Dave Merrill
Axe-Master
I have a III and an FC12. Most of my presets have had 4 gain levels of the same amp across the bottom four switches, and effected or even more gain boosted versions of them in the top row. Sometimes the cleanest and/or gainiest ones are different amps.
Lately I've started to feel like that makes my presets sound too much the same.
The factory presets mostly aren't like that, they mostly show a single amp or amp family doing what it's built to do. Just because I can make a screaming wild thing out of a clean amp and some drives doesn't mean that's what the amp does best, or that that's the best way to get tones in that neighborhood, and some of the unique character of the amp may get lost.
Another possible approach is kitchen sink plus pedalboard: 8 different amps as the scenes, and a layout or two or three full of effects you can use with any of them. If you're a session guy or messing around at home, that might be great -- lots of possibilities, less need for quick switching to specific tones.
If you're in a cover band doing 70 years worth of all kinds of hits, that's less good. You want quick changes to particular pre-built setups, maybe even one per song.
So what do people mostly do?
Lately I've started to feel like that makes my presets sound too much the same.
The factory presets mostly aren't like that, they mostly show a single amp or amp family doing what it's built to do. Just because I can make a screaming wild thing out of a clean amp and some drives doesn't mean that's what the amp does best, or that that's the best way to get tones in that neighborhood, and some of the unique character of the amp may get lost.
Another possible approach is kitchen sink plus pedalboard: 8 different amps as the scenes, and a layout or two or three full of effects you can use with any of them. If you're a session guy or messing around at home, that might be great -- lots of possibilities, less need for quick switching to specific tones.
If you're in a cover band doing 70 years worth of all kinds of hits, that's less good. You want quick changes to particular pre-built setups, maybe even one per song.
So what do people mostly do?
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