Let's Talk Cover Band Setups!

Akstrat

Akstrat

Experienced
Yep, I play in a cover band...and I like it! The AX8 has opened a ton of tones to me, that before I struggled with. Before my Axe, I played a LP into a vintage BF Vibrolux. I had a pedal board that had a host of effects, two dist/OD's, delays, wah, comp, chorus.... you get the idea. My band is a 12 piece rock/horn band that plays Motown, funk, Chicago, 80's rock, to Bruno Mars.

My current rig is a LP Skinner or a vintage Strat, RCF NX12 monitor, AX8, Shure Glxd-16 and an EV-1

I'm wondering how others set their AX8's up. I am not into programming a preset for every song, don't want to take that time. Sorry. We change songs/sets too often. But I am into learning how others handle their setups. General broad presets/scenes that cover a lot of ground. Maybe having 8 presets that I have at my disposal. Here is kind of what I have going now.

Preset 1: Fender based clean amp, effects include OD, Comp, Chorus, Delays
Preset 2: Marshall based 80's rock thing, usual effects
Preset 3: Prince type tones
Preset 4: Double Delay, U2, Walk the Moon.... Dist, delay based

I can cover a lot of ground with these basic four presets and a number of programmed scenes. I am hoping some people can exchange some ideas and maybe some presets. Thanks in advance and I have learned a ton from the veterans here and hope to learn more. The AX8 has made me a better player! Please feel free to attach presets!!!
 
Looks like you already have a good grip on a setup that works for you. I do pretty much the same thing. I have 5 presets that I use covering the Fender, Marshall and High gain sounds. Each with 5 scenes. Additional FX blocks on IAs like pitch, rotary, etc or the like. I usually live on 2 presets for the majority of stuff and the other 3 are more specialized for specific songs that really need something particular.
I don't use presets per song. I find that sticking with consistent sounds through the sets makes for a better performance for for me, my band mates and the audience as opposed to trying to nail each song's sound perfectly. Keeps the FOH mix consistent.
 
I have a general purpose preset that covers most of my stuff with a combo of scenes and IA, but when you come across something specialized I just copy that preset and modify as needed for special effects. The AX8 doesn't have enough cpu to throw it all in one preset so that was my strategy. In the process of switching to an XL plus so that might change.
 
The AX8 gives you lots of options. While I fully respect those who have taken the time to go preset-per-song, I found it didn't work for me to go too much that direction. As my sound changed dramatically and the rest of the band didn't also change to match the record, my sound either stuck out in bad ways or disappeared behind them. Occasionally, it was awesome, but most of the time it wasn't nearly as great as it had been working it up with the recording.

What I have found over the years (started with the Ultra, moved to the II, and now have the XL+ and AX8) is that either a single amp or similar amp tones work best for me across presets. I have banks set up on one amp (the Tucana was the first I did this with) that feel very much like the old tube amp and pedalboard setup. I have integrated some tones with decent results, such as having a Vox and Marshall gainy tones alongside a Vibrolux clean. And to fill out the options, I also have some special use presets for songs like Purple Rain, etc.

If I were to pass on one piece of advice, it would be to remain aware of how your sounds will mix with your band once you go live. At one point a sound man who works with us occasionally, a fellow guitarist with a good ear, told me that my sounds were all great but impossible to mix song to song. He'd get a nice round crunch feel working with the band on a rock tune, then get icepick clean the next. Like I said, my band doesn't change their sound every song, so I had to work to make sure my sounds could be mixed with theirs. Within that range, there is a lot of fun and experimentation to be had with the AX8.
 
I have my cover band utility main rig, i have a new cover band mainly playing top 40 so i wanted a preset that felt like using a pedalboard like i did before. I couldn't do one preset per song, i would go insane doing maintenance and working on the levels between clean and distortion but that's just me. I'm planning on sharing my preset one i'm 100% happy with it.

