Presets to nail the sound in the songs of my 80's Hair Metal / Hard Rock cover band (

S

SteelEdge

Member
Hi you all guys!

I've just returned to the Axe Fx world after a couple of years, and I'd appreciate some help with this....

I'm the lead guitar in an 80's Hard Rock / Hair Metal band (and play some rythm parts), and, as far as there are TONs of presets here in the forum and in In Axe Exchange, I would like your advice about where can I find specific presets for the songs in our setlist, or wich one would you recommend in case you use them or also play these songs, or killer 80's guitar presets that I could use.

This is our actual Setlist:

- Scorpions: Rock You Like A Hurricane
- Van Halen : Ain't Talkin' Bout Love
- Whitesnake: In The Still Of The Night
- Dokken: Into The Fire
- Alice Cooper: Poison
- Bon Jovi: You Give Love a Bad Name
- Dokken: In My Dreams
- Europe: Final Countdown
- Europe: Rock the Night
- Firehouse: All she wrote
- RATT: Lay It Down
- Guns N' Roses: Sweet Child O' mine (like the one in Fremen presets!)
- Hardline: Hot Cherie
- Iron Maiden: The Trooper
- Survivor: Eye of the tiger
- Scorpions: Big City Nights
- Toto: Hold the Line
- Van Halen: Jump
- White Lion: Broken Heart
- Bon Jovi: Runaway


I also would love to hear your oppinions about our setlist / suggestions about songs to add ;)

Thanks in advance guys!!!
 
Gourdo said:
Look up Mark Day on Axe-Change..for some killer presets and if you have Fremens already check out Sfogli preset (forget the number maybe 136) but scene 3 of that preset is really sweet...G
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Now that 15.07 is out the previous presets can't be used if you've updated. They're all obsolete unless you tweak the hell out em.
 
Hey JT2...What makes you think THAT !!! I've gone back to some firmware 8 presets and they sound amazing. You've obviously never tried it if you think they're obsolete.
Just cause your on 15.07 doesn't mean you can only load presets built for 15.07....
 
Love the set list. Cover a bunch of those in my 70s/80s band. A few to consider adding, depending on your focus and lineup. These are all fun songs and people tend to like them:

- Panama
- Crazy Train
- Comfortably Numb
- Photograph
- Foolin'
- Stone in Love
- Don't Stop Believin'
- Message in a Bottle
- Back In Black
- You Shook Me All Night Long
- Foreplay/Long Time
- Living on a Prayer
- Wanted: Dead or Alive

Good luck!
 
Instead of going after individual tones, I would load up something like the Friedman HBE or the Splawn Quick Rod 2nd gear and an appropriate cab model. Either a 412 greenback cab or G12H30's. Or both. :) Think of what you'd do if you only had one amp to cover 80's Hair. It'd be the Friedman or the Splawn for me. Any effects you add after that are gravy. You'll probably need a Tube Screamer, phaser, solo boost, delay, and reverb. Enjoy! And don't make it too complicated. You might even get away with a single patch!
 
I agree with the BE, HBE, and Splawn. The Brit Pre also does some really convincing 80's metal.
 
Karl Houseknecht said:
Instead of going after individual tones, I would load up something like the Friedman HBE or the Splawn Quick Rod 2nd gear and an appropriate cab model. Either a 412 greenback cab or G12H30's. Or both. :) Think of what you'd do if you only had one amp to cover 80's Hair. It'd be the Friedman or the Splawn for me. Any effects you add after that are gravy. You'll probably need a Tube Screamer, phaser, solo boost, delay, and reverb. Enjoy! And don't make it too complicated. You might even get away with a single patch!
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I agree! Don't go for diffferent sound for each songs! Your tone need to be consistant! Go with the Friedmans, they will cover those 80's bands all the way! The Camerons are great too, maybe a bit more agressive and tight but they are like hotrod Marshalls heavily modded!! Greenback 4X12 or Scumback H75 cabs are a must for that Sunstrip tone!!
 
Have used the Friedmans, and also built a nice "go to" preset off of the stock "Brown Sound" -- Tube Screamer is key up front, plus phaser, boost, delay, and reverb as Karl Houseknecht suggests. I find the T808 an essential way to impart a bit more gain at the front end of the signal without causing the tone to lose focus. Another trick is to use pedals to mix in effects. (For example, I use one pedal to mix in the flanger -- makes it easy to cop the Ain't Talkin' Bout Love flange when you need it). Also, the new passive EQs have helped provide clarity and punch. A shelving filter at the end of the chain and using the 5 band Passive EQ on the amp have helped to improve the "size" of my sound....see my yesterday post on this (http://forum.fractalaudio.com/axe-f...e-passive-atlanta-using-passive-eqs-live.html). Different scenes help me switch across crunch rhythm, overdriven solo, and super wet tones.

If you think about what you need for the range of tones, you can build a great set up around 3-4 presets:

1- 80's clean tone (there is a patch for this)
2- Vintage Fender Twin setting with scenes to add drive and effects (can build off the Double Verb patch, this is more 70s than 80s but comes in helpful on some songs)
3- Rock sound (HBE, Nitrous or Brown) with an 80s signal chain per the earlier thread.

