[I thought I didn't like FX8... but now I do!]

OK, I need help. I have an FX8 and it sits in the corner because I just don't like it. It's hard to use, slow to program on the fly and generally a pain in the a**e. What do I need to do to become a believer? (like you guys...I just want to belong, sniff sniff) I bought it so I could stop the tap dance routine on my existing pedalboard. My main concern is how long it takes me to tailor my sound for different venues. During soundcheck, I generally need to fiddle with every effect to get it to sound right to my ears. Different rooms all have different acoustics. Currently, I just bend down and go thru each pedal and it takes about 30 seconds and I'm good to go. With the FX8 I faff around and it never seems to sound good....then you run out of time and you've just got to go with what you've got, we all know how that turns out. So how does everyone get around this? Currently, I run a wah and a volume in my existing pedalboard, to emulate this with the FX8 Should I just get two expression pedals instead of using the real thing? My main effects would be - Wah, Ego compressor, a bunch of drives (Klon, Love Pedal, BOO 808, McPherson OD-2 and a ZEN) a POG, a Phaser, Corona Chorus, a Volume pedal, TC HOF Reverb, and a few Delays (Sinvertek, TC and a Boomerang with another Chorus, which I don't use). I fiddle with all the settings on those except the delays which seem to always work.

I really want the FX8 to work. It sounds killer in the studio but shite on the road. I see Pete Thorn making awesome videos in his studio...but it's not in his onstage rig (interesting) I'm starting to feel a bit stupid about the whole thing. Maybe I should just flick it and buy a good loop switcher.

Change my mind or make me an offer...it's currently up for sale :)
 
different rooms shouldn't make you change effect sounds. usually it's general EQ and tone that changes.

what specifically do you find yourself changing often?
 
Hi Chris, usually tone and drive settings on my drive pedals. Often they sound dull or bright depending on the room and the number of people in there. I do often do global eq on the amp after soundcheck...more people in the room more treble, less people less bass. However, I still find the pedals need a tweak too. I tweak the chorus and reverb tone as well for the same reason. Maybe I'm just too picky. Someone once told me "the audience is ignorant", I think that was Abe Laboriel (nice little name drop lol).
 
are you using the same amp at every gig too? or does that change?

if the FX8 - or anything really - sounds good in one room, then it can sound good in another room with EQ adjustments. usually you'd adjust this overall tone/EQ on the amp. you shouldn't have to change chorus tone specifically. if it sounded good once, with the same settings, it can sound good again.

different rooms shouldn't make chorus tone sound different separately from reverb tone separately from guitar tone. if everything sounds too bassy, adjusting the amp bass should alleviate the chorus and reverb being too bassy as well.

it's just like doing sound. if my mixer channel settings (mic, guitar, piano, etc) are all EQ'd to sound good in one room, when we go to the next room, we don't adjust the individual channels again. we adjust the graphic EQ to compensate for the room. once that's set right, all the previous channel settings will sound good because they haven't changed, only the "master" EQ has changed to adjust to the room.
 
I recently switched from using the Axe Fx II in 4cm to the FX8. I never change my effect settings from room to room but I do have a 'real" MXR 10 band EQ as the last thing in my chain in the loop. That is the only thing I ever tweak. You may wonder why I have an external EQ when the Fractal stuff has them in there. The external EQ wakes up my amp, there is something that it adds that I just can't seem to get out of a fractal EQ, a "Shimmer/Sparkle" so to speak and it has a volume slider so I can push the power amp section of my amp (either JVM or Landry LS30) and cut the overall volume back down if need be.. I'd love to know which 10 band EQ in the FX8 is the equivalent to the real deal, I don't get the variable/constant etc. options. I just know this works for me as I really only use FX8 Edit I can't stand tweaking on the unit (same with Axe II) this set up makes it easy to re eq if I need to, and it sits right on top of my head out of the way.
 
Hi Chris, thanks for your thoughtful comments. Yes, I use the same amp. With your comment about EQ settings, I know what you mean, if it sounds good in one location then it should still sound good in another. But that is just not my experience. Global EQ doesn't seem to be enough. Each room is like a different comb filter.

