Genghis
Power User
Been using Fractal stuff since my Ultra many years back for studio stuff. Just started doing a live band a couple of months ago and we had our first gig. Everyone was direct, except for drums. Bass player had a very small rig onstage, but we took the line out into the PA as well.
We had a bit too much of a PA for the place, with some Peavey 15" mains and some Rockville 18" subs, powered by some old school heavy power amps. (Not gonna bring that rack for live again. LOL) Used a couple of side fill speakers with some borrowed Mackie powered wedges up front. No other monitoring for guitars.
I used my Axe-FX III for regular guitar, piezo, and mixing in a synth module that I trigger from my GR55. It worked extremely well. Main adjustment I need to make myself, is to add a hi-pass filter for the organ sound I use for Riders on the Storm. The bass was overwhelming from the organ. Guitar tones are by far the best I have ever had on stage. Our other guitarist uses an analog pedalboard with a cab sim pedal, and gets a great sound as well, although much simpler to manage. We call him Captain Analog, and I'm Dr. Digital.
The routing on the Axe-FX III makes this rig almost like having your own personal sound man, and I also have one of those Mackie boards that you control from the iPad, so I could make adjustments as needed to the overall mix. I'm going to set that up on our other guitarists iPad as well to assist a bit with that. I don't think we'll have volume wars, as we both know how to turn down for rhythms and up for leads to fit in the mix.
We have a few adjustments to make, but I was pretty stoked to see how well our setup works for live. Comments from friends in the crowd were that we sounded good in the first set, but better in the second after I made a few small mix tweaks. For next time:
We had a bit too much of a PA for the place, with some Peavey 15" mains and some Rockville 18" subs, powered by some old school heavy power amps. (Not gonna bring that rack for live again. LOL) Used a couple of side fill speakers with some borrowed Mackie powered wedges up front. No other monitoring for guitars.
I used my Axe-FX III for regular guitar, piezo, and mixing in a synth module that I trigger from my GR55. It worked extremely well. Main adjustment I need to make myself, is to add a hi-pass filter for the organ sound I use for Riders on the Storm. The bass was overwhelming from the organ. Guitar tones are by far the best I have ever had on stage. Our other guitarist uses an analog pedalboard with a cab sim pedal, and gets a great sound as well, although much simpler to manage. We call him Captain Analog, and I'm Dr. Digital.
The routing on the Axe-FX III makes this rig almost like having your own personal sound man, and I also have one of those Mackie boards that you control from the iPad, so I could make adjustments as needed to the overall mix. I'm going to set that up on our other guitarists iPad as well to assist a bit with that. I don't think we'll have volume wars, as we both know how to turn down for rhythms and up for leads to fit in the mix.
We have a few adjustments to make, but I was pretty stoked to see how well our setup works for live. Comments from friends in the crowd were that we sounded good in the first set, but better in the second after I made a few small mix tweaks. For next time:
- We'll place the speakers where we need them, and the light stands around them. I could hear both side fills where I was, but on the other side, our guitar and bass player were too far forward ahead of them and didn't hear them well.
- Leave the subs and heavy rack at home, unless we play a much larger venue. The rack with the mixer has a lightweight power amp that we used for sidefill this time. It is powerful enough for the two mains, so we'll use that next time.
- I'm getting a couple of EV 12" speakers that can be used up front for monitors in trade for my AX8. (It also pays what I owe my buddy on that Mackie board.) If needed I'll grab one or two even more compact powered monitors, maybe one for near the drummer, and another for middle front for vocals.