Strat vs. LP vs. PRS vs. etc. etc., etc. ... Axe-Fx Presets and Bank Approaches

Markom

Markom

Member
I've done a fairly exhaustive search through the Forum and have come up empty, so I'll pose these questions to the General Discussion board. Perhaps, I'll answer my own questions in context of asking, but others' opinion and experience are helpful in making progress.

Like many guitarists, I own and thus often play several different instruments in either a live or practice setting. How are other Axe-Fx users applying similar presets to compensate for the varying output range of different instruments? For instance, I've created a beautiful clean preset for my Strat, but my Les Paul through the same preset is much too hot a signal; so I've copied the "Strat" preset to a "new" location and have made drive modification to compensate for the LP's hotter output. The same is true for my PRS, which is still a hot signal, but with different tonal qualities.

What methods of Axe-Fx Preset and Bank structure have other users applied that has been most successful for them? All Strat presets on Bank A; All LP Presets on Bank B; etc.?

Thanks for the input.
 
I use the input gain dial on the front of my unit to adjust for different guitars. I've got little markers on the dial gradient, three right now, for the three input gain positions I use. Quick and easy and no need to duplicate patches.

But then again, I usually only switch guitars in a set if something goes wrong. 99.999% of the time I'm playing my PRS.
 
I use the MFC 101 and put it in song mode. eg Song 1 is my PRS, song 2 my les paul, song 3 my Strat, I use 10 bank size & find thats the easiest way to manage my guitar changes
 
Obviously more than one way to "skin this cat" ... Don't have a controller yet, but that appears to be very efficient. I suppose the answers are unique as the users? Thanks!
 
I think the MFC is a must have with the Axe fx. Its just so easy to allocate presets to buttons on the MFC, and like I mentioned I use the song mode for differing guitars. The new update for the MFC has added the ability to 'backtrack' on a preset button now which is superb, basically pressing the preset button a second time selects the previously selected preset, so when going from say a clean sound to dirty, or from a slightly louder solo sound back to rhytnm, its just one touch on a foot button, loving it!
 
tonygtr said:
I use the same presets for all my guitars. Adjust your pickups and pickup height, not your Axe IMO.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting approach, tonygtr ... Hadn't thought of that, but do you find that your different guitars are now beginning to sound very similar through the same presets? Thanks.
 
Caribefatboy said:
Perhaps the new x/y option on the AXE II can address that?
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Caribefatboy ... I once owned a Rivera TBR-1 that had what they called a "P-Comp" (Pickup Compensation) control on the front panel ... It allowed me to compensate for the differences in pickup signal strength, depending on the guitar I was using. Is that similar to the x/y option on the II?
 
Different Presets for different guitars let grow your preset library fast. Not a problem with 384 preset slots, but complicate to handle with: Basic Changes of parameters found in all presets needed to be copied and paste in every preset. So, i try making a preset usable for different guitars:

i.e. here an example for a plexi preset i like with my ES335 AND my Strat. Amp Settings are made for the ES. for the Strat i compensate settings by a PEQ Block in the first slot: I compensate highs and lows and output volume with that before going to the amp block. Here is an example, in the middle i change from ES335 to strat. All effects are switchable IA`s. to clean up the sound i use the volume knob of the guitars:



So at the beginning with the strat you hear AND see the lower all-over-master-volume. A basic filter only for gain (level) raising as last block in the routing can compensate this. via identical CC you can switch both blocks on/off....

so i have ONE Preset for TWO guitars. work well ...
 
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tonygtr said:
I use the same presets for all my guitars. Adjust your pickups and pickup height, not your Axe IMO.
Click to expand...

This only works with guitars that are very very close in output FWIW. You can't usually make dramatic changes to output by altering the pickup height without negatively impacting the sound of the guitar.

For my answer to the OP's question: I have a lot of experience switching guitars in a given rig. Due to that, I've got a decent sense of how the EQ structure of a preset should be for it to work with different guitars. Assuming I've got the preset built correctly, I can make a variety of guitars work with a set batch of presets using both the input volume of the Axe-FX and extensive use of the guitar's controls. I turn the input knob of the Axe-FX to allow me to adjust the signal with my guitar volume on full to just hit the red lights occasionally. From there I work the guitar's controls to get my sounds working. Obviously, my brighter strats and teles have the tone controls rolled off a good bit and the humbucker guitars are run with their tone controls near maximum.

D
 
Thanks, Morphosis! ... I can see where your approach would work extremely well in a live setting ... Let's the player more naturally adjust drive/tone using the guitar controls rather than relying so heavily on the Axe-Fx to make on-the-fly adjustments. In a recording setting, one would have the luxury of time to make preset and bank changes based on the desired instrument in use.
 
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