New User: Walk me through your basic sounds for gigging

bgrizzmayne

Inspired
Hey guys! just got my Axe FX II and I love it! All of the presets sound pretty killer with a touch of tweaking.

I'm going to be gigging with the Axe FX, and I was curious what you all's basic sounds are for gigging? Do you use a ton of different amps?

I've found some cool plexi style sounds in the axe, and honestly might just go with one at various gain levels- one with a volume boost for lead tones. Maybe a clean amp. But I'm curious what kinds of amp models everyone else uses live.

Side Question
Preset 126 is a sweet jumpered 50w plexi sound that I dig. But there's two amps at the front of the block. How would I route this preset so I could put a drive pedal in front of it? I tried moving the blocks over to create more space, but I don't quite understand the routing in Axe Edit, so I'm not sure how I'd add a drive.

Other Question
What is the XY feature exactly? I'm gonna read the manual, but thought I'd ask while I was typing on here. I assume it's to switch between two amps in the amp block, but whenever I add another amp, it defaults all settings and I can't seem to get sound to come out of the Y amp. Anyway to copy settings to a Y state and tweak them slightly? I could see myself doing that on a delay or something.

Thing sounds great thought my Q12a!!
 
Personally I do not use a bunch. I have 5 presets, can get by with 3 if I wanted to.

1. Clean has chorus, verb, comp... turn on delay when I want it.
2. Marsha - marshall crunch rock tone, on X, Y is the HBE.
3. Recto Orange, about half gain.
4. Recto Orange gained up pretty chunky, main heavy tone.
5. Recto orange Gained out, fat switch on, with delay and a 4-6db boost for leads.

Can do anything with that. I might start doing song specific patches, but with the rate of the firmwares it's hard enough to keep up with these few patches.

X/Y allows you to have to settings.. say for an amp block, 2 settings, or 2 different amps etc. My marsha patch has the HB on X and HBE on Y.
 
I use five basic presets for live use and a couple of specialized ones for certain tunes (which are very effect oriented). My current amp list:

Clean: SuperVerb
Bluesy/Mild Crunch: Badger 18
Crunch/Rock: Plexi 100W Jumpered
HiGain: FAS Modern
Lead: ODS 100 LD Mid

I'm using all stock/factory cabs currently; am going to pick up both FAS IR packs soon as well. I've also got several presets with different amp/cab combinations that I've created with v11 that sound stellar. I generally add more gain to a given amp/preset than I need and work the guitar volume control a lot.
 
X/Y is a great feature what I do is use one amp on X for my crunch sound and then using the scenes I set up a clean amp on Y using the same amp block. The purpose of the X/Y state allows you to use one effect block and set up two different states of that one block. This helps conserve on cpu usage and it also works great as I have described how I am using it.
 
X/Y is a great feature what I do is use one amp on X for my crunch sound and then using the scenes I set up a clean amp on Y using the same amp block. The purpose of the X/Y state allows you to use one effect block and set up two different states of that one block. This helps conserve on cpu usage and it also works great as I have described how I am using it.


I'm trying to set up a X/Y preset so X amp is Friedman BE and Y amp is Triptik clean, but I can't get the volume out of the Triptik and also it just won't clean up, just sounds like it is distorting :|
 
Infact I've just tried with a few other clean amps and still getting the same results, they aren't cleaning up.
 
Five basic patches can cover most needs, although there are some people who prefer to work with a separate patch for each song. For covers band work, where a bit of variety is needed, I use nine patches:
- two cleans, bright and warm
- two crunch, you guessed it, bright and warm
- two overdriven
- one high gain patch
- one acoustic simulation
- one detuned overdrive, so that I don't have to carry a third guitar (in addition to main and spare)
Each patch has a built-in lead sound which is is activated from the floor pedal. Chorus, tremolo and other effects are also switched from the floor.

