WHEN CUTTING AND POLISHING GEMSTONES THE TOOLS USED GET FINER AND FINER,
WHILE THE AMOUNT OF DIFFERENCE THEY MAKE
GETS SMALLER AND SMALLER.

GEMSTONE FINISHING
When cutting and polishing gemstones the tools used get finer and finer, while the difference they make gets smaller and smaller. Nevertheless, each stage of the process brings an improvement and so the stone is always more precious after the ninth stage than after the eighth.

Which brings us back to our actual topic: after yet another stage of polishing, the latest Axe-Fx II Firmware, Quantum 9, has just been released.

AMP-O-RHYTHMEN
Once again the amp simulations, the heart of the Axe-Fx II, have been refined. Improved algorithms bring out every facet of your playing.

This time it is the virtual compression of the loudspeakers that has been polished. The “Motor Drive” and “Transformer Grind” parameters have been replaced by the new “Speaker Compression” parameter. A pleasant upside here is that this time there is no need to reset the amp block after installing the update. Simply go to the PWR DYN page and set the Spkr Comp knob to 3.0, the new default value. You can then adjust it up or down to your liking, depending on how much you want the virtual speakers to suffer when things get loud. A gain reduction meter shows you what’s going on when this parameter is selected.

• Just like with an analogue setup, the speaker compression interacts strongly with the master volume setting of the amp.
• A small change has also been made to the phase inverter

EFFEKTE
Not only bass players will be pleased to hear that a particularly fine stomp-box has been included this time:

• The Axe-Fx II now offers a simulation of the legendary Darkglass B7K, a highly versatile overdrive pedal that doesn’t try to copy anyone else’s sound – even more important for bass than for guitar!
• The delay block has also been polished and a handful of the existing delays have been reworked.
• As we said, these may be only very slight changes, but they nevertheless raise bar yet again.

And, as always, this freshly polished gemstone can be downloaded for free. The version for the AX8 is on its way and will be with us soon.