You can always change presets as well.
i made a video a while ago explaining Presets vs Scenes vs Channels (XY) for the Axe2. it's a bit long, but the beginning explains the impetus of channels and scenes. if you have some time, it's probably worth a look. this video was made at the time when people requested that my videos were slower moving and longer with explanations, so maybe set the playback speed to 1.5x or so to get through it:
but the take away is this: consider that most effects units like the Axe for a long time ONLY had presets. if you wanted a different sound or effects combination, you needed to change Presets, unless you wanted to hit 5 switches quickly to change things.
again, that was the only way.
the Axe-Fx II launched with a feature called XY - what we call Channels on the Axe3. i believe this was around 2011. now in the same preset, if you wanted 2 different Amp sounds, you could just change XY (channels) without changing presets. this allowed you to use less preset slots and also keep the effects layout the exact same since you didn't change presets.
this was a great addition, but you still sorta had to press multiple switches at once if you wanted to change the Amp tone and turn on delay, and turn off reverb, etc.
in 2012, i believe from the suggestion of Steve Vai, Scenes were introduced. the main point of Scenes was to allow multiple blocks to be turned on and off with a single switch press. that was really the main point. 8 Scenes were implemented, which let you have 8 different "pedal loops" if you want to think of it in an analog way. so S1 could be dry, S2 could add chorus and delay, S3 could add reverb and EQ (while turning off anything else that was on), etc. etc. additionally, Scenes allowed channel changing. so these things
together really created a powerful way to change a bunch of things without leaving the preset.
when Scenes first launched, some had a really tough time using them, because settings could be "hidden" within the other channel. for these people, there were too many "layers" to think about when either glancing at a preset to adjust it or just know what it could do. so i have always suggested to just stick with presets and don't change channels and don't change scenes. then what you see is what you get.
on my Axe-Fx Ultra back in 2007 - 2011, i used 5 presets - clean dry, clean chorus, crunch, rhythm distortion, lead distortion. really no big deal - again all gear basically used the same preset architecture to accomplish those 5 different sounds. everyone was used to this. but then Channels and Scenes on the Axe2 allowed me to use just one preset to get all 5 sounds using the 2 amp channels (clean and distortion amp), a drive pedal for crunch, and the effects turning on and off as needed. i only used 5 of the 8 scenes ever.
enter the Axe3 which just expands on this. we still have the 8 Scenes, but now with 4 channels, i could use 4 amp types among the Scenes for specific amp tones, so i don't even have drive blocks anymore.
remember that Scenes were implemented for the main purpose of turning multiple blocks on and off with one switch press. that's its function. and it can change channels too, which is great. Scenes were never intended to give 8 completely different sounds, block arrangements, settings, etc. they were never "eight completely different presets within a preset." they were more an approach to turn things on and off at once 8 different ways.
i think knowing the history of Scenes and how they came to be can help people understand how to use them.
so Scenes on a multi-fx unit were introduced on the Axe2 in 2012. from there, other brands implemented a "scenes" concept and approached them differently. somehow, the Line 6 Helix line was able to adjust any knob in any block with their Snapshot feature. maybe there's less knobs to move, or maybe the CPU is handled differently. regardless, Snapshots are similar to Axe Scenes, but not exactly the same. maybe Line 6 approached it to specifically allow changing all knobs as it can. but Axe Scenes were not created to do that specifically. they just were to turn multiple blocks on/off and change channels with one switch.
you don't have to use all 4 channels, and you don't have to use all 8 scenes. today on the 3, i still just use 5 scenes, similar to what i described before. it's very straight forward and mostly different levels of gain. on my AX8, i've recently used a Scene Controller to keep the same clean amp (vox type) but step through gain stages there for my clean and crunch sounds. this adds another layer of complexity and it's definitely not "what you see is what you get."
so for those struggling with keeping Scenes and Channels organized in their mind, i still recommend using different presets and not changing channels or scenes at all. some are able to keep these different "layers of settings" in their mind, and some have trouble. which is fine! use what makes sense to you. in general, i see time and time again where people come from a simple real amp and a few pedals to the Axe-Fx, and feel they need to use EVERYTHING in the axe - all amp advanced parameters, all 8 scenes, as many blocks that can fit, all channels, scene controllers, etc etc. you don't have to do that
if your previous rig was a 2 channel marshall with delay and chorus, then just use that in the Axe. no need to push it to 11 and cram everything in there and possibly get confused during the performance. in my opinion, just using one amp model and a few other blocks is well worth the full price of the axe. no need to use every single thing to justify using it. use what you know. learn as you go and add things when able.
