General Discussion: How do you compensate?

ByTheHandOf

ByTheHandOf

Inspired
Hey Guys.

I've been playing around with my new Axe-FX XL for a few weeks now, and I am very pleased with it in the studio, and during rehearsals. I however am yet to check it out in a live situation, as we have no shows planned untill two months from now.

To fully use the capabilities of the fractal, I plan to send it directly to the PA, and where necesarry I will bring my two 2x12 mesa cabs and my 2:Ninety to push some air on stage. I have made a loop that sends to the 2:ninety without going through the cap sim, that is on the main output to FOH.

But as all FOH PA's are different, i fear this might become a problem in some venues, and I won't get the sound I want. I have tried playing through 2 different PAs (both rather expensive "brands" w no effects or eq work what so ever) during rehearsals to prepare myself for touring, and they really sound way different! One (with only a little EQ work on the Axe-fx itself) sounded awesome, but the other one sounded very myddy and generally was an (almost) completely different tone. Initially I tried using a FRFR hoping I could get somewhat the sound on stage, that I programmed in the studio (incl power amp- and capsims), but again the sound is rather different as expected.

How do you guys prefere setting up in a live situation? Do you send the output from the Axefx directly to the PA, and put your trust in the hands of the soundguy? How do you compensate for the many different FOH'es?

I hope it makes sense, and I am aware this is a luxury problem, as you without the axe-fx still rely on the mic's the soundguy uses -his eq work on your tone to FOH etc etc... But hope some of you are still able to relate to my concerns ;)
 
it depends on the venue...but having FRFR wont help you find out if your tone is good on the PA or not....what i do is, if i dont know the person who is mixing....use a long guitar cable, or let some one play and go infront of the stage and listen how it sounds...
 
I split my signal. The FOH can do what they need to the signal and it doesn't effect my In Ear mix.
 
You're always at the mercy of the Sound guy, but always best just to make your sound on stage to sound like YOU like it, so you can be inspired while playing, and let him deal with how he has to shape your tones for the PA and room...

I use AxeFX II to 2- CLR's, and the XLR output of the CLR's direct to the snake... that way I am hearing what he is hearing, through relatively flat monitors, before it hits the PA...
 
flyingfadr said:
I use AxeFX II to 2- CLR's, and the XLR output of the CLR's direct to the snake... that way I am hearing what he is hearing, through relatively flat monitors, before it hits the PA...
Click to expand...

This is how I set my rig for live appearances.
AxeFx II XL > out2 CLR's for stage monitoring > out1 XLR's to FOH snake
 
I compensate with a vacuum pum..ooooh. You mean playing guitar.


Well at the end of the day, even if you were using a mic'd up amp, you're still in the hands of the sound guy.

It all comes out FOH so whether it's Axe or amp, you need someone who knows what they are doing.
 
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At home I have a Matrix GT1000fx into two Matrix Q12's. When dialling up my patches I crank up the amp to gig volume at home and that gives me a fairly close resemblance to what it will sound like out of the PA. I have AB'd this setup with our PA that we use live 90% of the time and it's almost identical - at least it sounds great through the PA so I'm not worried that it's extreme in any way. When I play live I usually just stick one of the Q12's on a stand right behind my head but I also have one IEM in my left ear to pick up guitar as well as the band monitors and block the drums on that side (cause they're ear shatteringly loud).
 
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PA/Sound

I run the xlr's from the axefx directly to the PA. I also run the stereo outs to a Matrix GT1000 power amp into 2 marshall 4x12 cabs on stage. As far as getting a good sound from the PA we use a digital SAC (sound audio console) system.We can use our full PA including speakers or in the case of playing a venue that has their own sound, we plug our system into their snake and control everything from our rig.That way we have control over our sound regardless of where we play.We also have the ability to save all the settings from a venue and recall those settings when we play there again.You can find the system here at servantdigital.com if you would like to check it out.

I've been playing around with my new Axe-FX XL for a few weeks now, and I am very pleased with it in the studio, and during rehearsals. I however am yet to check it out in a live situation, as we have no shows planned untill two months from now.

To fully use the capabilities of the fractal, I plan to send it directly to the PA, and where necesarry I will bring my two 2x12 mesa cabs and my 2:Ninety to push some air on stage. I have made a loop that sends to the 2:ninety without going through the cap sim, that is on the main output to FOH.

But as all FOH PA's are different, i fear this might become a problem in some venues, and I won't get the sound I want. I have tried playing through 2 different PAs (both rather expensive "brands" w no effects or eq work what so ever) during rehearsals to prepare myself for touring, and they really sound way different! One (with only a little EQ work on the Axe-fx itself) sounded awesome, but the other one sounded very myddy and generally was an (almost) completely different tone. Initially I tried using a FRFR hoping I could get somewhat the sound on stage, that I programmed in the studio (incl power amp- and capsims), but again the sound is rather different as expected.

How do you guys prefere setting up in a live situation? Do you send the output from the Axefx directly to the PA, and put your trust in the hands of the soundguy? How do you compensate for the many different FOH'es?

I hope it makes sense, and I am aware this is a luxury problem, as you without the axe-fx still rely on the mic's the soundguy uses -his eq work on your tone to FOH etc etc... But hope some of you are still able to relate to my concerns ;)[/QUOTE]
 
guitvai1 said:
At home I have a Matrix GT1000fx into two Matrix Q12's. When dialling up my patches I crank up the amp to gig volume at home and that gives me a fairly close resemblance to what it will sound like out of the PA. I have AB'd this setup with our PA that we use live 90% of the time and it's almost identical - at least it sounds great through the PA so I'm not worried that it's extreme in any way. When I play live I usually just stick one of the Q12's on a stand right behind my head but I also have one IEM in my left ear to pick up guitar as well as the band monitors and block the drums on that side (cause they're ear shatteringly loud).
Click to expand...

I should point out here that I'm going direct to PA from the Axe FXII and using the Q12 as back line monitoring.
 
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I play an 8 string guitar :)

Oh, um... P.As, and stuff, right...

Remember that if the Axe in a flat channel sounds middy and shitty, in all likelihood a mic in front of a cab into that same flat channel will also sound middy and shitty. Hopefully the person behind the mixing desk knows how to compensate. If they can't (either because of incompetence or the fact it is just a poor P.A.)... well you are probably going to be dealing with shitty sounding drums, bass and vocals too.
 
sgilsinger said:
I run the xlr's from the axefx directly to the PA. I also run the stereo outs to a Matrix GT1000 power amp into 2 marshall 4x12 cabs on stage. As far as getting a good sound from the PA we use a digital SAC (sound audio console) system.We can use our full PA including speakers or in the case of playing a venue that has their own sound, we plug our system into their snake and control everything from our rig.That way we have control over our sound regardless of where we play.We also have the ability to save all the settings from a venue and recall those settings when we play there again.You can find the system here at servantdigital.com if you would like to check it out.
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]

Do you turn off the cab (and poweramp?) sim for the signal going though the Marshalls?? If so, how do you do that without sending a non-cab simulated signal to the PA? I have been fooling around with sending to my on stage cab before the cab sim using fx loops, but 1. I still het the power amp sim, and 2: I would like to be able to use my fx loop for a few pedals...
 
I leave the cab sims on going to the PA and the Marshalls.I prefer the sound with the cab sims on.
Do you turn off the cab (and poweramp?) sim for the signal going though the Marshalls?? If so, how do you do that without sending a non-cab simulated signal to the PA? I have been fooling around with sending to my on stage cab before the cab sim using fx loops, but 1. I still het the power amp sim, and 2: I would like to be able to use my fx loop for a few pedals...[/QUOTE]
 
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