My preset goes like this:

Scene 1 - Clean
Scene 2 - Acoustic Sim
Scene 3 - Rhythm
Scene 4 - Lead (same as rhythm but with like 10% more input gain and 2 dB output boost)
Scene 5 - Clean U2 Delay

Footswitches
1 - Scene 1/2
2 - Scene 3
3 - Scene 4
4 - Pitch (X = Octave Down, Y = Octave Up)
5 - Flanger (X = Chorus like flanger, Y = jet Flanger for are you gonna go my way)
6 - Phaser (X = EVH like, Y = EVH but faster and lighter for cleans)
7 - Delay (X = Digital Stereo 1/8 note for most applications, Y = EVH Cathedral delay for U2 and shut up and dance)
8 - Reverb (X= spring for all blocks, Y= pring, bigger reverb for sweet child intro)

Now, when i wanna do shut up and dance i use that Cathedral style delay, which i have on scene 5 but i have no access to it, so i have F1 to single scene, since it's only on the intro and the bridge, I can hit F1 go to scene 5 and be back to my usual layout.

Sweet Child O'Mine, hit button 3 for lead, hold button 8 for Y, then for the verse hit button 1 for clean for the first half of the verse, hit button 5 for the second half of the verse for chorus on the arpeggio as he recorded it. everything else pretty straight forward

Exs and Ohs, hit button 1 twice for scene 2, which I use an acoustic guitar IR from Moke's store, play the verses with it, hit button 2 for distortion, hit 1 twice again for acoustic. for the lead hit button 3 and then button 4 for an octave down (since for rhythm and lead the pitch block is default on X and for clean and acoustic it's on Y for a 12 string sound) for a cooler sound

Are you gonna go my way, button 3 for intro, if you are the only guitar player, hit button 4 for octave down and play the high part when it's supposed to kick in, pre-solor, hit button 5 since it's default on Y for rhythm, so you get a flanger, and then hit button 3 for the solo

If there are other effects i want then i just create a duplicate of this patch and edit as needed. I'll post the preset soon!

Hope this helps
 
Akstrat,

I would love to hear the presets you are using for your funk tunes. I have been trying to get a good spanky clean funk tone like Jimmy Nolan and Nile Rogers etc. Welcome aboard.
 
I play in a cover band that plays a 4 hour night, and typically we'll do 3 sets these days equating to about 40-45 tunes. They're mostly alt-rock/hard rock/classic rock but also including some modern poppy stuff, and old funk ,etc. I will never have 1 preset per song. I'm not that dedicated to copying tones. I've done this for over 35 years, and never will be that copying!!! BUT Fractal sure allows for those of you who are , to do it!! . I have come up with what works for me VERY WELL though, and I'll be changing it a bit, but currently it's basically finding an amp like a certain Cameron Atomica, or Bogner Xtc Blue, or Splawn,etc. Then I will assign the input gain to my EV1 pedal and I'm able to create a nice very mild overdrive to all-out gain using that. I've assigned Footswitches to a FIlter used as a gain boost, sometimes a Drive as a Gain Boost, and then some combination of Chorus, Pitch, Flanger, Trem, or Auto Wah, a Delay, and then a FILTER used for a Volume/Solo Boost at the end. I have a 2nd expression pedal set up as a Wah and it's set to Auto-Engage currently. I LOVE this set up and it's versatile as can be. . . IF I absolutely have to play some song that's predominantly 'clean' throughout it , I'll switch to a different preset that I've created to be clean with a JTM45 or Bogner shiva , or Fender, Vox ,etc... I've created at least 30 presets, but only am using 2-3 live, and really only need 1 ... . . SO FAR................. ALso, I am NOT using FRFR. I have many cabs and much old-fashioned guitar gear, and I'm an experimenter and still can carry heavy stuff, SO so far my best and most satisfying sounds have been using a Jenkins 2x12 loaded with H-Scumbacks, and an old Engl Stereo 8 el84 rackmount amp I have. I use 1 side of that and plug into the FX return. Killer. I disable Cabs, and turn off Power AMp Sag on the AX8.. I've found on certain patches I'll leave that on also.. .. . . Anyway, I always try to have a setup that 'not everybody else uses' that's totally catered to my needs, and this currently is it. . I've tried my AX8 with my QSC K10's (we use as monitors for my band) and didn't like it nearly as much, but I understand it's designed for that, and 99% of you are using FrFR setups but this works for me :) Rock on . .Eric
 
