Live Setup poll...

Which do you prefer?

  • A couple of general patches to cover everything.

    Votes: 104 80.0%

  • A patch/tone for each song.

    Votes: 26 20.0%
  • Total voters
    130
  • Poll closed .
Nothing more dissatisfying to me than seeing a cover band where the guitar tone/sound is the same sound for every song/lead. Fortunate Son with the same sound as Symphony of Destruction? LOL how about Pink Floyd and then Five Finger Death Punch? ZZ Top and then Disturbed? Why have an Axe FX if you're not going to use it to it's full potential?

I spend the Time, with 384 pre-sets available, having a tone match and effects layout for each song is one of the main reasons I bought this thing and my Marshall stacks and old rack is sitting there collecting dust......, and with 8 scenes per pre-set, it's perfect as it's quite rare to need more than 8 different settings within a song.

Also we recently started contracting production, with a guy that runs our board, lights, fog, and effects all night semi choreographed to provide a show for a fraction of our pay, he's officially part of our band now.... We don't just play, we perform and put on a show. Other bands that just set up their gear and play, no sound, no lights, and just stand there, get paid 1/3rd what we get, and I believe it's because of all the extra's including spending the time to reproduce the famous sounds of the bands we are covering.

And Yes I like getting compliments, even from mullet headed bar drunks, another reason I bought into Fractal Audio.

On the other hand, you could be playing all one style and only require one sound, however, this is not me.
 
Severed said:
Nothing more dissatisfying to me than seeing a cover band where the guitar tone/sound is the same sound for every song/lead. Fortunate Son with the same sound as Symphony of Destruction? LOL how about Pink Floyd and then Five Finger Death Punch? ZZ Top and then Disturbed? Why have an Axe FX if you're not going to use it to it's full potential?

I spend the Time, with 384 pre-sets available, having a tone match and effects layout for each song is one of the main reasons I bought this thing and my Marshall stacks and old rack is sitting there collecting dust......, and with 8 scenes per pre-set, it's perfect as it's quite rare to need more than 8 different settings within a song.

Also we recently started contracting production, with a guy that runs our board, lights, fog, and effects all night semi choreographed to provide a show for a fraction of our pay, he's officially part of our band now.... We don't just play, we perform and put on a show. Other bands that just set up their gear and play, no sound, no lights, and just stand there, get paid 1/3rd what we get, and I believe it's because of all the extra's including spending the time to reproduce the famous sounds of the bands we are covering.

And Yes I like getting compliments, even from mullet headed bar drunks, another reason I bought into Fractal Audio.

On the other hand, you could be playing all one style and only require one sound, however, this is not me.
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i don't think anyone is going to use the same tones for disturbed as they would zz, or megadeth and skynard.....no one is saying that.

i also wouldn't want to go to that show, lol.....
 
jlynnb1 said:
i don't think anyone is going to use the same tones for disturbed as they would zz, or megadeth and skynard.....no one is saying that.

i also wouldn't want to go to that show, lol.....
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Yea, obviously I was being sarcastic and a bit extreme, but the point is, I've seen many bands where all the guitar player is using, is a Gibson into a Marshall with maybe a boost and a reverb or the built in foot controller..... Usually the bar is empty except the few locals that are there every night regardless, and it's just a complete turn off. Then I started feeling the same gigging with my Marshall JVM and rack.

The Axe FX II changed all that for me. Thanks Fractal!
 
Severed said:
Yea, obviously I was being sarcastic and a bit extreme, but the point is, I've seen many bands where all the guitar player is using, is a Gibson into a Marshall with maybe a boost and a reverb or the built in foot controller..... Usually the bar is empty except the few locals that are there every night regardless, and it's just a complete turn off. Then I started feeling the same gigging with my Marshall JVM and rack.

The Axe FX II changed all that for me. Thanks Fractal!
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no, i get it, and i agree that i wouldnt want to hear every song with one amp. i do feel like if you are staying in pretty much the same vein you can get by with a couple of amps and different drives....obviously if there is something specialized you have to nail you do that to. we do 60-70 songs a gig, i just can't bring myself to tweak 70 presets, lol.
 
I have a problem with changing sounds for every song a) as a player and b) as a sound guy, too.
I'm trying to get through every song or style I play with as little changes as possible, there are still many things you can do with playing technique, controls on the guitar etc. Nobody ever complained about my tones not being adequate. Hell, I'm playing definite Strat songs with a Paul and most people (and musicians I play with) love that.
And as a sound guy (I'm mixing concerts quite often and also have my own commercial studio) I'm really having problems with one specific guitar player that changes sounds for almost every song (incl. tonematches that may work for the recording but won't do it live), because I still have to (or at least I want to) make them sound as the same band, even when they're doing different styles.
Ok, that may be just me. ;-)
 
warlockII said:
I too am somewhere in the middle. I have many different patches, but many are used for more than one song.
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Exactly... We do a lot of covers. I try to economize, but some tunes require they're on designated patch (hey, why not...? Smoke'em if you got'em!).
 
