Which FW sounds best

Which FW EQ sounds best

  • A

    Votes: 24 40.0%

  • B

    Votes: 2 3.3%

  • C

    Votes: 34 56.7%
  • Total voters
    60
solo-act

solo-act

Fractal Fanatic
Gotta get to my gig tonight. Had to load the best sounding FW of these three different FW.
Tell me which is the warmest, most lively sounding to you.

All three are exact same patch, same gain etc, no sliders/parameters touched on axe-fx or board.
Signal is axe-fx AES out to Metric Halo ULN-2 at 48k, 24bit, AIFF, and firewire out of the Metric Halo direct to hard drive and converted to 256kbps MP3. Playing dynamics, pick, pick location on strings are all in a narrow window, very similar.

A
B
C
 
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B doesn't have sparkle - though that could be the volume thing. A ad C are close, A has more body, C Less.

For a stand alone isolated tone, A is the best IMO - however C could be better in a mix.
 
Voted for A but there are huge difference between them, especially with the B. It doesn't seem like only the changing parameter is FW.
 
I voted for C ....

It sounds like an acoustic guitar with a mic in front of it ....

A sounds good, but it sounds like a piezo pickup to me ....
 
To me, its between A and C. C sounds "closer" to me and sounds like its got more string attack, only slightly more that A and a little less lows. Depends on whats happening with the rest of the group but I like C for its immediacy.
 
I wish someone would make a poll for all the firmwares that have been released for the axe fx II....which one the majority of people use.

Of course with new firmwares being added that would make it outdated pertty quick...still it would be interesting to know.

Firmware 15.06 released and I am still on 10.0! LOL!
 
webe123 said:
I wish someone would make a poll for all the firmwares that have been released for the axe fx II....which one the majority of people use.

Of course with new firmwares being added that would make it outdated pertty quick...still it would be interesting to know.

Firmware 15.06 released and I am still on 10.0! LOL!
Click to expand...

I did that too, when I was on FW 5.04 until 9.x was out! But I've kept up with it ever since. I've learned(read: learning) how to evolve my tones with each FW. TOO many cool options to pass up in my case. I'm not an amp guy, but I am now and know more in the last few years than I did since first gigging in 1972. I'm sure you know you can always back it all up, try out new FW, and go back. Did that enough times myself.
 
Have you reset amp blocks? It really matters. You can't compare and judge sounds without re-setting (re-selecting) at least amp blocks. There is no point in it.
 
C was clearly the best for me. A was the loudest but didn't sound balanced and together. B was so low in volume it was hard to judge. C sounded like there was no EQ which is the a sign of good EQ.


I'm bummed out this is not an electric guitar amp comparison. :D Dammit one day I'll make one comparing to FW10 when everything was rock solid! :D
 
shredi knight said:
I voted for B only because I felt sorry for it. :razz
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B is FW 15.05

That wonderful tone came out of the PA last Tuesday, first song, in front of around 1,000 people at an outdoor public event put on by Police where emergency services and swat team trot out their hardware and the flight for life chopper lands.

Having clip B come out instead of the usual fat/huge tone was quite the limp-dick experience in front of that much hardware….ha ha…I was like, "Volume increment UP! UP! UP! UP!" before I bailed and went for the volume pedal. And it was still a shitty/feeble tone so I stayed on electric.

I stopped checking FW impact on acoustic years ago. It never changed until last week. Leave it to Cliff to throw a wrench in there (accidentally or not) when you least expect it :lol
 
solo-act said:
I stopped checking FW impact on acoustic years ago. It never changed until last week.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure there's an often repeated, almost cliched, line to go with that experience somewhere...

wink.gif
 
If the clips are made from simply loading the FW and not tweaking each one in , there's no way to fairly compare them , each update make changes ! loading the FW and playing the patch with no adjustment on 15.05 isn't comparable without at least raising the level to compare with the other two.
 
RDH said:
If the clips are made from simply loading the FW and not tweaking each one in , there's no way to fairly compare them , each update make changes ! loading the FW and playing the patch with no adjustment on 15.05 isn't comparable without at least raising the level to compare with the other two.
Click to expand...
FYI in case anyone missed my other posts: there's no amps/cabs/pres in these acoustic patches, and even at concert level B sounded much worse, likely one of the bugs fixed in 15.06. I redialed like I always do, but only electric guitar amp/cab presets since acoustic had not changed in years.

Usually new FW makes tone fatter & more lively. This is first time it's affected non-amp/cab patches, and the GEQ/PEQ are thinner. I can dial warmth back in, but IMO thinner isn't where you want your tone going.

Back to my OP asking which sounded warmest and most lively, I think A is warmer and bigger than C. I like that fat, punchy tone when it's just voice and acoustic and nothing else.

And the audience does too, which is what really matters.
 
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