Hi,
I play in a cover band playing music ranging from the 50's-60's and onwards (Del Shannon, Beach Boys, ELO, The Shadows, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Gary Moore, Santana, Rolling Stones, AC/DC, etc. etc.).
We also have 5-10 songs we made ourselves. In total our song list consists of around 90 songs that we could play at any given time (without rehearsals...).

I manage all of that with a basic setup of 4 main presets:

* Clean
* Crunch
* High gain rythm
* High gain lead

In addition to that I have 3 "special" presets for "The Shadows", Pink Floyd (Run like Hell) and a vintage sounding tremolo preset for Del Shannons Runaway.

No wah, just use an expression pedal set to vary output volume between 60% and 100% to be able to adjust volume on the fly and boost for solos.

/Mats
 
I am in a Police/Sting tribute/cover band, and do a preset per song. Most are built upon the same setup, then tweaked as needed for delay / pitch or whatever. I simply re-arrange the order as needed before a gig...and always have a set of generic / emergency presets (clean, drive, lead, etc) on Bank 1 if ever needed for something spontaneous.
 
Because we vary so much with our song list (bands are a democracy right? EVERYONE gets to choose the songs!!!), I use the one patch per song approach. Each patch typically has a clean, rhythm, lead, special/other. (switches 1-4 are scenes; 5-8 stop boxes/looper).

Using Set List Maker and wireless Quicco Sound Midi interface, allows me to queue up the song (and associated AX8 patch) in any sequence on the iPad. Some patches are used more than once for sure (Recto, Fender twin, etc.) but are also tweaked a little different, if needed. This setup clearly has made my life easier with a set list of over ~50+ tunes and counting. That being said, I have my general purpose "panic button" patch with basic fender clean, rhythm, lead, lead+delay.

Do we sound "exact" as the recording, heck no but no one's complaining when, "We got the funk!".
Super Verb patch with a Strat for the super-freaky stuff. Nothing fancy there.
 
Also in a cover band. But we do covers our way. So I spend most of the night on a single preset in my XL+ and across 4 presets in my AX8 that are all the base AMP-CAB sound and the presets just change the mix of special effects around that base tone (one for delays, one for delay+reverb, one for rotary, one for whammy+delay).

I gave up chasing specific tones many years ago and run with a band that believes we should play songs the way we want to play songs. We're not the album (or the artist) so why try to be? It works well for us. We have more fun reimagining things in our jam-band'ish style.

I have mad respect for bands that can do precise covers of songs. I don't have the patience for that level of detail.
 
CraigC said:
Because we vary so much with our song list (bands are a democracy right? EVERYONE gets to choose the songs!!!), I use the one patch per song approach. Each patch typically has a clean, rhythm, lead, special/other. (switches 1-4 are scenes; 5-8 stop boxes/looper).

Using Set List Maker and wireless Quicco Sound Midi interface, allows me to queue up the song (and associated AX8 patch) in any sequence on the iPad. Some patches are used more than once for sure (Recto, Fender twin, etc.) but are also tweaked a little different, if needed. This setup clearly has made my life easier with a set list of over ~50+ tunes and counting. That being said, I have my general purpose "panic button" patch with basic fender clean, rhythm, lead, lead+delay.

Do we sound "exact" as the recording, heck no but no one's complaining when, "We got the funk!".
Super Verb patch with a Strat for the super-freaky stuff. Nothing fancy there.
Click to expand...
I also do exactly this. I do have a preset per song, but I am not into copying the exact tones. I use a small number of amps and cabs to get the sounds I need. I also use mostly the same FX. I like to do one preset per song, because it allows me to set up scenes in chronological order. scene 1 is intro, scene two is verse, scene 3 chorus etc. Some songs have only one scene, if I am using the same sound throughout. It takes all the tap dancing away, so I can concentrate on playing. It usually takes less time to build the post than lean the song.
 
iaresee said:
Also in a cover band. But we do covers our way.

