Axe FX III - the Blog

DavusPG

I hope nobody misunderstood my post. I wasn't suggesting that my old amp is better than my or anyone else's AxeFx, just that after a good 5 years where the Axe had totally killed any form of amp GAS, I'd decided to try properly integrating my old amp into some of my Axe presets and that I'd been pleased with the results so far, but that the real proof would be in a full band context. 

The Axe will still be the cornerstone of my rig and I have no intention of changing it (unless it's for an FM9) as it does everything I can think of, but now should I choose to I can dabble with my amp too alongside and in conjunction with the Axe's brilliant modelled amps and effects.

Jonathanthomas83

Absolutely, mate, didn't read it that way at all :-)

Roland

DavusPG said:

I hope nobody misunderstood my post.

Not at all. 

Roland

This is the moment I’ve not been looking forward to. When I decided to go down the road of one patch per song I knew that, at some point, I’d want to make make multiple changes across the 30 or so songs in our set list. 

At our gig at the end of July I realised that my guitar sounded a bit harsh. We were in a very bright room, with hard dance floor and mirrored walls, which made it worse. The last time it sounded like this was in the days of micing up cabinets, and my mic had been knocked out of position.

Over the last week I’ve looked at a few options, changing IRs, changing amp settings or (god forbid) changing amp types. Then I noticed that when I”d copied my master patch the speaker proximity had got zeroed. Putting it back to 2.5 took the sound back to what it should be.

How to propagate this parameter change through 2 IRs x 2 CABs x 30 patches? Thankfully there’s a hidden feature which does just this. Right click the parameter in AxeEdit whilst holding down the shift key and it offers a list of patches to copy the parameter value to.

Our next gig is at the end of the month, which gives me time to play with 20.4. I don’t normally download new firmware until it’s a few week old, and other people have found the bugs. Having seen Leon Todd’s recent video I really wanted to try out the Aurora delay model in the MTD block. So far it’s sounding good, particularly through stereo ‘phones.

mrkb

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

FarleyUK

mrkb said:

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

Hmmm, I'd suggest avoiding FracTool if you can. Very expensive for what it is, and can be pretty buggy.

Only reason I purchased it was for an iPad, and even then, I try not to use it due it having a lot of quirks. Plus the dev has a massive chip on his shoulder.

EDIT - wrong tool; I'm thinking of FracPad.

mrkb

Fractool is free….. and stable, have used it on PC to update cab room settings in 512 patches.

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=FracTool

FarleyUK

mrkb said:

Fractool is free….. and stable, have used it on PC to update cab room settings in 512 patches.

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=FracTool

D'oh, I was thinking of FracPad....!

Ignore my ramblings  

ToneControl

FarleyUK said:

mrkb said:

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

Hmmm, I'd suggest avoiding FracTool if you can. Very expensive for what it is, and can be pretty buggy.

Only reason I purchased it was for an iPad, and even then, I try not to use it due it having a lot of quirks. Plus the dev has a massive chip on his shoulder.

EDIT - wrong tool; I'm thinking of FracPad.

same dev for both I think, Win/Mac version is free; whereas android and iOS is not

FarleyUK

Played a gig Saturday with a second guitarist going through my AFX3 turbo as well - sounded bloody awesome. Sound engineer loved the ease of use as well, and he didn't need to do much EQ'ing at all (I have low cut at 100 and hi cut at 6,500) for either guitar.

I'm amazed at how good it sounds on the vids; I mainly used either the #34 Marshall or 1959 jumped SLP, while I set the other guitarist up to use either the Euro Blue or the 1970 Plexi.

octatonic

Apparently I am near the top of the list for the shipment of the FX9 Turbo's that are coming in the next few weeks.
Should be fun.

mrkb

Interesting comparison between AXEFX and real amp by Paul at Studio rats. I preferred the same version on all the clips and was glad it was the AxeFX.

Guitar Amp vs Modeler - Can You Tell The Difference - YouTube

ToneControl

mrkb said:

Interesting comparison between AXEFX and real amp by Paul at Studio rats. I preferred the same version on all the clips and was glad it was the AxeFX.

Guitar Amp vs Modeler - Can You Tell The Difference - YouTube

same here
I love my Matchless DC30 for the basic gutsy thrill, and I had an Independence once.

For me, both the AF3 and Matchless sounded great, but the AF3 sounded like the recorded tone had been tweaked to final mix standard, whereas the Matchless sounded like it needed to be re-EQ'd and possibly multiband-compressed,
which is what I'd expect

FarleyUK

Firmware 21 is out now, including new and improved Cygnus X-2 modelling. Cooper's done a comparison video:



I played a gig with it last week, and it does indeed sound awesome. The Marshalls are even better now!

Gadget

Perhaps it's a 'feel / in the room' thing, but I don't hear much difference in that Youtube vid and certainly nothing that a modest tweak of EQ wouldn't match (?)

DavusPG

Downloaded the beta version for my FM9. Let's be clear, we're talking marginal gains at this stage as it's already so good. Whether it's in our heads or what, I don't know but it just feels good to play. Response and dynamics are great, but they have been for a long time. Either way it's the unit that keeps on delivering. Reduced CPU use is a welcome bonus too 

Roland

My experience of firmware upgrades over the years is that some don’t do anything for me, and some introduce more clarity by taking out modelling artefacts. I used to watch people on the Fractal forum talking about how a particular update was magnificent, and I wasn’t hearing much different. Then there was an update which affected clean sound that I thought a massive step, and they were not noticing a change. I realised that we listen for different things based on our chosen equipment and playing styles. 

 I’ve been too busy to upgrade to v21 yet, but I did try one of the beta versions, and thought it brought an improvement in clarity. 

DavusPG said:

Let's be clear, we're talking marginal gains at this stage … 

As far as Amp modelling goes I think we are. There’s still something to do with amp-in-the-room, but that is as much about monitoring as modelling. Most of my work goes into other features. Lately it’s been set lists and lighting changes. 

Nerine

Yeah, as far as the Fractal modelling is concerned, it’s there. It’s the delivery of the sound to the listener/audience that is the remaining variable. 

I’ve been direct on the last few gigs and it’s sounded epic, but then we have a good PA. 

I’ve also used it through some passive Peavey PAs at jam sessions and rehearsal rooms and it’s sounded a bit rough. I don’t blame the FM9 for that, because everything else that goes through those speakers sounds rough, too. 

But it does demonstrate that the playback/reproduction/amplification device does need to be considered. 

Roland

Cooper Carter advocates setting up your sound using IEMs, and letting the desk engineer sort out FoH. 

Roland

Gadget said:

Perhaps it's a 'feel / in the room' thing, but I don't hear much difference in that Youtube vid and certainly nothing that a modest tweak of EQ wouldn't match (?)

I’ve just listened to the video on an iPad, and I can hear the difference quite clearly. To my ears there’s an increased clarity to the sound, and definition and texture to the notes. That’s not something I could achieve with EQ. Is it a big difference though? Maybe once or twice in a gig I’d notice it, but the audience certainly wouldn’t.