Axe and MFC-101 problem

andyp13

andyp13

Power User
Wondered if this has happened to anyone else, gigging lastnight and my MFC-101/Axe setup when changing a preset the MCF names went off the screen showing the numbers only, it then froze on scene 1 and I had to switch the Axe off and bock on again in mid song. I also found when paging up/down presets - say from 09 to 01, if I hold my foot down it races through the preset numbers and when I take my foot of its only gone to 08 or 07, sometimes it will jump to a much higher number such as 80?
I am really conserned about the reliability of this setup, I really can't afford to be rebooting mid song or having to page down presets and release my foot on every preset page going down (or up). I'm very concerned, I replaced my TC G-system for this setup and am finding it to be a little unreliable - I love the effects sound over the TC but the TC G-sys was solid and reliable.

My setup is - Axe FX XL, MFC-101, Matrix gt800, two 1x12 cabs.
 
Probably isn't a bug. More likely a faulty cable or hardware failure.
Latest firmware (3.08) on MFC?
 
yek said:
Probably isn't a bug. More likely a faulty cable or hardware failure.
Latest firmware (3.08) on MFC?
Click to expand...

The Axe is on the latest firmware, the MFC-101 is not on the very latest as its only improved the looper issue and I don't use the looper (needs more memory for longer loops to be useful).
I'm using the Fastlink connection, I have a few spare mic cables, I will try one of them and see if it helps.
 
Same thing happens to me about 4 weeks ago. Had to reboot the Axe-Fx on stage in the middle of a song. It was on the last firmware 17. Never happened before and hopefully never again.
 
I also worry about its reliability. Everything is fine at home but for some reason as soon as I take it somewhere else, gremlins get into it. No way I can afford a backup unit. Bringing my head and cab as backup completely defeats the purpose of downsizing. What is a good backup ? Sans amp ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
shayne202 said:
I also worry about its reliability. Everything is fine at home but for some reason as soon as I take it somewhere else, gremlins get into it. No way I can afford a backup unit. Bringing my head and cab as backup completely defeats the purpose of downsizing. What is a good backup ? Sans amp ?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I also think I will need to take my boogie combo as a back up
 
Wondering if there is anything in common with the folks who have experienced this?

It has happened a couple of times. Mostly at home when I'm prepping a setlist. Once at practice but never live...TG. NEVER happened when i was using a FCB1010. In my case it's always been when switching presets.

I'm running...
Axe II mk II MFC out
-> XA-1
-> FASLINK in to MFC-101 mk III

(Hope that discussing getter will give us better insight in describing the issue to FAS support)

sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk



<<UPDATE>>

Also, I'm running in SET mode with a bank size of 0.

The problems occurred with FW 17.x. Haven't hit it with FW 18.x (yet). But I'm a little gun shy and no longer try and change presets so rapidly.
 
Last edited:
More than likely its your network cable

i had the same issue twice. Both times it was the network cable running to the faslinks. My solutions was a 6 inch network cable on both faslinks they have them on the home audio isle at lowes for 6.95 each. Very heavy duty cables. I've had them for a year with no more issues.
Another thing to do if that happens live, turn off the axe fx unplug both network and xlr from faslinks , plug them back in then reboot axe fx. Sometimes the cables don't make a solid connection.


DTownSMR said:
Wondering if there is anything in common with the folks who have experienced this?

It has happened a couple of times. Mostly at home when I'm prepping a setlist. Once at practice but never live...TG. NEVER happened when i was using a FCB1010. In my case it's always been when switching presets.

I'm running...
Axe II mk II MFC out
-> XA-1
-> FASLINK in to MFC-101 mk III


(Hope that discussing getter will give us better insight in describing the issue to FAS support)

sent from Samsung S4 via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
keithguitarfan said:
i had the same issue twice. Both times it was the network cable running to the faslinks. My solutions was a 6 inch network cable on both faslinks they have them on the home audio isle at lowes for 6.95 each. Very heavy duty cables. I've had them for a year with no more issues.
Another thing to do if that happens live, turn off the axe fx unplug both network and xlr from faslinks , plug them back in then reboot axe fx. Sometimes the cables don't make a solid connection.
Click to expand...

Not to split hairs, but there shouldn't be a network cable running to the FASlinks. FASlinks are XLR cables; the network cables use the CAT5 ports. But I agree with your assessment; it's likely the CAT5 cable.
 
mbrown3 said:
Not to split hairs, but there shouldn't be a network cable running to the FASlinks. FASlinks are XLR cables; the network cables use the CAT5 ports. But I agree with your assessment; it's likely the CAT5 cable.
Click to expand...

the XA-1 has CAT-5 on one end and XLR on the other. It's what II mk II users use to connect the MFC via FASLINK.


