Cover band folks, how do you set up presets?

How do you set up your presets?

  • Kitchen sink preset

    Votes: 28 40.0%

  • Preset per song with different amp and cab

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Same amp and cab all night

    Votes: 16 22.9%

  • Other

    Votes: 14 20.0%
  • Total voters
    70
Ledvedder

Ledvedder

Experienced
I'm just curious. For the folks that play in cover bands, how do you set up your presets? Do you use different ones per song, or just ride all night with more of a "kitchen sink" preset? Do you use the same amp, same cab?

I'd also love to hear which amp models and cabs work for you.
 
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Kitchen sink with special FX per song. On my FM3; I just keep it on the one preset with the single "special fx" instance. I could get by with probably 3 of these for a 3/4 hour gig. Same amp, same cab. Always. Only sounds that really change frequently are in my guitar synth.
 
Flanger. For Barracuda and my "I don't own a talk box so here goes"on Living on a Prayer. I could use aa Rotary instance as well as a tremolo instance and cover all the things I'd need generally speaking.
 
I use presets, then I choose the closest one for the song. I have 5 rhythm tones ranging from clean to heavy, and 5 lead tones from country lead to high gain with fx. I use a 10 button MIDI pedal to switch, so I can chain 2 together and have one at each mic position.
 
JiveTurkey said:
Flanger. For Barracuda and my "I don't own a talk box so here goes"on Living on a Prayer. I could use aa Rotary instance as well as a tremolo instance and cover all the things I'd need generally speaking.
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What do you use for the talk box? We do Man In the Box and Prayer, but I've just used a wah. I've always wondered if there are better ways to do it.
 
Kitchen sink for myself in a country/southern/classic rock band. Ive tried the multiple preset approach and it just changed the sound too drastically and unless its something suuuuuuuper specific, nobody cares.
 
joshuakoth said:
I use presets, then I choose the closest one for the song. I have 5 rhythm tones ranging from clean to heavy, and 5 lead tones from country lead to high gain with fx. I use a 10 button MIDI pedal to switch, so I can chain 2 together and have one at each mic position.
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What midi pedal do you use?
 
Ledvedder said:
What do you use for the talk box? We do Man In the Box and Prayer, but I've just used a wah. I've always wondered if there are better ways to do it.
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I bought a preset from Moke years ago but when we added the song here recently; I couldn't find it. It was good for that purpose.

There were a few vids I watched with a fixed wah and formant(?) block that sounded good one minute and not good the next. I knew we did Barracuda regularly too so I just dialed up a slooooooooooow flanger and called it good for both songs. Does it sound like a talkbox? No. But it does add that same sort of ballpark 'movement' to the riff and it works for me.
 
I wouldn't count myself to the cover band folks, but I use one kitchen sink preset and reincarnations of it for special songs which need different effects or settings. I would do the same if I were in a cover band.
 
I guess I should have also asked what amp model everyone uses. I've been going back and forth between the 1959slp and the Dirty Shirley, trying to find what I like. I've been using @2112's LT-TVmix7 IR.
 
Ledvedder said:
I guess I should have also asked what amp model everyone uses. I've been going back and forth between the 1959slp and the Dirty Shirley, trying to find what I like. I've been using @2112's LT-TVmix7 IR.
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I use the ac30 brilliant with the OH Mesa trad IR for most everything. Then a Friedman BE with the same cab for heavier songs. Using the same IR keeps me in the same sonic "signature" at least.
 
Ledvedder said:
I'm just curious. For the folks that play in cover bands, how do you set up your presets? Do you use different ones per song, or just ride all night with more of a "kitchen sink" preset? Do you use the same amp, same cab?

I'd also love to hear which amp models and cabs work for you.
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I have fun trying to replicate the original guitar tones as closely as possible. I tend to group my presets into "similar" sounds, sometimes based on amp models, and then create one or more scenes for each song that uses that preset. Because the sounds are so disparate, I don't like to rely on a single preset for too many songs, so I can continue to dial things in for a specific tone without affecting other songs.

It ends up being a lot of presets, but it works for me.
 
I don't use an FM3 (axe-II XL user here) but I suppose your question is not platform dependent.

I use a distinct preset for every song. Even if two different songs need the same amp/cab and basic effects like delay and reverb, I'll still set up two presets even if only for the difference in tempo. One of the two songs might need dotted-eight delays, while the other might need quarter notes. I also use four expression pedals, three of which I try to use consistently across all my presets (post-amp/pre-effects volume, delay input gain, and the third one morphs between clean/rhythm and lead tones/gain/level). The fourth expression pedal is used for special effects (wah for Colin James, talk-box for prayer, etc.)

Each of my presets is a finely tuned specialty tool for a particular song.
 
When I bought my AX8 at the end of last year, I figured the best way to learn how to program it would be to make song-specific presets for my weekly gig (a live karaoke band with nearly 300 songs on our song list). While I got the hang of building presets, after two weeks I found myself with over 60 of 'em - which quickly became totally unmanageable in a live karaoke format where we work without a song list and don't know what song we're playing until we're about to count it off.

I got my FM3/FC6 about three weeks ago, and I've set up six different presets - one for each band I either play steadily with or sub in with (3 rock bands, a country band, an R&B band and a Neil Diamond tribute band). Basically I set them up with 3 clean scenes with different effects and 3 'hot' scenes with different stages of gain, rhythm, hotter rhythm and solo. By switching to the effects layout I can apply a boost or null filter (or both) to the clean scenes to kind of fill in the blanks between the clean and higher gain scenes for solos, and momentarily use a different effect on whichever scene I'm in. I use the same IR on each preset so I don't drive the poor sound guy crazy, and I love the '65 Bassguy Normal for clean tones. I use either the Marshall or Soldano models for the hotter tones.

I have two Fractal EV1 pedals on my board. I use one strictly as a volume pedal so I can lean into certain parts and pull back in verses, and the other as a wah/whammy or to control the rate of the rotary effect. I'm only scratching the surface of using the second expression pedal, and I figure I'll get more into that as I learn more about the FM3.

Having worked with the AX8's X/Y setup for amps and effects really helps me appreciate the FM3's 4 channel setup, and using OMG9 gives me a ton of switching mobility, which is really nice to have in a live situation. And using one preset per band is a whole lot easier to manage, and I find I can get in the neighborhood of an appropriate tone for whatever song I happen to be playing, and whatever band I happen to be gigging with.
 
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Vhalen50 said:
Kitchen sink for myself in a country/southern/classic rock band. Ive tried the multiple preset approach and it just changed the sound too drastically and unless its something suuuuuuuper specific, nobody cares.
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In the same kinda band myself. Would love a peak at what you are running your Kithcen Sink
 
makeitstop said:
When I bought my AX8 at the end of last year, I figured the best way to learn how to program it would be to make song-specific presets for my weekly gig (a live karaoke band with nearly 300 songs on our song list). While I got the hang of building presets, after two weeks I found myself with over 60 of 'em - which quickly became totally unmanageable in a live karaoke format where we work without a song list and don't know what song we're playing until we're about to count it off.
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I can see that being a problem for karaoke where you are working with a stream of requests. But for live playing, set lists make having a separate preset for each song easy to manage. That is unless you have a lead singer who likes calling audibles. I keep a list of my songs and presets with me for those situations.
 
I'm probably around a 65/35 of kitchen sink (currently dirty shirley, deluxe reverb, BE) with the rest being song specific. I always talk to the sounfman to see if there's anything I can change to make their lives easier. After all the recent you need to use the same IR all night posts, I started specifically asking if my changing presets through the night made it difficult and they all have said they all worked well, no issues.
 
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