# Why does my Axe sound like shit out of the PA?



## ManuelB (Sep 9, 2011)

Hey guys,

I just started to use my Axe Fx Ultra (better to say I tried to) over my PA. 
Unbalanced Out -> Input of my Mixer, then through the power amp and out of my HK PR:O cabs (12" and tweeter) 
result: it sounds like the biggest crap I've ever heard!!!


What the hell is wrong?! I can't find a solution for this problem... Just saw Tosin live in Germamy these days, using his Ultra with a monitor cab and over a small PA system... and it sounded great!!! Why doesn't it do the same here?! Is there something I should have to know?

P.S.: I used to use it with a digital power amp and a 2x12" Orange and it sounded totally great!


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## petereanima (Sep 9, 2011)

ManuelB said:


> P.S.: I used to use it with a digital power amp and a 2x12" Orange and it sounded totally great!



I guess you have turned the poweramp+cab+mic - sims off back then...have you NOW turned them on?


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## Winspear (Sep 9, 2011)

Yep you'll be needing those. Why not use the balanced out?


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## Sepultorture (Sep 9, 2011)

What they said.

the 2x12 and power amp will add colour so it will sound good with those with power ampm cab and mic sims off, but now you are going to have to turn those all back on and start finding a cab and mic soution plus tweak it so it works well with the PA setup


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## Winspear (Sep 9, 2011)

Yep simple explanation:

Before you had: Axe fx acting as amp>poweramp>cab>(mic>pa) if at a venue.
Now you have: Axe fx>pa. So you need to add the cab and mic stage because guitar cabinet speakers roll off a ton of high end, so your tone right now will sound very fizzy I expect.


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## ManuelB (Sep 10, 2011)

Fizzy is the right word. I'm going to take a look at the mic and amp stage today. Maybe it's the solution for everything. But I guess that I've turned both of them on... Strange... We will see if it works. Thank you guys. I'll let you know if it worked out


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## ManuelB (Sep 11, 2011)

Ok here we go:

Amp and cab sims were turned on... BUT the main settings were completely changed and it seems that the cabs were turned off for all patches (although I could see and change them) Whyever 

So I resetted the main settings to factory mode and tadadataaaa: Sounds exactly like what I wanted!

Thanks for all!


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## petereanima (Sep 12, 2011)

Glad its working!


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## dallasxr6 (Sep 18, 2011)

ahh the joys of digital..... 
One setting wrong and they usually end up WAAAY off!

I always try remember to go thru all the settings when playing With them


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## drmosh (Sep 18, 2011)

dallasxr6 said:


> ahh the joys of digital.....
> One setting wrong and they usually end up WAAAY off!
> 
> I always try remember to go thru all the settings when playing With them



Same for any kind of gear really, not just digital


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## Phrygian (Sep 21, 2011)

i thought id ask here since i got a similar problem. 

lately ive gotten a problem. 
i got a hd1221 for my axe fx ultra now, and any high-gain patches sound like fizzy, extremely boomy thin crap. like, pod xt-crap. all my clean patches sound awesome, but whatever i do i cant get a huge tight, not to gainy high-gain tone! no clarity, just shitloads of gain and bass even when the bass is backed up to zero, and when i roll back the gain it just doesn act like i would expect. chords are NOt clear at all, theyget really muddy even at no gain. 

I reset all parameters, set up a drive-amp-cab-highpass filter patch. 

so the patch is pretty much this:
ts808 mod, no drive, lvl cranked.
das metal, low gain, 09:00, bass at 10:00, mids at 14-15:00 treble at 11:00 with bright on. the rest is standard. 

Cab is the 4X12 metal cab.

it sounds horrible! what am i doing wrong? i will try to get a clip of it at our next practice, but i am getting really bummed out by this. ANY help is really appreciated!


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## VILARIKA (Sep 21, 2011)

Phrygian said:


> i thought id ask here since i got a similar problem.
> 
> lately ive gotten a problem.
> i got a hd1221 for my axe fx ultra now, and any high-gain patches sound like fizzy, extremely boomy thin crap. like, pod xt-crap. all my clean patches sound awesome, but whatever i do i cant get a huge tight, not to gainy high-gain tone! no clarity, just shitloads of gain and bass even when the bass is backed up to zero, and when i roll back the gain it just doesn act like i would expect. chords are NOt clear at all, theyget really muddy even at no gain.
> ...



I'm also having this issue somewhat...using 1521


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## Larrikin666 (Sep 22, 2011)

Phrygian said:


> i thought id ask here since i got a similar problem.
> 
> lately ive gotten a problem.
> i got a hd1221 for my axe fx ultra now, and any high-gain patches sound like fizzy, extremely boomy thin crap. like, pod xt-crap. all my clean patches sound awesome, but whatever i do i cant get a huge tight, not to gainy high-gain tone! no clarity, just shitloads of gain and bass even when the bass is backed up to zero, and when i roll back the gain it just doesn act like i would expect. chords are NOt clear at all, theyget really muddy even at no gain.
> ...





VILARIKA said:


> I'm also having this issue somewhat...using 1521



I always felt the need to use high and lowpass filters on my Ultra for high gain patches. Especially with full range monitors.


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## Phrygian (Sep 22, 2011)

Thanks, how do you set up those filters? i tried a highpass filter from 60hz-up to 125hz but the extreme low end did not budge. and if i put a lowpass at around 7000hz my tone drowns immediately. it just seems like there is no lowmid - mids in my tone. ill see if i can extract my patch and post it here so anyone can have a look to see what im doing wrong


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