Certainly while a cable connection issue is theoretically possible if the issues were happening on startup or shortly thereafter, but in my case the setup is working fine some time before the hang occurs. Not typically a faulty connection scenario. I'll edit my post to include more info but in my case it always happened when pressing up (or down) in rapid succession. Seems more like a timing issue to me. (especially given how flaky the MFC acts when it connected, via FAS, to the axe and also connected via MIDI to a computer for the editor)
 
DTownSMR said:
the XA-1 has CAT-5 on one end and XLR on the other. It's what II mk II users use to connect the MFC via FASLINK.


Certainly while a cable connection issue is theoretically possible if the issues were happening on startup or shortly thereafter, but in my case the setup is working fine some time before the hang occurs. Not typically a faulty connection scenario. I'll edit my post to include more info but in my case it always happened when pressing up (or down) in rapid succession. Seems more like a timing issue to me. (especially given how flaky the MFC acts when it connected, via FAS, to the axe and also connected via MIDI to a computer for the editor)
Click to expand...

Ah, I gotcha. Didn't realize you were using an adapter.
 
I had a few little gremlins here and there on Cat 5 but never had an issue since running 7pin MIDI.
 
Iv been using the FASlink cable, maybe I should get a CAT6 cable and try that, see if its any more reliable, is there any differences between using CAT5 of XLR? or do they do the same thing?
 
Just tried a CAT5 cable and its exactly the same,
If for instance i am on preset 0 and I hold my foot down on the + (up) switch the numbers go very quickly but keep jumping back to 0, when I take my foot off its on preset 3. if i repeat this (even keeping my foot on the up switch for a long time, when i take it off it will be on preset 5, then 7, and it just keeps going up in two's? It is exactly the same when I page down (it goes down in two's)
This is obviously a fault.
There is no way I could go from say preset 1 to preset 10 within a song, as I have to slowly go up one preset at a time, releasing my foot every preset, it would take about a minute or more to do this?????
and like I said its the same with both Faslink or CAT5 cable. then eventually it will all go blank and I will have to reboot (mid song) this has happened to me three times now - which is three times to many, really worried about the reliability.
 
andyp13 said:
Just tried a CAT5 cable and its exactly the same,
If for instance i am on preset 0 and I hold my foot down on the + (up) switch the numbers go very quickly but keep jumping back to 0, when I take my foot off its on preset 3. if i repeat this (even keeping my foot on the up switch for a long time, when i take it off it will be on preset 5, then 7, and it just keeps going up in two's? It is exactly the same when I page down (it goes down in two's)
This is obviously a fault.
There is no way I could go from say preset 1 to preset 10 within a song, as I have to slowly go up one preset at a time, releasing my foot every preset, it would take about a minute or more to do this?????
and like I said its the same with both Faslink or CAT5 cable. then eventually it will all go blank and I will have to reboot (mid song) this has happened to me three times now - which is three times to many, really worried about the reliability.
Click to expand...

I've noticed this issue too, only when holding down the up/down buttons. I just figured it was the way the system works, that you have to go one by one until they are loaded before you can go to the next one. Is that not how it's supposed to work?

I set my Axe (with the preset manager) and MFC up so that preset one is song 1, preset 2 is song 2, and so forth, so I only ever need to go up or down one at a time anyway. But if the MFC is supposed to be able to fast scroll by holding down the down/up buttons, then mine isn't able to do this either.
 
I can't do song 1, song 2 etc... a lot of my gigs are dep work or session work, so many times I don't know what I'm playing in until I get there, even until I turn the page... as a result I need to get to sounds quickly, this unfortunately is proving not to be possible with the MFC
 
andyp13 said:
I can't do song 1, song 2 etc... a lot of my gigs are dep work or session work, so many times I don't know what I'm playing in until I get there, even until I turn the page... as a result I need to get to sounds quickly, this unfortunately is proving not to be possible with the MFC
Click to expand...

Hmm...I do some session work too, but on a session I find it a lot easier, because I don't have to quickly move between sounds the way I do when live. The song setup works great for live; in sessions I have the opportunity to change settings. Rarely do I need to switch between entire presets in the middle of a track. But (obviously) everyone's need is different, and I get what you're saying.

So the question, I guess is...is this normal behavior for the MFC? I assumed that it was, but if it's supposed to allow quick preset changes by holding down the up/down buttons, then mine is malfunctioning as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom