Axe Fx Live Gig ?

markmusicman

Experienced
I was just wondering do most Axe Fx users power it down between sets? I was just interested in what most users on here have been doing. I have never used mine in a live situation yet and am looking for some tips.
Thanks
 
I leave it powered on but with the volume off. If I turn off without first muting the channel at the desk then the PA will bang. Also, it's one less thing to remember when we go back on.
 
I would never, ever, ever advise powering down between sets. Absolutely no reason too this and you risk a whole shit ton of problems. Mainly your FOH/monitors or personal monitors being shredded by you power cycling and them not being muted by the sound guy, or if your band runs them yourself. Also, same thing with turning the unit on. You have to make sure you're cab is muted, the FOH etc etc is muted when you power back on. Lots of guys unmute when the band walks back on stage. You'll scare the hell out of everyone with a 100dB pop.
In short, never power anything off that you couldn't live with it not turning back on as well. Most problems with gear happen on power cycling.

Practical answer: engage tuner mute. I finish the set, I hit tuner on my midi pedal (this mutes input) before I even walk towards the side of the stage - do this BEFORE you put your guitar in your stand. As I've had plenty of times taking the guitar off and I catch the jack and get a THUMP thru the rig, or when putting it into the coffin case the vol knob gets turned and you have noise screaming out at stage volume, or again jack gets hit or bumped, shit always happens live. Don't rely on sound guys, rely on yourself - they will always fuck you eventually.
 
Oh, and don't turn it down either. Once you have the mix the way you want onstage the last thing you want to do is ruin it by turing the volume off and trying to find it visually - which won't happen since the pots have no marking or detents - you eyeball it kinda then use your ear. And at stage volume a little can be the difference between deafening and ok. So I never dump my volume once I've found it. Nightmare.
 
Most problems with gear happen on power cycling.

Absolutely. Never tempt fate. If it's happy, let it live, or it'll bite you in the ass.

Computers are the same way. I've had units run for years, then the first time I shut them down to do some sort of maintenance or upgrade, upon power-up the damned thing wants new fans, or a new video card, or something.
 
I keep the output knob on the front panel all the way up, so I never have to worry about where it's set. My volume comes from either my Matrix Amp (rarely need to touch it) or the volume on my rack compressor (which is nicely marked w/ db levels so it's easy to see where I am... and I rarely have to change that either).

Between sets, I just kick my volume pedal down to 0...
 
I leave it on the tuner... That keeps me from starting the next set without tuning :)

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrilliant Jim! :encouragement:

Guitar Jim has just schooled us on how to mute our rigs without changing our finely tweaked front panel output setting and or tweaked volume pedal settings. :)

Not that volume tweaks are difficult, but its just one more time saver IMHO. :D
 
My band doesn't take breaks on our Friday and Saturday gigs. On Thursdays, our two breaks are only ten minutes long. So the Axe stays on.
 
Between sets, I just kick my volume pedal down to 0...
This. Best solution.

I don't turn down the output 1 volume, because I tend to forget I did that and then have that "why is there no sound?!" situation on stage. ;)
And once the panic mode starts, there's no easy calming down again... So whatever you do: make sure you instantly see it when you go back up.
 
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