If you are starting from scratch then it's best to start with one or two amps, and find out how to get the best sound from them, rather than confusing yourself with lots of different amps. The other thing I recommend is to decide what out your basic effects routing is going to be. A little consistency makes it a lot easier to copy and modify patches, and to copy individual blocks between patches.
 
Seems like you need to dig in and learn the unit a bit. This is not a knock, but you need to understand this to maybe make changes 'on the fly' if you're on a gig.

Start with straight presets, then move into 'scenes'. It seems most people can get simplify with a few patches and scenes... Concentrate on the performance, make the gear simple.
 
Seems like you need to dig in and learn the unit a bit. This is not a knock, but you need to understand this to maybe make changes 'on the fly' if you're on a gig.

Start with straight presets, then move into 'scenes'. It seems most people can get simplify with a few patches and scenes... Concentrate on the performance, make the gear simple.
 
Thanks for the tips guys! Would anyone care to share a gigging preset or two? If not, no worries. I'm just laying things out and am curious how others organize their scenes/routing exactly. So far, I've been just making my own presets and looking at others to gain an understanding of how stuff behaves in the box. Fortunately, it all reacts similarly to how any rig would, so it's somewhat straightforward. Scenes are a bit new.
 
I use the DoubleVerb for cleans (adding a little hair with a Zenmaster drive when needed), Friedman BE for crunch/overdriven tones and the FAS Modern for my distortion sounds. That's it, the rest is all mucking about with different effects or solo boosts or what-have-you; right now my core amps are those 3.

Spend time on finding an amp+cab combination that works for you (particularly the cab!). Start simple: one amp, one cab (mono-hires, no mic simulation), so you get a feel for the different cabs. If you find one cab doesn't get you where you need to go, switch it to stereo in the cab block and start from there, pairing the cab that got you closest to your desired tone with others. At least, that was/is my approach; you don't have to do it like that but I'd at least advise you to try and be systematic about finding your tone... and don't forget to rest your ears plenty. What sounds good today after 3 hours of playing may sound like utter crap after a good night's sleep. ;)

Oh, and if you intend to gig with your presets, dial them in at gig volume (or at least close to) on the setup you'll be using live. You'll want to avoid nasty surprises that you might need to dial out last-minute.
 
Thanks swerve driver. I have found that I definitely dig the BE Friedman model for plexi style sounds. Any thoughts on amps for bluesy type leads and crunch? Boosting the friedman with a TS808 and going to my bridge pickup works well enough. Though there's so many options!

Also, are there any specific amp/cab parameters you guys would recommend tweaking? There's a lot more options than what I'm used to on a traditional rig, so I'm curious if anything other than bass/mid/treble is a good place to start. Obviously a lot of the switches on the BE Friedman makes some difference. I'll be playing live with a Matrix Q12a, but haven't dialed anything up at gig volume. I play some gigs at a quieter volume (no drums, acoustic style sets) so I'll need to work on some of that.

I'm often unsure what cabs to look towards to pair with specific heads- guess I'll just have to test stuff out and see what I like. Just a bit overwhelming! I need to get some presets dialed up and take this thing out live
 
Thanks swerve driver. I have found that I definitely dig the BE Friedman model for plexi style sounds. Any thoughts on amps for bluesy type leads and crunch? Boosting the friedman with a TS808 and going to my bridge pickup works well enough. Though there's so many options!

Also, are there any specific amp/cab parameters you guys would recommend tweaking? There's a lot more options than what I'm used to on a traditional rig, so I'm curious if anything other than bass/mid/treble is a good place to start. Obviously a lot of the switches on the BE Friedman makes some difference. I'll be playing live with a Matrix Q12a, but haven't dialed anything up at gig volume. I play some gigs at a quieter volume (no drums, acoustic style sets) so I'll need to work on some of that.


I'm often unsure what cabs to look towards to pair with specific heads- guess I'll just have to test stuff out and see what I like. Just a bit overwhelming! I need to get some presets dialed up and take this thing out live

Try the USA Lead amp with cab 103 that is a pretty good sounding amp I think you'll like it. I have a few presets I am using with that amp.
 
My live rig - pretty straight forward from the axe fx perspective....In my amp block I am using wrecker 1 into the basketweave 4x12 TV mix, with slight reverb always on. From there, I use scenes with pitch block enabled for down tunings x/y 1/2 and full step down. I hit some slap back delay and long delays on my leads with a 4db null filter. Once in awhile i use tremolo, and phaser blocks in parallel, 1 vibe and 1 phase. Occasional Wah on leads as well.

Thanks to Chris at Katsukuri media, I have been using a tc helicon voicelive rack for basic harmonies that I control via midi on the bottom row of buttons on the MFC. My wireless vocal mic and wireless guitar are Line 6 XDV-75 handheld and body pack transmitters. I have one ethercon/ethernet cable running from the MFC to my rack which is a very clean setup. From my rack I plug my 2 lines from the foh/monitor mixer (Mix Wiz 16:2) One for vocal and one for guitar. Takes me 5-10 minutes to be up and running.

If the MFC had a wireless option, I would use that as well. :) Overkill having a wireless mic as a guitarist? Absolutely! but it's a quick and easy setup/take down for me. Plus I took advantage of the 150 rebate and I have a backup receiver if one fails.

I spared little expense putting together this rig, that is the most compact, versatile and best sounding rig I have ever used. (Vox ac30, mesa heartbreaker, peavey classic 50 4X10, Dual rectifier half stack, marshall JCM 900 half stack) this rig puts anything I had used previously to shame. From bedroom levels to 1000+ venues this rig can do it all!
 
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It is overwhelm or can be. Check the Axe Fx wiki for suggested cab types for different amps or just look at preset suggestions. For bluesy lead, all the usual suspects depending on the flavor of blues you want. Fenders, Vox types, Deluxe Tweed, ODS amps, Fox. Any of those goosed with a TS, ZenDrive or any of several other drive pedals. As you note, it's very much like the real world except that you have way more amp, cab, effects and routing choices than you would have unless you had an insane rack. Even then, it would be hard to reconfigure as easily as the Axe.

For crunch, again, many choices depending on crunch style. Jumpered Plexi, Wrecker, Komet and on and on. Again, with or without pedals (drive or PEQ or vol) to push input gain a bit. All the basic controls you note are good places to go. As for other parameters, you can look at posts all over the board which will suggest many things. Cliff, the man himself, says he's not tweaking any advanced parameters now. As you've seen, the saturation, boost and other switches on the basic amp page can have a huge effect on how the amp sounds. Some people have their favorite tweaks which a search through past posts will reveal. I find you should be able to get very usable sounds without any elaborate tweaking. For me, a ton of it seems to be about getting the gain structure right (input trim can be huge in this regard for compensating for HB/SC issues as well as the fact that the Fenders were all done with high input rather than low, whereas I always run into the low gain input of my Fenders. To compensate, drop input trim to .5. That'll clean amps right up if you find they're gainier than you think they should be.

I still tend to run like I did in the tube world, with a clean(ish) amp plus drive pedals and other effects. I'm also starting to use some gainier amps than I ever have before because I can do it without having to shake the walls (i.e. Jumpered 100 watt Plexi). The simplest way to start is to replicate what you're used to using. Once you're comfortable, then branch out if you wish.

Thanks swerve driver. I have found that I definitely dig the BE Friedman model for plexi style sounds. Any thoughts on amps for bluesy type leads and crunch? Boosting the friedman with a TS808 and going to my bridge pickup works well enough. Though there's so many options!

Also, are there any specific amp/cab parameters you guys would recommend tweaking? There's a lot more options than what I'm used to on a traditional rig, so I'm curious if anything other than bass/mid/treble is a good place to start. Obviously a lot of the switches on the BE Friedman makes some difference. I'll be playing live with a Matrix Q12a, but haven't dialed anything up at gig volume. I play some gigs at a quieter volume (no drums, acoustic style sets) so I'll need to work on some of that.

I'm often unsure what cabs to look towards to pair with specific heads- guess I'll just have to test stuff out and see what I like. Just a bit overwhelming! I need to get some presets dialed up and take this thing out live
 
My live rig - pretty straight forward from the axe fx perspective....In my amp block I am using wrecker 1 into the basketweave 4x12 TV mix, with slight reverb always on. From there, I use scenes with pitch block enabled for down tunings x/y 1/2 and full step down. I hit some slap back delay and long delays on my leads with a 4db null filter. Once in awhile i use tremolo, and phaser blocks in parallel, 1 vibe and 1 phase. Occasional Wah on leads as well.

Thanks to Chris at Katsukuri media, I have been using a tc helicon voicelive rack for basic harmonies that I control via midi on the bottom row of buttons on the MFC. My wireless vocal mic and wireless guitar are Line 6 XDV-75 handheld and body pack transmitters. I have one ethercon/ethernet cable running from the MFC to my rack which is a very clean setup. From my rack I plug my 2 lines from the foh/monitor mixer (Mix Wiz 16:2) One for vocal and one for guitar. Takes me 5-10 minutes to be up and running.

If the MFC had a wireless option, I would use that as well. :) Overkill having a wireless mic as a guitarist? Absolutely! but it's a quick and easy setup/take down for me. Plus I took advantage of the 150 rebate and I have a backup receiver if one fails.

I spared little expense putting together this rig, that is the most compact, versatile and best sounding rig I have ever used. (Vox ac30, mesa heartbreaker, peavey classic 50 4X10, Dual rectifier half stack, marshall JCM 900 half stack) this rig puts anything I had used previously to shame. From bedroom levels to 1000+ venues this rig can do it all!

Very helpful. I've read about it on the wiki, but what is the advantage of running effects in parallel? I realize that means that you can have more effects in your preset available, but is it simply so that the signal hits each effect independent of the other and then is merged merged afterwards? IE a phaser and flanger in parallel, the phaser wouldn't be affected by flanged sound. I've never ran effects in parallel in a traditional style rig, so this type of routing is interesting as well.

I really wish I could get my hands on an MFC101, but I'm on the waiting list and have been for two months. Just seems like it integrates with the axe much better. I'm running a Uno configured FCB1010, which I think will work well enough for switching scenes/presets/some effects, but some weirder effects won't be available for me to use on the fly.

Structuring my gain is critical and I'm having a hard time knowing whether the way I'm doing it is working, as I haven't gigged with the axe or really cranked tones up. But as I mentioned, I also play quieter sets, so I'd like to be able to dial in some quality sounds at a lower volume as well. What I'm doing is this:

Rock Scene:
Scene 1: Clean, using Amp X set to a fender reverb, and cab X set to cleaner cab. Chorus and bigger reverb engaged.
Scene 2: Light gain, used for strumming chords. Switching to the Friedman BE or a jumpered plexi sound
Scene 3: Boosting the plexi with a TS808 or Fet Boost style stomp. Must have enough gain/body to hold down palm muted riffing (example, the outfield's Use your love & other 80's tunes we do)
Scene 4: Lead Patch- Null filter engaged for a 4db boost, the Y state of an 808 engaged with more drive to get those single note passages to scream
 
Blues will probably be another preset, as I could switch to a new preset for blues style tunes. I think I'm going to listen to some Mayer trio album and do my best to cop some of the sounds. Maybe I'll go with an AC30 style sound and goose it with a TS, but not sure what kind of amps he's using on that record
 
I use it to utilize more effects in the chain. But more importantly, I use it for variations of the same effects like the phase and vibe. Or effects that I would never stack. The possibilities are endless my friend! :)
 
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