I gave up chasing specific tones many years ago and run with a band that believes we should play songs the way we want to play songs. We're not the album (or the artist) so why try to be?
Click to expand...
How many well known bands reproduce exactly the sound that they had on the record, or even play exactly the same parts? Part of the fun of being in a covers band is to strip the song back, find out what the essentials are, and rebuild it.

With the wide repertoire that a covers band has it's not practical to use one patch per song. I run five patches: Clean, Almost clean, Crunch, Overdriven, and Acoustic simulation. Within each of these I can add Chorus, Drive, Tremolo etc as required. To get lead sounds I use one or more of guitar volume, a mid boost, and Amp x/y
 
In our tribute band, I use a main preset with 8 scenes from clean to high gain fuzzy lead.
Other presets are for very specific songs, with arppegiator, an acoustic piezzo, violin, etc...
 
Roland said:
How many well known bands reproduce exactly the sound that they had on the record, or even play exactly the same parts? Part of the fun of being in a covers band is to strip the song back, find out what the essentials are, and rebuild it.
Click to expand...
I've certainly seen top-tier cover bands that do it like that. That's not our thing though. We just like to play music. Besides, George Michael's Faith sounds waaaaay better with an extra long guitar solo in the middle of it! :D

When I was playing the Duran Duran tribute band I was absolutely, 100% chasing exactness in live sounds and phrasing and notes. And that project totally burned me out. That's how I learned it wasn't my bag.
 
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Wow! Great discussion and some very cool info! For me, I think about each preset like a new rig. I strive to keep my tone in a pocket that fits in with the band mix. Playing in a large 12 piece band has its challenges to say the least. A clean Fender thing, Marshall tones and some classic effects cover a lot of ground! A lot of the night is spent in two presets. I have about 4 more for special songs. We added three Prince songs lately that we close one set with (Let's Go Crazy, 1999, and Purple Rain), for that I have a special preset for that stuff.

The Funk thing is pretty simple, no tricks. I use the Fender preset and switch to a Stratocaster. I also use a bit of compression for Funk. My Wah is always set to auto trigger and always ready! Sometimes we decide to Reggae up a tune that normally is not done in that style, can be fun!

I don't really have a need for the high gain stuff, since most of out stuff is not of that nature.

I can say after a year with my AX8, it may be the best piece of gear I have ever bought. Having said that, I own very nice guitars and play into a a decent PA. What a long range trip its been! Closer now then ever, yet still chasing!

Let's keep this thread going. Who else is out there???
 
I'm in a 5 piece cover rock band. I usually use one preset per song but only two or three amp setups in total. The difference between presets is mainly the FX part and different scene setups. Makes the FOH job a lot easier. Wish the AX8 had global blocks. Also I'm keeping an eye on constant volume levels which can be tricky as it appears to depend a lot on the room.
 
Cover band here as well. We cover everything from funk, rock, 80's metal, New Wave etc.... The hits. 4 banks consisting of: patch 1 boost, patch 2 gain, patch 3 clean/acoustic, patch 4 solo. Bank 1 and 2 are mid gain using Friedman BE. Bank 1 has clean and bank 2 has acoustic. Banks 3 and 4 are duplicates using Friedman HBE for high gain. Volume is used to vary gain for dynamics. Scenes are used for gapless switching when acoustic or clean is not needed. Works like a charm. Effects used: Gain channels use light reverb. Delay on solo patch. Clean uses chorus, reverb and delay. Flange is available for special songs.
 
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Great thread, I'm in a cover band but still working out the best way to arrange things. I think I'm sticking with 1 patch and scenes for the various sounds like others are doing.

Anyone brave enough to post their patches?
 
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