Input Select and Balance Question

rickbarclay

Inspired
This has been bugging me for a while now. Input Select and Balance are on the right side of the screen in the
Amp and Cab pages and maybe more. How are these two supposed to work/interact?

My set up uses them like this: I use rows two and three for one amp block and one cab block each. Row two is set to +100 in balance and Input Select is set to Left. Row three is set to -100 balance and Input Select is set to
Right. I have two frfr speakers connected to Output One of the AXE FX. My hope is to get some sort of stereo
effect from this, but that has not been the case. Usually I get sound from each speaker, but sometimes, depending on the preset I'm using I get no sound at all from either speaker if I use the Right Input Select and
all the sound comes from using the Left Input.

Also, there are sound quality issues that arise when I use two rows of Cabc and Amps as opposed to using
One Row for just one Cab and Amp.One row is much thinner sounding but has a clearer tone to my ears.
Sometimes, depending on the block configuration everything works fine except there is no separation that I can detect, but sound is coming through both speakers. Sooo...

Can anyone expound on the proper use of Input Select and the Balance controls? I've read through the
Axe Edit instructions without finding anything useful to me.

Thanks for your comments and help. Happy holidays.
 
Input select only matters when signal reaching amp block is stereo (different in left/right channels) and you want to select which channel is sent into the amp block. Amp balance doesn't really matter when you have a cab block in each row, because the cab balance will determine the balance leaving the cab block.

To summarize, you can generally leave those amp parameters at defaults (L+R sum, 0/center). Balance cab blocks L/R if you want the two tones panned L/R. (With certain post-cab effects you may need to adjust balance at a later point. If running two separate rows to output you can always use the output block's row balance controls for this.)
 
Thanks B-Man. Not sure if I'm wasting my time with the two-row effort. I get different tones doing that. Some I like. Some I don't. But overall
it just seems that two rows of cabs and amps gives me a fuller, more robust sound than just one row.
 
Thanks B-Man. Not sure if I'm wasting my time with the two-row effort. I get different tones doing that. Some I like. Some I don't. But overall
it just seems that two rows of cabs and amps gives me a fuller, more robust sound than just one row.
a second row that goes back to the first row increases the volume by 6dB, so don't let a level increase fool you. 2 amps at a time can definitely change the sound to be more full, but just be sure it isn't just a volume increase.
 
Thanks Chris. No I don't think its just a volume increase. I don't think I would have have stayed with the two-tier config as long as I have if that were the case. I've been at it for a few months now, and have about 60 presets done. There's a sort of anticipation to what kind of sound I'll get when I shunt all the block together--the sound goes up and the tone changes. I use two scenes per preset. In each preset the amps and cabs are matched, but I use different gear in each scene via x and y modes. I can also experiment using different amp and cab configs, but I haven't tried that yet. Point is, the AXE is a very versatile tool.
People who give up on the AXE after a few months are too impatient.
Takes years to learn what this thing is capable of. My opinion.
 
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