Need More Gain Stages

Earl Pavao

New Member
I just received the AX8 in the mail.... Super stoked about all the tones but I'm struggling with getting multiple gain stages with one step at a time. I purchased the unit to be the new solution for my four channel Mesa boogie amp (i have a roadster).The four channels on my amp allow me to go from very clean to supersaturated with one step...With everything in-between . Struggling because it seems that the ax8 scenes and their flexibility don't allow for such flexibility. It seems that this scene function only works with no more than 2 Amps the X and Y.

I play an 80s band and I require that super jangly strat sound as well as heavy saturation tone for solos in one assortment. I'm accustomed to using multiple gain stages to color the way i play the songs. (I know some would say I should use my volume knob but I don't... Focused on too many other things went performing live.)

Not sure how to get switch 1 to be super clean... switch 2 to be little more dirty...switch 3 a little bit more and to have full boogie saturation on channel 4.

kinda freakin out....

When I made the purchase I assumed that I could turn presets into scenes and have eight of them sitting in front of me. Never imagined I would be locked in to using only 2 amps X and Y.
 
You can just put for different presets on footswitch 1-4

This is what I do. Especially because it doesn't lock you into just the channels on a given amp so you can use different amps for clean, dirty, distortion, solo, etc.

To do this, hold the F1 switch for a bit, which changes switches 1-8 from switching scenes and instead locks them into switching patches. If you only tap the F1 switch, you can switch the patch only once and the AX8 then returns to scene selection.

A small detriment may be that there is a little more latency when switching patches, as opposed to switching scenes, so I've heard. I have not had a problem with it. Then again, I only switch settings occasionally in the middle of songs.
 
The biggest drawback to using multiple presets is that when you switch you'll encounter dropout of all your other fx that are running - i.e. delays and reverbs will be cut off. There is a way to do spillover if you have the same settings in each preset but I've never tried it so can't say how well it will work.

Better solution will be to look at Scene Controllers in the manual. Also Control Switches... both these methods will let you set multiple levels of Input Gain etc on the amp block.

Another option is have a super clean Amp X, and boost it with a Drive pedal set to not too much drive. Then have Amp Y be a higher gain sound, and boost that with either the same Drive or another one. Experiment as desired to get the tones you want.
 
Scene controllers on the Input Drive or Trim will give you this flexibility. Plus, adding drive or boost pedals in scenes. This can all be done with one amp. No need for X or Y.

However, depending on how much clean or gain you need you can also use the same setup for different amps in with different presets.
 
I just received the AX8 in the mail.... Super stoked about all the tones but I'm struggling with getting multiple gain stages with one step at a time. I purchased the unit to be the new solution for my four channel Mesa boogie amp (i have a roadster).The four channels on my amp allow me to go from very clean to supersaturated with one step...With everything in-between . Struggling because it seems that the ax8 scenes and their flexibility don't allow for such flexibility. It seems that this scene function only works with no more than 2 Amps the X and Y.

I play an 80s band and I require that super jangly strat sound as well as heavy saturation tone for solos in one assortment. I'm accustomed to using multiple gain stages to color the way i play the songs. (I know some would say I should use my volume knob but I don't... Focused on too many other things went performing live.)

Not sure how to get switch 1 to be super clean... switch 2 to be little more dirty...switch 3 a little bit more and to have full boogie saturation on channel 4.

kinda freakin out....

When I made the purchase I assumed that I could turn presets into scenes and have eight of them sitting in front of me. Never imagined I would be locked in to using only 2 amps X and Y.
the basic design concept to accomplish this is to simply change Presets. it's how most digital units are designed. Preset 1 is clean, Preset 2 is crunch, Preset 3 is Heavy, Preset 4 is Lead, etc. it's a basic concept and a starting point.

Scenes were developed to change multiple things with one switch - Delay and Chorus on at once, Drive on and Delay off at the same time, etc. we can stretch this basic Scene usage with XY, but it is not a complete replacement for limitless gain changes. again, Presets are the original method for complete sound changes.

