Live preset ideas?

Ledvedder

Ledvedder

Inspired
When I play live, I basically need a few tones. Clean to edge of breakup, classic rock type of tone, hot rodded Marshall thing, and a good lead tone. Then I typically have a few effects available (chorus, phaser, etc). I sometimes need a few song specific tones, but not often. Things like trem and whammy.

I've been working with my FM9 for a few weeks now, trying to get some good presets dialed in, but the options are so overwhelming. I'd just like to get some ideas from the community about what you're using for your live gigs. Things like amp types, cab types, any particular settings (output compression, input EQ, etc) that work well for you.

I know this stuff is very subjective, but I'm just curious to hear what works for you.
 
A good basic start for me is the "Brit Mod" for the amp and "factory 148" for the cab. I can tweak those 2 for a good EOB all the way to a pretty nice classic rock tone. I'll add another amp (Solo 99 or Brit AFS100) in for solos and flavor to taste. Add in delay and verb to round out the scene.
Throw a looper in front, record some music and then put the guitar down to tweak. Using the pins in the amp and cab pickers lets you scroll thru options and see how they sound, I've found some really nice tones where I didn't expect to find them by scrolling thru.
We had 21" of snow Saturday so I got to spend lots of time in the basement playing and exploring. Time is your friend with the FM9!!
 
I suppose it depends upon how you are listening/monitoring the FM9 at home/studio and if it causes a difference in how the presets sound live vs at home or in studio. It also depends upon how you're using the FM9 live, if are you going direct to FOH or using an onstage power amp/cab.

I don't have different presets for live vs home and use studio monitors to create presets and practice/play or record. Each preset I've used at home and also played live sound pretty much the same. I go direct to FOH and all presets sit well in the mix without any major EQ tweaks on the FOH board.
 
Taking a page from Cooper Carter and others, I'm using a preset that covers a ton of ground with 4 amps and 4 sets of cabs over 8 scenes. YMMV with amp and cab combinations, but I can cover anything I want from this preset with very few exceptions.
 

Attachments

  • One Preset to Rule Them All.syx
    24.1 KB · Views: 46
Ledvedder said:
When I play live, I basically need a few tones. Clean to edge of breakup, classic rock type of tone, hot rodded Marshall thing, and a good lead tone. Then I typically have a few effects available (chorus, phaser, etc). I sometimes need a few song specific tones, but not often. Things like trem and whammy.

I've been working with my FM9 for a few weeks now, trying to get some good presets dialed in, but the options are so overwhelming. I'd just like to get some ideas from the community about what you're using for your live gigs. Things like amp types, cab types, any particular settings (output compression, input EQ, etc) that work well for you.

I know this stuff is very subjective, but I'm just curious to hear what works for you.
Click to expand...
Don’t overlook the factory presets. There are some awesome sounds in there.
  • Turn up the volume until it is at the loudness you’ll be at on stage, approximately 95 dB. If you don’t know why read Fletcher-Munson. This is important for getting the sound and feel you want.
  • Open Factory Presets and find ones that solemnly interesting.
  • Save them to new slots so they’re in a group.
  • Begin making little tweaks to make them yours, clicking the Snapshot (camera) Tool when you want to remember that particular change.
  • Save when you’re happy.
 
Last edited:
JoKeR III said:
I suppose it depends upon how you are listening/monitoring the FM9 at home/studio and if it causes a difference in how the presets sound live vs at home or in studio. It also depends upon how you're using the FM9 live, if are you going direct to FOH or using an onstage power amp/cab.

I don't have different presets for live vs home and use studio monitors to create presets and practice/play or record. Each preset I've used at home and also played live sound pretty much the same. I go direct to FOH and all presets sit well in the mix without any major EQ tweaks on the FOH board.
Click to expand...
Agree, I should have mentioned that I program, practice and gig with Headrush 108's, 2 for programming at home and 1 for gigging since we all use IEM,s but I do run stereo in the FOH. So far everything has worked well on the live system and fits well in the mix.
 
elvis said:
Taking a page from Cooper Carter and others, I'm using a preset that covers a ton of ground with 4 amps and 4 sets of cabs over 8 scenes. YMMV with amp and cab combinations, but I can cover anything I want from this preset with very few exceptions.
Click to expand...
A few of these scenes overload the cpu.
 
The one thing I learned early on was not to have a slew of amps in a live preset. Instead I'll use just a couple of similar amps in each preset and get all the sounds that I find useful into 6 scenes. Then I have 2-3 other presets that are essentially the same, different amps/same effects. To me this is the most natural when playing live. I also do lots of adjustment with guitar controls. When I find an amp tone that works for me, I am much more focused on music/guitar technique.
 
Ledvedder said:
When I play live, I basically need a few tones. Clean to edge of breakup, classic rock type of tone, hot rodded Marshall thing, and a good lead tone. Then I typically have a few effects available (chorus, phaser, etc). I sometimes need a few song specific tones, but not often. Things like trem and whammy.

I've been working with my FM9 for a few weeks now, trying to get some good presets dialed in, but the options are so overwhelming. I'd just like to get some ideas from the community about what you're using for your live gigs. Things like amp types, cab types, any particular settings (output compression, input EQ, etc) that work well for you.