My latest idea to get around my problem is to just use IEMs all the time. But to be honest, I find IEMs are horrible and suck all the joy out of playing live for me. You can't "walk away" from your amp, sounds don't come from where they are supposed to - Oh no! I'm starting to sound like a serious whiner with 1st world problems :)

I'm surprised by your comment about your mixer settings, wow. I can't think of one sound guy I know who doesn't spend all night fiddling with the channel strips and tweaking EQ constantly. Have you just let the cat out of the bag...are they just pretending to look busy lol :cool:
 
I recently switched from using the Axe Fx II in 4cm to the FX8. I never change my effect settings from room to room but I do have a 'real" MXR 10 band EQ as the last thing in my chain in the loop. That is the only thing I ever tweak. You may wonder why I have an external EQ when the Fractal stuff has them in there. The external EQ wakes up my amp, there is something that it adds that I just can't seem to get out of a fractal EQ, a "Shimmer/Sparkle" so to speak and it has a volume slider so I can push the power amp section of my amp (either JVM or Landry LS30) and cut the overall volume back down if need be.. I'd love to know which 10 band EQ in the FX8 is the equivalent to the real deal, I don't get the variable/constant etc. options. I just know this works for me as I really only use FX8 Edit I can't stand tweaking on the unit (same with Axe II) this set up makes it easy to re eq if I need to, and it sits right on top of my head out of the way.

Yes, I could see how that would work. And I'm with you 100% about tweaking from the unit, but who carries a laptop with them, right? Sometimes you are just forced to dive into that green screen.

I'm tempted to try a Headrush, at least you end up with something that looks like a pedalboard and each effect can be tweaked in 5 seconds from the front panel. Hmmm. I want the sounds from Fractal with the tweakability of a Headrush...it's dilemma :cool:
 
I'm surprised by your comment about your mixer settings, wow. I can't think of one sound guy I know who doesn't spend all night fiddling with the channel strips and tweaking EQ constantly. Have you just let the cat out of the bag...are they just pretending to look busy lol :cool:
well assuming you can save or just put the same channel settings on the mixer for the same band, those should work everywhere once you "fix" the master EQ to adjust to the room. maybe small adjustments here and there.

if it's different bands every night, then yeah, he might have to work all night. but with all these digital boards that can save setups, recalling the channels and adjusting the master EQ should be the main work.

i play several gigs regularly. i just recall the show depending on who i'm playing with that night, we plug in and are ready to go. i barely touch the mixer unless something major changed.

comb filter eh? that still shouldn't affect chorus tone separately from reverb tone, etc.
 
The only thing I ever changed once I had my effects dialled in was the amp volume.

Take that approach and you should be fine.
 
Hi All,
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. OK, I've got over myself now :). I spent a few weeks over the Christmas break really getting to know the machine. I think part of my issue was an unfamiliarity with the way it worked. I stand by my original comments about constant tweaking though. The room size and occupancy make a huge difference to reverb, delay and tone settings and for me, I hear this and I need to fix it. However, I found that it is actually not that hard in reality once you get good at navigating the green screen. It may not be quite as convenient as tweaking knobs on a pedalboard but it so worth the effort. Once I realised how utterly amazing the FX8 sounds it was a done deal.

So my setup now is the FX8 in the middle of a PedalTrain-2 with an Ernie Ball VP Jnr pedal each side. It all fits perfectly. I converted one of the VP Jnrs to an expression pedal as I like the feel of the EB pedals (I suggested to Ernie Ball that this would be a great kit to offer, convert a volume pedal into an expression pedal-they said they weren't interested, funny).

A couple of things I think would be cool, but the unit won't let me do. In stompbox mode, wouldn't it be cool if you could change Scenes without 2 button pushes? The whole point of a Scene is that it is set up with the desired effects on. Once I'm in a Scene I'm probably not going to say, turn the reverb off or whatever etc. If I want it off, I'll just switch to a Scene with it off. The other thing that would be cool would be if you could run stomp box mode where each button was a totally different patch with different blocks. I notice the "Wish List" is greyed out so I guess those will never be implemented

Cheers
 
Hi All,
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. OK, I've got over myself now :). I spent a few weeks over the Christmas break really getting to know the machine. I think part of my issue was an unfamiliarity with the way it worked. I stand by my original comments about constant tweaking though. The room size and occupancy make a huge difference to reverb, delay and tone settings and for me, I hear this and I need to fix it. However, I found that it is actually not that hard in reality once you get good at navigating the green screen. It may not be quite as convenient as tweaking knobs on a pedalboard but it so worth the effort. Once I realised how utterly amazing the FX8 sounds it was a done deal.

So my setup now is the FX8 in the middle of a PedalTrain-2 with an Ernie Ball VP Jnr pedal each side. It all fits perfectly. I converted one of the VP Jnrs to an expression pedal as I like the feel of the EB pedals (I suggested to Ernie Ball that this would be a great kit to offer, convert a volume pedal into an expression pedal-they said they weren't interested, funny).

A couple of things I think would be cool, but the unit won't let me do. In stompbox mode, wouldn't it be cool if you could change Scenes without 2 button pushes? The whole point of a Scene is that it is set up with the desired effects on. Once I'm in a Scene I'm probably not going to say, turn the reverb off or whatever etc. If I want it off, I'll just switch to a Scene with it off. The other thing that would be cool would be if you could run stomp box mode where each button was a totally different patch with different blocks. I notice the "Wish List" is greyed out so I guess those will never be implemented

Cheers

I'm an FX8 user. Awesome piece of gear!

