Why do patches I download sound like crap?

The players set is crucial. Besides what has been mentioned here about daw and doing some mix down edits if a guy makes a preset designed to go direct with a guitar with single coils then you down loaded it and your set up is axe into tube power amp into 4x12 and a guitar with humbuckers you have 0 chance of it sounding like the recording you heard
 
The players set is crucial. Besides what has been mentioned here about daw and doing some mix down edits if a guy makes a preset designed to go direct with a guitar with single coils then you down loaded it and your set up is axe into tube power amp into 4x12 and a guitar with humbuckers you have 0 chance of it sounding like the recording you heard

Also, a preset you even make yourself with say active hum buckers vs. passive humbuckers will sound totally different as well!
 
Also, a preset you even make yourself with say active hum buckers vs. passive humbuckers will sound totally different as well!

Absolutely! There are a million variables. I actually don't usually download patches for this reason. I will often rip off a patch just to get the effects settings in a patch and make up my own amp cab tone
 
Thanks for all the advice. Like I said in the op I understand that there are heaps of factors that go into tone I just thought that considering that every downloaded preset was way to hot that I may be doing something wrong.
Cheers
 
The players set is crucial. Besides what has been mentioned here about daw and doing some mix down edits if a guy makes a preset designed to go direct with a guitar with single coils then you down loaded it and your set up is axe into tube power amp into 4x12 and a guitar with humbuckers you have 0 chance of it sounding like the recording you heard
Yeah I don't download patches and try and run them with a real power amp and cab, I'm only talking about with cab sims. I love the tone I get through the power amp and cab (real). What I have noticed is I get a great tone when I go the other way like adding a cab to my live sound set up.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Like I said in the op I understand that there are heaps of factors that go into tone I just thought that considering that every downloaded preset was way to hot that I may be doing something wrong.
Cheers
Even the way people level set is all over the map. Back in the ultra days my presets were super hot. Now they are not hot at all
 
Thanks for your reply. No the axe is not clipping, Im going from my axe fx 2 output 2 left into a presonus Audiobox 44vsl into logic pro 9. Is it normal for in the utility status levels l1 r1 l2 r2 to be registering signal? Cheers

The fact that every patch is hot seems off a little .

I am not an expert in this by any means, but looking at your setup, maybe you can just take the axe fx ll output 1, direct to the KRK 6 ?

And, are you tweaking with axe edit ? Download with axe edit but don't use to tweak until it is updated to be used with 8 and above.

My downloaded patches are all over the place as expected, some are hot , but some are much closer than others, but definitely not all hot.

Let us know if you find anything different.
 
I've had a similar experience. I'd say very few presets that others have uploaded sound good to my ears when playing solo.

The problem is that most of the time we're hearing it in a recorded mix. The guitars are being mixed in with bass, drums, etc. and there's usually some additional processing done (often compression, limiting, and eq'ing).
The raw guitar tracks will sound vastly different when played out of the mix with no processing. This is often what we hear when we audition others' uploaded presets. Most of the time the tone on raw guitars tracks sounds like utter crap when played solo but once recorded in a mix, "magic" happens and they sound awesome. My presets for recording are very different from my presets intended for solo (practice) use.

We also have to keep in mind that the Axe sounds extremely different depending on what you play it through. Different cabs, monitors, headphones, etc. all have their own eq signature that colors the sound in varying degrees. I haven't come across any sound reproduction equipment that has an absolutely flat frequency response. Some are just more flat than others.

The Axe also shows differences between guitars and pickups better than most other equipment I've tried. With the Axe, I can tell a big difference between tonewoods and pickups on my guitars compared to when I was using a traditional amp setup. This can be good and bad. I like knowing that what I put in = what I'll get out. However, it's made me a lot more picky about guitars and pickups.
 
The fact that the downstream gear is clipping but there's no clipping in the Axe-Fx suggests a simple solution: turn down the output knob! :)

Yeah you are definitely right there but I have to turn the output down so far that when I record I can't hear it. Even the patches in the axe itself are way hot. I have been doing what someone suggested and just turning the master output down.
 
Are you by chance going in to a channel on your interface that has a preamp? I'd suggest going in to a line level input. The output of the axe is overkill for a "Mic" channel.
 
Yeah you are definitely right there but I have to turn the output down so far that when I record I can't hear it. Even the patches in the axe itself are way hot. I have been doing what someone suggested and just turning the master output down.
You mean your outboard gear is clipping even though the level is too low to hear? Something's up with your gain staging. Check levels from one piece to the next to find out where the big jump in levels is.

Also, if you want to reduce the level in an Axe-Fx preset, use the amp block's Level parameter. not the Master. The Master will change your tone at the same time it changes your level.
 
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You mean your outboard gear is clipping even though the level is too low to hear? Something's up with your gain staging. Check levels from one piece to the next to find out where the big jump in levels is.

Also, if you want to reduce the level in an Axe-Fx preset, use the amp blovk'd Level parameter. not the Master. The Master will change your tone at the same time it changes your level.

Yeah sorry I meant the output main fader not the master. Cheers
 
Why do patches I download sound like crap? There are so many reasons, some of which have been covered above, it's not even worth worrying about.

The only patches I've ever downlaoded that sonded ok to me were Larry Mitchell's, which means we possibly have similar sounding guitars, playing dynamics and possibly tone preferences. Unfortunately, no talent comparison :D

The rest, as you say, I agree sound like crap, but it doesn't really mean anything. Some are helpful in demonstrating unususal approaches to patch building. I strongly believe you need to make your own tones on the AxeFX, just like you'd do by choosing an amp that gets you into the ballpark that you can then adjust to "your tone".

Fortunately the AxeFX has a large number of great amp models that getting in the ballpark is easy with default settings, and you can then take your time to do some fine tuning.
 
There are many reasons why patches will not sound like what you hear!

your pickups are more than likely not the same as what you heard in their patch, and the wood of the guitar changes the tone as well.
if you heard it in a mix, there is post-processing done, no patch, no matter how good it sounds stock, will never sound the same in a recording
that's all I've got :p
 
bassed upon my experiences from yesterday....
it could also be AE goofing with the adv / dyn settings when you're not looking
this can make a wonderful tone into a shadow of it's former self
 
Best thing to do is connect your monitors straight to the XLR outputs of the Axe Fx and find where the problem is, thought a process of elimination. In the I/O tab, check that your guitar is just tickling the red when you strum hard.
Next, check the Global output levels and make sure that the aren't above 0.0 (far right fader). Lastly, in the amp block, turn the level knob down. You don't ever want to send a clipped signal out of the unit, it will sound awful. Best of luck

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner
 
bassed upon my experiences from yesterday....
it could also be AE goofing with the adv / dyn settings when you're not looking
this can make a wonderful tone into a shadow of it's former self

Agreed.

Users who post their presets should check their preset before posting.
.
 
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