These 3 will probably cover 90% of what you want to do. You could clone #3 to support different amp types.
 
I understand the whole genre can be covered by a good amp that represents the era but why not nail the tones instead of playing the whole show as if the AxeFx is just a Splawn or a Friedman. That is one of the great things about the AxeFx...it can do better than a reasonable approximation, in most cases it can nail the song. If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly...if you are in a cover band 'cover it'.
 
Gourdo said:
Hey JT2...What makes you think THAT !!! I've gone back to some firmware 8 presets and they sound amazing. You've obviously never tried it if you think they're obsolete.
Just cause your on 15.07 doesn't mean you can only load presets built for 15.07....
Click to expand...

If you update the amps, as you should, the previous patches will be different. Tweaking ..................
 
randombastage said:
I understand the whole genre can be covered by a good amp that represents the era but why not nail the tones instead of playing the whole show as if the AxeFx is just a Splawn or a Friedman. That is one of the great things about the AxeFx...it can do better than a reasonable approximation, in most cases it can nail the song. If you are going to be a bear, be a grizzly...if you are in a cover band 'cover it'.
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"Covering it" is great on recordings. But for live use, I've found that jumping around too much tonally is a great way to piss off your sound guy and bandmates. Pick 2 or 3 basic tones and stick with it. Everyone will be happier.
 
I play all the same material. 6 different guitars, 4 different tunings, over 200 song specific presets that sound like the real thing.

I laugh at these comments of pissing people off with too much change. In fact I get nothing but praise how great and how close every tone sounds to the original every time we play. If there is a guy running sound it's nothing short of compliments all night long.

If one puts the time in......
 
dupere11497 said:
I agree! Don't go for diffferent sound for each songs! Your tone need to be consistant! Go with the Friedmans, they will cover those 80's bands all the way! The Camerons are great too, maybe a bit more agressive and tight but they are like hotrod Marshalls heavily modded!! Greenback 4X12 or Scumback H75 cabs are a must for that Sunstrip tone!!
Click to expand...

No way! Dig in and nail the tone for each song - especially if you're going direct. Consistency is overrated. If you throw a Van Halen tone in to a Toto song, I doubt your band is going to see much work. Those are two different horses for two different courses. Besides, it's more fun, more inspiring and just mobetta when you can nail the tone everyone is familiar with. Bonus points if your singer can nail these songs - he'll be expecting the tones to be close.
 
Severed said:
If one puts the time in......
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That's really the issue. The bassist and drummer are not changing tones, they will likely have a middle of the road tone to suit all scenarios.

It is not only the volume you must concern yourself with, but the perception of volume. For scooped tones you will have to be louder, for mid and treble friendly tones you will have to reduce your volume as to not jump out so much as it seems as though you are the only one on stage.

As I've said many times previously, the best practice is to record your band in such a way you can be removed from the track and you can then adjust yourself and your presets at your leisure.
 
Karl Houseknecht said:
"Covering it" is great on recordings. But for live use, I've found that jumping around too much tonally is a great way to piss off your sound guy and bandmates. Pick 2 or 3 basic tones and stick with it. Everyone will be happier.
Click to expand...
This is definitely a valid point but, if you put the time in to make sure your patches are consistent in output and the sound-person is aware that you use presets that may require a quick flip of the fader, you'll be fine. In the past, to convincingly nail those tones you had to have your amp screaming to the point that no sound man in the planet could keep you contained in a club sized mix unless your amp was out in the alley. As a guy who has done his share of FOH, I'd rather have to adjust your volume a few times each show than fight a too loud guitar the entire night. Your vocalist will definitely agree.

On that subject; if you have a vocalist that can nail all those styles, you may want to consider a good board with lots of available plugins. We just started using Waves stuff - Vocal Rider, C6 compressor, SSL channel - on an Allen Heath GLD 80 board outfitted with a Waves Soundgrid card. Our vocals have suddenly become the strongest part of our mix. The downside: We can no longer use most house boards... And, we have to pay a sound-person who is familiar with our stuff. Lately, he's usually the only guy in the band making any money :) We're hoping that changes soon! Anyhoo, the plugins available on the new breed of digital boards will get your band that much closer.
 
luke said:
That's really the issue. The bassist and drummer are not changing tones, they will likely have a middle of the road tone to suit all scenarios.

It is not only the volume you must concern yourself with, but the perception of volume. For scooped tones you will have to be louder, for mid and treble friendly tones you will have to reduce your volume as to not jump out so much as it seems as though you are the only one on stage.

As I've said many times previously, the best practice is to record your band in such a way you can be removed from the track and you can then adjust yourself and your presets at your leisure.
Click to expand...

Excellent point. We record every rehearsal to two track via USB and then share the files via Dropbox. Multitrack would be optimal but, the key is to be able to listen to yourself like a critic and make adjustments as needed.
 
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