Live, rehersal, practice rig

ccclitz

Member
Finally got an Axe Fx II about a month ago. I have learned a TON of stuff off this forum! So, thanks to all the users who have contributed unknowingly to my education. One thing I'm trying to figure out is how to make the Axe travel from using it at home to rehearsal and live. I made an I/O port on a single rack blank for ease of connections. Besides getting a second unit, what do you guys do?
 
I guess I should have explained better. I haven't played live with it yet and I'll be using a 412 or two. So this means I need a decent size power amp and rack. Just looking to see if anyone else does the same and what they do besides dragging the rack around between home & gigs. I did consider two racks, but not sure if that's the way to go.
 
I put it in a rack bag, throw it over my shoulder and go. (It's the roadie's week off). My MFC is on a pedaltrain pedal board. Bag it, and take it with me. At home, in the studio, or on stage, I hook 'em up, tune up, and play. I did set mine up with a couple of banks for my band, and a couple of banks for church. Many of the presets are the same for both. Banks 1 - 4 are band. Banks 9 - 12 are church.
 
i think the question is, how many cables do you want to plug and unplug at the gig. a dedicated rack means more connections already done.
 
I use an SKB Rolling 6 space molded rack. It houses my power, wireless, Axe FX, and a 2U spacer. At gigs/practice I put my rack on the top of my Pedaltrain 2's flight case with my Mackie HD1221 on top. This all elevates my speaker to just lower than waist level. The 2U spacer in the rack is in case I decide to move to a poweramp/cabinet solution later on at some point. Cable connections are limited to plugging in power section, plugging Mackine into power section, plugging in ethernet cable for pedal, and connecting the axe to the FOH. Takes a few minutes, tops.

In the times I have to take my Axe home the other gear stays in place and I just haul the rack. I have also used a 4U soft rack bag before as stated above. Those are good to sling over your shoulder.

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i take it with me to the gig. when i'm done i take it back home.

That's what I do. I leave my FRFR stuff at the rehearsal space though. But my 4U rack and pedal board go with me.

I have a Vafam Sound panel on my rack and a Furman power strip. Setup is:

Plug an XLR in to the Vafam panel and in to my FRFR speaker.
Plug an Ether-Con in to the Vafam panel and in to my MFC-101.
Plug the power cord from the Furman in to the wall.
Plug the power cord from the FRFR in to the Furman.
Plug guitar in to Axe-Fx instrument input.

That's it.
 
i think the question is, how many cables do you want to plug and unplug at the gig. a dedicated rack means more connections already done.
Rehearsal - Four: Power, Monitor, midi pedal, and guitar jack. At a gig there is also FOH feed.

I use a 4U rack box, with just the Axe FX, and a patch panel to bring some of the cables in through the front of the rack.
 
I use the following gear;
AxeFXII
Matrix GT1000FX
Foot Controller (soon to be an MFC I hope)
Xitone 112 FRFR wedge (I own 2 of them)

The AxeFX and Matrix are mounting in this SKB case (which has rear rails)
Standard 3U Effects Rack by SKB Cases

AxeFXII and Matrix are mounted facing forward. I have a 1U Vafam panel mounted on the rear (on the same plane as the Matrix) which has all the connections I need.

For P&W services, I leave one of the Xitones at church and simply connect it the the Vfram panel along with AC and an XLR send to the FOH.

For other gigs, I take the other Xitone that normally stays at home and connect it the same way.

Easy as it can be.

Karma
 
Thanks guys. You gave me some more ideas of what to do. Just used to having separate rigs at home & rehearsals/shows.
 
Which makes sense for the Axe case as well... given that one wants a backup unit for gigs anyway....

If just the Axe would have an easy function to backup the whole device plus MFC to an USB stick and restore from that... so one can quickly take a whole setup dump to the rehearsal and bring any changes back home again...
 
When I did that, I had my axe in a 2 space gator rack bag, left my speakers, amp and midi controller there. Now I practice here so I don't have to move it.
 
My recommendation is to get a cable break out panel from Afam ... makes life much easier

Here are a couple of pictures of my rig to give you some ideas



Set up at a Gig

IMG_0665_zpsce53caf4.jpg




Rig setup at home

IMG_0646_zps453a9b04.jpg


Close up of Rack

file_zps80c3ff30.jpg
 
I rehearse and play at the same venue every week and initially I just brought a 4 space rack bag with a breakout panel installed and my MFC with 2 exp pedals on a PT2 back and forth leaving a CLR at the venue and having another CLR at home.

This grew old and I broke down and bought a second AFII for home and leave the 4-space at the venue. Just the PT2 in a Mono case, my guitar and a MacBook (in the front pocket of the Mono case) to transfer my presets for our set travel with me every week. Transfer the presets (USB on the breakout panel) plug in the MFC and my guitar and I am all set!


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Would love to have a floor unit Axe Fx that was compatible with Axe II patches albeit more limited as a good rehearsal/backup unit. I always loved the design of the pod X3 live units from a portability standpoint even though the sound was crap.

I would use it for rehearsal and then feel completely grateful that I owned an Axe :)


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I have in an SKB 6U rack case:

Furman
Shure SLX wireless
Axe-Fx
Matrix GT1000FX 2U

My MFC and two Boss volume pedals are in an old SKB soft bag.

For gigs, I keep a 4x12 in the trunk and the speaker cables are shorties I got from Best-Tronics, speakon- 1/4", always in the rack, and my Ethercon cable in my cable bag. Setup is immediate. At home, I keep a 4x12 with 2 speaker cables connected and a CAT 5 cable ready to be connected. I never used to do this as much before I got the Axe, but because I have cabs and cables ready to go for both scenarios, when I get home from gigs I take my rack and pedal board soft case out of the car, plug in and play until I fall asleep. Because the Axe sounds so good, if the gig wasn't satisfying, at least I will sound good at home ;)

Not sure if this helps, but I wanted to share how easy and fast it is to go from practicing at home, to the gig, back to home to practice.
 
My recommendation is to get a cable break out panel from Afam ... makes life much easier

Here are a couple of pictures of my rig to give you some ideas



Set up at a Gig

IMG_0665_zpsce53caf4.jpg




Rig setup at home

IMG_0646_zps453a9b04.jpg


Close up of Rack

file_zps80c3ff30.jpg

What is the Axe sitting on?
 
Looks like an On Stage amp stand. I second the Vafam pannel, Hans is good people and will walk you through the entire deal from start to finnish.
 
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