Worst Thing About Axe-Fx III is Location Confinement

[Flashback]

I realize this is a stupid thing to complain about but it's something that I've been struggling with ever since getting the Axe Fx III MKII.

Has anyone come up with an easy way to move their Axe Fx setup back and forth from one room to another?

I keep struggling with being confined to playing guitar in one room only. To me there's something inherently wrong with being stuck in an office chair in front of a desk for all guitar playing.

Sitting at the desk is great when recording and working with a DAW, but I'd often rather just sit comfortably in the living room to practice and jam, especially in the evening. Plus the Adam A7X monitors that I use sound so much better in the large, open living room than they sound in my small 11' x 10' studio room.

I thought about getting a table or cabinet with rollers to easily move the setup between rooms, but I just can't find anything that would work with having the monitors about 4' apart and at a decent height.

I really don't want to buy an FM3 and another set of expensive monitors to have a second setup in the living room, but that seems to be the only solution I can some up with. I tried my old setup yesterday of using a laptop and amp sims in the living room, but I just can't go back to crappy amp sims. Even the good ones sound like shit now after using the Axe Fx 3.

Does anyone else have any better ideas? How do you deal with having your Axe Fx setup confined to one location?

 

[blaggers]

I solved this by buying two AxeFx III's- one for in the house one for in the music room... not sure if that helps.

 

[biskitboy]

Some good ideas here:

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/post-your-axe-fx-iii-rigs-here.136754/

 

[peteri]

Get a FM3 too? Keep that in the living space

 

[Budda]

Second unit is the fastest way to do that.

 

[lqdsnddist]

Don’t really see how the Axe is any more or less portable than the typical amp head. If anything it’s a lot lighter and easier to move around.

Far easier to take my III and a CLR than it was to take my 2204 and 4x12 cab room to room

 

[RevDrucifer]

Hahahah, I just plug a wah pedal into my AxeFX with a 25’ cable, then another 25’ cable to the wah pedal from my guitar, then crank up the studio monitors so I can sit on my couch and play.

I’ve been wanting to snag one of those small Katana’s for stuff like couch-jamming. I don’t need to have the power of an AxeFX for that. That’d certainly be more cost-effective than another AxeFX!

 

[luke]

I solved this by buying two AxeFx III's- one for in the house one for in the music room... not sure if that helps.

 

[Jambi]

View attachment 78310

I see that you also bought a second unit for when you move 3 feet away

 

[George Estremera]

I put mine in a Gator case and drag it around that way. It's a quick setup and off I go

 

[sskkmm]

Turn up speakers. Hook up wireless. Walk the house, shake the walls.

 

[AndrewJay]

Maybe something like this. Rack the Axe, maybe a power conditioner, monitors on top?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/WSR7500B--on-stage-stands-wsr7500b-rack-cabinet-black

Edit: After you move the gear, you can separate the monitors perhaps.

 

[chucma]

I have 4U Gator case (with easy carry handles), in the front the Axe FX takes up 3U, then I have a 1U patch bay where I have routed all the important connections from the rear panel of the Axe FX to the front. The best thing about this, is that I can stand the case upright with the screen of the Axe FX facing directly upwards, this takes up very little room and I can very quickly plug/unplug cables without digging behind the unit. it is very portable and allows for a faster setup time before playing live (clearly before Covid days).

The hassle would be lugging Adams monitors around from room to room, so maybe get a nice FRFR cab instead? One you could maybe leave in a room, and the Adams in the other room.

 

[Flashback]

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! Now I'm thinking maybe a FRFR setup in the living room would be a good solution. Having to run a couple of long cables would be a lot easier to manage than moving the whole setup back and forth, and I just found out that FracPad can work with the Axe Fx wirelessly so that would make it workable.

 

[Ronrad]

Stand up desk helps too. I have that in my office so can stand up while playing using no office chair!

But I also bought an FM3 for my music room to use beside my amps.

 

[Cooper Carter]

Axe for the studio. FM3 for the house.

 

[chris]

Is this issue different with other gear that isn’t an all-in-one amp combo?

 

[Flashback]

Is this issue different with other gear that isn’t an all-in-one amp combo?

Coming from amp sim plugins the one thing I miss is how easy it is to have multiple setups across different computers and locations. Even my recto with a 4x12 is super easy to roll from one room to another and there's only a couple of cables to deal with. Once the Axe 3 is setup with a dozen cables going in all directions and studio monitors in place it's kind of rooted to its spot.

 

[Zedhed]

Axe for the studio. FM3 for the house.

New car for wifey......out goes the spouse.

 

[chris]

Coming from amp sim plugins the one thing I miss is how easy it is to have multiple setups across different computers and locations. Even my recto with a 4x12 is super easy to roll from one room to another and there's only a couple of cables to deal with. Once the Axe 3 is setup with a dozen cables going in all directions and studio monitors in place it's kind of rooted to its spot.

Maybe it’s the speakers that aren’t portable being the issue. Power, 1 or 2 outs for speakers, guitar in, maybe USB, optional pedal board cable, that’s about 6 cables.

Typical amp head with pedal board would be amp power, speaker cable, pedal board power, cable from pedal board to amp, any amp channel change cable - it’s about the same.

I think having a 2nd speaker setup would help this situation. It’s kinda like saying you can’t take the Axe3 to a gig if it’s setup at home because it’s plugged in to things.

Any modeler or some real amp setups would have the same situation. So it’s not an Axe-FX only thing. Being in stereo optionally adds one more cable, but you could go mono like the 4x12 setup. Studio monitors are typically meant to stay in one place - at the studio setup - so having a powered speaker meant to move from place to place could help you relocate the setup more easily.