Sounds like you need to enable Sticky Scenes on one of your Function switches. With Sticky Scenes engaged, your 8 foot switches represent the 8 scenes of your preset and you can switch between them with one stomp.
 
I'm an FX8 user. Awesome piece of gear!

Sounds like you need to enable Sticky Scenes on one of your Function switches. With Sticky Scenes engaged, your 8 foot switches represent the 8 scenes of your preset and you can switch between them with one stomp.
Hi Budda

Right, I'll check that out, it sounds good. I wasn't aware it could do that. So much to learn, thank goodness there are people like you around :) Cheers
 
Hi All,
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. OK, I've got over myself now :). I spent a few weeks over the Christmas break really getting to know the machine. I think part of my issue was an unfamiliarity with the way it worked. I stand by my original comments about constant tweaking though. The room size and occupancy make a huge difference to reverb, delay and tone settings and for me, I hear this and I need to fix it. However, I found that it is actually not that hard in reality once you get good at navigating the green screen. It may not be quite as convenient as tweaking knobs on a pedalboard but it so worth the effort. Once I realised how utterly amazing the FX8 sounds it was a done deal.

So my setup now is the FX8 in the middle of a PedalTrain-2 with an Ernie Ball VP Jnr pedal each side. It all fits perfectly. I converted one of the VP Jnrs to an expression pedal as I like the feel of the EB pedals (I suggested to Ernie Ball that this would be a great kit to offer, convert a volume pedal into an expression pedal-they said they weren't interested, funny).

A couple of things I think would be cool, but the unit won't let me do. In stompbox mode, wouldn't it be cool if you could change Scenes without 2 button pushes? The whole point of a Scene is that it is set up with the desired effects on. Once I'm in a Scene I'm probably not going to say, turn the reverb off or whatever etc. If I want it off, I'll just switch to a Scene with it off. The other thing that would be cool would be if you could run stomp box mode where each button was a totally different patch with different blocks. I notice the "Wish List" is greyed out so I guess those will never be implemented

Cheers
Just put the scenes you need directly on the main footswitch page. Check out the owners manual: it tells how to do the things referenced in this thread ;)
 
Just put the scenes you need directly on the main footswitch page. Check out the owners manual: it tells how to do the things referenced in this thread ;)
Hi Chris, thanks, Budda let me know about the sticky scene trick, but are you saying I can do the same thing with different presets? I thought I was limited to 8 versions of the same preset and they call those scenes. Can you make sticky presets too? I'll check it out.

While you're there, how do you activate the metronome? The manual is pretty quiet on this :)
 
Scenes turn blocks on and off and change X and Y. To activate a scene you need a foot switch that selects that scene. You can put a scene switch directly on the main foot switch layer without having to go to scene mode.

Please check out the owners manual. It’s really all in there.
 
Wanted to jump in here Bug, I don't have an effects loop on my amp but you do. Are you using the 4 cable method? Also you can run your time base and modulation in parallel, I started doing that and love it. Only my wah & drives are in series. This is probably covered extensively in other threads but why have all the effects running through each other when you don't have too.
 
Wanted to jump in here Bug, I don't have an effects loop on my amp but you do. Are you using the 4 cable method? Also you can run your time base and modulation in parallel, I started doing that and love it. Only my wah & drives are in series. This is probably covered extensively in other threads but why have all the effects running through each other when you don't have too.
Yes, I'm running 4CM as it does seem to be the right way to do it. I run the delays and reverb in parallel and everything else in series. I think after years of experimentation by 10s of thousands of guitarists this seems to yield the best results. So I do the traditional Comp-Wah-Drive to the front end, then Modulation Delays Verb in the loop, then Looper last in this chain so I catch everything. I'll give your Modulations in parallel a go and see how that sounds. I've got a bit of time currently as our whole country is in "lock-down" because of the KungFlu/Wuhan Virus (Covid-19 for the politically correct :) ) Thanks for your suggestion and input.
 
Yes, I'm running 4CM as it does seem to be the right way to do it. I run the delays and reverb in parallel and everything else in series. I think after years of experimentation by 10s of thousands of guitarists this seems to yield the best results. So I do the traditional Comp-Wah-Drive to the front end, then Modulation Delays Verb in the loop, then Looper last in this chain so I catch everything. I'll give your Modulations in parallel a go and see how that sounds. I've got a bit of time currently as our whole country is in "lock-down" because of the KungFlu/Wuhan Virus (Covid-19 for the politically correct :) ) Thanks for your suggestion and input.
[/QUOTE

Sounds like you have it totally under control!!!! Be safe
 
Back
Top Bottom