Axe FX III - the Blog

WiresDreamDisasters · November 2021

You'll have a job @Roland - I don't own any Strymon stuff anymore. Actually, tell a lie. I own the Volante, but that's it.

Heartfeltdawn · November 2021

Jonathanthomas83 said:

In very eager to hear your thoughts on this. I had a feeling you'd like it. It's come on so much since you last had one.

Having bought an Ultra, ZFXII, and FM3 in the last three months, being able to hear the development of these things at first hand is pretty remarkable.

WiresDreamDisasters · November 2021

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

octatonic · November 2021

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

What is the Discord thing?

Jonathanthomas83 · November 2021

Indeed. Where the cool kids hang out, no doubt!

exocet · November 2021

octatonic said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I'm posting my thoughts on the Axe III on Discord at the moment. I'll start my own thread in a few days to week rather than piggy back on this one.

What is the Discord thing?

I connected (is that the correct term) to Leon Todds Discord because he had posted a link to some of his Axe FX patches and IRs. It felt like another universe to me, I realised I'm too old so quietly grabbed the downloads and left, closing the door quietly behind me.

Roland · November 2021

Roland said:

There didn’t seem a lot of anguish on the Fractal forum, so I went to 17.1 over the weekend...

Seems I was wrong, and moved too early. There’s now a 17.02, with 17.03 due tomorrow. I’ll continue playing around with reverbs and long IRs whilst the dust settles.

Roland · November 2021

Experimenting with long IRs has lead to me changing my use of reverb, particularly on my acoustic simulation.

The simulation is based on an IR which matches the neck pickup of my partscaster (Oil City Californian) with a Taylor GS acoustic guitar. Both guitars were recorded through the same mic to eliminate mic EQ.

First off the signal goes through a Studio Pre Amp. This provides volume. To save CPU I might swap this for a filter, or just increase the output volume of the Vol/Pan block for the Acoustic scene. Next is the Multi-band compressor. This is vital because it reduces the sustain of the electric guitar, making it react more like an acoustic. I’ve played with the settings over time. These are my current favourites.

To fit with the rest of the band there’s an EQ block. Every mic’d acoustic needs EQing.

Then there’s the CAB block. Channels are one of the advantages of the AxeFX III, meaning that I don’t need a second CAB block as I did with the AxeFX II. One channels is for electric, and one for acoustic. I’m trying two IRs in each channel, one near, one far. For the acoustic channel it’s my own near field IR, with smoothing set around 40%. For the long IR I’ve chosen a 2x10 from York Audio. Its brightness complements the acoustic sound whereas 4x12s add mud. The long IR adds depth to the sound, and allows me to reduce Reverb settings, bring the guitar forward in the mix. The long IR level is set around -15dB for the simulation. Used with an electric guitar I prefer it nearer -9dB.

The Reverb which I copied across from the AxeFX II is a medium room set at 14% mix. It’s original purpose was to add depth to the sound. Here I’ve increased early reflections, and then dropped the mix to around 9%. Together with the long IR it adds depth without making the guitar too distant. It also makes Reverb sound more natural, and less like an added effect.

mrkb · November 2021

Would love to hear a quick recording of the acoustic sim straight into a DAW. Alot of the Acoustic Sim presets Ive heard dont sound that good - think the way you have done it should be the best way to do it.

Roland · November 2021

@mrkb I don’t think many acoustic simulations sound particularly like acoustic guitars. The first big hurdle is getting an IR which matches the magnetic pickup. The other problem is that most recorded acoustics are heavily EQd so that they fit into a space on a song. They often tinkle along like a tambourine. It’s a similar case here: the PEQ is designed for what my band needs coming out of our Mackie SRM450s. A rehearsal recording might be more useful.

Recording into Reaper would be interesting, particularly for some of the other changes I want to make.

ToneControl · November 2021

maybe it's late at night, and I'm not thinking straight, but if you want to reduce sustain on an electric guitar input, wouldn't you use an expander?

