Trouble with live sound

Crash Monarch

Crash Monarch

Member
When I got the Axe-FxIII and plugged it into my studio speakers, it was like magic. Without even tweaking anything, I loved all the sounds immediately. I've been using it to record guitar and bass ever since, and have been extremely happy with the sounds I'm getting.

Recently, I decided I'd like to use the Axe to play gigs. I ordered the special humbuster cord from Fractal and hooked the Axe up to my Egnater tube amp (clean channel, no reverb, middled all the tone knobs). The resulting sound is not good in my opinion. It's thin and harsh, nothing like what I get through my studio speakers.

My question is...what are most of you doing to get a great live sound out of the Axe? Do you have to go straight into a PA or go through some kind of flat response speaker? Maybe I need to run two amps in stereo to get that great Axe sound? Does anyone out there use a regular guitar amp with the Axe?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions..............
 
I'm a FRFR /FOH guy, in order to get the full benefits of the AXFX III. I've ran into power amp (both tube and flat response SS) into cabs which works well, however you lose a lot of flexibility of matching cabs to amps. (the cab you run through will create a similarity in all your patches). I've never been able to run into the front of any amp and get pleasing results. A good Flat Response monitor is a must have to use the AxFx to its potential and create patches that translate well..
 
I run my III straight to PA. Xitone powered wedge off of output 2 if needed on stage for monitoring or for more "feel" - especially if band monitors aren't up to snuff.
 
The only experience I have running my live sounds straight into a cab is similar to yours. I went into the effects loop of my ODS clone, bypassing the tone controls. Even with all the cab sims bypassed, and with power amp modeling on or off, it still sounded pretty bad.

When I tried an Adcom power amp I had nearby, there was a big, big improvement. Lesson: at least some guitar amp power sections are not flat.
 
traditional tube or non tube power amp like a matrix...with a traditional cab. You’ll get great sounds at drummer volume all the way down to a whisper. At higher volumes I turn down some of the highs etc but that’s been true of any of my setups.

When I first got an axe it was the 2 and I plugged it into an amp and got the same results. It never sounded right through a combo...at least the combo I used but I was a newbie then and probably had the power amp sim engaged. If you are using it with a comb jacked into the return of the fx loop, remember that your combo’s power section was tuned specifically for the preamp or vice versa. I’m confident you could still get a good tone out of it but you won’t be able to get all the different tones that you could with an FRFR setup or even a traditional cab setup.

Whatever you do...don’t return it! You’ll find that you always buy it back and its a waist of time and money IMHO.
 
Did you disable Cab modeling or remove the Cab from your presets?

Do you have an Amp block in the presets?

As mentioned above, you can send the Axe Fx into your effects return... And in that case turn off Power Amp and Cab Modeling.

Just plugging in a full preset into the front of the Amp is like sending an amp and cabinet into an amp and cabinet.
 
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