devices · Axe-Fx III · 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.
Axe-Fx III Owner's ManualInput 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
Plug into the Instrument input, pick your loudest pickup, open everything up, and play hard while you watch the INPUT 1 meter. The red LED lights at −6 dB, still safely below clipping, so your loudest playing should tickle the red. Adjust it under SETUP : I/O : Input with the A knob. A quieter guitar that never reaches red is fine. Inputs 2, 3 and 4 each have their own trim on the same page.
- Step 2
then match the outputs to what you plugged into
Outputs 1 and 2 arrive set for consumer line inputs at −10 dBV. If you are feeding professional gear running at +4 dBu, change it: SETUP : I/O : Audio, then Output 1: Output Level or Output 2: Output Level to +4 dBu. The four front-panel LEVEL knobs then ride each output pair independently.
- Step 3
outputs 3 and 4 are the four-cable-method pair
They are designed for unity-gain use: the four-cable method, or anything else that goes back into a traditional amp. Unity is the OUT 3 and OUT 4 Level knobs turned fully clockwise, not at noon.
If the outputs clip, your presets are too hot. The trim is not the cause. Fix it with preset levels, starting at the Amp block.
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 Level
When a preset, scene or channel is louder or quieter than its neighbors, fix it with the Level parameter of the Amp block. This holds across the whole platform. Output knobs, block levels and the mixer each have a different job, and using them for this makes the rig hard to follow later.
watch the meters, then use your ears
Zoom the Layout grid out and VU meters appear across the top, scaled −20 to +10 with a red line at 0. That is an internal level, not a dBu reading. Play the same thing while you switch presets, and aim for the meter to hover around the line. Chugs always hit hardest. Trust the meters, then check by ear.
make the loud ones quieter, not the quiet ones louder
To make a lead sit above a rhythm, the manual says to bring everything else down, not push the lead up. Boosting is what causes clipping. These modelers have the headroom and noise floor for a preset well below the others to cost you nothing.
some blocks break the rule
If a compressor or a gate follows the amp, changing the amp's Level changes how they behave, so adjust the last dynamics block instead. The same goes for a nonlinear effect after the amp, such as tape saturation or a bitcrusher. If you use the drive inside the Cab block's preamp, level that block instead of the amp.
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.