RoshRoslin
Power User
Hey all,
Just wanted to pass along my experience on a gig last night and again why the AxeFX will always keep the show going no matter what. A little about me, I'm a full-time working musician in the LA area, worked with names big and small. I have a steady Thursday night gig at a comedy club that is a two set cover/live karaoke band thing. Just wanted to share that the AxeFX will cover you no matter what no matter how many things go wrong on the gig.
My rig is a 2x12 Port City cab with scumback M75s, Matrix Gt800fx and an AxeFX II. On load in last night, I noticed a little "wobbliness" inside the port city cab. Got everything set up, Power to the rack, speaker cable to to the cab, ethercon to my MFC 101. Power everything up and do the ol' "strum a couple chords".
No sound.
Check my input level, Ticking green in the front input of the axefx. Check power and cables, everything is seated properly. Turn up power to the matrix and see the input lights receiving input. Still no sound. Switch guitar cable, speaker cable and small right angle cable in rack (from AxeFX to Matrix) and switch them all out with backups. Still receiving input, but no sound. Check bypass, check tuner mute. Reboot AxeFx with MFC disconnected. Check grid for any weird volume pedal blocks. No culprits found. Volume pedal is responding as normal.
Still no sound. I now have 20 minutes before downbeat and I'm starting to sweat.
Reach through the port of my cab and feel the speaker "give" a little and pull out a screwdriver out of my gig bag and get to work. Open up my cab and 14 screws later...there it is. One of the speaker leads is disconnected.
Crap.
I don't have a soldering iron on me and the clips are unfortunately not alligator clips. I say "screw it" grab an XLR and decide to go straight to the desk. Tell the FOH guy to send me some guitar to a wedge and the FOH sound will be sent to speakers flown above the stage. I'm going direct (This particular gig is 80-90% stage sound with the soundman blending in a little guitar, bass, kick and snare...usually mic'ed). Unfortunately, this particular board only has 1 Aux out. Meaning ALL the wedges on stage share the same mix. Obviously the drummer, bassist or singer doesn't want blaring guitar in his wedge. Oh, did I mention the wedges are "American Music" Wedges ? They have the headroom of a $20 computer speaker and sound about the same.
We soundcheck quietly as to not disturb the show next door and, of course, the band requests less guitar in the overall mix. I can't hear my guitar and now we're 5 minutes till downbeat. The club is about to open up and let a flood of people in. We share the stage with a comedy club and once the comedy show ends, all the guests and patrons are invited to go next door for a drink and we're the entertainment for the rest of the evening.
At this point, I would go to IEM with a body pack, but this had to be the week I loaned my body pack and receiver to a friend of mine. I usually have one built into the back of my rack. I take a pair of in ears (JH Audio 16s) out of my gig bag and plug into a cable I've built that goes from 1/4 inch to 1/8th inch. Wrap the cable together with my guitar and plug straight into the headphones jack.
I now have my guitar sound. One molded JH audio Can in my right ear. A Standard earplug in my left. I am now a happy camper. I can hear my guitar sound, my band isn't overwhelmed by a guitar heavy mix in their wedges and I have a relatively low-volume stage and the soundman is happy. The rest of the gig goes off without a hitch. Great crowd, great sound and some regulars commented on how much "fuller" my guitar tone sounds.
Phew. There's always a solution to get your guitar out there. Always have a backup plan.
Big thanks to fractal and the AxeFX for never letting me down.
Just wanted to pass along my experience on a gig last night and again why the AxeFX will always keep the show going no matter what. A little about me, I'm a full-time working musician in the LA area, worked with names big and small. I have a steady Thursday night gig at a comedy club that is a two set cover/live karaoke band thing. Just wanted to share that the AxeFX will cover you no matter what no matter how many things go wrong on the gig.
My rig is a 2x12 Port City cab with scumback M75s, Matrix Gt800fx and an AxeFX II. On load in last night, I noticed a little "wobbliness" inside the port city cab. Got everything set up, Power to the rack, speaker cable to to the cab, ethercon to my MFC 101. Power everything up and do the ol' "strum a couple chords".
No sound.
Check my input level, Ticking green in the front input of the axefx. Check power and cables, everything is seated properly. Turn up power to the matrix and see the input lights receiving input. Still no sound. Switch guitar cable, speaker cable and small right angle cable in rack (from AxeFX to Matrix) and switch them all out with backups. Still receiving input, but no sound. Check bypass, check tuner mute. Reboot AxeFx with MFC disconnected. Check grid for any weird volume pedal blocks. No culprits found. Volume pedal is responding as normal.
Still no sound. I now have 20 minutes before downbeat and I'm starting to sweat.
Reach through the port of my cab and feel the speaker "give" a little and pull out a screwdriver out of my gig bag and get to work. Open up my cab and 14 screws later...there it is. One of the speaker leads is disconnected.
Crap.
I don't have a soldering iron on me and the clips are unfortunately not alligator clips. I say "screw it" grab an XLR and decide to go straight to the desk. Tell the FOH guy to send me some guitar to a wedge and the FOH sound will be sent to speakers flown above the stage. I'm going direct (This particular gig is 80-90% stage sound with the soundman blending in a little guitar, bass, kick and snare...usually mic'ed). Unfortunately, this particular board only has 1 Aux out. Meaning ALL the wedges on stage share the same mix. Obviously the drummer, bassist or singer doesn't want blaring guitar in his wedge. Oh, did I mention the wedges are "American Music" Wedges ? They have the headroom of a $20 computer speaker and sound about the same.
We soundcheck quietly as to not disturb the show next door and, of course, the band requests less guitar in the overall mix. I can't hear my guitar and now we're 5 minutes till downbeat. The club is about to open up and let a flood of people in. We share the stage with a comedy club and once the comedy show ends, all the guests and patrons are invited to go next door for a drink and we're the entertainment for the rest of the evening.
At this point, I would go to IEM with a body pack, but this had to be the week I loaned my body pack and receiver to a friend of mine. I usually have one built into the back of my rack. I take a pair of in ears (JH Audio 16s) out of my gig bag and plug into a cable I've built that goes from 1/4 inch to 1/8th inch. Wrap the cable together with my guitar and plug straight into the headphones jack.
I now have my guitar sound. One molded JH audio Can in my right ear. A Standard earplug in my left. I am now a happy camper. I can hear my guitar sound, my band isn't overwhelmed by a guitar heavy mix in their wedges and I have a relatively low-volume stage and the soundman is happy. The rest of the gig goes off without a hitch. Great crowd, great sound and some regulars commented on how much "fuller" my guitar tone sounds.
Phew. There's always a solution to get your guitar out there. Always have a backup plan.
Big thanks to fractal and the AxeFX for never letting me down.
