Help with ax8 for guitar and bass duties

Ed Rogers

Member
Hello, first time caller, long time listener... I've finally bit the bullet and have an ax8 in the mail. My history with modelers is a little limited. I used to have a hd500, and still have a Zoom B3. They both work ok, but the conveniences weren't worth the quality and time spent on setup.
About six months ago I went to buy a bass, and the seller had it set up on his axe fx with the orange amp model. The first note was all it took.
Now, with my current situation. We aren't gigging right now, just practicing every week. Mostly at my house, sometimes at guitar players house. My house is set up pretty well. Drums (electronic hybrid to keyboard amp). Bass (various basses, three bass amps). Small Powered pa monitor wedges for vocals, no mixer. Multiple guitar and a dozen amps. Very high quality, I've spent over thirty years at this.
The guitar players house has a good bass combo that I left there, acoustic drums, one powered monitor for vocals. Lots of setup and moving every time we practice there.
In the last year we have a new bass player. He's good, better than I am, but he wants to split duties on bass. And I'm all for it. I really enjoy it. That's why I decided to get the ax8. Setup patches for both bass and guitar on one unit. I've never used much for effects, maybe a little extra dirt and sometimes a wah. For bass, similar, compressor sometimes.
My plan is to integrate it into what I have existing, for now. Use wireless to switch guitar to bass, change patches, and go. Have it setup with guitar patches going right out only to effects return on one of my amps, left, same thing for bass amp. The problem is the guitar players house. The purpose of this is to get great sound, flexibility, and save my old back. I don't want to be schlepping all of that back and forth. And, my budget has nothing left for adding anything. I'm trying to finish building a garage myself, and the ax8 used up all my fun money. Suggestions? Thanks again.
 
Hello, welcome to the forums, and congrats on the AX8.

I tried to read the post a couple of times, and I'm not exactly clear on what the issue actually is. You mention not wanting to carry gear around, and that there is a problem at the guitar player's house, but I'm not seeing what that problem is?

Are you looking for ideas/suggestions on a single (physical) amp/cab setup that you can use for guitar and bass, and get good results? For rehearsal, I would suggest just taking one of the better bass amps - most of them will do guitar well enough for rehearsal. This is especially true if you have a 2- or 3- way cab with the bass amp (i.e. at least a compression drive / tweeter - though these may sound somewhat bad with distortion).

The Out1 L Out1 R for instrument switching should be fine - I did that for awhile too. It's nice because you can hand XLR off to the FOH and be done, as both L and R have individual outs.
 
Thanks for the reply, my ideal situation would be to just bring guitar and ax8 to second location. But the problem is what I'll be plugging into. And be able to use the same presets with good results. I hate to stop everything for setup issues. And, if I am new to the editor, that might stop things dead.
I think that I can run guitars to the powered monitors at both locations and get similar results. Guitar presets mono setup for a single, let's say right, output. The problems I see are the bass cabinets. At my house, I have very colored cabinets. Aguilar 4x12, gk 2x12, and Ampeg 4x10. They are good cabs, but colored, not a huge fan of the gk, but I wanted to try something under 100 pounds. I can setup a preset that takes into the cabinets qualities and go. I've done it with the zoom b3, worked very well.
Now my bass amp at the guitar players house. It is a Genz Benz 500 watt 2x10 combo. Very hifi, not colored whatsoever. Fantastic amp, but I'm not sure that my setup will transfer?
I'm still thinking it through, and I'm sure I'll get something that works. Without added costs.... Thanks again, Ed
 
Oh, trust me, that Genz Benz has a ton of coloration going on. While some what neutral in voicing compared to a lot of other offerings, they still have their own voice, so to speak :).

Depending on the volume, you can even try running bass through monitors too. Listen very closely - if you hear unwanted distortion, it's not going to work (turn down to prevent damage).

What I would suggest, and this will take some time... setup good tone on the G-B combo (it is the most neutral of the cabs listed). Get that preset dialed in to where you're very happy with it.
Take that preset home, and pick which cab you'll want to use the most. Insert a PEQ block in your signal chain, and use only that block to tweak to get the preset back to how you want it.
Then, when you're at home, have the PEQ block engaged. When you're at the guitarist's house, disengage the PEQ block.

Is this going to be a gigging band? If so, what amp will go to gigs?
 
Perfect! That's the sort of thing I was looking for, the PEQ block.
As far as the amp that would go out. I have always preferred my jmp 2203, 4x12 with g12-65's, but completely unrealistic both for volume levels and reliability. Though its held up pretty well, a few untimely failures...
And for gigging out, a reliable drummer will be needed. Haven't had much luck on that front. But, having a fun journey, nonetheless!
Thanks again, Ed
 
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