Axe_FX II Rigs, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Digital Modelling.

Roland

Chris. I use up to ten patches for covers gigs. Theybinclude several different amps, mainly Deluxe and Dumbles, and different settings for the same amp type.  Speaker IR is the same across all patches.  Solo settings are kicked in using IAs rather than scenes.  I've balanced the patch and solo levels through experience, plus I can play at stage level at home when I need to.

Clarky

here's how I'd do this:

clean scene = Bassman

riff scene = 5153Red: dial it in for riffing, so it's ok to back off on the input-drive [to around 4.5 to 6.5]

solo scene= 5153Red [do nothing more to the amp settings].. in front of the amp, place a FIL [set null] or VOL block.. the level of the FIL [or VOL] is 10dB.. the Bypass on this block = THRU.. this block only turns on for the solo scene so it gives a great big boost in gain..

in the final col of the grid place 3 GEQ blocks [bypass=mute] in parallel

row1: GEQ1 is on for clean scene. this sets the level and overall EQ for the clean scene.. the level for this will depend upon how you use the clean tones on the live set..

row2: GEQ2 is on for riff scene. this sets the level and overall EQ for the riff scene.. set it's level to 0dB [sound check with this scene and all other levels will be nailed too once you've set them up right]

row3: GEQ3 is on for solo scene. this sets the level and overall EQ for the riff scene.. this will generally need to be about 3dB to 6dB louder than the riff scene.. as this is louder, you may want to set 31Hz, 63Hz, 125Hz, 2k and 4k a couple of dB lower than the GEQ2 settings to keep the extreme highs and lows under control when the level is boosted for soloing..

paulmapp8306

I have 4 basic amp sims I use for any set.  I do have variations of those - 5 different variations, so 20 amp types in all BUT I only every use 4 at a time.  They are basically a clean type, a Marshall'y crunch type, a higher gain lead type and a smoother more dumbly type for special use.  The last get only very limited use.  

I choose which "set" of amps I want to use depending on my mood, the venue type, and overall sound on the night. 

 

guitarfishbay

Christ 4.5 - 6.5 drive on 5153 red is backed off? I guess that shows how clean clarky's technique is because that is a mental amount of gain. I find the gain on the sim is pretty true to the real deal. 5+ is for the gain addicts or people with great control. On my red patches the gain is about 4 for my LP with PAFs and 3-3.5 for my EMG guitars (no tone pot makes the EMGs quite a bit louder).

guitarfishbay

New beta FW - http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-discussion/102915-axe-fx-ii-firmware-19-01-public-beta.html

New IR dephase looks interesting.

Drew_TNBD

guitarfishbay said:

New beta FW - http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-ii-discussion/102915-axe-fx-ii-firmware-19-01-public-beta.html

New IR dephase looks interesting.

Added “Dephase” control to Cabinet block. This parameter controls a sophisticated process that removes the “phasiness” from IRs and can yield a more “in the room” experience. Note that the processing required is extreme and the control can have some lag and this will also add slightly to preset change time.

Sounds similar to the 'Pure Cab' feature added to the Kemper as well. I'm starting to think these two companies are one branch of the Illuminati conspiracy to kill tubes!!

guitarfishbay

Yeah I noticed that too. I wonder if we'll see a flurry of big new features from each in the run up to the Helix release.

guitarfishbay

Mark Day has done a demo with dephase, playing starts at 10 seconds.

Roland

Very noticeable difference, even on an iPad. I was going to ignore 19.1, but I'm having second thoughts

octatonic

Very nice feature.

Look forward to trying it out once the Axe rig is out of storage.

guitarfishbay

I'm hoping they add it to cablab pretty quickly.  I don't intend to track guitars using IRs on the Axe FX as it won't suit my intended workflow.  I want to record the amp once but use several 'mic positions' from blending IRs, and I will change the blends per section as needed etc as if I'd recorded a couple of real mics.  To be honest I don't know how much I'd actually use it, but I'd like the option as it does seem quite powerful.

Drew_TNBD

I think it sounded better without it. Thought the same with the Kemper's new feature too.

guitarfishbay

Drew_fx said:

I think it sounded better without it. Thought the same with the Kemper's new feature too.

Well that is an extreme example and I agree based on that video.  However  I would like to play around with more subtle usage myself to see if it has any uses.  I could imagine situations where an IR is nearly right but dephase sounds better than corrective EQ, if that makes sense.  I wouldn't use it on the Axe itself though, I'd prefer to use it in Cablab.

Clarky

I've had a brief noodle with the dephase feature and not liked it so far..

marantz1300

Just read through some of the pages here...
and realised I know nothing.
I'll just stick with my POD.

