Hello Everyone! Prospective AXE FX3 Owner Here!

B

BG2020

Member
Hows it going everyone!

I recently got hired for my dream gig. I will be joining a national touring band as lead guitar. It's a fully paid, full-time gig.

This means that I'm currently looking to put together a solid live rig. Forgive me for having not read everything recommended on the website first before making this thread. My head starts spinning when I first lay eyes on a barrage of technical information. I feel its best to dip my toes in the water by asking some more basic preliminary questions about why I would want to choose the Fractal AXE FX3 unit, and about potential pros and cons, and also things to consider/understand before purchasing one.

To date, the only digital amp experience I have is from the past year of messing around with some amp sims in my DAW. I've never gigged with digital. I do currently own a NUX MG300 just to play around with, but I would never take this on tour obviously.

I was told by some great guys on a different forum that the AXE FX, while a terrific unit, is going to take quite a learning curve to get that hang of, and warned me that it might be difficult to jump right into on such short notice, considering I will be starting to tour with my new band in the very near future.

Other questions I had was concerning how AXE FX users usually run their live rig. Does the AXE FX with a footswitch act primarily as a standalone unit in which you don't need things like other pedals (i.e. BOSS overdrives, boosts, EQs, mods, reverbs, delays etc.)? Or do people commonly use it in conjunction with other pedals? I would assume that the AXE FX contains all the models for the most common overdrive/boost pedals, mods, EQs, reverbs, delays, you would need correct? Is there any need for anything else outside of maybe a wah wah or volume pedals?

Do people usually run the AXE FX into speaker cabs or direct?

I guess I can just summarize these questions by asking what is the general way in which a standard pro guitarist playing in a standard touring rock band would run their AXE FX rig?

My apologies if these questions are too basic. I need to start somewhere. I appreciate any responses.
 
I don’t think it’s a big learning curve if you are good with computers and technology. It lets you get complicated if you want, but you can get great sounds with barely any tweaking. Most people run direct to the sound system, but you can run another line to a powered cab onstage if you want to push some air. You can replicate a very complex rig with the axe fx and a foot controller alone. No need for external pedals.
 
The pros are endless, smaller/lighter rig, no unreliable tubes, consistently great sound to the desk. No need to crank amps to pain level volumes.

There are no cons really i can think of other than getting guitar feedback can be tricky.

It's not that complicated if you don't need it to be, if you have a good understanding of amps/cabs and effects it should be pretty easy to pick up.

As for using with other pedals, the Axe FX 3 has a load of pedals modelled and second to none effects, so most people don't need to use pedals or effects with it.

There are standalone floor pedal versions of the Axe FX 3, the FM3 and FM9, if you want even more portability check them out. If you get the rack Axe FX 3 you will need a foot controller, the FC-6 or FC-12 are the ones Fractal make and I would strongly recommend getting one of those rather than a generic midi foot controller.

The biggest jump will be going from a amp/cab to FRFR setup, if that's what you choose to do and how you manage sound on stage.
 
Personally, I do everything "in the box," with the Axe FX III doing the amp/cab modeling and effects going straight into the IEM mixer/FOH mixer. I use an FC12 to control it.

If you're not using IEM, you may want a dedicated powered cab on stage that you're able to ensure you can hear yourself from in case your wedge monitor mix isn't right during a show. I've only played one show out of the 202 I've done with my band without IEMs and it was on a big stage. Monitor mix was great, but I forgot that the second I walked away from the wedge, I couldn't hear myself at all. It was weird.

I don't think it's a huge learning curve. It's very intuitive. As others have said, you can get super complicated if you want, but it's very easy to get a simple preset built that sounds good. Ever since Cygnus (a generation of the software engine used by the newest Fractal systems), I think it's even easier to dial in good sounds.

That said, your first preset will probably be your worst preset. You'll get better at it. Every now and then, I load up the first presets I made on my AX8 five years ago and compare it to what I have now to appreciate how far my sound has come, but I'll tell you that first preset was still way better than my sounds were before I bought a Fractal unit.

Here's the biggest kicker: nearly every sound engineer I've worked with loves that I run Fractal. It makes their job easy to make the band sound good, which is the end goal of being a musician in a band. The one engineer that told me I should run with an amp on stage was a known annoying guy in the scene and we were having a gain stage issue between our monitor rig and the FOH split snake at the time. I was losing my low end. Once I increased my output level, all those issues went away.
 
Okay, lots of great replies and questions here.

Budda said:
What is your tour rig now?

