Axe Fx III - The Tweaker's Guide to Tone Matching

[@RamboMadCow]

You deserve so much more in terms of subscriber count! In terms of "good enough", I had mentioned it in a previous comment (this is for other commentators): When it comes to live, just get close. Volume takes over and your ears can't interpret nuances. But if you're recording in the studio for an album, like most bands do, take your time and dial in that perfect tone. It's always worth it. Just do it BEFORE getting into the studio. And if you have to, dial in 16 "perfect" tones so you're ready to go if you need something slightly different. Leon you're on point man. You don't always put out vids that are relevant to me, but I'm always checking your channel daily for Axe 3 vids!

[@dougeakle777]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together Leon! I have never been too successful with tone matching. This is a huge help!

[@LeonTodd]

Hope it gets you closer :)

[@Jin-st3mt]

Finally some one has done this thanks very much for taking the time, is rockwool?

[@JoesGuitarCafe]

that speaker comp really helped. thanks

[@jimyounger9490]

Man keep the Axe FX lll vids coming , please !! Will be going back to watch these when I get mine , thanks Leon !!

[@LeonTodd]

You're going to love it

[@MatthewGreif]

Thanks for the helpful video. Two questions: 1) Would you consider doing a tone match of the Rev G Orange vintage channel and sharing it? (You are better equipped to do this than most of us. I'm just starting in the tone matching thing.) 2) Once you have the tone match in your preset, then what? Can you move it around to other presets or select it like any other amp? Thanks again!

[@AC-hz4xq]

What a monster sounding brother. Very cool 😎

[@stevenmgyori3826]

Well done, Great explanation and tutorial ! Thanks for sharing brother!

[@LeonTodd]

As always mate, my absolute pleasure. hope you're well!

[@sayercanova8799]

Thank you! You're the best! Thank you for making it easy to understand!

[@titus2120]

A true Jedi..... Keep it yp. You are appreciated...

[@wayney.387]

Well you can see how new I am to your channel, I didn't know this video was on KZbin, but thanks for putting it back up, now I understand master 🙏

[@fullmetalsal]

I wonder what the tube amp snobs are thinking now LOL, Leon how was the feel of the Axe FX compared to the real amp? You know this is the main complaint from a lot of people and the feel can't be portrayed through these clips. THanks

[@bostonmike9003]

Another great video ! Can you tone match from audio clips ?? I am going try send you link to a video Id like to know if you can tone match it. Thanks..

[@LeonTodd]

Indeed you can!

[@axiaxaren]

Great thanks! For some reason when i export the TM the axe edit saves it, but it show as empty presets on the Axe edit, but in the unit is fine (although it was renamed) Someone with the same bug? Also when i use an cab block and load the exported TM it seems not to sound quite the same as in it matched TM, why this could be?

[@richardwilliams1310]

Incredible amount of options in the Fractal Axe-Edit III software to tweak every nuance to create your tone. Looks like the tone matching function also needs a level matching feature too. I don't think there is a perfect product to replicate the "real thing" but damn, these products are killer and give you tons of options. A room of gear or one box that does almost everything for a fraction of the cost and takes up little room? Even with the hefty up front cost of an Axe-FX III, it still represents great value for money with all of its' capabilities and sound quality. I am surprised that you mentioned an external microphone preamp when the III has mic pres in its' built in audio interface. I guess it is wether you want to colour the sound more with an external preamp as I'm guessing the built in microphone preamp would be quite neutral and accurate, typical of most audio interfaces these days. Unless you have a myriad of external gear at your disposal, I guess you could always use a vst plugin to emulate various microphone preamps or channel strips from companies like Universal Audio, Slate Digital, Waves, Softube, etc or alternately just use a speaker impulse response created by someone that has that equipment at their disposal and the know how to do it well. Experimenting yourself with a real microphone and cabinet certainly helps you discover different techniques to create different tones with the equipment on hand/working with what you got and trying to get the best out of it too. I have seen a few people say that their chosen modeller or profiler sucks but I'm guessing that they haven't spent the time learning how to use them properly and expect to have the best of everything in the presets ready to go without tweaking. That's certainly where amps win, plug in, little tweaks and play but the perfectionist or producer may want infinite control to create a multitude of presets & tones for their songs/projects. Workflow and choice, decisions decisions \m/

[@kospandx]

Could I challenge you to see how close you can get to your MP-1?

[@LeonTodd]

i've got some time this week and that's on the list :)

[@kospandx]

Great! I really look forward to it!

[@JoesGuitarCafe]

so it that just the IR your modelling or the entire amp?

[@richardwilliams1310]

Makes me want a Kemper for Profiling, as it seems like a much easier process to get a snapshot of your live/studio rig. I still like the AX8 though for creating your own tone from scratch. I think we get hung up trying to copy tones though. Do we all want to be clones? That’s not very metal, more like commercialised pop music. Saying that though, there is almost always some copying, drawing influences from our favourite bands/artists, giving it your own spin and flair makes it your tone. Keep tweaking. Thanks again Leon.

[@LeonTodd]

Honestly after using both of them in the studio the tone match process outlined here and the profile refining are pretty much the same thing. The Kemper has this midrange thing that i couldn't dial out whereas I was able to get the axe closer quicker.

[@richardwilliams1310]

Thanks for the reply Leon. The Axe FX III is a beast for the studio and much more compact and cheaper than owning all those amps that you have scattered across your studio and home, more partner or house mate friendly, lol. Also, you said you use the AX8 when playing live. What do you use for monitoring and on stage amplification and do you also use a wireless guitar transmitter?

[@richardwilliams1310]

Surprised no body has made. a combined Wireless Guitar Transmitter and Wireless In Ears solution for stage

[@alexmoskvichev1203]

It can be an impedance mismatch when you take signal from line output. Maybe you should try a reamp box?

[@sonictooth]

This is cool. But I'm wondering whether the tonematch process would be easier if you panned the amp sound and the tonematch samples hard left and right on a continuous stereo loop and eq-ed them as it's playing. Would save time rather than having to switch between the two samples and then going into the deep parameters and doing that over and over again. Just eq-ing while the two samples are playing until you literally can't tell the difference from the left and right stereo image.

[@LeonTodd]

That's a pretty great idea, I'll have to try that!

[@CentaurusRelax314]

• If you have an AX8, i'm assuming that unit doesn't do Tone Matching, but can you use presets that were created this way/on an FX III? • Once you're using a Tone Matched preset, do all the Axe controls work as the amp's controls work, or are they more limited, as they are on a Kemper, where you're more locked into the way the amp was profiled at that moment? • At what point will you get rid of amps and go fully digital? Are we there yet? I can barely tell the difference here, and even when there is a difference, it's not that one's better than the other. Fascinating tech. When i win lotto, i'm not sure if i should go for Axe or Kemper....

[@LeonTodd]

The amp controls work fine here, and since you're using an accurate model the controls will work more like the amp (for example profiling a Mesa mark series amp) than the Kemper would. If you have an AX8 there's some good work arounds for tone matching using plugins like Deconvolver. Honestly i think we've been there for a while, it's all about usability and convenience now.

[@mrparkinson]

Hey Leon, cool video. Have you done a video on Deconvolver or know of a video on it? Im an AX8 user, and would love to know how to do this kind of thing. Thanks.

[@briancraig1684]

Can you please do a Axe-Fx II Tone Matching Tutorial for axe 2 fx xl +? I really like the way you show and teach Because not able to get axe 3anytime soon

[@LeonTodd]

I don't have a II unfortunately

[@briancraig1684]

I understand thanks 👍

[@joefx69]

This might be a daft question...Can it tone match from a DAW recording of multiple guitars?

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah, there's the option to tone match any recorded source.

[@CT76OH]

noticing when you select between reference and axe when matching, the graph shows a cut around 6-7,000 in the amp and the axe seems to extend that frequency in the 10k + range as well as some differences in the rest of the graph, shouldnt a straight tone match show the same wave? it seems having to tweak as much as you are to get "close" is too much where the unit should nail it by now, thoughts?

[@LeonTodd]

As I said in the video, the amp model I'm matching is a different circuit revision than my Rectifier. Due to this there's some guess work and refinement needed to get all the parameters matching.

[@CT76OH]

@@LeonTodd please dont take this wrong, I'm not downing the axefx, but the tonematch on the mooer preamp live seems a little more advanced as even Ola tonematched an amp not even available in the unit. The axefx is definitely adding frequencies that aren't there in the reference amp, shouldn't the tonematch take a copy of the reference EQ and apply that to the axefx model? I could see having to tweak the speaker section after the tone match for realism but not for the ground work.

[@CT76OH]

Also maybe I'm not understanding the tonematch process, which can be my issue. I to agree about the Kemper cocked wah mids. I sold my kemper after Christoph said in an interview that he wouldn't update the profiling process because he thought it was perfect.

[@LeonTodd]

It's easy enough to tone match other amps, I did the same with a Mesa Stiletto, which isn't modelled, and it sounds great -> kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHqye5uCbZelj68 That a shame to hear they won't update anything:( You can use the pink noise setting in the Axe to do Kemper style profiling provided you start with an amp model that is close enough. However I prefer this method, since I can use my ears to tell me when I'm getting closer and also dial in the amp match for what i'm going to be playing (chunky riffs, leads etc)

[@Happy-Me.]

Hi Todd. I thought the tone matching was easier than this. I hear that people have used the tone matching to get that elusive Allan Holdsworth lead sound through his records. Is this true?

[@LeonTodd]

You need isolated tracks to tone match a recording. Allan's sound has a lot to do with the way he plays but if you can find isolated tracks and cop his style I'm sure it would get you very close. I have a seperate vid about tone matching a recording.

[@Happy-Me.]

@@LeonTodd Cheers Todd. I'll have a look. I have the GT1000 which I love and have managed to create three great Holdsworth lead tones. I've stuck with Boss as I had the GT6, 10 and still have the 100 and understand how they work. Cheers for your video on the GT1000 and hopefully you post a few more.

[@LeonTodd]

@@Happy-Me. got some more GT-1000 stuff coming, very capable unit. I just posted an Axe-Fx vid copping the Rocktron intellifex 8 voice chorus (albeit with a dirty sound) but I'll try post some other examples if you're into the holdsworth style clean thing.

[@Happy-Me.]

@@LeonTodd Thanks Leon I'd appreciate that. 👍

[@dan.murray]

Why did u choose the Axe FX over a Kemper?

[@LeonTodd]

The Axe smells better

[@r.llynch4124]

like asking why I bought a corvette over a vw...... lol

[@rockstarjazzcat]

🤘🏼

[@Kathayne636]

Homeless Colin Farrell knows his shit! jk jk jk jk jk jk

[@LeonTodd]

To be sure!

[@Holdenwitt]

Lol at title