Very nice indeed!
I'm waiting to hear your take on sharing patches.
Now matter how eloquently I tried to explain not sharing my work, i still got slammed in the past lol.
Rather than attempting eloquence, I’ll state this as directly as I can.
I earn the majority of my income playing music in a Las Vegas cover band. Bands in Vegas are typically not “bands” in the traditional sense. They are usually comprised of one member who has a contract with the employing casino and who picks and chooses the musicians that he/she will hire as sub-contractors. I am such a sub-contractor. The member who holds the contract with the venue is basically the “owner” of the band, and all other members are his/her employees. As owners, they more often than not will hire/fire members, sometimes routinely. Sometimes they find better players, sometimes it’s a personality conflict, and sometimes there is no apparent reason whatsoever. There is always a pool of musicians hungry to take the job.
The Las Vegas music scene was hit *hard* by the recession. Many established acts lost their gigs or had their pay cut. The pool of musicians looking for work is far greater than the number of well-paying gigs. I am fortunate enough to be in one of the best-paid cover bands in the city. I lost that position for over two years, and have recently regained it. I know the revolving door first hand.
Two aspects of my playing landed me the job in the first place. The first was my willingness to learn parts as closely to the record as I can (a time-consuming task). The second was my willingness to recreate the tones and effects of the original recordings as best I can (also a time-consuming task).
There are plenty of good guitarists in Vegas. I know a few with an Axe FX. I know many more will have one in the future. Perhaps I’m selfish, perhaps paranoid, but I see no advantage in providing these potential competitors with the presets I have worked many hours (hundreds total?) to create. In my opinion, it is an edge over the line of guys hoping to snag a gig. In this town and in this economy, any edge is advantageous. Any Vegas guitarist with an Axe has the tools to build tones that blow mine away, but only if they choose to put in the time and effort that I have.
My apologies to those who have PM’d me for presets and received no response. There is nothing magic about them, just a lot of tweaking (= time). Slam away.
Edit: We just lost one of our three gigs and had our pay cut on the other two. The same agent who gets you work at one venue will, without hesitation, do his best to have you replaced at another venue with a different band if he can get a buck out of it. Vegas is cutthroat. If my family wasn't here, I'd move.