If you dont have time to be road ready with a new rig, then do not buy a new rig right now. Buy the unit, learn it on your downtime and learn how to integrate it over time. No rush, it's not going anywhere.
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So, this will be my first tour. Up until now I've only played locally, and I do my YouTube channel. That's how they discovered me. For local live I've just got my DSL40CR with my pedalboard. EVH lunchbox head and 212 for backup. This is why I'm currently looking to do a whole upgrade for pro-level touring. I figured might as well just go ahead and invest in the best of the best rather than build up to the unit I'll eventually have. That's lots of $$.

Feflicker said:
I read the manual and built my first presets on day 1. Its only a steep curve if you sit there helpless and dont use common sense. If youve used a daw, this will be easy imo.
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Jvstrat said:
I don’t think it’s a big learning curve if you are good with computers and technology. It lets you get complicated if you want, but you can get great sounds with barely any tweaking. Most people run direct to the sound system, but you can run another line to a powered cab onstage if you want to push some air. You can replicate a very complex rig with the axe fx and a foot controller alone. No need for external pedals.
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This is good to know. I have familiarized myself with DAWs and using VST amp sims over the past year, so I'm not totally unfamiliar with modeling/digital. So it shouldn't be too difficult for me to do this. I've still got some time. I'll be flying out to meet them and rehearse the material in 2 weeks but the tour will be a bit later.
Andrew Male said:
The pros are endless, smaller/lighter rig, no unreliable tubes, consistently great sound to the desk. No need to crank amps to pain level volumes.

There are no cons really i can think of other than getting guitar feedback can be tricky.

It's not that complicated if you don't need it to be, if you have a good understanding of amps/cabs and effects it should be pretty easy to pick up.

As for using with other pedals, the Axe FX 3 has a load of pedals modelled and second to none effects, so most people don't need to use pedals or effects with it.

There are standalone floor pedal versions of the Axe FX 3, the FM3 and FM9, if you want even more portability check them out. If you get the rack Axe FX 3 you will need a foot controller, the FC-6 or FC-12 are the ones Fractal make and I would strongly recommend getting one of those rather than a generic midi foot controller.

The biggest jump will be going from a amp/cab to FRFR setup, if that's what you choose to do and how you manage sound on stage.
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I'm not sure what FRFR stands for. Sorry. I'm not the biggest gear head. I can learn things very quickly if I have a tutorial, video, or literature.

I was going to just get the AXE FX3 unit with the FC-12 switch and let that be it. I can dial all my stomp effects with that. Shouldn't need the pedals anymore. Other than the wah wah I need for some songs.

I guess the big question is how I'm going to run it. Does the top of the line AXE FX3 need a power amp to use with regular cabs?

Also, lets say I want to go with a floor unit. Do those usually go straight into the sound system too? Or do people run them in front of their heads. I noticed Tracii Guns ran his floor unit into JCM800 heads (or at least it looked that way).

My tones are not that complicated. I just need a good classic Marshally hard rock/metal rhythm tone, a good lead delay tone, and a clean tone. My sound is Marshall JVM/JCM/DSL ish.

Lastly, in order to lessen the learning curve of creating patches from scratch, are there just some patches from pros I can rip off in the beginning just to get going?
 
Budda said:
If you dont have time to be road ready with a new rig, then do not buy a new rig right now. Buy the unit, learn it on your downtime and learn how to integrate it over time. No rush, it's not going anywhere.
Click to expand...
I agree with this and would add that it’d be good to get a FM3+FC6 to take with you. You can learn the system in your spare time, and use it for warming up, plug in while on the bus, etc. The factory presets are great, and Austin Buddy’s presets are made for live use with ready-to-go rigs, and work great on it too. Plus the FM3+FC6 is easily portable.

Then, when you are ready buy an FM9, or FX3+FC12 and use the FM3+FC12 as a backup.
 
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RockYoWorld said:
Personally, I do everything "in the box," with the Axe FX III doing the amp/cab modeling and effects going straight into the IEM mixer/FOH mixer. I use an FC12 to control it.

If you're not using IEM, you may want a dedicated powered cab on stage that you're able to ensure you can hear yourself from in case your wedge monitor mix isn't right during a show. I've only played one show out of the 202 I've done with my band without IEMs and it was on a big stage. Monitor mix was great, but I forgot that the second I walked away from the wedge, I couldn't hear myself at all. It was weird.

I don't think it's a huge learning curve. It's very intuitive. As others have said, you can get super complicated if you want, but it's very easy to get a simple preset built that sounds good. Ever since Cygnus (a generation of the software engine used by the newest Fractal systems), I think it's even easier to dial in good sounds.

That said, your first preset will probably be your worst preset. You'll get better at it. Every now and then, I load up the first presets I made on my AX8 five years ago and compare it to what I have now to appreciate how far my sound has come, but I'll tell you that first preset was still way better than my sounds were before I bought a Fractal unit.

