Using Axe-Fx III with acoustic instruments

David777

David777

Member
Hi. This is my first post here.

I just ordered the FX-III and while I will be using it mostly for electric guitar (live and recording), I also want to try it with my acoustic instruments (fiddle, classical guitar, steel string guitar) for live performance.

Probably the first thing I'll try is plugging the XLR output from my LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI into the XLR input of the FX III.

The second thing I'll try will be to put the FX III in the FX loop on my LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI.

Any problems with the above approaches?

Any of you using the FX III for acoustic instruments, and if so how are you doing it?

Thanks!
 
That’s fun you talk about it cause today we practice with 2 acoustic guitars in the axe and it works very well ! Comp , tube pre , chorus reverb ... and it sound GREAT.
Front input and input two behind the unit in jack and that’s all !
 

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I’m not familiar with the LR Baggs DI you mentioned. However, I often plug my steel string and nylon string acoustics into the Axe for use at home, recording, and live. There are some great options in there for EQ and compression. Sounds great.
And the reverb....so good.
 
David777 said:
Hi. This is my first post here.

I just ordered the FX-III and while I will be using it mostly for electric guitar (live and recording), I also want to try it with my acoustic instruments (fiddle, classical guitar, steel string guitar) for live performance.

Probably the first thing I'll try is plugging the XLR output from my LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI into the XLR input of the FX III.

The second thing I'll try will be to put the FX III in the FX loop on my LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI.

Any problems with the above approaches?

Any of you using the FX III for acoustic instruments, and if so how are you doing it?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have abandoned all my acoustic pedals Fishman etc with AX3 presets based on tube preamp, comp, Para EQ, reverb etc....
The Axe Fx is really a whole solution for electric/acoustic/bass guitar, vocals and, other instruments.
 
David777 said:
Probably the first thing I'll try is plugging the XLR output from my LR Baggs Para-Acoustic DI into the XLR input of the FX III.
Click to expand...
I had that DI and since going Fractal, I no longer have it. With just the PEQ (Parametric EQ) block you can accomplish basically the same thing. By all means try it, just letting you know that the same functionality is in the Axe III.
 
JoKeR III said:
I had that DI and since going Fractal, I no longer have it. With just the PEQ (Parametric EQ) block you can accomplish basically the same thing. By all means try it, just letting you know that the same functionality is in the Axe III.
Click to expand...
How did you set the PEQ to match the Baggs?
 
normanaj said:
How did you set the PEQ to match the Baggs?
Click to expand...
There's no real 'matching', needs are going to vary depending upon guitar, PA and venue which is why the LR Baggs has knobs.

The LR Baggs is basically an eq pedal with BMT, selectable mids frequency, presence and a notch filter. All of these parameters can be replicated with the 5-band parametric eq in the PEQ block. For the notch filter, find the string frequency (A=110, D=147, G=196, B=247) in the eq range and cut using a high Q.
 
Both will work, but I think you'll pretty soon you find you don't need either as above. I have generally been a "straight into the desk" kind of guy for acoustic guitar for a long time (but using desk EQ and reverb where required). I use a pretty basic setup too, Fishman Rare Earth soundhole pickup and nothing else. It sounded pretty damned good straight into the desk (70's Guild D25M, so you'd have guessed it would), but it sounds a whole lot better when I can use my own FRFR rig for the monitoring, and keep it in my main "electric guitar" feed to FOH. Tend to play straight, with a little EQ, maybe some reverb but not often, and what comes out of the Axe FX tends not to need any additional EQ or reverb from the desk. It has involved a lot less involvement than the amp and pedal modelling side of things. It just works.

Liam
 
Echoing others here. The Axe FX does everything the Baggs DI does and 50x more. Once you get familiar with it, I believe you’ll find you don’t need the Baggs DI.

I use a couple of acoustic guitars with my Axe FX III several times a week, in a few different configurations. It’s REALLY powerful and flexible. I can separate the two pickups in my guitar and EQ/blend them as I please, apply impulse responses to create a “mic’d” acoustic sound, and use almost any imaginable effect.
 
For those who have used the AFX III this way:

Is it reasonable to plan to use the AXE FX III to replace my amp/loadbox/IR, and my direct boxes, and my small rack mixer for acoustic/12-string/mandolin/banjo/etc.? Today I carry a bunch of gear to get to a single direct line out for FOH....can I seriously think of tossing all of that stuff aside?
 
FullThrottle64 said:
For those who have used the AFX III this way:

Is it reasonable to plan to use the AXE FX III to replace my amp/loadbox/IR, and my direct boxes, and my small rack mixer for acoustic/12-string/mandolin/banjo/etc.? Today I carry a bunch of gear to get to a single direct line out for FOH....can I seriously think of tossing all of that stuff aside?
Click to expand...
I know everyone so far has said yes straight away, but I'd be slightly cautious. Input 1 is the only one with any variation in impedance matching, with all the others at 1 Mohm and line level, which will probably work fine, but worth trying before ditching too much. The other thing to consider is just how many instruments your "etc." might be. There are 4 inputs, 3 of which are stereo, so I guess you could run 7 different instruments simultaneously, but still worth checking before ditching the mixer and DI boxes.

I'm pretty sure sure you will be losing quite a lot of previous gear, and I am kind of hoping you'll be able to lose all of it. However I still have one preamp that's kind of necessary in my own rig, and because it needs phantom power I can't run it straight into my Axe FX III. No big deal, but fortunate I didn't toss everything aside ;) .

Liam
 
FWIW, there are quite a few “inline” phantom power adapters available, both battery and “wall wart” powered (some both). My fave is the Countryman — admittedly not inexpensive, but the analog circuitry is über-clean/quiet and the construction is rock-solid.
 
I use Axe 3 also with my acoustic guitars. I have one or two presets and guitars are electro-acoustics (one nylon and other steel string).
Axe do the job fine and there is several ways to do it (with guitars own electronic or with external mics or using combination of these two.
I don´t remember how I did this playing with Cavatina backing track but I made it with Axe and Yamaha NCX900fm electro acoustic.
This video have pictures of winter near my home last year.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dt68wkkqrbdp2ps/Cavatina_Winter_summer.wmv?dl=0
 
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