When should I use the saturation controls?

I see in the basic tabs of amps these 3 controls... Saturation switch with off, ideal, and authentic. Beside that I see saturation drive.

What's all that mean tone wise? I can't seem to hear what its doing when I play with those other than the guitar volume gets louder or quieter.

Do you all change these settings often from the default?

I know I could prolly go look this up in Axe wiki or the manual, but I doubt I'd understand all the technical talk, I just want to understand this in real world use.
 
Set up Amp X and Y so that you can compare more efficiently. Its critical that you adjust the volume to be the same in both X and Y states. I think sat switch is just used for distorted tones.
 
With a quick check out, I found the volume does drop when engaged, and the distortion level goes up.
But more time is needed to experience the full affect.
Fun to mess around with.
 
Axe-FX 2 Wiki said:
Enabling it decreases power amp smoothing which results in meaner distortion. (...) Try it with amp types such as Plexi, JCM800, Friedman and Mesa Mark. (...) If the model doesn't have much preamp gain, e.g. 59 Bassguy, then the sat switch will have little effect. (...) If you turn down the MV its affects may be more noticeable.


The difference between On (Ideal) and On (Auth) is that the former compensates for the inherent volume loss of a Saturation circuit. The latter does not.

It is also known as the Jose Arrendondo mod.
 
Jose Mod..!! Interesting.. gonna sus this out immediately!

EDIT: Tested with Brit Brown / 5153 50w Blue / 5150 Red /
Very nice. Adds warmth and more useable gain. The tradeoff is it makes the overall amp controls a bit more sensitive to tweaking
 
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