Optimizing for different guitars?

OP here....I don't need the guitars to sound the same, just good. When I switched from a strat type to a Les Paul type guitar, I didn't like my lead tone. More specifically, the contrast between the lead and clean rhythm tone wasn't as distinct as I programmed them to be on my strat.

I don't change guitars for different songs. I change if I break a string or if I just feel like spreading the love.

Ill try global performance controls first. That would mimic the changes I'd make to an amp if I swapped guitars. A 2nd batch of optimized presets seems easy enough. This, I suspect, would be the way to go if I swapped to a semi hollow body guitar.

Keep the suggestions coming!
 
sprint said:
I should have prefaced that I'm commenting from a home music room perspective, not live, but I don't really see that it would make a difference for me in this context, though I guess I would just tolerate the difference if I had to. I think in my case it stems from the guitars I've chosen and my ears, ie, in the SG / Strat example: the strat I have is very vintagy sounding - pups have super weak output - a completely different animal from the SG. I have other amps and modellers here for which I get the same result so I don't think it's Axefx related, but I've never owned a real fender amp so maybe that would be different.
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You should have different presets for different guitars. There's no situation where I'd use a Strat and SG for the same types of tones.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
Yes. People also ask how to make humbucker pickups sound like single coils and vice versa.
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Well, I can see why you might leverage technology to give you more choices. But to make a tech choice to make everything sound the same? To each their own.
skolacki said:
The goal isn’t to make them sound the same. Just to make them sound good.
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Please tell us more about this thing you call "The Goal". :)

Yes, my question was deadpan, to see if it was actually a thing. And the answer was "yes". I guess everything is indeed a thing :)
 
willhutch said:
OP here....I don't need the guitars to sound the same, just good. When I switched from a strat type to a Les Paul type guitar, I didn't like my lead tone. More specifically, the contrast between the lead and clean rhythm tone wasn't as distinct as I programmed them to be on my strat.

I don't change guitars for different songs. I change if I break a string or if I just feel like spreading the love.

Ill try global performance controls first. That would mimic the changes I'd make to an amp if I swapped guitars. A 2nd batch of optimized presets seems easy enough. This, I suspect, would be the way to go if I swapped to a semi hollow body guitar.

Keep the suggestions coming!
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Honestly, you should use a backup more like your main guitar.
 
Will Chen said:
You should have different presets for different guitars. There's no situation where I'd use a Strat and SG for the same types of tones.
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But with such different sounding guitars, why not use the same presets to get different tones? The question is rhetorical I guess, but I do question the "you should use different presets for different guitars". Sounds like a rule that might or might not apply in any given situation.
 
JRkelley said:
But with such different sounding guitars, why not use the same presets to get different tones? The question is rhetorical I guess, but I do question the "you should use different presets for different guitars". Sounds like a rule that might or might not apply in any given situation.
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To each their own, but personally when I grab a humbucker vs single coil guitar, I'm going for radically different sounds. In a backup guitar live scenario, I'm going to take a guitar similar to my main guitar.

Edit: I do have a preset with an EQ to try and emulate an SC sound from a HB guitar. I'll try to remember to post it later.
 
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Sensible. However, I own different guitars BECAUSE they are different. I only want to keep one - the best specimen - of a certain type of guitar. The "problem" I introduced in this post is a new one that surfaced after my recent switch to digital gear. With tube amps, it never appeared to be a problem. I knew how to make the necessary adjustments. I need to learn how to do the same on my FM3.
 
JRkelley said:
Well, I can see why you might leverage technology to give you more choices. But to make a tech choice to make everything sound the same? To each their own.

Please tell us more about this thing you call "The Goal". :)

Yes, my question was deadpan, to see if it was actually a thing. And the answer was "yes". I guess everything is indeed a thing :)
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Even with presets optimized to my ears for different guitars, they still like different guitars. Strat sounds like a Strat. P90’s sound like P90’s. The guitar’s character still comes through. Dial in a preset for your Strat. Use the same amp and IR but adjust eq etc to your liking. Compare it to your bucker guitar on the bucker preset. They’re not going to sound the same. Similar yes but your Strat is still going to sound like Strat. The goal is the grail tone of course. Doubt I’ll ever find it but I’m close lol.
 
For my P90 guitar and my Strat I usually like the same presets. I just boost the Strat a bit.
For Humbucker guitars I tend to use different presets. And for my ES335, which has a quite dark tone I use some additional EQ mid and high boost in the Humbucker presets.
 
willhutch said:
Sensible. However, I own different guitars BECAUSE they are different. I only want to keep one - the best specimen - of a certain type of guitar. The "problem" I introduced in this post is a new one that surfaced after my recent switch to digital gear. With tube amps, it never appeared to be a problem. I knew how to make the necessary adjustments. I need to learn how to do the same on my FM3.
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Treat the FM3 amp block exactly like you would a tube amp, and save the settings as a different preset so it's ready to go when needed.
 
Pappasfin said:
I think It's best way to build presets for each guitar.
Of course there is presets that works fine with different guitars.
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This is my approach as well. I use 4 different sounds (clean, overdriven (ac30-ish), crunch (marshally) and fuzz and for each of my 3 guitars I have programmed those 4 preset types with quite a few scenes in each preset.

