Creating AX8 presets for live use

toneseeker911

toneseeker911

Experienced
Hello,
I just ordered my AX8 and should get it in a few days. This is my first time using an AXE and I'm really excited listening to all the stuff that's out there.

Primarily I want to use this live. A few years back, I had a POD HD500 and I found it very hard to dial in sounds that sounded good live. A lot of the times, the crunch / lead sounds would be muffled as compared to the clean. The highs and lows would be more accentuated and my guitar would be drowned by a drummer and bass player. I would have too much delay/reverb when played at gig volumes. All of these issues put me off modelers for a while and I just used tube amps. I want to try getting back into modelers with a high quality unit like the AX8.

How do you all usually tackle this ? Do you get a laptop with you and start deep editing while rehearsing ? I want to introduce new sounds in my music, so it would be awesome to be able to tinker at home. Maybe turn up loud with a backing track ?

Appreciate any pointers !

Thanks
 
keep the tweaking to the simple stuff to begin with. there are tons of good tones in the box as is. if your tone ain't quite right try different IR's, they have a lot of influence on the tones. if you get covered up by the band you tweaked your tones to sound good at home. live you need more mids, less bass, less treble, fletcher munson will turn the bass and treble up for you at stage volume.
 
L
paranoid said:
keep the tweaking to the simple stuff to begin with. there are tons of good tones in the box as is. if your tone ain't quite right try different IR's, they have a lot of influence on the tones. if you get covered up by the band you tweaked your tones to sound good at home. live you need more mids, less bass, less treble, fletcher munson will turn the bass and treble up for you at stage volume.
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Agreed with this. I set up 4 simple presets to use with band at rehearsal, slightly less gain, did a cut at 120 Hz and really turned down the reverb. Also boosted mids slightly. This formula is really not that different from analog effects and tube amps come to think of it.
 
You are over-thinking things.

You do not need to deep edit anything to make it sound good.

I use studio monitors for home tinkering, and my presets translate fine to our PA and my in-ear monitors.
 
I agree with Smittefar - don't overthink it. The presets I've made through my KRK R5s translate fine to playing with a band.
 
I found that a frown type EQ curve with the 10 band graphic or the Global EQ will help my presets translate to loud live applications. But it's basically just cutting some low lows and some extreme highs.
 
Play as loud as you can at home and come up with something that sounds decent. Then at rehearsal (full volume with band), with no effects on, adjust the amp setting using the knobs on the unit (bass, middle, treble, gain, master, etc). That should get you pretty close. In the cab block, adjust the high and low cut. Then turn on your effects one at a time and adjust the mix of each. It really shouldn't take any more effort than that to sound really really good.
 
I don't like to program anything during rehearsals if I can help it. Learn enough front panel editing to make gain and eq and mix changes.

Start with more mids and less efx than you think you need. Then make adjustments after the rehearsals / shows.

My live presets sound too dark at moderate volume. This is with a Strat and 4m cable direct into the Fractal. I have learned what a preset should sound like at moderate levels and program to that.
 
start a simple setup, recreat your current rig, head and cab. use the cabs low and high cuts.
start with that.
most of the time I leave everything at 5, it's so the job for me and sound good
 
start with a clean amp and find a cab that sounds like what you want. If it sounds bad to you, don't touch any knobs, just change the cab. there is your #1. now add the TS Mod with low gain. that is your #2. Next X/Y the amp to a higher gain amp, #3. this should be more gain that #1 + drive (#2). Then find a good drive to go with the #3 to make #4. Use the Scene 1/2 foot switch control to go between #1 and #3, then kick the drive on an off as you see fit.

Obviously you can add effects like reverb, delay, wah (auto engage is cool AF), and vibe.

The most important thing that I read a long time ago about Fractal products is that you should not really try to copy the sounds of our favorite guitar players, you should do what I said in the first paragraph and find your own sound. Once you embrace that you will feel liberated and eventually you will be original.
 
Thanks for all the responses and ideas on how to approach this. Another two more days and I'll have the unit in hand to try building my sounds. I can't wait for it !
 
toneseeker911 said:
The highs and lows would be more accentuated and my guitar would be drowned by a drummer and bass player.
Click to expand...
The cure for this is easy: less highs and lows. :)


toneseeker911 said:
I would have too much delay/reverb when played at gig volumes.
Click to expand...
The cure for this is equally easy. I bet you can guess what it is. ;)


toneseeker911 said:
How do you all usually tackle this ?...Maybe turn up loud with a backing track ?
Click to expand...
That's a good start. Finish it off by dialing it in to sound good while you're playing with the band. You do this while...you're playing with the band. :)
 
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