'll try and make a video to upload as well.
 
I would suggest checking the input levels very carefully, if the A string is higher there, then its a setup issue, not the Axe. Might need to lower the pole height under the A string on your pickups if they are adjustable.
 
For sure this could happen,

the evil Chain : fat Guitar - fat Amp - fat Cab - Room without corrections and with Tons of reflections, modes,Phase issues, etc...AUDIO MAYHEM....
 
Every time you add something, you are adding volume, that's why engineers almost always use subtractive eq to correct problems instead of adding to them. Just a quick visual of each block should show you roughly where the volume is, try bypassing all blocks except for amp and cab and see how the meters in the I/o panel look. If it's still clipping just lower the "level" on each one until the clipping stops, then start adding each block and checking master output levels again.

Analog can give you good results when clipping, digital is a no no.

I wish axe edit had real time input/output meters
 
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Rotaholic said:
If it's still clipping just lower the master volume on each one until the clipping stops
Click to expand...

just to clarify, adjust the "Level" parameter in each block - this won't affect tone. "master volume" is only in the Amp Block and it is responsible for tone and how the power amp reacts, in addition to volume.
 
My project studio is a treated room but it has 3 modes around A. Subsequently, A on any speaker in the room will be louder and ring out more.

To rule out the room as the culprit, i.e. physical feedback from the room ringing at A back into the guitar pups and causing clipping, turn off all speakers and try headphones.

If your preset clips using headphones only, its an overdriven input (your guitar pups, or something between the guitar and AxeFx) or the preset gain staging.
 
So just to get back with you all on my "test"...

I can't say for sure what exactly was causing it, as after restarting the AFX and going to the stock FAS Modern patch, changing my IR to #103 in mono and adding my typical delay block, it wasn't doing it anymore. All I could think was that maybe by changing to one of the OH IR's, I was overdriving the signal internally somehow. My OUT 1 clip light never lit once last night, so I was happy that I didn't have to deal with that any longer, but from your posts, I will remember that in the event it happens again, I may have to go through my entire preset chain and find what levels are too high.

Could an IR also cause that increase in volume? If so, maybe that was the issue because that night I was running a stock amp setup but was messing with IR changes from my new OH purchase. If so, I suppose I could just decrease the cab level a bit?

Again, thanks for all your words of wisdom guys! This is the best forum for support, hands down! :)
 
yes, different ir's can have different volumes. the OH one you tried may have just been a tad louder. try it again and see if the effect is reproducible. if it is, try reducing the cab block level a touch and see if it goes away. science, see. :)
 
Ok guys... so I decided to add a video to my post so that it may help in diagnosing the issue at hand. Still getting alot of clipping while chugging on the A string, but it doesn't seem to happen with any other string. I added a compressor and messed with the levels a bit, but still clipping on the A only. Anyways, here's a video that may help out a bit:

 
too much signal at 110hz-120hz!what IR are you using?could be the culprit.some have a 10db peak in that range.some even more.what is your SRF set at?110hz,120hz?what about the Depth setting?

this has nothing to do with your cab resonating or your room.neither of those would cause the output to clip.this is 100% frequency related.use a preset that doesn't clip your A string.just amp and cab.now add an eq after amp sim or cab and boost 110-120hz to its maximum.does that recreate the output clipping?

another thing to check.how close is the pole piece on your pickup to the A string.is it higher than the others?not sure if that would effect the clipping,but worth checking.
 
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