Is there a beginner's guide?

T

Tannhauser

Inspired
I've been playing 20 years but when it comes to setting a tone, I've had the tone controls on my amp and that's about it. I haven't even really used pedals much.

Every time I look at editing or creating a patch on the AXEFXIII, I'm completely staggered by the number of options. Some of the things, I don't even have a concept of what they might do for me!

Is there a guide on how to get started and use the many, many settings? Or am I just going to have to (sharp intake of breath) read the manual?
 
Tannhauser said:
I've been playing 20 years but when it comes to setting a tone, I've had the tone controls on my amp and that's about it. I haven't even really used pedals much.

Every time I look at editing or creating a patch on the AXEFXIII, I'm completely staggered by the number of options. Some of the things, I don't even have a concept of what they might do for me!

Is there a guide on how to get started and use the many, many settings? Or am I just going to have to (sharp intake of breath) read the manual?
Click to expand...
Use what you know. Ignore what you don’t.

You don’t go to a music store and try to plug everything in all at once. Same applies here.
 
It doesn't need to be more complicated than a traditional guitar rig.

Start with a blank preset and add these 4 blocks:

Input -> Amp -> Cab -> Output

Go into the Cab block and select an appropriate IR (speaker Impulse Response) for the amp you want to use (Yek's Amp Guide is a great resource).

Go into the Amp block. Select the model you want to use. Adjust the settings on the 1st page. The only knob there that's not on a physical amp is Level, which is a true "volume" control for overall volume and has no affect on the tone.

If you want to add effects, start simple.

Do some reading online about effects, where to place them in the chain, etc.

Add something and see what it does. That's have we've all learned in the physical rig world.
 
Unix-guy s advice is the same as I would suggest. If you have a favorite real amp and speaker cab, start with those and dial them in as you would on the real amps using the "authentic" settings for the tone controls. There are also tons of great tutorial videos users have posted on YouTube showing how to do all sorts of things.
Also the Axe FX Wiki is great and answers almost any question you could think of.

http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/axefx2/index.php?title=Category:Axe-Fx3
 
It takes some sort of dual engineering degree to understand it.


Tone packs are a good place to start.
Then you just tinker around with the effects.

Also
Wiki.fractalaudio.com

Theres a course someone put together... it would help with the learning curve, but not equal to a dual engineering degree.
 
BaronVonGrim said:
It takes some sort of dual engineering degree to understand it.
Click to expand...
i disagree. it's the same as any new device.

learn where things are.
know what you want to accomplish.

usually it's the 2nd part that people have trouble with, but blame it on the gear. people say some models of real guitar amps are "impossible to use." or an EQ pedal, or whatever. we need to know what we're doing to use them.

to help with this, as suggested by several people already, just use the things in the Axe you are familiar with. a new guitarist wouldn't buy all the pedals and plug them in and suddenly expect to sound good or know what they're doing. the Axe has everything. do you know how to use everything available to guitarists? probably not. and that's fine. no one really does.

so use what you know, and it becomes infinitely easier.
 
chris said:
i disagree. it's the same as any new device.

learn where things are.
know what you want to accomplish.

usually it's the 2nd part that people have trouble with, but blame it on the gear. people say some models of real guitar amps are "impossible to use." or an EQ pedal, or whatever. we need to know what we're doing to use them.

to help with this, as suggested by several people already, just use the things in the Axe you are familiar with. a new guitarist wouldn't buy all the pedals and plug them in and suddenly expect to sound good or know what they're doing. the Axe has everything. do you know how to use everything available to guitarists? probably not. and that's fine. no one really does.

so use what you know, and it becomes infinitely easier.
Click to expand...
For example.... if you were to describe the differences in tones that you hear and what makes them different. How do you even know what words to use? It takes a sound engineer and his dictionary of words to describe tone. It takes a electrical engineer and his knowledge of integrated circuits to design a pedal.
One can learn the unit and the functions but it takes more knowledge to put it together
 
BaronVonGrim said:
For example.... if you were to describe the differences in tones that you hear and what makes them different. How do you even know what words to use? It takes a sound engineer and his dictionary of words to describe tone. It takes a electrical engineer and his knowledge of integrated circuits to design a pedal.
One can learn the unit and the functions but it takes more knowledge to put it together
Click to expand...
I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.

My fellow guitarists are far from electrical engineers. But they aren’t designing pedals. Neither are Axe-Fx users. We use words like “bassy” and “mids” and “too loud.” Then we play music. No degree required. With real amps, line 6 gear, fractal gear. It doesn’t matter.
 
I recently watch Steve Vai creating a tone print for a TC electronics. He has a guy sitting with him on a laptop. Steve described what he was wanting while the guy made adjustments. Because it is complicated.
To go thru presets 1-20, and every scene. Then using vocabulary to describe what you hear, what makes them different. That is difficult. Even if I learn the vocabularies.... brite, warm, fat, wet, wide, bassy....etc. its difficult for me to break it down. I hear the differences, but I dont know why.
It's all extremely difficult.
 
BaronVonGrim said:
I recently watch Steve Vai creating a tone print for a TC electronics. He has a guy sitting with him on a laptop. Steve described what he was wanting while the guy made adjustments. Because it is complicated.
To go thru presets 1-20, and every scene. Then using vocabulary to describe what you hear, what makes them different. That is difficult. Even if I learn the vocabularies.... brite, warm, fat, wet, wide, bassy....etc. its difficult for me to break it down. I hear the differences, but I dont know why.
It's all extremely difficult.
Click to expand...
See but you’re not describing “using the Axe-Fx.” You’re describing getting a very specific tone exactly.

With any gear, you can take forever to do that. You’ve just given an example that wasn’t the Axe.

So the Axe isn’t difficult and doesn’t require an engineering degree. Unless you want it to.
 
BaronVonGrim said:
go thru presets 1-20, and every scene. Then using vocabulary to describe what you hear, what makes them different. That is difficult. Even if I learn the vocabularies.... brite, warm, fat, wet, wide, bassy....etc. its difficult for me to break it down. I hear the differences, but I dont know why.
It's all extremely difficult.
Click to expand...
If one actually had all the gear corresponding with presets 1-20 and were very familiar with them all, one would have the vocabulary to describe what makes them different. Few people have that much gear in real life.

I do find the "use what you know" a good advice for starting out.

@Tannhauser
Manual is great, well written, and everything is in there.
If you want a fast track to learning not just the capabilities of the unit, but how to use those capabilities creatively to your benefit, @ccroyalsenders' class should be great. He helps set up the Axe for big artists: https://classes.coopercarter.com/axe-fx-iii-master-class-with-cooper-carter
 
Yea the Axe is fantastic to work with... that's a big reason I ended up here. I needed something all in one. The interface of the 3 feels intuitive.

It's a challenge for me to understand most of it.. I just put my trust in the box.
 
Leon Todd's YouTube channel has been a wonderful resource for me. He has a lot of beginner tutorials for getting great tines quickly .I don't know his username on the forums but definitely check out his YouTube page for the five minute tones.
 
This system is very complex as you can drill down and make changes to almost anything. Most will not do this and instead use the presets, tweak a bit or make there own. However there is so much more to this unit if you are technically minded. I do find that the footswitch layouts are not that intuitive at first as there are only 3 footswitches but multiple layered options you have to deal with in order to make changes more or less on the fly. There is a learning curve that is fairly steep for those not used to something like this.
 
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