My MIDI foot controller has 4 presets in each bank, so if I switch guitar I just select the bank that belongs to that guitar. That way levelling is really easy and the volume of the guitar is always consistent.

Layout is:
Preset 1-4: strat style gtr
Preset 5-8: humbucker equipped gtr
Preset 9-12: p90 short scale gtr
Preset 13-16: special presets for certain songs (that are always played with the same guitar)
 
I'm in the camp of not creating presets for different guitars, I prefer the core amp tone to remain the same. While there are some amps that might sound 'better' with specific pickups, most amps will only require gain and volume tweaks to compensate for the output differences, i.e. single coils and humbuckers.

willhutch said:
Keep the suggestions coming!
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You could use a Control Switch and attach it to the Gain/Drive, Level and other parameter modifiers that you feel need adjustment when using sonically/output differing pickups. Make all of the adjustments with the press of one switch.
 
I also use a naming standard in my presets with the last 4 characters representing:

1: Ouptut Type:
  • "FR"=Full Range Output.
  • "CB2"=Guitar Cabs2 (tube amp powered open bk cabs).
  • "CB1"=Guitar Cabs1 (Matrix powered v30 closed bk cabs).
2:Guitar Type:
  • "G"=SG
  • "C"=Carvin
  • "T"=Tele
  • "S"=Strat
  • "J"=Jackson (Floyd)
  • "P"=P90 LPJr

I don't config presets for every guitar / output combination - just what makes sense for me across 4 main sounds (Fender, Vox, Marshall, Mesa/Modern) (ie my Fender Patches(4) are dialed in for Tele/Strat only with FR and CB2, my Mesa Patches(2) for Carvin only with FR and CB1, Marshall(3) for SG only with FR and CB1 or 2, and so on... I like kitchen sink presets with mainly bread and butter organic typ fx+ lots of switching options - not into per tone or per artist presets so much other than the unavoidable "specialty" oddball ones (ie U2, Boston). So I never have more than 32 presets max, 12 of those being specialty / not used much. To my ear, dialing in presets specifically for a given guitar + amp category + output type yields the best sounds - trying to combine those (or generate one by EQing the other) starts to introduce tonal compromises.
 
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JoKeR III said:
I'm in the camp of not creating presets for different guitars, I prefer the core amp tone to remain the same. While there are some amps that might sound 'better' with specific pickups, most amps will only require gain and volume tweaks to compensate for the output differences, i.e. single coils and humbuckers.


You could use a Control Switch and attach it to the Gain/Drive, Level and other parameter modifiers that you feel need adjustment.
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That's fine for home playing, or if you have minimal additional switching needs. If gigging and already need those 3 switches, it makes way more sense to just keep a second group or presets with those adjustments ready to roll if needed.
 
Will Chen said:
That's fine for home playing, or if you have minimal additional switching needs. If gigging and already need those 3 switches, it makes way more sense to just keep a second group or presets with those adjustments ready to roll if needed.
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I play live weekly and often need to use different guitars but still use the same amp/cab combination for tonal consistency. I also use guitars that don't have a large disparity in output for a given set.

The Control Switch suggestion is just that, a suggestion. If it doesn't work in someone's workflow, don't use it. If I have to change guitars during a song, I'll use a Control Switch to quickly apply the tweaks to compensate for the difference if necessary. If I know a song requires a different guitar and the difference is noticeable, I'll make the tweaks and save as a new preset before the gig.

I use a moderate number of switches in each preset but there is always one that is available in a layout/view that could have a Control Switch added to at least its Hold function. All depends upon how many things you want or need to tweak and how convenient you want to make the adjustments.
 
I work with 1 preset per song, with a stable of about 80 songs/presets for live use. My approach is to use guitars with the same pickups live. I use a selection of guitars, all different, but with the same pickups. So I get a consistent sound live no matter which guitar I use. Those that don't, I enjoy at home or even at rehearsal. I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but for me it's the best solution.
 
willhutch said:
OP here....I don't need the guitars to sound the same, just good. When I switched from a strat type to a Les Paul type guitar, I didn't like my lead tone. More specifically, the contrast between the lead and clean rhythm tone wasn't as distinct as I programmed them to be on my strat.

I don't change guitars for different songs. I change if I break a string or if I just feel like spreading the love.

Ill try global performance controls first. That would mimic the changes I'd make to an amp if I swapped guitars. A 2nd batch of optimized presets seems easy enough. This, I suspect, would be the way to go if I swapped to a semi hollow body guitar.

Keep the suggestions coming!
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I personally run different presets, but if I wanted one preset that could handle all of my guitars, I would put an eq or filter block as the first thing in line and set the channels with level/ eq combinations that make sense with your different guitars. Set it to scene ignore and get a way to trigger it (external switch?)
 
666was999 said:
An external 10bd eq like the MXR KFK can solve most of the problem in a live situation. Though I prefer to not needing any additional stomps, cables and wall warts lying around.
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Graphic EQ is available as a block with 10 band option. Put it after the input and switch on/off/change channels just like any other block via switches.
 
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