How many of you are actually using the Axe as your main gig rig.

racetra

racetra

Inspired
I ask this because most of the clips I hear are done going direct to recording software and what-not. These all sound great. I personally dont have that so all my clips are live to the camera. My Axe rig is my sole performance rig.

How many of you are in the same boat as me and gig week after week with your Axe?

Has there been any problems with packin it around.

I do about 40 to 60 gigs a season sometimes and so far I have about 15+ under my belt with my Axe with no problems...(knock on wood). I am thinking about gettin a back up unit like a Line 6 Pocket Pod or HD or X3. You know, one of the small ones that I can pack in my breif case for back up just in case anything goes wrong.

Thanks
T
 
I use it for all bigger gigs, ie. everything that is not duo or trio background gigs.

So far I've done more than 50 gigs. I only have problems when I cannot connect the cables right :)

Jens
 
No problems here. I was a little nervous this past weekend because we had to take a ferry to an island, so I brought a combo amp and used it's power section, and had a velo300 in the rack with the ultra. Not like I could run to the car and get spares, so I had to lug them. Despite the hail storm, significant rainfall on the return ride, and a deep seeded dread of losing everything in the lake, everything made it both ways in one piece, worked great-and has mostly dried off ;)
 
i use mine for every show, done 8 so far this year and it's been fantastic every time. I go through a 2x12 cab not into the FOH and just crank it :D
 
I just upgraded from a Standard To an Ultra, and have not used it at a gig yet, but I had done plenty with the standard, and no problems. I have NO backup (Can't afford one!) so if it went down I'd be literally screwed. (I like to live dangerously!) Seriously though, by all accounts the Axe is awesomely reliable. Do a search, there are plenty of stories on here of folk abusing their Axe-Fx in all manner of ways, with no reported problems.
 
No problem. I've done about a dozen gigs so far. It rides around in a rack box behind the seat of my car. The only problem I've had (twice!) is when another band moves my FCB out of their way, and breaks one of the cables.
 
Yea, i'd rather hear clips from live performances then direct recordings. I just like to hear how the tones fit in the mix. BTW, great clips Racetra.
 
Standard, then Ultra and now II as my main rig. no backups. I think did around 200 shows, only the first shows I had a minor problem, which was software related IIRC (standard way back with v3.0 or something like that)

I was thinking about some sort of backup floor unit like Pod-XT, but then I thought what the heck, our 2 keyboard players don't have any backup and those instruments are more important and harder to replace.
 
Just switched to Ultra going to an Atomic Cab and FOH as my main rig. 2 Gigs with it so far, and not looking back! I am thinking about picking up a SS poweramp and feeding that into an Avatar cab (output 2), since one of the clubs we play has a soundman that doesn't want the guitars doing direct to FOH (sigh). I don't want him mic'ing my Atomic, so I am setting up my patches for Output 1 with speaker emulations out to FRFR and FOH, and Output 2 without speaker emulation and into the avatar cab if needed. That way I think I am covered in any scenario.
 
I probably have 200 shows on the standard. I run direct and back through alien ears, tell the sound tech to set the console flat, adjust the gain I am sending him and have never had a problem. Actually usually have them thank me for being so easy.
 
I play weekends and one-niters. The Ultra is my only rig right now. I've played 36 gigs on mine since mid March. I've also been thinking about a back-up.
 
I've been using my Axe Ultra (with two QSC k10's) for gigging for about 8 months now (about 30 gigs). I still am tuning things as I gain more live gigging experience with the Axe, but I've been quite happy with the results. I still use a Rivera tube head into a 2x12 (with G12M's) for rehearsals (as I can simply leave that setup at our rehearsal site), so I get to use a loved tube head every week (which is fun). Having said that, I still prefer the Axe-Fx. The Axe-Fx sounds great and there is a consistency in sound that I get with the Axe that I could never get with a tube head. I also have MUCH more flexibility in terms of tones using the Axe as opposed to a tube head (plus delays actually sound right now, as I couldnever do a Wet/Dry rig for that). I've always had to use a monitor with my guitar in it to hear myself clearly during solos(I solo a lot in my current band), so I'm very comfortable using monitors and the feel aspect that comes with them (as opposed to getting everything from stage amp volume, which is a no no in most clubs anyway).

I'm currently using a line 6 floor board processor for backup, thankfully I haven't needed it. I plan on getting an Axe-II eventually (ill wait for the coupon that will eventually come), so my ultra will probalby become the backup at that point.

I'm hoping to record this upcoming weekend's gig (depends on weather as it's an outdoor gig) as it's been a couple of years since I've recorded my band (and we now have new people in it). I'm looking forward to hearing what the results are (as well as hearing the new people, as there are still some new people issues). New drummers really change the dynamic of a band A LOT.. sometimes for the better, sometimes not.
 
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I am. I have owned and gigged the Standard/Ultra and II.

I have centered my rig or been totally Fractal since 2007 and have roughly 300+ shows and hundreds of sessions with it in that time.
 
Me!!
Gigged w/ Ultra for over a year... now integrating the II going into Atomic cab (w/ MFC).
Backup is GT10 which I haven't even powered up but once in the last year - thought I ought to see if it's still working .. Ya, know.. just in case I [might] ever need it. :)
 
Me too, doing probably around 200 shows the last 2.5 years and countless session hours with my Ultra, used mainly 4CM with my tube gear. The only problem I've had was a faulty Rotary Encoder which died at about the 1.5 year point even though 95% of the programming was done via Axe Edit (this seems to be a somewhat common problem?). Great box at any rate, love it!
 
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I can't see the Axe being any less reliable than any other amp or fx unit and most of us part-timers just cart the one amp around to gigs.

The only amp I've ever had a problem with in 20 years of gigging was a 3 month old Mk3 Boogie, it just was DOA at soundcheck - after some frantic groping in the dark I found it was the FX loop so I at least was able to play it dry and wing the gig. I took the chassis out later at home and found the biggest ugliest sloppiest dry solder joint on the FX return wiring ...... 'Hand built in California' said the label ..... by chimpanzees it seems. Trust me to buy the 'friday hometime' built one!

I'd probably like to hang on to the Ultra when I get a AF2 - but I reckon I'd probably be better selling it and getting something that I'd get regular use from ..... another guitar.

I think the worst gear failure I've seen was on a live TV show we used to have here in the UK - 'The Tube'; David Gilmore and his band were playing a set and his Pete Cornish built rig totally died at the first chord .... no other guitarist in the band, no other band around to take over, so he just sang with keys, drums and bass. Professional of him to soldier on and not stomp off stage (like Lenny Kravitz did on same show at a later date because his falsetto was shaky due to a tickly throat) - but it sounded crap :)
 
I have a Behringer V-Amp2 with his bag and his two buttons foot controller as a bakcup, never used it (knock knock).
 
Used it for shows for 4 months with k12's. New had a problem. It did switch presets once on its own I think. Had a flew beers singer could've hit it lol. So far so good

send from Droid
 
I've been using an Ultra live for the last 8 months, not an issue at all. I run a single Atomic cab for my personal onstage monitoring when needed (if the venue doesn't have great on stage monitoring already).

Mostly I'm just plugging the Ultra directly into the PA and I couldn't be happier.

A couple of sound guys have been pretty reluctant to put my direct feed through FOH, but every single one of the doubters has come up to me after the gig to compliment how good it sounded direct through the PA. I cut my sound off below 120hz and above 8khz (or thereabouts depending on the amp model) which makes my sound easy to slot into a mix.
 
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