Acoustic guitars

C

calvin

Member
Hi everyone,

Complete newbie to these forums, this is my first post, so be kind.

I'm a guitar tech that's just started working with a band that have recently made the switch to Axe Fx II. So far so good, learning them pretty well and things are cool.

The band (who so far have only used electric guitars) also want to play a song a night with an acoustic guitar each. Wanted to ask you guys on here if any of you have done this, used the Fractals for electrics and acoustics through the same output in to the PA direct, there are no power amps or cabs to deal with. FOH and monitors only take one line per guy, so sending Electric out of one side and Acoustic out of the other isn't an option, sadly.

If it's possible, does anyone have any nice patches they'd recommend for a Gibson acoustic, fairly dry but warm sounding, that would have a comparable output level to an electric guitar patch?

Sorry for a million questions and sounding like an idiot, but i appreciate the advice from people that know more about this side of things than me.

thanks!

calvin
 
PEQ, Multiband compressor, Filter block with level set to 5.00. Add reverb or whatever to your taste. Should get you started.
 
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Chris, for your acoustic gigs, do you do this normally with your piezo equipped Majesty, or an actual acoustic? Curious as I have similar options and looking for a good acoustic tone through our band's small club PA.
 
i've done it with both. i can't suggest how to EQ it because it depends on your guitar. the MBC with default settings works fine, and simply using the Level controls in each of the 3 bands helps you balance the tone.
 
I use acoustic a lot. Mixer block,PEQ, a little delay...absolutely huge. Electric thru front input panned left acoustic thru rear input-mixer block panned right.
 
I have used an Ibanez, a handmade Marler and a couple of Martins thru my Ultra with exact same presets as electric. My goto was one called Subway Verb with the reverb cut back a bit. I eventually duplicated the preset so that I could slightly alter it in volume and EQ. You can hear it here live.

 
So they will be using acoustic guitars?
I'll upload the preset for my Gibson J-45 later today.
 
There are some good IRs for acoustic guitar, someone once shared MAMA BEAR IRs. They work great on piezo acoustics. Makes them more warm and natural sounding.
 
Hey Calvin,
i use acoustic now for acoustic set, works great. I use front guitar input but you can also keep that for just electric, and plug acoustic at the back (right input) and select in the blocks which input you wanna use. This way you can very easily switch guitars.

If you're passing through London one of these days i can show you a few tricks.
 
yek said:
So they will be using acoustic guitars?
I'll upload the preset for my Gibson J-45 later today.
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thanks!
the fractals are in the rack, with all the cabling from the radios, switches and splitter in line, so i don't want to use different inputs for each guitar. I want to use the same in and out, but ensure that my acoustic guitar (actual acoustic, not a piezo) is of similar volume and audio standard to my tried and tested electric guitar patches, as they'll be coming down the same XLR lines for FOH/Ears.

Just wanted to know that it was possible, i know the rest is a matter of tweaking and working with the patches, but wondered if anyone could see a reason why it wouldn't work.

Nice to be part of this forum, thanks for making me feel welcomed. I'm gonna have a bunch more questions as i get to know the Fractals better.
 
calvin said:
Wanted to ask you guys on here if any of you have done this, used the Fractals for electrics and acoustics through the same output in to the PA direct.
thanks!calvin
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I've had great success with electric input 1 front and acoustic input 2 rear. For acoustic patches you put an FXL block first in signal chain, then COMP, GEQ and PEQ blocks to taste before time based effects, preferably in parallel. Dial in your EQs at various sound checks to learn most-common trouble frequencies and build a "works 90% of the time" eq unique to each player's acoustic.

To match electric output, crank up your input 2 input on the I/O page, and bring up the final output in layout page. Any gain after than can come from the blocks. You shouldn't have any problems finding enough gain.

This setup requires either separate wireless or cabling to the acoustic. Benefits are the acoustic can be "live" all the time because input2 in not live on electric guitar patches, and electric guitar gets routed out when you go to acoustic patch. it's very convenient and effective for changing guitars as quickly as possible.

Additional benefit is if the acoustic has transducer and internal mic, you can route and process each signal independently in the axe-fx and dial a really, really good acoustic tone. That's a whole different preset approach, but I use it and love it.

Or....you can tone match a great recording of acoustic and if electrics have piezo, you can tone match the electric and then there's no need to deal with acoustics or dialing out acoustic feedback per venue. Compromise is that doesn't feel the same on electric, and it doesn't match up visually, but sometimes convenience is worth it. Rush and other acts do this.
 
solo-act said:
I've had great success with electric input 1 front and acoustic input 2 rear. For acoustic patches you put an FXL block first in signal chain, then COMP, GEQ and PEQ blocks to taste before time based effects, preferably in parallel. Dial in your EQs at various sound checks to learn most-common trouble frequencies and build a "works 90% of the time" eq unique to each player's acoustic.

To match electric output, crank up your input 2 input on the I/O page, and bring up the final output in layout page. Any gain after than can come from the blocks. You shouldn't have any problems finding enough gain.

This setup requires either separate wireless or cabling to the acoustic. Benefits are the acoustic can be "live" all the time because input2 in not live on electric guitar patches, and electric guitar gets routed out when you go to acoustic patch. it's very convenient and effective for changing guitars as quickly as possible.
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Thanks for the reply.
I will need to use the same input. In my rack, I have two wireless systems per guy (plus an emergency cable) in to a selector switch that sends the signal to the Fractal, so I want to use the same input, and output ideally. That way, our monitor guy and FOH is getting everything down the same channels.

If I need to adjust output volume for the acoustic guitar patch, is that possible just through the patch settings?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, I really appreciate your advice. I don't have an Axe FX of my own to work through this stuff, I just have to do it as we tour, so I want to be as prepped as possible.
 
I start with a Comp (studio stock), then into a volume block to increase level by 10db, then tube amp (everything around 5, tweak the geq to your liking) level around 6db. Then I add a cab in parallel (stereo mode, two acoustic IRs). Then the chain continues with the Multiband compressor (increased or decreased level for certain bands). That alone is a good chain for acoustic tone, signal is compressed, then increased, then warmed up by the tube amp and livened by the cab in parallel. From there on you can add whatever time based fx or modulation you want. As for me, I run into ocassional chorus, a reverse delay with mix controlled by expression pedal (for crazy bowed-like reverse goodness). And at the end of the chain I run delay and reverb both parallel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
calvin said:
I want to use the same input, and output ideally. That way, our monitor guy and FOH is getting everything down the same channels.

If I need to adjust output volume for the acoustic guitar patch, is that possible just through the patch settings?
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With the front/rear approach it all goes down output 1 L/R. Sound guys get everything down same channels.

The acoustic patches will have their own controllable output that you can set and save per preset. Have fun!!
 
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