Time spent playing guitar vs time spent learning/tweaking AXEFX

I’m grinding technique currently. I’m at a bit of a steady state with the FM3 where I can either throw a preset together in about 10m and be happy, or more recently, just choosing a factory preset and working with what’s there. Cygnus reduced my need for IR hunting considerably, and X2 helps more.

I notice all my old presets have too much delay/verb in them. My ear doesn’t seem to like as much as it used to. I’ll take that as a good sign!
 
I have a serious problem: I have had the Af3 for a year and a half and have really only made about one preset. Ervey time I think I got it right....there is a new FW update...then back at it again.
My problem? I will turn the thing on to do some tweaking and I end up just playing and not get anything done.
 
I have a serious problem: I have had the Af3 for a year and a half and have really only made about one preset. Ervey time I think I got it right....there is a new FW update...then back at it again.
My problem? I will turn the thing on to do some tweaking and I end up just playing and not get anything done.
Where’s the problem?
 
I have a serious problem: I have had the Af3 for a year and a half and have really only made about one preset. Ervey time I think I got it right....there is a new FW update...then back at it again.
My problem? I will turn the thing on to do some tweaking and I end up just playing and not get anything done.
Our meetings are Wednesday night. It’s a judgement free zone. Happy to join us if you like.
 
Once upon a time I could have only dreamed of having access to this much gear to tweak.

Now try making a MIDI foot controller… that will really eat into your playing time AND your tweaking time.
 
I've always been a tweaker/explorer, and now I don't have to dismantle my gear or buy anything to do it. What's not to love?

I have a pretty new guitar, and new FRFRs, so everything is up in the air, really trying to get my bearings.

Guilty? Nah. I do sometimes declare a No Edit Month, where I'm not allowed to change anything, just play. Not really sure why I do that, balance I guess. At the moment though, still looking for home base.
 
When I had Kemper and Helix, I found myself tweaking ALL THE TIME. Never happy with my tone on those two units.

With Axe III it's like an amp, dial it in and go. I haven't really had to tweak my presets since FW18.
 
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When I had Kemper and Helix, I found myself tweaking ALL THE TIME. Never happy with my tone on those two units.

With Axe III it's like an amp, dial it in and go. I haven't really had to tweak my presets since FW18.
I come from a Boogie MKIV…..tweakerz dream….or not….and satisfied….for brief periods of time and it was the one sound….with an FM3….it is a lot of Amps and it’s adjusting to taste mostly satisfied….till I pick another guitar and need to adjust to pair properly….or realize amp is not my jam….
 
2AM-6:30AM, fresh pot of coffee, wife asleep, no text or emails...I've re-arranged every preset, added an Output 2 to every preset, prayed for a Fractal Update or a new Leon Todd preset to download, deep dive into a Yek's (and other masters) comments or presets... take care of all my consulting work and then I'm ready to play. It's half the fun and besides who needs more than 3-4 hours sleep in a 24 hour period anyway?
 
I have spent a vast majority of my time tweaking, I have been trying to learn how to produce and mix my own music so I am always looking for a mix ready type of sound, as I've learned more about how to allocate frequency ranges for specific instruments I tweak more guitar tones to make it easier to fit in the mix without heavy handed processing or EQ. I'm getting to the point where I'm getting better at it so I'm finding myself playing and writing a little more lately. Source tone is so important so I'm constantly trying to improve that.
 
I spent maybe the first three or four days with mine acquainting myself with the main controls and parameters, maybe a day surfing through the factory presets to get a feel for things, and that was the extent of my “more tweaking than playing” experience.

There is still a lot I have to learn about the deeper parameters, but I approached it the same way I did Logic Pro when I first started with it many years ago: learn the basic stuff I need to know to achieve my immediate goals, then learn about more here and there as I go.
 
I do very little tweaking at all. It's so easy to find a great sounding preset, or throw an amp and a good IR together and just play. Love it. I didn't get into the Fractal stuff to spend a ton of time exploring the deep parameters that I know nothing about (and quite frankly, don't really care about) but that being said - I REALLY appreciate all you guys who DO get into that stuff because I've learned a ton of stuff just by reading the posts out here.

There have been plenty of times where I've read threads about this parameter or that parameter and messed with them and got a much better understanding of that things do. And of course, reading the stuff that Cliff puts out here is amazing.
 
I come from a Boogie MKIV…..tweakerz dream….or not….and satisfied….for brief periods of time and it was the one sound….with an FM3….it is a lot of Amps and it’s adjusting to taste mostly satisfied….till I pick another guitar and need to adjust to pair properly….or realize amp is not my jam….
Hmmm... I see this a lot, where people have different amp settings for different guitars or different pickups. I just don't understand it. I use the same amp, same settings, for all my guitars. Always did the same thing with amps too. Of course, part of it is guitar dependent (setup, pickups, etc...) but I've never had any issues matching outputs from one to another.
 
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I used to tweak a lot but then I added an ENGL 570 + ENGL 840/100 for my amp, AXEFX for effects only, and Torpordeo Studio (one on left and one on right channel) for my cabs (attenuating the ENGL 840).

I can get the cab sound I want from the Torpedo 100x faster than I can with the AxeFX 3 interface so with this setup I hardly tweak at all and I can do a great job replicating most tones that I care the most about. I have more fun this way. The down side is I ended up with a $10k rack (also have a Decimator ProRack G, Robostrobe Rack and a decent power conditioner).
 
I spent almost two year to have my dream preset and be able to use the fm3 at 80% of his potential.. I think every option avalaible is functional to sculpt the sound... As someone already said i struggle find the right ir ( also just for trying everything) but now i m really satisfied.
 
I like tweaking, but since I've learned to Tone Match properly, I don't really struggle to find sounds, so tweaking is pretty minimal overall.
 
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