fox5150
Inspired
As anyone who has read my other posts will know, I've had a troubling start with my Axe-FX journey. I love what I can get out of it at home - the calluses on my fingers are testament to that! At rehearsal though, both times I've come away really down in the dumps as I've not been sitting well in the mix.
I've been working towards the gig tonight for about ten days or so and tonight has always been in my mind as the real test of whether I'm wasting my time or not. Tonight's gig was a charity gig with four different lineups and a hybrid of my usual 80s band playing half a dozen numbers. With so few songs and quick change rounds, this gig screamed to me to use the Axe-FX. So, I bowl up at soundcheck, guitar over one shoulder, rack with the Axe-FX in one hand and the MFC in the other. I had to make another trip for my powered wedge, but this is the way to load in to a gig!
The basis for tonight's sounds was Yek's main preset. I'd made a few adjustments as I'm using the Axe-FX slightly differently, but the main tones tonight were basically his patch; slight tweaks for FX routing, controller assignments and a few other bits. I'd pre-warned one of our regular soundmen that I was using this tonight and that I'd only need an XLR. I trust these guys completely and I was desperate to have their opinion, particularly on EQ adjustments, but really just how it sounded.
Soundcheck happened, easy peasy, no messing about. Our turn was over and I went straight to the soundman to find out what he'd done. The biggest issue he had was that the clean and overdrive sounds weren't very well level matched. This was entirely my fault as I'd been fiddling with drive levels and then tried to redo the level matching at home. I ended up dropping 4dB from the clean patch and was told afterwards that I could probably do it again as it was cutting really well. He didn't need to make any EQ adjustments but, he did ask me where I'd set my low cut as he said it was missing some of the "thump". When I said it was at 150Hz he immediately told me to drop it down to at least 100Hz, although there was no point going lower than that as he always cuts there for guitars. At this point when I asked him how it sounded, I got the "it's different, obviously, but it does sound good".
So we do the gig, I can hear myself fine, but it was through a crap powered wedge so not really a good indication of the tones coming out of the Axe-FX. One thing I did notice is that the tuner on the MFC does not display the same information as the front panel of the Axe-FX. I've seen this mentioned a few times, so no big surprise, or issue. The actual experience of playing through the Axe-FX was completely different to usual, but for the better. I could hear myself without any issues whatsoever, which I sometimes had with the valve amp. Mainly due to positioning and soundmen telling me to turn down. It's not the same experience and will take adjusting to, but I really did enjoy it. For me, tonight really showed that the last month of playing with the Axe-FX is definitely the right path for me. Tonally, it's a joy knowing everything I want and need is in a 2U rack unit. The MFC opens it all up to being a proper live tool too. That load in and load out cannot be beaten though.
The icing on the cake though was from the soundman after the gig - "I hate to say this, as I'm a proper analog man, but man did that unit sound amazing tonight".
My heartfelt thanks goes out to Cliff and his team at Fractal and also to the members of this forum. You guys have freely shared your advice and expertise whether I've asked directly, or found it by reading the forums. To a new guy like me, knowing that a manufacturer stands behind and fully supports their products, plus the community spirit here, is so encouraging. It makes the modelling world a much less scary place.
I've been working towards the gig tonight for about ten days or so and tonight has always been in my mind as the real test of whether I'm wasting my time or not. Tonight's gig was a charity gig with four different lineups and a hybrid of my usual 80s band playing half a dozen numbers. With so few songs and quick change rounds, this gig screamed to me to use the Axe-FX. So, I bowl up at soundcheck, guitar over one shoulder, rack with the Axe-FX in one hand and the MFC in the other. I had to make another trip for my powered wedge, but this is the way to load in to a gig!
The basis for tonight's sounds was Yek's main preset. I'd made a few adjustments as I'm using the Axe-FX slightly differently, but the main tones tonight were basically his patch; slight tweaks for FX routing, controller assignments and a few other bits. I'd pre-warned one of our regular soundmen that I was using this tonight and that I'd only need an XLR. I trust these guys completely and I was desperate to have their opinion, particularly on EQ adjustments, but really just how it sounded.
Soundcheck happened, easy peasy, no messing about. Our turn was over and I went straight to the soundman to find out what he'd done. The biggest issue he had was that the clean and overdrive sounds weren't very well level matched. This was entirely my fault as I'd been fiddling with drive levels and then tried to redo the level matching at home. I ended up dropping 4dB from the clean patch and was told afterwards that I could probably do it again as it was cutting really well. He didn't need to make any EQ adjustments but, he did ask me where I'd set my low cut as he said it was missing some of the "thump". When I said it was at 150Hz he immediately told me to drop it down to at least 100Hz, although there was no point going lower than that as he always cuts there for guitars. At this point when I asked him how it sounded, I got the "it's different, obviously, but it does sound good".
So we do the gig, I can hear myself fine, but it was through a crap powered wedge so not really a good indication of the tones coming out of the Axe-FX. One thing I did notice is that the tuner on the MFC does not display the same information as the front panel of the Axe-FX. I've seen this mentioned a few times, so no big surprise, or issue. The actual experience of playing through the Axe-FX was completely different to usual, but for the better. I could hear myself without any issues whatsoever, which I sometimes had with the valve amp. Mainly due to positioning and soundmen telling me to turn down. It's not the same experience and will take adjusting to, but I really did enjoy it. For me, tonight really showed that the last month of playing with the Axe-FX is definitely the right path for me. Tonally, it's a joy knowing everything I want and need is in a 2U rack unit. The MFC opens it all up to being a proper live tool too. That load in and load out cannot be beaten though.
The icing on the cake though was from the soundman after the gig - "I hate to say this, as I'm a proper analog man, but man did that unit sound amazing tonight".
My heartfelt thanks goes out to Cliff and his team at Fractal and also to the members of this forum. You guys have freely shared your advice and expertise whether I've asked directly, or found it by reading the forums. To a new guy like me, knowing that a manufacturer stands behind and fully supports their products, plus the community spirit here, is so encouraging. It makes the modelling world a much less scary place.
