What is this annoying sound?

jsl2h

jsl2h

Inspired
I noticed today on any preset with any sort of gain, some undesirable low-end harmonic content. It doesn't seem like something I can EQ out and I've never noticed this after 5+ years of owning an Axe-Fx II. It only happens in with gain/overdrive and when I play at least 2 notes. So when I play a C and an E like I did in this recording, there is a harmonic that sounds like the 5th (G) which seems reasonable given the little I know about the overtone series and harmonics from school. But it's just overbearing to my ears, if I add the 5th it goes away sort of (as in playing a full triad) but with just the root and third, that "ghost 5th" sounds unreasonably honky and muddy. How do I fix this? I've never noticed it on a real amp either and it's present in RCF monitors and my headphones. Again, clear as a bell without gain. If this is normal, I don't ever want to play a distorted preset again. :( Please help!


A recording of the problem:


 
jsl2h said:
I noticed today on any preset with any sort of gain, some undesirable low-end harmonic content. It doesn't seem like something I can EQ out and I've never noticed this after 5+ years of owning an Axe-Fx II. It only happens in with gain/overdrive and when I play at least 2 notes. So when I play a C and an E like I did in this recording, there is a harmonic that sounds like the 5th (G) which seems reasonable given the little I know about the overtone series and harmonics from school. But it's just overbearing to my ears, if I add the 5th it goes away sort of (as in playing a full triad) but with just the root and third, that "ghost 5th" sounds unreasonably honky and muddy. How do I fix this?
Click to expand...

This?
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/ghost-notes.126903/
 
I'm not noticing any major difference when I mess with the power supply section per Cliff's post.... also he mentions these frequencies are unrelated to the notes being played, but this sounds pretty clearly like the triad is trying to "complete" itself when I play the root and the third c and g of a c major triad (sorry to bring any music theory into this). The overtone is a "G" to my ears. So I play E on the 9th fret of the G string, C on the 8th fret of the high E string, and I'm hearing what sounds like specifically a G on the 10th fret of the A string, and that's the register I'm hearing it too. It even sounds a bit more bearable when I just play the 3 notes of this spread triad. But what if I only want to play those two notes?
 
That's just IM of your 2 notes, not power supply ripple plus guitar note(s).

It seems like a pretty normal amount. If you listened to some real amps or isolated lead parts (with doublestops) again you might notice there's more of it than you previously thought.
 
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Just a thought, but if you are using a drive, try backing the drive mix back to 50%. Ito my ears, such as they are, when I put the drive mix higher than 50% I start to get a lot of undesirable artifact, especially on double-stops (a harmony) or more complex (a chord) musical structures. Just my $0.02.
 
To me it sounds like IMD like Bakerman said. I've noticed this for years over various setups (NI Guitar Rig, Mesa DC5 combo, Eleven Rack). It seems like it's more prominent on 3rds and 6ths (which are really just inverted 3rds).
 
Sounds like you have too much low end content before the distortion part of your signal chain. You are getting more distortion in the bass frequencies than the mids and highs. Pre-EQ is a very under used technique. Pre-EQ shapes the character of the distortion more than the EQ. This is even more true as distortion increases

Experiment with cutting some low end before what ever is producing the 'distortion' (drive block, amp block?), Then add some back after the Amp (and cab, if used).
 
That sounds like more than just normal IM distortion. I've never experienced IM distortion that extreme. It's so bad, it almost sounds like a ring modulator. Post the preset.
 
I have some pretty high gain patches as well and I don't hear it in them as I did in your example. I'm wondering if they did something on newer machines like my XL+ that hides or addressed this phenomenon.
 
I'm with @Bakerman : it sounds like intrmodulation distortion. The harder the clipping, the more intermod you get. To make sure, bend one of the notes while they're both ringing out. If the pitch of the "extra" tone shifts along with the bending note, it's intermod.

Try this: play the high E string at the twelfth fret, and play the B string at the 15th fret. You'll hear a low-frequency intermod note. Now, slowly bend the B string up by to a whole step. You'll make the intermod pitch drop down to zero Hz.


Make sure you're not clipping the output. That'll make it worse.
 
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