I know this stuff is very subjective, but I'm just curious to hear what works for you.
Click to expand...

While I've not yet taken my FM9 to open-mics yet, like many, I've built presets around what is most pleasing to my ears.

Lately, that has been focusing on edge-of-breakup amps like the "D"-style amps and brethren thereof (Bludojai, Carol-Ann Tucana, Fox ODS, ODS Clean, ODS Ford, ODS HRM, etc). These have a very warm and smooth overdrive structure, and clean up well dynamically. Paired with Rumble 4x12 57 & 121s, they are some of the best of what amps offer, IMHO.

Others that prefer classic rock may find that JTM45s and Plexi 50W 6CA7's paired with MAR Greenback cabs work well for straight-ahead crunchy tones. The hot-rodded Marshall tones you may seek are very similar to the ODS HRM. Lead tones I prefer to be warm and wooly, because of less ear fatigue and they are not as strident as brighter sounding amps.

Modulation effects like chorus or phaser are typically stereo analog, or classic Script 90. Not much tweaking from stock is required at all. I also like to toss in an optical sustainer compressor block channel B with a modifier control switch (200/800 ms attack/release) on drive or lead scenes for natural decay sustain/feedback on call.

Only tweaks I might make are gain, overdrive, EQ, master and output level ones, at the amp and cab level. Maybe some EQ tweaks at the delay/reverb level to tame the high end.

I regularly download artist presets from Marco Fanton and dial in ones from John Cordy from YT's G66.eu. These are usually saved to my Fractal folder until they can be imported and tested. Those that make the cut usually find a permanent place on my FM9.

I've found that the best decisions are made when you've worked with the presets for a while and kept them safely stored where they can be accessed readily. Presets that reside on my FM9 but don't see regular use are subsequently exported and deleted from my FM9, but kept on file just in case.
 
Ledvedder said:
When I play live, I basically need a few tones. Clean to edge of breakup, classic rock type of tone, hot rodded Marshall thing, and a good lead tone. Then I typically have a few effects available (chorus, phaser, etc). I sometimes need a few song specific tones, but not often. Things like trem and whammy.

I've been working with my FM9 for a few weeks now, trying to get some good presets dialed in, but the options are so overwhelming. I'd just like to get some ideas from the community about what you're using for your live gigs. Things like amp types, cab types, any particular settings (output compression, input EQ, etc) that work well for you.

I know this stuff is very subjective, but I'm just curious to hear what works for you.
Click to expand...
Without getting into actual tones. What has helped me is to write an outline of what you need.

Preset 001
  • Main
    • Scene 1
      • Clean
        • Wah
        • Volume
        • Compression
        • Clean Amp
          • Band commander
        • IR
          • Alnico Blue
          • Jenson
        • Reverb
I repeat for all scenes.
 
Most presets have the same layout. Use a combination of 3 presets over 3 45 minute sets.

5 scenes:

1 = Clean
2 = Clean FX
3 = Rhythm
4 = Rhythm w/boost
5 = Lead
 
Ledvedder said:
A few of these scenes overload the cpu.
Click to expand...
Not on my unit. They do push to the max, and will overload a non-Turbo. But the idea was more to give a wide range of tones in one preset. Feel free to ditch the extra effects, and try the amp + cab combos.
 
Habuman said:
Most presets have the same layout. Use a combination of 3 presets over 3 45 minute sets.

5 scenes:

1 = Clean
2 = Clean FX
3 = Rhythm
4 = Rhythm w/boost
5 = Lead
Click to expand...
I do the same but in a different order:

1. Rhythm
2. Rhythm w Boost
3. Clean
4. Lead
5. Lead w Effect (mostly Phaser)

I play mostly classic rock so my main preset has a mid gain Dirty Shirley as the Rhythm and Lead tones.
 
Johan Allard said:
I do the same but in a different order:

1. Rhythm
2. Rhythm w Boost
3. Clean
4. Lead
5. Lead w Effect (mostly Phaser)

I play mostly classic rock so my main preset has a mid gain Dirty Shirley as the Rhythm and Lead tones.
Click to expand...
I'll have to spend more time with the dirty shirley, and the Friedman models in general. I've found them to be too bassy.
 
Lately I've been gigging presets that have dual amps in each scene. Primarily to facilitate instant (gapless) switching between the two amps I've got selected for any given scene. I'm actually using a 3rd expression pedal to crossfade from amp A to amp B rather than a footswitch. Which may seem odd, but is working well for me. From there I use whatever combination of effects I need for any given situation/scene/song. So I've got what I need for instant access to specific sound/effect combinations, but I'm still able to try things randomly within each scene when the mood strikes. The number of options and possibilities can certainly get overwhelming because there really is a lot to know & learn, but the results are so worth it for me. YMMV.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Or find a different IR.
Click to expand...
Checking a bunch of IRs is a hassle, but it's simply unavoidable. You cannot, in my own experience, choose based on the name of the IR, and get what you think you're going to get. It took me a long time to get away from "I'm used to a Mesa cab with V30s, so that is the IR for me."

Remember, you're choosing cab + microphone(s) + post eq in an IR.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom