How do you change from a clean preset to a high gain preset? (amp x/y and cab x/y)?
It's not perfect, but if you pick an amp that can clean up well at low gains but can scream when cranked (or boosted), you can get a lot of range. Plexi style amps are really good here, but I've even had a passable clean tone from a Friedman BE model which is a pretty good amount of gain. I've also added a graphic EQ block to scoop the mids and boost the highs a bit for the clean tone.
Use scene controllers to adjust the amp gain (see the video above), then in the output mixer you can adjust individual scene outputs to taste. I also like to assign the reveb mix to scene controller two.
So I have a patch that looks like this:
Drive -> Amp -> EQ -> Cab -> Chorus -> Pitch -> Delay -> Reverb
Drive is a TS-808 style with lower gain and a little higher level
Amp is a Plexi style
EQ is set to scoop the mids a bit and boost the high end
Chorus is chorus
Pitch is the detune function to give that 80's double sound
Delay is a 1/4 note tap analog or whatever for leads
Reverb is a studio reverb mix
SC1 is amp gain
SC2 is reverb mix
Scene 1 - SC1 15%, SC2 15%, EQ and Chorus on
Scene 2 - SC1 30%, SC2 10%, no effects
Scene 3 - SC1 50%, SC2 10%, Pitch on
Scene 4 - SC1 55%, SC2 15%, Drive, Pitch, Delay on
S1 is my clean tone
S2 is my crunchy tone
S3 is my high gain tone
S4 is my lead tone
Map S1-S4 to the bottom four footswitches and map say Drive, Chorus, Pitch, Delay to the top four.
For all intents and purposes, switching is gapless and you can have spillover on the delay and reverb which is cool.
Check the video posted above to see how to do it in Axe Edit. I'm teaching myself to do it on the unit itself which is clunky of course but useful to know.