Here's the biggest kicker: nearly every sound engineer I've worked with loves that I run Fractal. It makes their job easy to make the band sound good, which is the end goal of being a musician in a band. The one engineer that told me I should run with an amp on stage was a known annoying guy in the scene and we were having a gain stage issue between our monitor rig and the FOH split snake at the time. I was losing my low end. Once I increased my output level, all those issues went away.
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Thanks for all the insights.

Yes, I was thinking the Fractal would probably be the most professional, streamlined option. Since this is like my jumping off point into the pro guitar world, getting paid full-time to do it. It's probably almost obligatory to invest in the best gear.
 
BG2020 said:
Thanks for all the insights.

Yes, I was thinking the Fractal would probably be the most professional, streamlined option. Since this is like my jumping off point into the pro guitar world, getting paid full-time to do it. It's probably almost obligatory to invest in the best gear.
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I think it's truly the best bang-for-your-buck in professional gear, too. It super flexible so you can make it work in whatever setup makes most sense for you, both on tour and in the studio.
 
BG2020 said:
1. I'm not sure what FRFR stands for. Sorry. I'm not the biggest gear head. I can learn things very quickly if I have a tutorial, video, or literature.

2. I was going to just get the AXE FX3 unit with the FC-12 switch and let that be it. I can dial all my stomp effects with that. Shouldn't need the pedals anymore. Other than the wah wah I need for some songs.

3. I guess the big question is how I'm going to run it. Does the top of the line AXE FX3 need a power amp to use with regular cabs?

4. Also, lets say I want to go with a floor unit. Do those usually go straight into the sound system too? Or do people run them in front of their heads. I noticed Tracii Guns ran his floor unit into JCM800 heads (or at least it looked that way).

5. Lastly, in order to lessen the learning curve of creating patches from scratch, are there just some patches from pros I can rip off in the beginning just to get going?
Click to expand...

1. FRFR stands for "full range, full response." It's really just referencing speakers that replicate a whole range of frequency instead of the limited range of a guitar cabinet, which also has quite the EQ as well. Having FRFR speakers lets you use the cabinet simulation (with IRs) in the Axe FX and have more control, but a lot of guys like to bypass cab emulation and go through an amp of some sort driving a guitar cab. For what you're doing, I recommend going direct and using the cab simulation in the Axe FX. You can get a powered FRFR cab on stage if you want stage volume outside of the monitoring system.

2. You may want to think about getting an expression pedal and using the wahs inside the Axe FX. You may have a wah pedal you really like, but using an expression pedal lets you run a single TRS cable from the pedal to the FC12. Then you just need to run a single XLR from the Axe FX to the FC12. No power, no other cables. A lot of people run with external pedals, but you do open the door to inducing more noise into your signal chain if you don't do it correctly, and from my experience, wah pedals can be some of the noisiest pedals.

3. Yes. Unlike Kemper, there are no Fractal systems (today) that have a built in amplifier. If you want to have a cab on stage, you need to either get a powered cab or get an amplifier to drive a guitar cab and bypass cab simulation on the output you use for that.

4. By floor unit, do you mean FM3 or FM9? Those, you would wire just like an Axe FX III but you have less routing options. Also, the FM9 has a lengthy waitlist. You won't get it in time for tour. There are tons of ways to wire all the Fractal systems. Some people put it before an amp. You can put it both before the preamp and in the FX loop (4 cable method). Some people just run the fractal system into the power tubes of a guitar amp. And then there are people like me that just lose the whole amp and run direct.

5. There are a ton of presets available online, both free and commercial. Personally, I have some pretty bad luck with other people's presets sounding good or like what I am looking for. There are a lot of great presets on the unit to start from as well as tons of helpful people on YouTube. To cut to the chase, I'd recommend Leon Todd's videos (I feel like every Fractal help thread I see has someone recommend his videos). He has tons of great videos that explains his process for dialing in sounds. You can follow along and copy what he does, but tweak certain parameters to really get the tone you're looking for.
 
I made a decision a few years ago to use whatever gear provides the best tone possible. If that meant lugging around amps, cabs and pedalboards, so be it. I thankfully found that FAS devices do this for me without any compromise. I don't play a lot of different venues but the one thing that I really like about the Axe III is the consistency in tone from week to week.

As far as ease of use, Cygnus has made it incredibly easy to get tones that sound great very easy. Before diving in headfirst though, don't overlook the factory presets. Some of them are ready to use right out of the gate. There's nothing wrong with using any of them live if they give you the tone you want.

Cool thing is, if you find presets that you like the tone of the amp and cab combination but would like the effects of another preset, it's just a matter of copy and paste to create exactly what you want. Axe Edit is very intuitive and makes editing very quick and simple.

