When playing live

F

Frank C

Member
Hello all.

I would like to introduce myself and ask a question if i may, im selling off some of my gear and plan on getting an Ultra.

I plan on using the unit a lot and the setup as of right now would be the axe into power amp into a stereo 4x12, a Liquid foot pro would be controlling the unit.

My question of many im sure is, is there a way to run 2 amp blocks into the cab in stereo and use one of the amp blocks to to the PA from another output?, ive done extensive reading on this forum and have yet to see anyone running this kind of setup.

Also i would be somewhat of a newb to the whole midi thing although years ago i ran a`replifex into a all access FC and didnt have any problems after a short learning curve.

The programing looks pretty deep on the axe from the outside but how is it in reality? is it pretty strait forward.

thanks for your time

Frank
 
I run a stereo power amp into a stereo 4x12 cab onstage and go direct to the board. I usually go stereo to both, but I can go mono the the board if the house sound is mono.

Your question is a little confusing, it sounds like you want two amp blocks going to your cabinet and only one going to the PA. Maybe you don't understand how the term "amp block" is used in the axe. Is that because you want to run stereo to your cab but mono to the PA, or because you actually want a different sound coming thru the mains than your stage rig? You don't need two amp blocks to be stereo, and you don't have to use just one amp if you are going mono either. Your entire signal can be stereo with only one amp block, or mono with two amp blocks (your entire signal chain can be stereo or mono). You can run stereo to your cab and mono to the board pretty efficiently in any case. Obviously, if you are using an amp and speakers onstage, you don't want cabinet simulation going to your stage rig, only to the PA.

What I think you really mean is this: You want to run stereo thru a power amp and speakers onstage, but you want a mono direct feed to the board that has cabinet emulation and maybe even some different effects. You don't want cabinet simulation going to your stage amp, because you are already using a cab, but you need cabinet simulation going to the PA. This is how you do it:

If you want the sound basically the same, except you want cabinet simulation for your PA output only:

You create your patches with a cabinet block (CAB) last, and insert an effects loop block (FXL) into your signal chain just before the cabinet block. The feed to the PA includes the whole signal chain, including the CAB. This comes out of output 1, which has it's own volume control (and has XLRs as well as 1/4" outputs). But the FXL block "taps" into the signal chain, and sends it's signal to output 2, which also has it's own volume control. If you don't use the effect returns, FXL just becomes a signal output that taps off wherever you put the block. So, you have tapped into your signal chain just before the cabinet block, and this sends a signal to your power amp and speakers via output 2.

You pick a cabinet simulator that's pretty close to what you are using onstage, so your PA sound comes close to what you are hearing thru your cab. You need to play with that a bit, because your power amp adds a variable. I use a Mesa 4x12 stereo cab onstage, and there is a model of my cab in the axe, but I use a different model in the axe because I want a bit more mids coming thru the mains. One great thing about this feature is you can tweak your stage volume but the feed to the board doesn't change since it's got a separate volume control.

If you want a dramatically different sound going to the board compared to your stage speakers, you can put some additional things after the FXL block which will go to the mains but not to your stage rig. For more advanced double amp things, there are some signal splitting tricks you can do but it gets more complicated.

There is some discussion of this in the manual, which you can download, and also on the wiki. Hope that helps.
 
Q

Regarding your programming question, the programming is as deep as you have time for but there is a very simple way to just set up patches and go. Most people don't get into messing with changing the bright capacitor in the power amp stage and that sort of thing! You can learn the basics very quickly, and navigate pretty easily without going into the "deep pages" (insert sinister horror movie laugh). Once you have the basics down, you can just stop there. Going deeper just comes down to whatever you have the time and patience for. You can do a hell of a lot just with basic signal chains and EQ.
 
Thanks people,

Jojo you hit the nail on the head, i guess im still abit confused on all the terminology as of yet but ill get it im sure, thanks for the explanation this unit is truly amazing.
 
The fact that you are thinking stereo cab plus direct to mains tells me you are probably the sort of guitarist Cliff had in mind with this thing. He used a Triaxis-based rack rig (as I did). I spent many years (and many blind turns) trying to build rigs that would give me many sounds and all kinds of effects at my feet without pedal dancing. Critical to me was instantaneous patch changes and effects spilling over between patches, all with world-class sound. I went thru lots of preamps and ended up with a triaxis, a harmonizer, and a TC processor. It came close but weighed a ton and of course I couldn't depart from the Mesa tone arena (which is a nice place to be, but sometimes you just need Marshall). The axe does it all, it's the box I was trying to create in huge racks for so many years. And it's two rack spaces. You really can't go wrong with this thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom