Clever ideas abondoned

[Brian Coonan]

I played in a classic rock cover band when I first got my II . I had a preset per song

I had an originals metal band afterwards with the III and I think I had about 5 presets.

Now in my Pearl Jam tribute I just have one live preset on my FM9.

I thought having a preset-per-song would work for me too, but since no band could ever stick to a consistent set list, I'd be clicking all over the place. I used the set list feature for a bit too - great feature but didn't really work for me at the time although I do want to revisit it. I essentially use 3 now that will get me through a whole night, with the exception of a couple that have the VC in them due to the key we're playing them in.

 

[WbbS]

I had an FM3, I tough it was a clever idea to upgrade to Axe Fx III Mk2 Turbo.

It’s 2 years I’m still on the same preset I made for the FM3. It just sounds awesome.

 

[JoKeR III]

Not a clever idea, but I bought the Axe III knowing I would be using two amps in every preset. I can't recall the last time I used a dual amp preset.

 

[fcs101]

I had an FM3, I tough it was a clever idea to upgrade to Axe Fx III Mk2 Turbo.

It’s 2 years I’m still on the same preset I made for the FM3. It just sounds awesome.

The FM3 is a beast. IMHO, it can handle the vast majority of work people may need.

 

[scarbodave]

Not a clever idea, but I bought the Axe III knowing I would be using two amps in every preset. I can't recall the last time I used a dual amp preset.

This was also a expectation I had. I have just one dual-amp Preset with the Super Reverb and the ability to add in a Marshall 2203 to give it just a little edge. All my other Presets are single Amp.

 

[Dave Merrill]

This was also a expectation I had. I have just one dual-amp Preset with the Super Reverb and the ability to add in a Marshall 2203 to give it just a little edge. All my other Presets are single Amp.

Most of my presets have two amps, but they're not used at the same time almost ever, just separately in different scenes.

 

[TG3K]

I tried a volume pedal scheme that would go from 0-100% volume in about 2/3 travel. Then a short dead zone and if I floored it a 3 db boost would kick in for solos. I made it work but in practice it sucked. So now I have boost on a switch.

I've settled on having a volume pedal, but also having a separate variable (up to 4 dB) boost pedal next to it. I use the volume pedal for swells and as a mute between songs (especially when switching guitars, which I do often during a gig) and the boost pedal is more of a blower switch for solos or quick little fills.

I can't imagine having a Preset for each song but I know there are many who prefer that. I am curious...what was it that moved you away from a Preset per song? Maintenance of all the Presets during firmware upgrades? Switching Presets every song when playing live? Other?

Since I play in a cover band doing a pretty wide variety of material and I'm using 4 or 5 different styles of guitars, the preset-per-song route is what works best for me. We stick to a planned setlist for each gig and I use the Songs/Setlist feature in my Axe-Fx to call them up in the right order, so switching presets between songs involves a single press of an external footswitch to go to the next song. It's a pain getting everything leveled after firmware updates that affect the amp models, but I've gotten pretty fast at the process over the years.

 

[craiguitar]

I can't imagine having a Preset for each song but I know there are many who prefer that. I am curious...what was it that moved you away from a Preset per song? Maintenance of all the Presets during firmware upgrades? Switching Presets every song when playing live? Other?

I still use a preset per song in most cases (for my cover band). There are a few exceptions where certain more basic presets will do multiple songs. For the most part, a preset will be specfic to a song in that I will be able to scroll through the scenes relating to sections of that song. Also I use the setlists function to cycle through the setlist easily. This way there is very little tapdancing going on between songs.
Firmware updates rarely cause too much reprogramming, but ther have been the 'major' updates that required me to go through all 100+ of them all and spend some time tweaking.

 

[scarbodave]

I had an FM3, I tough it was a clever idea to upgrade to Axe Fx III Mk2 Turbo.

It’s 2 years I’m still on the same preset I made for the FM3. It just sounds awesome.

I was looking to get a FM9 originally, but I got tired of being on the waitlist and decided to get an AxeFXIII instead. I'm pretty sure an FM3 would manage all of my Presets, but I didn't know that then and really thought that features like dual-amps would be something I would use alot. I'm not at all sorry that I have the AxeFXIII, but it is overkill for me.