Cover Band Set-up

Swabere

Inspired
Hello All!
I'm on Day three with my first Axe FX and I am loving it. I just ordered the MFC-101 and will be using it for cover bands. My intent is to program scenes for each song so I dont have to worry about boosts and flicking drive pedals on and off. Both bands has 60+ songs and I could never remember the exact pedals for all. I would LOVE suggestions what to focus on setting up. I was thinking of having the top row for Tuner and Tempo, Next down for Presets 1-5. next down Loop Record and Loop Play (3 buttons left over) and the last row has Scenes 1-5.

Anyone use it like this? Anything that is a must have? I want to avoid (at least in the beginning) double tapping switches or going in to menus (reveal). The loop is for samples of my rhythm playing during a few solos.

Thanks!
Joe

What I was thinking ( I hope to make or order labels using some of my photography)
 
You can't put presets in switches on that row. Preset switches must start from switch 1, bottom left, lowest row.

You can set the Bank size to 0 and navigate presets up or down one at a time with the up and down switches though.
 
Ahhh, That's not so bad since I can setup the banks before the show to reflect the setlist. I guess when I get more comfortable I can switch from presets to scenes on the bottom row
 
i have scenes on 1-8 (though i rarely use more than 4 or 5 in a song) then i have the rest of IA's just in case i want to do something on the fly. tuner and tap are in their normal locations....
 
I am definitely trying to keep my Scenes to as few as possible, 2 at most and a solo. I suppose I could add a boost and a decrease. I want to stop tapdancing during shows! I'm not sure yet what else I might need for the looper seeing that it will be very basic.
 
i can def get through a majority of our songs with 2-3 scenes....but sometimes a song might have a few different sections that need more. It's still just pressing one switch as opposed to tap dancing on a reg board, though.
 
and it's very easy to do with so many options. I have IA's set up for drive 1 and 2, boost, delay, term and phaser, i think...just in case i want to kick something in and out without changing the scene...or if we take a run at a song we don't do for a good tip (happens far too often, lol). since i don't have a patch for that particular song i pick one that's closest in vibe and use a combo of scenes and IA's...
 
I am still very new to the axe. Don't you have to program the drives or boost to a specific preset or scene for it to work or are there global settings?
 
I am still very new to the axe. Don't you have to program the drives or boost to a specific preset or scene for it to work or are there global settings?

you have to program a drive in a preset if you want it. nothing can be set globally. it has to be put in the preset.

i'm not sure what made you ask that question?
 
Hello All!
I'm on Day three with my first Axe FX and I am loving it. I just ordered the MFC-101 and will be using it for cover bands. My intent is to program scenes for each song so I dont have to worry about boosts and flicking drive pedals on and off. Both bands has 60+ songs and I could never remember the exact pedals for all. I would LOVE suggestions what to focus on setting up. I was thinking of having the top row for Tuner and Tempo, Next down for Presets 1-5. next down Loop Record and Loop Play (3 buttons left over) and the last row has Scenes 1-5.

Anyone use it like this? Anything that is a must have? I want to avoid (at least in the beginning) double tapping switches or going in to menus (reveal). The loop is for samples of my rhythm playing during a few solos.

Thanks!
Joe

What I was thinking ( I hope to make or order labels using some of my photography)

Joe;
Do this:
  • Enter your 100 songs into SONGS. Have five Clean-Sound SONGs (call them whatever), five Dirty-Sound SONGs; this should handle about half your tunes and you still have 90 SONGs left for more elaborate, song-specific presets
  • Create your 10 SETS from the 100 SONGS - 50 per SET. Make your first (and possible 2nd) SETs called "SORTED" which is all your SONGs sorted alphabetically so that you can scroll through them quickly to find a tune that wasn't planned.
  • Perform with the MFC-101 in SETS mode. You'll select the SET you're performing before each gig or for each of your bands

Use the MFC-Edit editor to do this. Will only take a few minutes.
You'll thank me later.
-G
 
Personally I think programming 60 songs is madness. I'm in a few different bands, and I can get through each with a core set of about 5 patches each. 1 clean, 2 crunchy, 3 recto lower gain, 4 recto heavy gain, 5 lead. that will cover anything you need most likely.

I use scenes (1-3) to do like say 1 is main sound, 2 would be if there are any effect changes, and 3 would be a lead sound with delay and a bit of a boost.

The AIC tribute is a tad different as I'm trying to cop some of his tones, and I have an acoustic patch that blends into a distorted sound I use for nutshell, and down in a hole.

imho, ymmv
 
I recently played in 3 covers bands. I programmed separate presets for each song but used global amps as much as possible to make balancing levels easier and preserve a sense of tonal consistency throughout the set. I attach three expression pedals, and typically use them as follows: #1 to pan between two amps or signal paths; #2 is my wah/phaser/whammy; #3 is my lead boost which encompasses a +2.5db null filter and maybe a drive pedal bypass, sometimes a delay. I do all this with modifiers, no scenes. Using just the expression pedals, I rarely need to engage any IA switches on the MFC itself which I like because my feet are clumsy when I'm concentrating on playing.
 
A lot of good info here, I really appreciate it! I will definitely check out Set Mode. When I had my pedalboard setup I did everything with 3 or 4 pedal arrangements.
-Clean
-Dirty
-Dirty Lead
-Heavy
-Heavy Lead

I think right now I am overexcited with the capabilities of the unit. Plus I'm not sure what is going to sound good with the band (I haven't even had a practice yet with the new setup). It is a fun way to get to know the unit by researching what the bands used in each song and try and recreate and modify it for a live setting. My brain is in overload mode and I haven't even looked at the Looper yet.
 
; #3 is my lead boost which encompasses a +2.5db null filter and maybe a drive pedal bypass, sometimes a delay.

Wow, I really love the idea of using one of the expression pedals as a lead boost (maybe put it left of the MFC so I don't hit it by mistake). I've only ever used a expression pedal for wah.
 
heres what I've done, I set up a few templates and then just adjust scenes according to songs. that way I can step through presets in the order of the set list. i'm not having to program a patch for every new song. if it's a modern country tune I use the "Basic Country" template I made and then tweak whatever fx or scenes and save, done.

a couple of weeks ago we added some songs last minute so I just plugged in, fired up edit, moved things around with manage, created new presets with the templates and saved....WHILE SITTING IN A COFFEE SHOP, lol. went to the gig and set up and knew it would sound perfect because i know how those templates sound. makes things much easier if you use some basic tones a lot.
 
I will find out tomorrow at practice how my novice presets sound in the band situation. I will make note of what sounds best for each style so I can use them as my go to preset. On that note I am surprised how much I LOVE the Marshal amp sounds! Never a huge fan playing them live, but on the Axe I can't get enough.
 
that's a great point: don't hesitate to use a different amp model in the axe that you might not use with the real amp. there are TONS of amps and another might fit better for your sound than what you think will just because it says "recto" or whatever.

i've been using the FAS Wrecker and HBE lately, fits much better than the Mark IV i was trying to make work.
 
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