professional touring experience with AX8

Thanks a lot!
Another thing I am curios about is, can you set different input gains for each preset? I am changing between guitars with active and passive pickups live, thats what I would need it for.

And

Any experiences with Kemper and Helix? And why the ax8 would be the better option.
 
Thanks a lot!
Another thing I am curios about is, can you set different input gains for each preset? I am changing between guitars with active and passive pickups live, thats what I would need it for.

And

Any experiences with Kemper and Helix? And why the ax8 would be the better option.
Each preset is (almost) infinitely tweak-able. If you dial a preset in with a specific guitar, that preset will likely sound different with a different guitar. The virtual Amp blocks will react like the physical amps would when switching guitars. You can have specific presets for specific guitars if you wish/need. Even if it's just a copy of another preset that's been adjusted for a specific guitar.
 
Great question.. I reckon Leon, user 2112 could share some valuable insight on this, as his band Ragdoll have toured quite a lot if I’m not mistaken, and he uses the AX8 a lot.

I’ve played/toured half a dozen or so shows with my AX8, and you’re right in saying straight to board, short line checks etc is stressful for sure.

My first piece of advice would be to absolutely learn everything that you can about your AX8 when you get it. Play with it extensively. Try messing around with it on the fly because that’s when it will count most, given you play regular shows. Build your own patches but by all means use the factory patches as a good reference as many of them are actually quite good.

You can anticipate that you’ll get recommendations to experiment with third party IRs etc.. I’d say play around with the stock ones THEN, if you absolutely must, you can look into other ones too.

NOTE.. one thing I discovered pretty quick when going direct to board or PA:

Bump up your mids by 20-25%
Reduce your highs by 15-20%
Adjust bass or low-end to suit

Would probably help to have a FRFR type speaker/monitor to help build/adjust your patches on. Every speaker setup or PA is different, but a flat response sound should, in theory, be mostly the same.

LASTLY.. get yourself a good quality (possibly custom made) pedalboard case for it to live in, and tour in. Protect your investment friend!
 
I'm about 80 gigs in with my Ax8 and it's never missed a beat, some very big shows. IEMs so no stage volume. Only issue I had was the bar coming loose so I removed it.

As a pro touring piece of gear it's a dream. Unfortunately the pedalboard and pelican I tour with is too large to drag home so I literally only use it for live shows. If you've got a tech I'd have them build a loom and add a powercon connector to your board.. Also if you're touring make sure your board fits in a peli!
 
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