Idea to tweak my live rig.

T

Tedge

Member
I'll start by saying that I was one of the early adopters of the Axe FX. Before there was such a thing as an ultra I bought my standard. Several of the major posters on this board (javajunkie etc) tried mine before buying theirs. My original unit arrived with firmware 1.xx and was upgraded to 2.xx when it came out that week.

I currently have two standards. One is my show rig. The other is in my basement as a backup unit. (bought once when Cliff was having a sale on them)

I've been running firmware 5.xx since about 30% of my critical presets can't handle the CPU with the upgrades. I've tried out upgrades before and always went back down because it just wasn't worth it to rework every freaking preset to reduce CPU load.

Now that our major show season is over and we have a few weeks off, I'm considering running one standard just for FX (delay,drives, shimmer etc) into the other in series with the second unit just doing amps and cabs. Then I might be able to upgrade the firmware to 10.xx. (maybe it won't matter) If one unit went down I could still use the other as an FX only unit running into my actual AC30.

I have about 65 mission critical patches that I'd have to rework ... and I'm lazy. But, I just may bite the bullet and do this time.

Wish me luck.
 
As a pioneer user of the Axe-FX, Tedge I salute you. You were one of the reasons I bought my ultra.

Best of luck in re-programming. If you do decide to move to firmware 10.03 (its a big leap and you will notice a difference I think), then maybe look at trying the AC30 amp models and be sure to check out some of the drive models too. While there's nothing Triad like in there, they are very useful. Also if you get time, I had great success with RedWirez AC30 speaker cab impulses for getting that classic AC30 tone.

Enjoy the journey. I'd love to hear how you go.

TimmyM
 
I already use the AC30 models in firmware 5.xx along with various pedal sims in front.... FET works pretty well quite often to replicate the triad.

It's just that the "improved" amp sims after about version 7 cause the CPU to choke if I also want a shimmer path (either pitch or multidelay) So, instead of fighting it, I just went backward till it worked rock solid.
 
I'm a newbie compared to you; I walked into this world at 3.05 (or so, I can't remember now!).

Having been around each of these firmware updates (and having to readjust to the major (and some of the minor!) updates) I cannot imagine, honestly, even the possibility of working in the older firmwares. With each of these updates, the bar honestly gets reset. Most of the effect parameters have been rewritten at some point (reverb, phaser, et.al.) and the incredible development (still continuing...) focused on the amp block is essential.

Given that you have mission critical presets, you are in a unique position... but having two Standards also gives you some traction here. Here is my suggestion; I would watch the availability of Ultra's and when they are available, order one and put one of your Standards up for sale. You can quickly get almost all your money back on the original Standard very quickly and apply it toward the Ultra. (Frankly, personally, I'd repeat the process in your case and end up with two).

Then you should not run into CPU limitations except in the most extreme of cases, though frankly it'd be a WICKEDLY extreme case IMHO. Most of my presets are very in-depth and are running at 80% of CPU in the Ultra. On a Standard, I'd be pushing the limit. On the Ultra, I've got a lot of headroom on the CPU load left.

If you follow my advice, you'll end up with 2 Ultra's for merely the price differences between the Standard and Ultra, which IMHO, is exactly what you need given your circumstances as presented. You also have zero downtime, assuming you sell only one Standard at a time and have 'one in hand' to work both in the Studio and Live should you need to for some reason.
 
Just brainstorming ...

The possibility of using two Axe-Fx's, in an effects loop-scenario, would solve one of the few issues that I have with the Axe-Fx. It enables the user to switch amp+cab and keep the rest of the active chain intact. I think.

In the "old" days you would, for example, have pedals, amp channels, and a racked effects processor. You might have a chorus and compressor pedal ON, and a certain delay and reverb on the processor ON, and it would be easy to switch on the fly from amp channel 2 to 3 without changes in the rest of the chain.

Not so on the Axe-Fx. Switching amp sims requires switching presets. So you have to have pre-programmed everything or push a lot of IAs to accomplish the same.

Two Standards would suffice I guess.
 
You can easily switch amp sims without changing presets by having two amp blocks on parallel paths, though it does get CPU intensive depending on whether you're using cab blocks with them etc (I don't as I use a tube power amp and traditional guitar cabs).

I go a step further and set up a drive block as a LV Tube Preamp on a third parallel path which gives me three unique sounds to select or stack within a single preset (the two amp blocks and a tube preamp sim, along with the various FX etc).

An Ultra is really required for this kind of setup I'd venture?

yek said:
Just brainstorming ...

The possibility of using two Axe-Fx's, in an effects loop-scenario, would solve one of the few issues that I have with the Axe-Fx. It enables the user to switch amp+cab and keep the rest of the active chain intact. I think.

In the "old" days you would, for example, have pedals, amp channels, and a racked effects processor. You might have a chorus and compressor pedal ON, and a certain delay and reverb on the processor ON, and it would be easy to switch on the fly from amp channel 2 to 3 without changes in the rest of the chain.

Not so on the Axe-Fx. Switching amp sims requires switching presets. So you have to have pre-programmed everything or push a lot of IAs to accomplish the same.

Two Standards would suffice I guess.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom