selta
Power User
Hey everyone,
Well, I'm still reeling from a show my "supergroup" band put on last night.
This band - Convergence - has been in the work for about a year and a half. I joined up in late October last year to complete the line up. We had our debut gig at the end of January, and played our second gig last night.
Normally, the place we played considers a draw of 50-60 a great night. They were expecting to get that at best, which normally their two barkeeps can handle pretty easily.
Doors opened at 8:30, and we went on at 9. Our band is kind of weird - even though we headline, we tend to like to go on first. We like the extra time for sound check and such. By 9:00pm, 90 people were packed in the place.
Anyway... our band is basically full in on Fractal Audio, of course. My guitarist is running an Ultra right now, but his AX8 shows up on Wednesday. My wife (violin / vocals) and I (bass) run Axe-Fx II and AX8. I was going to run the AX8 last night, but ended up making a two amp preset Friday that I really wanted to run, so we made a last minute change to have me in the Axe-Fx II and her in the AX8.
Load-in was set for 7pm, but a bunch of us showed up at 6pm. This was planned, as I wanted to "show off" the Fractal Audio stuff to the other bands. So I sat down with three other guitarists and two other bass players and showed them both setups (Axe-Fx II + AX8 setups), let them hear the presets, and then even play their gear through it as well. I couple of the guys were initially very reserved about it, but I just let them fiddle and play around, and I have a feeling that soon, we may have a couple or few new FAS family members signing up here. They really liked the form factor of the AX8, and when I told them the price, they got visibly excited. One of them asked to use the AX8 in their set, but we ran out of time to dial in a preset, so we backed out of that idea.
Anyway, this has turned into a long-winded post now. I'm just completely blown away by FAS products and what we're able to achieve with these. I don't think I've ever gotten more compliments about my tone than when I switched over to the Axe-Fx II, and especially these past two gigs with Convergence. I always love talking gear, so when someone comes up and asks about "that little green screen" behind me, or the "big foot controller" (MFC-101), I get a giant grin on my face. Having half the band (hard to do keys, vox and drums in FAS gear xD) using Fracal gear is great. I'm really hoping to get my other band on board sooner than later.
Here's a couple of videos from our first show back in late January. At this time, bass and violin were running into my Axe-Fx II. The AX8 has made it such that each instrument has it's own rig now, which has allowed both of us to do a bit more and expand our sounds and tones even farther. And in a fricking awesome package. I'm very tempted to get an AX8 myself and just keep the Axe-Fx II in the studio strictly for recording...
If anyone is in the Seattle area, my band will be opening for Otep next month @ Studio 7 (yes, our third gig is opening for a national...). Hit me up for info and tickets!
Well, I'm still reeling from a show my "supergroup" band put on last night.
This band - Convergence - has been in the work for about a year and a half. I joined up in late October last year to complete the line up. We had our debut gig at the end of January, and played our second gig last night.
Normally, the place we played considers a draw of 50-60 a great night. They were expecting to get that at best, which normally their two barkeeps can handle pretty easily.
Doors opened at 8:30, and we went on at 9. Our band is kind of weird - even though we headline, we tend to like to go on first. We like the extra time for sound check and such. By 9:00pm, 90 people were packed in the place.
Anyway... our band is basically full in on Fractal Audio, of course. My guitarist is running an Ultra right now, but his AX8 shows up on Wednesday. My wife (violin / vocals) and I (bass) run Axe-Fx II and AX8. I was going to run the AX8 last night, but ended up making a two amp preset Friday that I really wanted to run, so we made a last minute change to have me in the Axe-Fx II and her in the AX8.
Load-in was set for 7pm, but a bunch of us showed up at 6pm. This was planned, as I wanted to "show off" the Fractal Audio stuff to the other bands. So I sat down with three other guitarists and two other bass players and showed them both setups (Axe-Fx II + AX8 setups), let them hear the presets, and then even play their gear through it as well. I couple of the guys were initially very reserved about it, but I just let them fiddle and play around, and I have a feeling that soon, we may have a couple or few new FAS family members signing up here. They really liked the form factor of the AX8, and when I told them the price, they got visibly excited. One of them asked to use the AX8 in their set, but we ran out of time to dial in a preset, so we backed out of that idea.
Anyway, this has turned into a long-winded post now. I'm just completely blown away by FAS products and what we're able to achieve with these. I don't think I've ever gotten more compliments about my tone than when I switched over to the Axe-Fx II, and especially these past two gigs with Convergence. I always love talking gear, so when someone comes up and asks about "that little green screen" behind me, or the "big foot controller" (MFC-101), I get a giant grin on my face. Having half the band (hard to do keys, vox and drums in FAS gear xD) using Fracal gear is great. I'm really hoping to get my other band on board sooner than later.
Here's a couple of videos from our first show back in late January. At this time, bass and violin were running into my Axe-Fx II. The AX8 has made it such that each instrument has it's own rig now, which has allowed both of us to do a bit more and expand our sounds and tones even farther. And in a fricking awesome package. I'm very tempted to get an AX8 myself and just keep the Axe-Fx II in the studio strictly for recording...
If anyone is in the Seattle area, my band will be opening for Otep next month @ Studio 7 (yes, our third gig is opening for a national...). Hit me up for info and tickets!