Handsome_Chris

FFS! 20 beta is out, and I haven't installed 19!

 Added “Dephase” control to Cabinet block. This parameter controls a sophisticated process that removes the “phasiness” from IRs and can yield a more “in the room” experience. Note that the processing required is extreme and the control can have some lag. No extra CPU usage or audio latency, however, is incurred. 

Greatly improved cathode follower model in Amp block. New model more accurately simulates dynamic resistance of follower. This results in a more pleasing distortion character and better feel, especially at high compression settings. The associated “CF Comp” parameter has been renamed “Preamp Comp” because most guitar players don’t know and don’t care what is a Cathode Follower. Due to the new follower model existing presets will be updated with new default compression, time and ratio values. 

Added a new mode to the “Character” controls in the Amp block. A Char Type of “Dynamic” engages an exciting new mode of tone control. This can be used to fatten or scoop the tone as a function of picking strength. For example, set the Type to Dynamic, Char Freq to 450.0, Char Q to 0.7 and Char Amt to 4.0. This will cause the tone to get fatter and thicker as you play hard but without getting honky when playing soft. 

“G3’d” the Vibrato Verb AA and AB amp models. Also added a “Vibrato Verb CS” model which is based on a Vibroverb Custom Reissue with the Mod switch on. Note that the Transformer Matching value for this model is based on the output transformer in the actual amp. Legend has it that SRV used a Bassman transformer which would lead to significant overmatching. To replicate this increase Xfrmr Match to around 1.8. 

“G3’d” the Solo 99 models. Note that the actual preamp’s bright switch in the Lead mode is different than a typical bright switch and works after the gain stages. To simulate this set the Bright knob to around 4.0 dB. 

Added four “JMPre-1” models based on a Marshall JMP-1 rack preamp. The existing “Brit Pre” model was not changed as it is used by several prominent “A-list” artists. Instead, four new models were added. The models with “BS” in the name indicate that the Bass Shift function is engaged. Note that the model defaults to the power amp simulation active. The power amp model is based on a typical Marshall 100W power amp of that era. 

Added 512 more User Cab slots to XL and XL+ models. 

Fixed Dry Delay Shift parameter not working in Flanger block. The parameter has been renamed to Dry Delay and works differently (and more intuitively). The parameter now sets the delay time of the dry signal as a percentage of the maximum delay time of the wet signal. For classic thru-zero flanging this parameter should be set to 50%. For interesting new sounds experiment with lower or higher values. Note that this parameter has no effect if Through Zero is set to Off. 

Fixed a wrong DC bias in the Recto models. Probably not audible but done for sake of accuracy. 

guitarfishbay

Cool. I'll wait for the proper release though looks good.

guitarfishbay

From Cliff -

"Versus the 19.01 beta there is now no lag between X/Y switching on the cab block, even when using De-Phase. Amp X/Y switching should be faster and scene changes should be faster."

I never X/Y switch amp blocks due to writing it off as too slow ages ago, but has anyone tested 20 to see how much faster it is?  I do use scenes and have always found it fast enough for me, faster can't hurt though.

Handsome_Chris

I have been a big fan of scenes since fw 9b. Its a tidier way of carrying out my live life.

paulmapp8306

Never got on with scenes.  Its fine if your playing a song/set that always uses the same configs - but I tend to ad-lib on the fly.  I prefer using individual IAs for FX, and the X/Y for amp block changes (generally the same amp with different gain and EQ settings - kind of a psudo twin channel amp).

The only issues I had with X/Y changes tend to be on patch selection.  I use Amp Y as my default, for no other reason than I wanted the Reg LED for the cleaner amps.  Thats counter intuitive (as most real amp switching is green for clean and red for gain) BUT all my other FX blocks are red for not engaged and green for engaged.  I didnt want to confuse myself with the amp selection being the other way round.  I may revert soon though as Ive had different thoughts.

It meant that every time I swapped patches, the patch had to load - THEN the amp block had to switch.  This does cause a slight delay.  Its not too bad at all if yoiu want the stock patch - BUT if I actually wanted amp X, I have to change patch - wait for the amp block to switch to the default Y before I can manually change back to X.  That is a little laggy.

As for switch times,  On patch changes, I can move from my patch button to my amp select button and press it and the change now happens.  I cant move quick enough to beat the switch time (EDIT - I can beat it but have to move blinking quickly, and only when Im sitting with my foot hovering over the two buttons, and only if the patch Im using is below the X/Y button so ther is no horizontal movement needed).  The X/Y change seems almost seamless to me.  The is a VERY slight gap but its milli seconds.  Its as quick if not quicker than most/all real amp channel changes Ive encountered. Its slightly faster than the change time on my Fender Machete.