Roland · November 2021

Typically with a compressor pedal you increase sustain by limiting the volume of the initial peak, and increasing the overall volume to compensate. It operates across the whole range of frequencies.

What I’m doing is treating the three frequency bands differently. Above 3kHz there’s a long attack phase, letting through the initial peak before the compressor kicks in to lower the volume, but the overall volume is set to zero so the sustain is not enhanced. The long release time holds the volume down. Between 227Hz and 3kHz it’s even more marked. The attack phase corresponds to plectrum noise, then the volume is clamped down, so effectively it’s a mid cut after the plectrum noise. Below 227Hz the compressor is used the other way around. The attack is short, preventing the E string from booming when struck, and the release is quick. If the chord is held you can hear the bass come back during the sustain phase.

Roland · November 2021

Rehearsal feedback.

You can sit at home for hours adjusting sounds, but it’s only when playing with the rest of the band that you find out whether something works. The big news is that the long IRs worked well. The guitar sound was more flexible. Normally I flit between several presents, changing between songs to get a different sound. This time I stayed on one patch the whole afternoon. The long IR also made my IEMs sound more natural. So having said that I didn’t think I’d use long IRs live I’m now thinking that I will.

On one song I though that my acoustic simulation was booming between low D and E, that’s 290 to 330Hz. No one else heard it, but it irritated me, particularly when I was using thumb and fingers to alternate between bass string and chord on a Dm. For the other acoustic guitar songs, which are all strummed, the sound was OK if a little warm. I think it just needs a small change to the PEQ around 300Hz.

Roland · November 2021

Idiot! The notes might be 290 and 330 Hz, but the guitar delivers a lot of the first harmonic, so my problem is around 580 to 660 Hz. I’ve changed the PEQ.

I’ve propagated CAB and Reverb changes through a couple of other presets.

Roland · November 2021

mrkb said:

Would love to hear a quick recording of the acoustic sim straight into a DAW. Alot of the Acoustic Sim presets Ive heard dont sound that good - think the way you have done it should be the best way to do it.

After playing around with Reaper I’ve managed to generate an mp3 for you. It’s two bars long, with a few seconds silence at beginning and end. Played back through my Matrix Q12 it sounds as it should. Played through an iPad it sounds thin and nasty. See what you think.

https://soundcloud.com/user303984572/acoustic-05-211113_1714-mp3

Often I add a bit of Chorus. This makes it sound less like an acoustic guitar, and more like the acoustic guitar tracks in many songs.

mrkb · November 2021

Roland said:

mrkb said:

Would love to hear a quick recording of the acoustic sim straight into a DAW. Alot of the Acoustic Sim presets Ive heard dont sound that good - think the way you have done it should be the best way to do it.

After playing around with Reaper I’ve managed to generate an mp3 for you. It’s two bars long, with a few seconds silence at beginning and end. Played back through my Matrix Q12 it sounds as it should. Played through an iPad it sounds thin and nasty. See what you think.

https://soundcloud.com/user303984572/acoustic-05-211113_1714-mp3

Often I add a bit of Chorus. This makes it sound less like an acoustic guitar, and more like the acoustic guitar tracks in many songs.

Thanks, will listen through good quality headphones when I crank the PC up later.

FarleyUK · November 2021

Had a reunion gig on Saturday with my old band; the other guitarist's amp was shit, and he hadn't bothered getting it fixed - so I used the AFX3 for both guitars. Worked surprisingly well - just two ins to two outputs, and the sound engineer just panned us accordingly.

Quite shocked at how straightforward it all was!

Roland · November 2021

It’s like a lot of powerful tools. Once you get over the learning curve there’s a lot you can do with it.

I’ve reached a simplification stage. Once I’d got my kitchen sink preset working I started investigating other Amp types. I’ve now got six versions of the kitchen sink. For performance I want that reduced. I can play most of our set with one preset which has five scenes, plus the ability to turn some key effects on and off: Chorus, Flange, Drive, Delay, and Mid Boost.

