devices · Axe-Fx II · reference · Levels
levels
Three jobs
Fractal give you more level controls than any other modeler, and put meters on all of them. There are three jobs: get the guitar into the converter cleanly, match the output to what you plugged into, and make your presets the same loudness as each other. Each job has its own control. Doing one job with another's control is where rigs go wrong.
Fractal Audio: Axe-Fx II product and support pagesInput trim is not a gain control
Trim does not change your tone. As you lower the trim into the converter, the output of the converter is raised by the same amount, so what reaches the amp models, and what you hear, stays exactly the same. It is there to optimize signal-to-noise, not to push the front end. For more gain, use the Amp block's Drive.
Setting it up, in order
- Step 1
set the input trim once
Input levels are set with the soft-knobs on the INPUT page of the I/O menu. Play hard and adjust until your hot signals tickle the red LEDs on the front-panel INPUT meters. The red LED lights at −6 dB, which is below clipping. Some sources never get there, and that is fine. The front instrument jack parallels the rear inputs for a better noise floor.
- Step 2
then match the outputs to what you plugged into
The two front-panel knobs control the two rear-panel output pairs independently. The OUT 1 knob moves the XLR jacks, the 1/4" jacks and the headphone jack together. If what you are plugged into is clipping, turn these down. At minimum they reduce volume but do not necessarily reach silence.
- Step 3
unity gain is the knobs at maximum
With the Output Level knobs at maximum and shunts routed from input to output, you get out exactly what you put in. This matters when the modeler sits in a tube amp's loop. Otherwise you can leave unity alone.
If the clip LEDs light, the clipping is happening in the digital domain, not at the trim. It is usually a preset whose effects have added a lot of gain. Bring down one or more block outputs, starting with the Amp block's Output Level, or the main GAIN slider on the preset's output mixer. To pull every preset down at once, use the GAIN slider on the OUT1 or OUT2 graphic equalizer. A BOOST/PAD setting pushed away from 0 dB can also cause it.
Making your presets the same loudness
This is the third job, and a playable set depends on it. It does not use the two controls above. Those are set once and left alone.
use the Amp block's Output Level first
When a preset is louder or quieter than its neighbors, the Amp block's Output Level is where the manual points you first. It is also the control it names when a preset is hot enough to clip.
then the preset's output mixer
Each preset has an output mixer with a main GAIN slider. It moves the whole preset at once. Use it when the balance inside the preset is already correct and the whole preset sits too high or too low.
the global fallback
If a lot of presets clip and you do not want to edit them one at a time, the GAIN slider on the OUT1 or OUT2 graphic equalizer pulls everything down at once. It is blunt, and it is the only control here that reaches every preset.
level on the system you will play through
Ears hear tonal balance differently at different volumes, and different speakers change it again. Two sounds that match in a quiet room can be badly mismatched at gig volume or in a mix. Set levels loud, on the rig you will use, and expect to adjust on someone else's.
If it still sounds wrong
Check the cab block next: on into anything full-range, off into anything that ends in a real guitar speaker.