Axe FX III - the Blog

DavusPG · May 2022

It does sound like a lot. Is there anyone else in the band that could take on the lighting duties, or could they be left on an automatic setting?

If it's detracting from your enjoyment playing then I would question it. I played a gig last night and am finding myself looking for increasingly easier options. I used my kitchen sink preset for all but a few songs and within that preset I mostly stuck with the same couple of tones with boost, delay and a bit of wah as and when needed.

That approach is also seeping into my playing too as I used the same guitar for all but 1 song last night (alternate tuning) and it's the same guitar I've been playing almost exclusively for the best part of 2 months. With the consistency that brings I'm finding that I'm getting more out of it too as I know exactly which pickup selections to go for, when and how much to roll off the volume, how the tone knob reacts. That combined with a mostly one preset approach for the majority of our songs is definitely having a positive impact on my playing and enjoyment.

Roland · May 2022

Yep, that’s where I was last month. I agree about the simplicity of one patch, one guitar, and focusing on pickup selection and volume. I just want more.

guitarmangler · May 2022

I don’t suppose your drummer is playing to a click ? If so, you could map out the song in a DAW and get it to trigger the lighting changes ( and your patches ) via midi. If not , I think there was a device/app that listened to you play and would change the tempo accordingly? I’ll have a Google and see if I remember what’s it called.

Roland · May 2022

@guitarmangler We do use a click, but only for starting tempo, keyboard sequences and FX delay timing. We don’t play to the click because we like a bit of ebb and flow in our music. The singer also doesn’t always come at the same point. So DAW sequenced lighting changes are a step too far.

In songs where there’s a change in sound eg between verse and chorus I can switch scenes to change the sound, and use the scene midi block to change the lights. The extra work comes if I want to change the lights without changing the sound, or if I decide to change the sound “because I can”.

Snags · May 2022

Roland said:

The singer also doesn’t always come at the same point.

One word makes such a difference

welshboyo · May 2022

Sounds like a complete faff to me - you are spending more time integrating stuff than actually enjoying playing - what you are trying to achieve is essentially the job of another "non-playing" band member - like a soundman/FOH type person.

I'm with Davus here in as much as I spend 98% of my time on 1 preset with 8 Scenes - that gives me plenty of options and with the OMG layouts I can switch in/out whatever I need. I'm also down to 1 guitar - it makes no odds whatsoever to punters that I'm playing a Killers song on an RG550!!! In fact last gig was 1 preset for the whole gig

If you were trying to re-create a specific light show as part of a tribute or whatever then fair enough (but I still think its a separate job!!) but the enjoyment must surely ebb away at gig time when you are having to constantly think about what comes next in the lighting sequence etc etc.

Without sounding like an arsehole, if you are concerned/trying to get the band to sound better then the only thing to make the band sound better is for everyone to be on top of their parts - not saying that is the case with you Roland but there is only so much you can do over and above what you can do on Auto-Pilot if you are spending all of your free time running up light sequences and then at gig time being distracted by it all - our Bass Player is similar in some respects trying to be the do it all guy but I'd rather him play the right notes rather than worry about whether the lights are in right place....

And lets face it, if its anything like what its like down here with us - a band turning up with lights is already a novelty and puts you above the competition - I think you are going a step too far and making unnecessary work/ballache for yourself.

Roland · May 2022

@welshboyo I actually enjoy integrating technology, and it’s not taking away from my playing time. You are right about distraction during a gig, and it’s something I’m aware of.

There is a balance which, if I can get it right, will yield a better overall presentation. Everything is based on the one patch which I was using until a month ago. Using that patch I had to choose a Scene, and then switch individual FX on or off before or during the song. Chorus and Delay are the two main culprits.

By copying that source preset the starting Scene and FX are set automatically, which is less work. The lighting colourway is also be set for the song. Using a copy of the source patch also lets me modify the FX settings, so I’m not using the same Chorus or Delay settings for every song.

Where the extra work that comes in during a gig is stepping on a button at the start of a verse, chorus, or bridge to change FX and/or lights. I’m not going to kick in lighting changes which aren’t related to a section of the song. If my brain gets overloaded during a gig then I can simply stop doing this, except where I need to turn FX on or off. I’ve also set up my FC12 with specific buttons for the main FX in case I need them.

DavusPG · May 2022

@welshboyo ;

Are you not playing a Luke, Luke 2 or L3 anymore?