The scenes run Warm Clean, Edge, Crunch, Solo, and Acoustic. I want at least three more: Bright Clean, Dumble Solo, and Eb Detune. This could be done by adding three more scenes to a patch. Last time I tried to use the hold function for more scenes it went wrong because, under gig conditions, I tend to press a button very firmly and trigger the hold by mistake. It’s not as simple as increasing the hold time. Some scene changes happen between beats, for example coming in and out of a solo, and I don’t have time for a long hold.

There’s also the likelihood that it won’t be long before I want a ninth scene. One idea I’ve already been toying with is to make scene 1 a quiet scene. Our lights are triggered by my AxeFX, using a midi clock sent by the keyboard player. Currently the lights are always pulsing, even during breaks between songs, and they can jump when the keys change their patch to a different tempo. One answer is to have scene 1 with the lighting turned down. This will happen as soon as I change preset, and the lights will restart once I select a new scene.

Thinking ...

DavusPG · November 2021

As you say it definitely gets easier the more you use it. I'm not deep diving with settings anywhere near as much as you, but now we're back to regular gigging I'm finding that I'm using the same preset for more and more songs. Only exceptions are those with something unique like the organ effect for Town Called Malice or songs where I use other specific settings.

I'd say 80% of the set is one preset now, which is the culmination of years of tweaking and covers most bases I ever usually need. It's great to be at a point where I plug in, make a few minor output EQ adjustments for the venue and then just play.

For me the III is still the best piece of guitar gear I've ever bought and a total GAS killer. I'm on the waitlist for the FM9 but that's purely to streamline my gear to everything on one board

John_A · November 2021

@Roland the big question, does it sound better than the II?

Roland · November 2021

John_A said:,

@Roland the big question, does it sound better than the II?

Undoubtedly! The Amps are clearer, and respond much better. @WiresDreamDisasters says the Delays are better. The new long IRs have allowed me to reduce the Reverb level. I’ve removed Reverb completely from my Acoustic and Lead scenes, bringing the guitar front and centre of the band mix.

ToneControl · November 2021

John_A said:

@Roland the big question, does it sound better than the II?

I had a mk2 for years
it was a big step up to the mk3:

Amp sims
Delays
Amp Feel

Roland · November 2021

DavusPG said:

... I'm finding that I'm using the same preset for more and more songs...

For yesterday’s rehearsal I used the same preset for all but two songs. On the AxeFX II I was using five presets to give the range of sounds I need. With the III the Amps are more flexible, and I can get more sounds by changing pickups and tone.

WiresDreamDisasters · November 2021

I'm still waiting to start my thread. But yes, it is better than the axe 2

DefaultM · November 2021

Does the price from G66 include tax etc like if you buy something from Thomann they sort it for you up front?

Roland · November 2021

DefaultM said:

Does the price from G66 include tax etc like if you buy something from Thomann they sort it for you up front?

G66’s chosen courier handles the import charges.

Jonathanthomas83 · November 2021

Roland said:

DefaultM said:

Does the price from G66 include tax etc like if you buy something from Thomann they sort it for you up front?

G66’s chosen courier handles the import charges.

As in that it's not passed on to you, the customer?

Roland · November 2021

No, the customer pays. G66 can’t pay it for you because they don’t know your tax status. You might, for example, be importing into a Freeport area. Even if they could I wouldn’t want to pay the additional costs of them handling my tax for me.

paulmapp8306 · November 2021

DefaultM said:

Does the price from G66 include tax etc like if you buy something from Thomann they sort it for you up front?

As roland says, you pay it BUT G66 reduce their price for UK customers accordingly. What you end up paying inc tax, is the same p[rice the rest of the EU pay with theres, pretty much.

ToneControl · November 2021

your concern would be getting repairs done

do G66 know how to handle the customs declarations for that, to avoid double Vat and duty?

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