Scene Controllers can stretch Scenes even further, but as you may see, it gets a bit more complicated with each new "layer" of control you add.

i would stick with Presets for now. yes, spillover may not be perfect, and there is a short audio gap when changing Presets so there isn't any popping - a welcomed trade-off. i'm sure you get popping on your Roadster when changing channels sometimes. it's why the touring pros use several Roadster/Road King heads permanently set to a channel.

start with the basic usage, then learn new concepts as you go. to try to devour the entire thing right when you get it can lead to frustration, as with anything. imagine knowing nothing about amps and guitars, and someone gives you a ton of pedals, cables and amps and cabs. same situation :)
 
I just use the Scene Controller one attached to amp's gain and a drive pedal to go further away. That's almost the first non-basic step I wanted to learn. It was easy.

BTW... I haven't gone much further.
 
Welcome to the club :D

Many have mentioned scenes and scene controllers. These are two different concepts that you MUST understand completely to get the most out of your AX8.
I do agree with Chris, take your time and watch some videos about the way to use scenes and scene controllers, as well as control switches. Each of these expands you ability to get what you need.

I do tons of shows with my AX8 and so do a bunch if others here. You will not have any problems once you understand the best and most efficient way to use your AX8...honestly, I don’t use Amp X/Y very often at all. For me, it’s much easier to set up a group of presets to use.
If you want to match each song with “its tone,” then a preset for each song may be the way you want to go. However, if you’re used to using an amp, then you probably don’t use a ton of different tones. Most amp users have a basic clean, crunch, and lead tone...I think you mentioned 4 gain levels.
You can use ONE AMP, with scene controller active, and a different gain level for each scene you want to set up.
My AX8 has 5 scenes set and accessed by using ONLY the lower 4 buttons. Trick is to use one of the buttons to TOGGLE between scene 1/2 each with a different gain level, then use the other three to access a clean and maybe a couple different lead sounds with whatever options you need. If I set up a bank (8 presets) of this kind of preset, all of a sudden I have a HUGE amount of options easily accessible.

Don’t forget to immediately go buy Moke’s Acoustic preset at custompresets.com (no affiliation).
It’s an excellent preset and he has others that are “song specific” that might help you to look at how things are routed and how to use your scene controllers, expression pedals, etc
There are other great resources as well, yet the Acoustic preset has been my GO TO for any acoustic parts.

Again, take your time, think about your work flow and learn what makes sense for you.
Give yourself a decent amount of time, and have some fun.
This damn thing is a GREAT piece of kit!! LOVE IT
 
Here, I show how to make a '3-channel' amp using scene controllers - I am just not sure, it will go from the perfect pristine clean to full on MESA saturation with this strategy.



I would start with four different presets on the bottom row.

Another option is to run the pristine clean without an amp block, EQ, SDD drive block, compressor and Chorus/multidelay, will give you a sweet variation of perfect 80s cleans. Then your next three gain stages could be Amp X, Amp Y and AmpY + drive block.
 
I assumed that I could turn presets into scenes and have eight of them sitting in front of me. Never imagined I would be locked in to using only 2 amps X and Y.

I use scenes.
1) clean(ish) amp (x)
2) od (drive x)+amp (x)
3) dist (drive y) + amp (x)
4) mod + amp (x)
The scenes 5 to 8 are "lead", based on the "lower" scene, with a compressor or filter added to boost volume or frequency.
I drop the use of amp y for more gain because was too overwhelming... I go from pink floyd to Pantera with 8 scenes, kinda like 3 channel plus 3 boosted with 2 modulation setting. I could switch to stompbox mode and combine different effect on the fly.
 
Scenes were developed to change multiple things with one switch - Delay and Chorus on at once, Drive on and Delay off at the same time, etc

I don't understand why this can't be done with presets. Can't we change multiple things just changing the preset?
 
I don't understand why this can't be done with presets. Can't we change multiple things just changing the preset?
There is a small audio gap when changing presets. For lots of cases, this is totally fine... But scenes don't have that issue.

Also, in many cases you might have 3-5 presets to solve what you could do with 1 preset and scenes. That means that if you want to change a setting that is common to all of those presets, you have to make the same change multiple times.
 
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