There are also Artist presets available at https://www.fractalaudio.com/artist-preset-series/ from Pete Thorn, Steve Stevens and Devin Townsend. Again, you can pick and choose the amps, cabs and effects you like and combine them to create your own presets.

Lastly, if you get stuck in any way, FAS support is incredible and the forum has a lot of knowledgeable, helpful players that can get you sorted out.
 
Ok if you have never toured and want to learn a whole new system right before you go: dont. This is a paid gig, so there's a level of professionalism expected - not knowing how to troubleshoot your rig is not it lol.

What did the last guy use? Does this band have a soundman? How wide a variety of sounds are you expected to have?
 
I second (or third) the idea that changing to a digital rig and totally learning the system from “zero to highway speed” in a few weeks is a tall order. Even just learning the foot controller to a pro level takes a little time… even more so if you go to a MIDI controller such as an RJM Mastermind GT. Operating them is simple. Not knowing them well enough on a paying gig to make changes on the fly might earn a ticket home.

First, while any Axe Fx unit will do, the Axe Fx III is hard to beat, and will do more than any other unit, Fractal or otherwise. It takes up 3 Rack spaces… hardly large or hard to transport, even compared to an amp. If portability is critical, such as flying commercial gig to gig, then a smaller unit might be wise. For the other 99.99% of gigs, the III is my recommendation. If it can be done digitally, the III can do it.

The FC12 or 6 is as “plug and play” as you will find for a foot controller for the Axe Fx. It won’t control anything else, as it’s dedicated to Fractal gear. But if you only need to control FAS gear, it’s the way.

I, and many here, use an FRFR monitor for stage volume and feed a separate out to FOH. This is so I can change stage volume or EQ without affecting the feed to the FOH and monitor desks. It eliminates micing a cab, and all the mess with that. As an added perk, should your stage amp go south, they can just give you your guitar in the monitor as well. Not ideal, but very helpful.

So I'd say get the III, an FC12, an expression pedal or two, and an FRFR and get on it. If you can learn it in time for rehearsals, great! If not, you can introduce it when you’re ready. You won’t regret it.
 
Rick said:
I second (or third) the idea that changing to a digital rig and totally learning the system from “zero to highway speed” in a few weeks is a tall order. Even just learning the foot controller to a pro level takes a little time… even more so if you go to a MIDI controller such as an RJM Mastermind GT. Operating them is simple. Not knowing them well enough on a paying gig to make changes on the fly might earn a ticket home.
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I agree the timing isn't ideal, but it sounds like he'd be learning any rig he'd use since his current "at home" rig won't cut touring.
 
RockYoWorld said:
I agree the timing isn't ideal, but it sounds like he'd be learning any rig he'd use since his current "at home" rig won't cut touring.
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Agreed! Sometimes “ideal” is a luxury you don’t have! Were I in the same situation as the OP, and funds allow, an amp and pedals like what he’s used to seems a safer bet while he’s learning the ropes on the Axe Fx.

After a decade of use, I often forget how mind-blowing my original Axe Fx Ultra was, and how many rehearsals it took to get it right. It’s a deep pool. Fortunately, now it’s possible he could just select a couple of presets and go with it. I wouldn’t risk a paying tour on it, but it could be done. The question is how much time does he have before the flag drops, and how much of that time (after ordering and shipping time) can he spend dedicated to learning and setting up?

At any rate, I’m just saying the amount of time to get past “amp options and setup” would be considerably less with something he’s familiar with and, assuming he has a whole show of songs to learn, that time might be the deciding factor. But I agree with you… either way is going to take some time.
 
Gotta use sumpthin’ … You can learn a lot in 30 days

I think I learned something like 750 new words in 30 days (30 days to more powerful vocabulary)
 
RockYoWorld said:
I agree the timing isn't ideal, but it sounds like he'd be learning any rig he'd use since his current "at home" rig won't cut touring.
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Why wont his rig work on the road? Provided he has backup cables, knows how to troubleshoot his board and has 2 identical sounding guitars, he's fine.
 
For your first pro tour, take whatever you're most familiar with that'll cut the volume and set of tones you'll need. You'll have other things to think about besides new gear.

If you have the funds and the desire, grab a Fractal of some kind too, and get to know it in the hotel room -- Lord knows you'll have plenty of time for that out on the road. If it starts to come together, see if you can get into a venue way before showtime and check it out on stage at gig volume, with your regular rig there as a default for the show if you want it.

What do the other players use? You don't have to do what anybody else does, but you might want to be aware of what to expect. For instance, if everyone does in-ears for a silent stage, the decision to go with a modeler isn't exactly made for you, but it does nudge you in that direction. If it's double stacks, be prepared.

Which brings up the people. Talk to them, if that feels ok to you. Open up some channels. You may learn a lot about "how they do it".
 
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