Axe-FX tones disappear in live band setting? What am I doing wrong?

Seattle_Ray

Seattle_Ray

Member
Hi All,

First a brief background for context. For the past 20+ years I've primarily been a bass player. I know how to get great tone that can translate to a live environment with my bass rig, but I'm having trouble getting acceptable results with my guitar rig. I'm not new to playing guitar, but am new to playing it in a live band situation.

My rig consists of James Tyler Variax, Axe-FX 2, RCF monitor (or Ultimate Ear IEM's depending on the gig).

The problem I'm having is that the tones that I'm getting out of the AFX sound great when I'm practicing alone in my rehearsal space, or even when I record them. However, once I start playing in the live environment all of those great overdriven tones immediately get buried in the stage wash sound. From what I've been told by friends it sounds great out front. I can hear the clean sounds reasonably ok, but anything that's overdriven or distorted just fades out unless I just absolutely crank my monitor (which makes me worry about destroying my monitor and my ears).

I thought a good solution would be to have the band use in ear monitors. But again as soon as I start playing with the whole band the sound of my guitar quickly disappears. I thought that perhaps some of the cause is that the other guitar player is using distorted/overdriven sounds and that it's interfering with my ability to hear my own sounds. But there has to be a lot of bands with 2 or more overdriven guitar players.

I'm kind of a newb as a live guitar player, so any help/insight/advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks
Ray
 
Running stereo in ears solved this same problem for me. I pan the other guitar slightly to one side and my guitar shines right through.
If you're not already running in stereo I highly recommend it
 
Thanks Anthony,

That's a good idea. Alas I only have the ability to do mono IEM's at the moment, but that might change soon.
 
Hey there great question!!! You know the Axe Fx will cut through and you should be able to hear it perfectly. It all comes down to how you have things eq.
In a live setting you need to make sure that you are set so you are not competing with frequencies. My recommendation would be to dial in your settings with the band. A big mistake people make IMO is setting their eqs up alone. When you do that you will tend to compensate for frequencies you are not hearing. The Low end is for the bass and the kick. =)

Just my 2 cents

-Cat
 
If things sound great like you said in the FOH mix then my guess is that your EQ is fine or pretty close to it. On stage band mixes and stage volume is not easy to get around. I think acoustic drum volume plays a big part in this. That's why I like the Inears route. It really saved my hearing overall and allows me to dial my mix the way I like it. Adding a little more mids than normal definitely helps with slicing thought that mix. More mids can really make it sound boxy when listening to it on its own but in a mix it will sit very nicely.
 
Share a preset and I will have a look/listen to it and offer some suggestions. If you are not comfortable doing that, then PM me and do it privately.
 
First mistake of a noob guitarist is to crank the bass and cut the mids. Sounds mighty at home alone but will instantly disappear once blended with other instruments. The problem will be that you need to crank your amp so loud to hear definition that you won't hear other instruments.
A guitar tone solo'd will sound somewhat thin and cutting, BUT will sound fantasic in a mix. Dial your bass down and your mids up.
 
Make your patches sizzling in the top end :) As you said, they sound fine on their own, and that's where the problem starts. It's usually how guitarists tend to tweak their sound, they don't want it to get harsh. My advice: try out your patches with Pete Thorn's IR, and you'll get a pretty good impression of where the bar is set, in regards to different frequencies. They may sound VERY harsh, if your ear is used to dark sounding or warm patches, but trust me.. they cut through the mix! :)
 
Ray - given that you are a bassist with experience could it be that you are trying to EQ the guitar from a bassist's perspective..
and maybe over scooping the mids???

when you scoop mids for guitar, it's only really the low-mids around the 500Hz band [to 'deepen' the bass rather than actually boost it]..
also, if you push the lows too strongly, you'll freq mask with the bass and basically either vanish or dominate.. but never 'sit right'
 
Yes the above responses fairly well sum up the problem. Presets that sound pretty and 'right' in a studio or at home will generally dissapear off the edge of the stage in a live setting. Your presets, (even your cleans) need to sound a lot more harsh and middle-y in order to cut through a live mix. I was in a similar position when I made my first Axe-Fx presets. You can get the gain's and general tones about right, but the EQ is what you need to look at. After a while you'll develop a sixth sense about what will or won't cut through properly.
 
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