First Axe-Fx III Gig - Whole Band Direct

Genghis

Genghis

Power User
Been using Fractal stuff since my Ultra many years back for studio stuff. Just started doing a live band a couple of months ago and we had our first gig. Everyone was direct, except for drums. Bass player had a very small rig onstage, but we took the line out into the PA as well.

We had a bit too much of a PA for the place, with some Peavey 15" mains and some Rockville 18" subs, powered by some old school heavy power amps. (Not gonna bring that rack for live again. LOL) Used a couple of side fill speakers with some borrowed Mackie powered wedges up front. No other monitoring for guitars.

I used my Axe-FX III for regular guitar, piezo, and mixing in a synth module that I trigger from my GR55. It worked extremely well. Main adjustment I need to make myself, is to add a hi-pass filter for the organ sound I use for Riders on the Storm. The bass was overwhelming from the organ. Guitar tones are by far the best I have ever had on stage. Our other guitarist uses an analog pedalboard with a cab sim pedal, and gets a great sound as well, although much simpler to manage. We call him Captain Analog, and I'm Dr. Digital.

The routing on the Axe-FX III makes this rig almost like having your own personal sound man, and I also have one of those Mackie boards that you control from the iPad, so I could make adjustments as needed to the overall mix. I'm going to set that up on our other guitarists iPad as well to assist a bit with that. I don't think we'll have volume wars, as we both know how to turn down for rhythms and up for leads to fit in the mix.

We have a few adjustments to make, but I was pretty stoked to see how well our setup works for live. Comments from friends in the crowd were that we sounded good in the first set, but better in the second after I made a few small mix tweaks. For next time:
  1. We'll place the speakers where we need them, and the light stands around them. I could hear both side fills where I was, but on the other side, our guitar and bass player were too far forward ahead of them and didn't hear them well.
  2. Leave the subs and heavy rack at home, unless we play a much larger venue. The rack with the mixer has a lightweight power amp that we used for sidefill this time. It is powerful enough for the two mains, so we'll use that next time.
  3. I'm getting a couple of EV 12" speakers that can be used up front for monitors in trade for my AX8. (It also pays what I owe my buddy on that Mackie board.) If needed I'll grab one or two even more compact powered monitors, maybe one for near the drummer, and another for middle front for vocals.
All in all, I'm very happy with how things turned out. Most of us know others in the local music community, and many showed up to support us and check out the new thing in town. It was a pizza parlor/bar, and basically every table was reserved and there were plenty of people standing. Crowd seemed to enjoy it, and several people I know commented that it was loud enough to be heard, but still carry on a conversation with the person next to you without having to yell. So, not dinner party quiet, but manageable bar levels. Didn't miss the amp onstage at all. :)
 
Genghis said:
Been using Fractal stuff since my Ultra many years back for studio stuff. Just started doing a live band a couple of months ago and we had our first gig. Everyone was direct, except for drums. Bass player had a very small rig onstage, but we took the line out into the PA as well.

We had a bit too much of a PA for the place, with some Peavey 15" mains and some Rockville 18" subs, powered by some old school heavy power amps. (Not gonna bring that rack for live again. LOL) Used a couple of side fill speakers with some borrowed Mackie powered wedges up front. No other monitoring for guitars.

I used my Axe-FX III for regular guitar, piezo, and mixing in a synth module that I trigger from my GR55. It worked extremely well. Main adjustment I need to make myself, is to add a hi-pass filter for the organ sound I use for Riders on the Storm. The bass was overwhelming from the organ. Guitar tones are by far the best I have ever had on stage. Our other guitarist uses an analog pedalboard with a cab sim pedal, and gets a great sound as well, although much simpler to manage. We call him Captain Analog, and I'm Dr. Digital.

The routing on the Axe-FX III makes this rig almost like having your own personal sound man, and I also have one of those Mackie boards that you control from the iPad, so I could make adjustments as needed to the overall mix. I'm going to set that up on our other guitarists iPad as well to assist a bit with that. I don't think we'll have volume wars, as we both know how to turn down for rhythms and up for leads to fit in the mix.

We have a few adjustments to make, but I was pretty stoked to see how well our setup works for live. Comments from friends in the crowd were that we sounded good in the first set, but better in the second after I made a few small mix tweaks. For next time:
  1. We'll place the speakers where we need them, and the light stands around them. I could hear both side fills where I was, but on the other side, our guitar and bass player were too far forward ahead of them and didn't hear them well.
  2. Leave the subs and heavy rack at home, unless we play a much larger venue. The rack with the mixer has a lightweight power amp that we used for sidefill this time. It is powerful enough for the two mains, so we'll use that next time.
  3. I'm getting a couple of EV 12" speakers that can be used up front for monitors in trade for my AX8. (It also pays what I owe my buddy on that Mackie board.) If needed I'll grab one or two even more compact powered monitors, maybe one for near the drummer, and another for middle front for vocals.
All in all, I'm very happy with how things turned out. Most of us know others in the local music community, and many showed up to support us and check out the new thing in town. It was a pizza parlor/bar, and basically every table was reserved and there were plenty of people standing. Crowd seemed to enjoy it, and several people I know commented that it was loud enough to be heard, but still carry on a conversation with the person next to you without having to yell. So, not dinner party quiet, but manageable bar levels. Didn't miss the amp onstage at all. :)
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Sounds like you had a really good gig. I like having a an amp behind me for sound on stage and also running a line to the foh.. I like to use 12s and 15s for my sound live and the same for the house doesn’t have to be loud to get a great sound but I do like to turn it up. We use the the bigger cabinets on our outdoor concerts..

Thanks for sharing :)
 
We are all direct, Im on axe 3 other guitarplayer uses headway preamp for the acoustic and moor for electric, bassplayer no effect straight in, drummer uses either Handsonic or spd all run into either our Allen heath QU24 or Behringer XR18 no sidefill just 4 monitors and the front is QSC K12 with Turbosound 15" bottom
 
Sounds like a great gig! Glad it went well. I have my first gig with my III this Thursday at the House of Blues in Houston. Excited and a little nervous playing with a new rig.:eek:
 
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