How many scenes you really use? Is 8 overkill?

Some 250 cover song specific presets the majority of which use 8 scenes, lots of real time mods and full scene controller utilization. Always dual amps and always stereo cabs.

I run 3 mission expression pedals with the mfc101 and axe Fx II mk II.

I love this gear, just wish it didn't have limits.
 
how many scenes would you have with a real amp? I have 5 scenes set up on my mfc, but in the real world I use 3. Clean, rhythm, lead. Only songs with crazy synth or effects are there more then 3 scenes.
 
This is the real world... I can use up 8 at times, it's like having exotic pedal-board routing (e.g. Rocktron, Switchblade). You can really get a lot of mileage out of single preset if you plan your needs out.

With the Switchblade the routing possibilities are just about endless. I still have my Switchblade, but I haven't used it since I started using Fractal products, which pretty much allows the same routing flexibility.

If you don't need them, don't use them. Having extra scenes won't kill you, however, I might if you're suggesting they take them away. :smilingimp:
 
dpeterson said:
3, some patches its' clean, chank, chunk... with the aic trib, I use 1 as main tone, 2 would be a effected tone, 3 lead boost with delay. Or in order of tones needed, like on Rooster, 1 is the clean chorused sound, 2 is main tone, then 3 lead. Never felt a need for more than 3.
Click to expand...
90's AIC Jerry Cantrell, you can get away with a simple scheme.
 
I have 3 set up on mine. Heavy, Clean, and then a muted scene (allows for silent tuning, changing guitars, or for whatever).
 
I use anywhere from one to five scenes, depending on the preset.

Is it overkill to have eight scenes available? Hell, no. Three more than I need might be exactly what someone else needs.
 
I only use one preset for live and at home. I use 7 Scenes so I've tried to get a lot of mileage out of that one preset. 1) Twin 2) Twin w/ TS808 3) Morgan AC20 4) Morgan AC20 w/ TS808 5) Plexi 6) Plexi w/ TS808 7) Lead. Currently it's a Twin with a Ruckus.
 
My live setup has evolved to use scenes less frequently, and I opt instead for 1) Song-specific banks for complex songs, which has some issues; and 2) Expression pedals assigned to turn different parts of specific presets on and off or modify groups of effects at once (effectively acting as scene switchers).

So under (1), I have an MFC song with clean, vintage crunch, overdriven rhythm, (1-5 on the bottom row) that I can use for lots of songs; where this is insufficient, I then create song specific banks. The problem of course is the drop during preset switching -- I manage this carefully or use #2 where it's a problem.

Under (2), using a combination of bypass/thru and levels, I can use expression pedals to do lots of things, e.g. one expression pedal to turn the phaser on, boost a drive pedal and add 2 db of volume; or bypass one amp and turn another one. This provides lots of flexibility to do things live and seemlessly.

I am open to suggestions around using scenes more effectively. One issue I have faced is that I find "reveal" mode quite clumsy on the MFC. I have configured reveal IA Switches 4 and 5 to serve as real time preset level changes which comes in handy in new venues; this limits me to 3 scenes per preset which is not enough. Also, when reveal is "on", if I'm not careful, I will inadvertently change a scene (or preset / scene volume!) instead of turning reveal off first and then switching to a new preset.

At some point, I will probably do the hard work to convert everything to scenes, but would love to first find a work around to using switches 4 and 5 for volume adjustments -- that's probably the key obstacle. Maybe I just disable that capability, helpful as it is...

Thoughts welcome -- thanks!
 
Depends on the song my covers band is doing. For example, on Dani California I use all 8 scenes on one preset, then move to a second preset for the outro solo, because I actually needed nine scenes.
 
spv said:
My live setup has evolved to use scenes less frequently, and I opt instead for 1) Song-specific banks for complex songs, which has some issues; and 2) Expression pedals assigned to turn different parts of specific presets on and off or modify groups of effects at once (effectively acting as scene switchers).

So under (1), I have an MFC song with clean, vintage crunch, overdriven rhythm, (1-5 on the bottom row) that I can use for lots of songs; where this is insufficient, I then create song specific banks. The problem of course is the drop during preset switching -- I manage this carefully or use #2 where it's a problem.

Under (2), using a combination of bypass/thru and levels, I can use expression pedals to do lots of things, e.g. one expression pedal to turn the phaser on, boost a drive pedal and add 2 db of volume; or bypass one amp and turn another one. This provides lots of flexibility to do things live and seemlessly.

I am open to suggestions around using scenes more effectively. One issue I have faced is that I find "reveal" mode quite clumsy on the MFC. I have configured reveal IA Switches 4 and 5 to serve as real time preset level changes which comes in handy in new venues; this limits me to 3 scenes per preset which is not enough. Also, when reveal is "on", if I'm not careful, I will inadvertently change a scene (or preset / scene volume!) instead of turning reveal off first and then switching to a new preset.

At some point, I will probably do the hard work to convert everything to scenes, but would love to first find a work around to using switches 4 and 5 for volume adjustments -- that's probably the key obstacle. Maybe I just disable that capability, helpful as it is...

Thoughts welcome -- thanks!
Click to expand...
That's a cool idea, use a couple IA switches to trigger a couple volume boosts.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spv
spv said:
My live setup has evolved to use scenes less frequently, and I opt instead for 1) Song-specific banks for complex songs, which has some issues; and 2) Expression pedals assigned to turn different parts of specific presets on and off or modify groups of effects at once (effectively acting as scene switchers).

So under (1), I have an MFC song with clean, vintage crunch, overdriven rhythm, (1-5 on the bottom row) that I can use for lots of songs; where this is insufficient, I then create song specific banks. The problem of course is the drop during preset switching -- I manage this carefully or use #2 where it's a problem.

Under (2), using a combination of bypass/thru and levels, I can use expression pedals to do lots of things, e.g. one expression pedal to turn the phaser on, boost a drive pedal and add 2 db of volume; or bypass one amp and turn another one. This provides lots of flexibility to do things live and seemlessly.

I am open to suggestions around using scenes more effectively. One issue I have faced is that I find "reveal" mode quite clumsy on the MFC. I have configured reveal IA Switches 4 and 5 to serve as real time preset level changes which comes in handy in new venues; this limits me to 3 scenes per preset which is not enough. Also, when reveal is "on", if I'm not careful, I will inadvertently change a scene (or preset / scene volume!) instead of turning reveal off first and then switching to a new preset.

At some point, I will probably do the hard work to convert everything to scenes, but would love to first find a work around to using switches 4 and 5 for volume adjustments -- that's probably the key obstacle. Maybe I just disable that capability, helpful as it is...

Thoughts welcome -- thanks!
Click to expand...

I configured IA switches to be the first 5 scenes. That way I don't need to use the Reveal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom