Time spent playing guitar vs time spent learning/tweaking AXEFX

Sometimes I'll be playing along to a song and realize the effects are a little different. Since I don't have the understanding that Leon or Burgs have I'll lose hours dialing it in without realizing it. Increadibly satisfying to me, although I doubt anyone in the audience would ever notice.
 
Initially, I definitely went through the phase of endless tweaking and learning for few months.

But then realized I barely played the guitar ☠️

Now I just choose an amp, stick to the first page and choose an IR that’s similar to the tone I’m going for.


The knowledge gained from those few months did help i.e speaker impedance, supply sag, bias to get closer to the tone and feel (I do use advanced pages if the need comes). There is nothing wrong with tweaking if you’re enjoying it at the end of the day.

Ultimately, firmware updates have made it easier not to tweak into advanced pages, atleast for me!

Start playing more and don’t overthink your tone or to have a better tone than anybody else or finding the exact value… just get it ballpark.

Overthinking impedes action, in other words, playing the guitar…so enjoy and shred away!

From a used to be fellow tweaking addict ✌️
 
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When I first got my AFX3 in May 2021 I spent about a week dialing in all my presets from my refrigerator-sized rack. Now it is minor things when firmware updates happen. When I mean minor, I mean a tweak to the low end, mid, or high end of the amp, sometimes a post eq with 1-1.5 DB change +/- on certain frequencies depending on what the update did to the tone. In this last beta, I removed both the filer block/low cut before the amp and the low cut in the preamp of the cab block, as well as a couple of eq tweaks post-cab.

No more than 10 - 15 min. after each firmware update to get things sounding like my tone again. Otherwise, It is playing/recording/re-amping.
 
I spend way too much time tweaking and not enough playing. Part of this is because it's still shiny and new to me but also because I'm a novice user and am still endlessly chasing tones. That said, FAS has rekindled my love for guitar and inspired me to explore different sounds and genres. While I may spend more time tweaking than playing, I inherently net more hours playing than I did before owning a Fractal.
 
I think most of us have our core presets and if a new firmware brings some new amp models or effects to the table , I try them
Sometimes they find a home sometimes I just noodle and go back to the familiar

For instance the new Keely style Aurora delay I added that one to my library
 
I spent the first three months with my III getting to know it enough that I’d be able to quickly make/adjust presets and move on. That said, I also waited 15 years before I could afford one and never played through one in person, so I had a LOT to catch up with and learn before I felt I could be off to the races.

I feel guilty if I’m not writing/recording, which keeps me single and child-free. Life is good. :cool:
 
la szum said:
Who loved music and wanted to learn to play guitar because they wanted to become a "tweaker" someday?


Yeah, no one. ;)

Easy to get lost in the weeds, though. Often hard to find a way out of them
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I don’t know, if I didn’t like to tweak, I guess I shoulda kept that Elmwood Modena M60 I had…..it did that “one” sound really well. ;)
 
I don't tweak much, but it has inspired me to play my guitar a lot more than I used to. But I should learn how to do more with the gear.
 
More time playing.
The only time I would spend time adjusting would be if I recorded something. {Reamping]
It would be a case of not changing the amp model, but fine tuning the sound, possibly trying a few alternative cabs.
Wouldn't change amp model because the amp models all feel different and I've played into the amp model I've recorded into if that makes sense? I.e. I would play a Fender Twin with a different 'touch' than a Trainwreck.
I like putting effects on all the time when playing, different drives etc, but this only takes seconds.
In fact it's faster than getting a hardware pedal out a box and connecting it up!
 
I've spent a majority of my guitar playing years tweaking gear and doing little tone experiments and such. I'll record a little 30 second demo here or there, rise repeat 800 times over 20 years. I never actually finish/publish anything on my own but luckily I record my 2 bands where other people write most of the music.

I'd probably spend less time tweaking things if I simply wrote things down once I learned them. For example, maybe I'll make a breakthrough with a certain amp setting/IR combo....then I'll forget about it, go down a rabbit hole about unrelated things and then relearn the stuff I forgot over and over again.
 
Dialing in an amp or effects is a developed technique much like sweep picking or legato playing. It's part of the craft and takes practice.

Put another way, a mechanic can know your car inside and out, but they won't get very far fixing it if they don't know how to use any tools.
 
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