Mind you as an alternative you could do far worse than an RG550!

welshboyo · May 2022

DavusPG said:

@welshboyo ;

Are you not playing a Luke, Luke 2 or L3 anymore?

Mind you as an alternative you could do far worse than an RG550!

No Mate, the L3 is still here but I’ve just fallen out of love with it, didn’t think I’d ever say that tbh….

Roland · May 2022

FAS has been pretty active this year in delivering firmware upgrades. 20.0 is now in beta testing. My policy is not to upgrade until the new version has been tried and tested for a week or so. At first I thought that Dynamic Distortion wasn’t for low gain players like me. Then I saw Brett’s video using I’d with an acoustic. Now I’m intrigued.

https://youtu.be/45cxoHiOW-s

Roland · June 2022

Last night I had the opportunity to test the Setlist feature, and the per-song lighting changes, at a gig. We were playing outside. It was cold, and threatened to rain. The venue’s RCD power socket refused to work. We lost half an hour before we ran a long power cable to another socket. Consequently we didn’t get much of a sound check.

The lighting controls worked, and syncing lighting changes to song sections seemed to add to the energy. I was worried about the lighting looking like a gimmick. If anything I’ve been too conservative in my choice of pulsing and flashing.

We’ve got two weeks before our next gig, so there’s time to install version 20, and look at Dynamic Distortion.

FarleyUK · June 2022

Due to an upgrade, I'm selling my Axe Fx III Mk II if anyone is interested.

DavusPG · June 2022

What kind of of upgrade?

Ah, I see from your FS thread that you got a Turbo.

Do you need the extra processing power?

After over 4 years of zero GAS since getting my AX8 & then III I'm suddenly wanting to try tubes again in conjunction with the Fractal FX and amp modelling where required. Not sure if it'll be any better, if not then I'll stick with just the III

FarleyUK · June 2022

DavusPG said:

What kind of of upgrade?

Ah, I see from your FS thread that you got a Turbo.

Do you need the extra processing power?

After over 4 years of zero GAS since getting my AX8 & then III I'm suddenly wanting to try tubes again in conjunction with the Fractal FX and amp modelling where required. Not sure if it'll be any better, if not then I'll stick with just the III

Yeah, I need the extra horsepower due to some of the songs we're doing, plus I may be getting the bassist and other guitarist going through it too.

I mean, I could probably do without the extra power but y'know........ GAS and FOMO.

FarleyUK · June 2022

So we had the first rehearsal last night with the AFX3 Turbo. I had a 1959SLP going into some OwnHammer TV greenback and H30 IRs, and a Carol-Ann Tucana going in to LT TV Mix 7. The Tucana then had a 25ms mono delay at 100% wet after the cab, before they both combined into a mixer, and hard panned left and right.

This also allowed me to set a switch on the FC12 to toggle amp 2 on and off - meaning that not only did it sound HUGE, but I could start some songs with just one guitar and then kick in the second amp with the slight delay to really make an impact.

DavusPG · June 2022

Sounds great... but that's also achievable on the standard III isn't it?

Roland · June 2022

Yes, I’ve got a patch which does it. I think the point is that this is just the first easy step with what @FarleyUK can do with the Turbo model.

DavusPG · June 2022

I've yet to try it in a full band rehearsal, but I got hold of a Suhr Reactive Load and hooked up my old H&K tube amp using the Axe's effects pre and post amp and then using IRs in the Axe before going out to the PA.

At gig volume it does seem to have a bit more thump, sustain and "something" when I A/B it against the Axe's modelled amps, but the beauty with this set up is that I can have the best of both worlds - some scenes are all AxeFX, some are the H&K with the Axe's effects and some are a blend of all 3

Proof will be in a full mix, but it's been fun to play around with a valve head again and as much as I've got used to the Fractal interface, the immediacy of tweaking on an actual head is a satisfying experience.

Roland · June 2022

I get tired of people trying to prove that xyz sounds better than my AxeFX. In precisely defined circumstances it probably does. I’m sure that the preconfigured reverbs in a Strymon take less effort to find than configuring them in the AxeFX, although once you’ve configured them there’s little difference.

What has always attracted me to modellers, and multiFX before them, is that it’s a toolkit which you can configure to meet a need, and rarely needs any additional spend. Yesterday I wanted to play along with a looper, something which I haven’t done since the days of reel-to-reel tapes. Step 1: add a Looper block to my kitchen sink patch - position cursor and turn the dial. Step2: select the Looper layout for my FC12 - two foot presses. Hey presto.

