Category: Signal Chain

From your fingers to your ears and everything in between – anything to do with how tone gets made.

Posted on

Studio Diary #61: Remastering My Original Pedal Platform Presets For Axe-FX 3 Firmware 28.05

‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.

Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.

I spent most of Spring dividing my playing time between the pedal platform patches that are based on the DRRI and using my real Tweed Deluxe amp. When I came back to my original 57 Vintage and 65 Modern presets, I could hear a stark difference – and not in a good way.

So, before I finally wrap up this series on the pedal platform patches, I want to go back and re-master those two original pedal platform presets. There’s been some recent Axe-FX 3 firmware updates that make this easier to do and sound better than ever.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #61: Remastering My Original Pedal Platform Presets For Axe-FX 3 Firmware 28.05”
Posted on

Studio Diary #59: EQ Toys For Guitars And Pedals

‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.

Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.

Regular readers may recall that I’ve mentioned “EQ toys” many times throughout the year. It’s finally time to talk about them, and explain what these EQ toys are, how they came about, and how I use them.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #59: EQ Toys For Guitars And Pedals”
Posted on

Studio Diary #55: Tackling Noise In The Axe-FX 3 Pedal Platform Preset

‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.

Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.

Back in July, I tackled the major cause of noise by sorting out the gain-staging for my pedal platform preset. However, that hasn’t completely eliminated all noise in the signal chain. (Some noise is inevitable.) What can I do about the noise that’s still getting through?

That’s what I’m going to look at in this blog post.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #55: Tackling Noise In The Axe-FX 3 Pedal Platform Preset”
Posted on

Studio Diary #50: Dialling In The JTM Amp & Cab

‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.

Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.

Most pedals that interest me will work best into a clean amp – either my 65 Clean preset or (for many tweed-tone pedals) my 57 Vintage preset. Every now and then, though, I take a look at a pedal that’s designed to run into a dirtier amp.

That’s where my JTM preset comes in.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #50: Dialling In The JTM Amp & Cab”
Posted on

Studio Diary #48: Dialling In The 65 Blackface Amp & Cab

‘Studio Diary’ is an occasional series where I talk about building a home recording setup for hobbyists and enthusiasts like us. I share my personal experiences, and the thinking behind some of the decisions that I’ve made along the way.

Fractal Audio have recently overhauled their amp modelling in the Axe-FX 3 / FM-9 / FM-3. And my recent dive into the Orange Getaway Driver has shown me that I need to revoice my signal chain. I’m taking this as an opportunity to re-evaluate everything about the pedal preset I’ve built for the Axe-FX 3.

I’ve just finished documenting the thought process behind the scenes that I will use for my beloved tweed tone pedals. Now it’s time to switch my attention to the scenes that most pedals will use: a ’65 Fender “blackface” tone.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #48: Dialling In The 65 Blackface Amp & Cab”
Posted on

Studio Diary #46: My Philosophy For Building Pedal Platform Presets For Digital Modellers

When I started building my own pedal platform presets for the Axe-FX 3, my goal was to recreate the sound of my old valve amp rig. I really wanted to demonstrate how these pedals might sound if you put them through your own valve amp at home.

I’m not trying to do that any more.

In this blog post, I’m going to do my best to explain why. Grab a drink, there’s a lot to talk through!

Continue reading “Studio Diary #46: My Philosophy For Building Pedal Platform Presets For Digital Modellers”
Posted on

Studio Diary #37: Can I Use The Axe-FX 3 As A Power Amp For My Synergy Rig?

I’ve had a lot of success – and a lot of joy – using my Axe-FX 3 to record guitar pedal audio demos. Heck, it sounds so good, it’s my go-to pedal platform all the time now.

Can I do the same with my Synergy rig? Instead of running my Synergy modules through the SYN-5050 power amp + attenuator, can I run them straight into the Axe-FX 3 instead? Can the Axe-FX 3 add a bit of that power amp tonal magic?

I’m going to experiment, and find out.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #37: Can I Use The Axe-FX 3 As A Power Amp For My Synergy Rig?”
Posted on

Studio Diary #31: Attenuators Colour The Sound

This photo shows the front panel of my Fryette PS-100 Power Station attenuator. To one side, we can also see a glimpse of my Two Notes Captor too.
The Two Notes Captor and Fryette PS-100 Power Station

Attenuators are one of the reasons we can enjoy valve amps at home without upsetting the neighbours. I’ve never really thought about how they affect the overall tone … until now.

In this blog post, I’m going to look at the two attenuators that I have – the Two Notes Captor and the Fryette PS-100 Power Station – and work out what they sound like. And I’m including some sound samples, so that you can hear the differences for yourself.

Continue reading “Studio Diary #31: Attenuators Colour The Sound”