I use "song mode" on the MFC - have a few "go to" banks that provide different classes of sounds, e.g., fender sounds, vintage rock, more modern rock sounds. Will have 2-4 patches that cover clean/crunch/lead in each class, although I use scenes and footswitches to accomplish some of this within specific patches. Beyond this (which covers most of what I need), I have banks for specific songs where dialing in the sound or specific elements requires something else, e.g., a formant filter for Living on a Prayer, a synth effect to cover keyboard sounds, harmonies for Hotel California, etc... This works pretty well and provides considerable tonal variety with manageable complexity.
 
jlynnb1 said:
Curious....those of you who cover a lot of different songs/genres when playing live, do you set up patches for individual songs, a few that will cover various genres or 1 or 2 patches to cover everything.

For me it's jarring to have different tones/patches for each song, so I have 2 patches that covers everything we do....but I like to hear other peoples ideas.
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Hey bud
I may set up things different to everyone else. Here's my 2 cents.
Been playing covers for over 25 years 2-3 nights a week. Ever since I've owned modelling preamps from ADA MP1, JMP1 Line 6 spider Valve etc and now the Axe 2, the midi pedals I've used have been mainly 5 patches across the pedal, then banks.
In the case where there's only 5 patches across and u have to bank up and down, I do this:
I use a lot of sounds a night, but not a specific patch for each song necessarily.
Normally I will use 5 patches and 4 banks - that's a lot of sounds but you'll see why!
So what I do is in patch 1 of each of the 4 banks, I put the same clean sound there, that way I don't have to bank back and forth between a dirty sound and clean.
Each bank will represent a 'genre' or 'sound type' so to speak.
Bank 1 - Mostly cleans with a touch of overdrive in some sounds.
Bank2 - cleans and crunch sounds
Bank 3 - clean and dirty sounds
Bank 4 - clean and heavy/metal sounds.

For example,
Bank 1 (dedicated to clean and clean crunchy sounds)
PATCH: 1 Clean
PATCH: 2 Clean Chorus
PATCH: 3 Clean with a bit of edge
PATCH: 4 Clean with a little more edge
PATCH: 5 Clean edge solo
(This bank covers songs from Sweet home Alabama to Lightning Crashes)

Bank 2: (dedicated to clean and crunch sounds)
PATCH: 1 Clean (same as above)
PATCH: 2 Clean Chorus (same as above)
PATCH: 3 Crunch/Chorus
PATCH: 4 Crunch
PATCH: 5 Crunch Solo
(This bank covers songs from Summer of 69 to Jessie's Girl)

Bank 3 (dedicated to clean and dirty sounds)
PATCH: 1 Clean (same as above)
PATCH: 2 Clean Chorus (same as above)
PATCH: 3 Dirty/Chorus
PATCH: 4 Dirty
PATCH: 5 Dirty Solo
(This bank covers songs from Livin On A Prayer to Blink 182)

Bank 4 (dedicated to clean and heavy sounds)
PATCH: 1 Clean (same as above)
PATCH: 2 Clean Chorus (same as above)
PATCH: 3 Metal/chorus
PATCH: 4 Metal
PATCH: 5 Metal Solo
(This bank is dedicated to cover songs from Enter Sandman to Smells like teen spirit etc)

As you can see, the first 2 patches of every bank contain the same clean and clean chorus sound so if I'm playing a particular
song like Enter Sandman, then I'll be in bank 4, patch 2 for the intro of the song and then patch 4 and 5 for the rest of the song. I don't have to leave that bank for a clean sound stored elsewhere.
This way each bank is dedicated to a 'genre' of sounds. Might not suit you or others but works for me in a cover band set up.

Hope it helps in some way!
 
We cover a lot of ground so I use different presets with the effects set differently for each song though I am able to double up on some presets. Nice thing about a patch for each song is I have an instant set list in my MFC ;)

I arrange the order of my presets with AE - works great even with 11b

I do have a couple of "general purpose" patches that I'll use later in the night when things get "less critical"...
 
I do a mix....Sometimes, patches for different songs. But usually, I have things organized by tones, because I generally use the same effects.
Bank 1, Fender
Bank 2, Vox
Bank 3, Marshall
Bank 4, Mesa
Bank 5, German
Bank 6, Special...
 
I go with Fender Super Verb set clean, Vox AC-30 TB set mid-dirty, and Friedman BE for a "3 channel" setup that covers 95% of our tunes.

If we do something really heavy I'll use a Recto. I also love the Bad Cat with a fuzz pedal in front for "garage" type stuff like Black Keys.
 
I'm with Clarky. I have about a dozen patches designed for specific songs and 5 patches with x/y amps for everything else.
 
I'm in several covers bands... no originals, and I'm anal about the sound being right. In fact I get quite uncomfortable trying to play a cover song without the right sound. Like Severed, I'm inclined to think that my Axe isn't being used to its' full potential if I don't take advantage of its ability to emulate the recorded sound verbatim. If I ever found that one or two amp models were all I ever needed, I'd go out and buy those amps, and use the AFX purely for effects.

I have to say that this approach is a hassle and a headache, however. I can see the value in paring down a little and using multi-purpose setups.
 
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i might have found one amp that with x/y and a few stomps can cover 95% of the ground i need it to....dialing in the patch now. this amp is totally surprising me. came out of nowhere, as I had barely tried prior to a few days ago. will share when/if i get it dialed to where i want it to. i am THIS close to the tone i've been searching for.
 
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