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2022

I agree. The reality is that neither the Fractal or a Kemper sounds "as good" as a real tube amp. I think everyone can agree on that, but there's just so much more to a modeller/profiler than that, it's a gateway to an easier and more streamlined workflow, as you describe above.

And after all, what is "as good" and how do people conceive that? All of us differently, I'd imagine.

I'm currently using a Kemper and keeping a keen eye on this thread because your endeavours interest me. I've recently made peace with the fact that it doesn't quite get the tones I loved from my amp and Suhr Reactive Load, but that was many thousands of pounds ago and I can't afford that currently. And in actual fact, I'm not sure I'm in a rush to ever go back to that. I've found all that I need in the Kemper and I'm very happy.

Cue the naysayers...

DavusPG · June 2022

I hope nobody misunderstood my post. I wasn't suggesting that my old amp is better than my or anyone else's AxeFx, just that after a good 5 years where the Axe had totally killed any form of amp GAS, I'd decided to try properly integrating my old amp into some of my Axe presets and that I'd been pleased with the results so far, but that the real proof would be in a full band context.

The Axe will still be the cornerstone of my rig and I have no intention of changing it (unless it's for an FM9) as it does everything I can think of, but now should I choose to I can dabble with my amp too alongside and in conjunction with the Axe's brilliant modelled amps and effects.

Jonathanthomas83 · June 2022

Absolutely, mate, didn't read it that way at all :-)

Roland · July 2022

DavusPG said:

I hope nobody misunderstood my post.

Not at all.

Roland · August 2022

This is the moment I’ve not been looking forward to. When I decided to go down the road of one patch per song I knew that, at some point, I’d want to make make multiple changes across the 30 or so songs in our set list.

At our gig at the end of July I realised that my guitar sounded a bit harsh. We were in a very bright room, with hard dance floor and mirrored walls, which made it worse. The last time it sounded like this was in the days of micing up cabinets, and my mic had been knocked out of position.

Over the last week I’ve looked at a few options, changing IRs, changing amp settings or (god forbid) changing amp types. Then I noticed that when I”d copied my master patch the speaker proximity had got zeroed. Putting it back to 2.5 took the sound back to what it should be.

How to propagate this parameter change through 2 IRs x 2 CABs x 30 patches? Thankfully there’s a hidden feature which does just this. Right click the parameter in AxeEdit whilst holding down the shift key and it offers a list of patches to copy the parameter value to.

Our next gig is at the end of the month, which gives me time to play with 20.4. I don’t normally download new firmware until it’s a few week old, and other people have found the bugs. Having seen Leon Todd’s recent video I really wanted to try out the Aurora delay model in the MTD block. So far it’s sounding good, particularly through stereo ‘phones.

mrkb · August 2022

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

FarleyUK · August 2022

mrkb said:

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

Hmmm, I'd suggest avoiding FracTool if you can. Very expensive for what it is, and can be pretty buggy.

Only reason I purchased it was for an iPad, and even then, I try not to use it due it having a lot of quirks. Plus the dev has a massive chip on his shoulder.

EDIT - wrong tool; I'm thinking of FracPad.

mrkb · August 2022

Fractool is free….. and stable, have used it on PC to update cab room settings in 512 patches.

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=FracTool

FarleyUK · August 2022

mrkb said:

Fractool is free….. and stable, have used it on PC to update cab room settings in 512 patches.

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=FracTool

D'oh, I was thinking of FracPad....!

Ignore my ramblings

ToneControl · August 2022

FarleyUK said:

mrkb said:

^ Also check out Fractool, a utility programme written by someone on the fractal forum. Can update those parameters across multiple presets very easily.

Hmmm, I'd suggest avoiding FracTool if you can. Very expensive for what it is, and can be pretty buggy.

Only reason I purchased it was for an iPad, and even then, I try not to use it due it having a lot of quirks. Plus the dev has a massive chip on his shoulder.

EDIT - wrong tool; I'm thinking of FracPad.

same dev for both I think, Win/Mac version is free; whereas android and iOS is not

FarleyUK · August 2022

Played a gig Saturday with a second guitarist going through my AFX3 turbo as well - sounded bloody awesome. Sound engineer loved the ease of use as well, and he didn't need to do much EQ'ing at all (I have low cut at 100 and hi cut at 6,500) for either guitar.

I'm amazed at how good it sounds on the vids; I mainly used either the #34 Marshall or 1959 jumped SLP, while I set the other guitarist up to use either the Euro Blue or the 1970 Plexi.

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