My AX8 vs Helix LT Journey

Jonathanthomas83

Clarky said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Sound Clarky said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@clarky what’s your typical rock preset for tight rhythm and lead?

all of my presets are variations of the same preset
so the fundamentals are that same..
the variants just have differences [fx / morphing tones / settings] to address moments in specific songs that that main preset cannot..

riffing: 5150 mkIII red channel left / Diezel Herbert channel 3 right
soloing: 5150 mkIII red channel
clean: Carol Ann Tucana 3 clean channel

sounds like the same principle as me, different presets just variations of the same theme.

Ive never had luck with the 5150, need to revisit. What kind of gain range we talking and what’s your cabs?

I use a stereo cab, the 4x12 TV mix left side and the 4x12 AX mix right
High cut = 8000 on both

Thank you, mate!

Jonathanthomas83

guitarfishbay said:

I didn't buy an MFC (went for a Behringer) and sold a load of amp/cab/pedal gear, also price was lower a few years ago... couple of years later still think it's the best value thing I've ever bought.

If the B7K model is good enough I'll sell my B7KU too

True enough. I forgot that it also enabled me to sell a shed load of stuff and make the money back. 

Roland said:

Then you think about the unobtainable amps that you've tried, e.g. The Dumbles

Also very true!

FarleyUK

Hi guys,

OK, so finally sat down and played around with the AX8 after coming back from my hols.... I've been reading the manual, and have a couple of questions - wondered if you kind souls would be good enough to help me please...?

1. I would like one row of the footswitches as 'pedals', and another row as 'instant scenes' - i.e. I press a scene pedal and it instantly kicks in the solo scene etc. How do you set this up?

2. I have an EV-2 pedal that I have assigned to whammy; however, I would like it to start toe-down as not engaged, and then heel down as fully dived with the pitch; I got half-way there, but it then dis-engaged when I was fully heel-down. Can this be done?

3. Also, I noticed an obvious 'noise' when engaging the EV-2 for the whammy; can this be avoided?

4. For my external talkbox in FX loop 2, I've noticed that even if it's set on it's own path after the input, when you lower the amp level it also cuts out. Is that normal?

I've figured out that I can use X/Y switching on the pitch block for either octaver of the EV-2 as a whammy - go me

Thanks all, sorry to be a pain!

DavusPG

I'm nowhere near my AX8, but I'll have a crack:

1. In AxeEdit go to the Footswitches tab. There you'll find a virtual AX8. Right click on each button and choose what you want to assign to it from the drop-down menu. You can assign effects, scenes, control switches and even presets from the same bank. You can also choose whether you want the switch to be momentary or latching, so a super powerful feature. 

2. I think you need to have the minimum value at 95 and the max at 0 to reverse the sweep of the expression pedal. Presumably it's set to auto engage?

3. I've experienced a pop when using the wah if I'm near the CPU max, not sure if it could be that? I've not used the whammy

4. No idea as I solely run the AX8 with no other pedals.

Hope that's helped a bit... I'm sure someone who's more experienced with the AX8 will chime in.

I have to say that for me the Fractal forum has been a brilliant source of info. As with any forum there is the usual cross section of types of poster and a fair bit of "Cliff Love", but there are also a good number of extremely humble & helpful people who know an incredible amount about the AX8 and AxeFX.

There's also a preset exchange and while I've never found anything that works for me with no tweaking, it's a real eye opener in terms of how people build their presets and achieve different sounds. The biggest thing I've learnt so far with the AX8 is that there are many ways to get what you want it out of it. 

FarleyUK

DavusPG said:

I'm nowhere near my AX8, but I'll have a crack:

1. In AxeEdit go to the Footswitches tab. There you'll find a virtual AX8. Right click on each button and choose what you want to assign to it from the drop-down menu. You can assign effects, scenes, control switches and even presets from the same bank. You can also choose whether you want the switch to be momentary or latching, so a super powerful feature. 

2. I think you need to have the minimum value at 95 and the max at 0 to reverse the sweep of the expression pedal. Presumably it's set to auto engage?

3. I've experienced a pop when using the wah if I'm near the CPU max, not sure if it could be that? I've not used the whammy

4. No idea as I solely run the AX8 with no other pedals.

Hope that's helped a bit... I'm sure someone who's more experienced with the AX8 will chime in.

I have to say that for me the Fractal forum has been a brilliant source of info. As with any forum there is the usual cross section of types of poster and a fair bit of "Cliff Love", but there are also a good number of extremely humble & helpful people who know an incredible amount about the AX8 and AxeFX.

There's also a preset exchange and while I've never found anything that works for me with no tweaking, it's a real eye opener in terms of how people build their presets and achieve different sounds. The biggest thing I've learnt so far with the AX8 is that there are many ways to get what you want it out of it. 

Cheers mate!

Clarky

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Clarky said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Sound Clarky said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@clarky what’s your typical rock preset for tight rhythm and lead?

all of my presets are variations of the same preset
so the fundamentals are that same..
the variants just have differences [fx / morphing tones / settings] to address moments in specific songs that that main preset cannot..

riffing: 5150 mkIII red channel left / Diezel Herbert channel 3 right
soloing: 5150 mkIII red channel
clean: Carol Ann Tucana 3 clean channel

sounds like the same principle as me, different presets just variations of the same theme.

Ive never had luck with the 5150, need to revisit. What kind of gain range we talking and what’s your cabs?

I use a stereo cab, the 4x12 TV mix left side and the 4x12 AX mix right
High cut = 8000 on both

Thank you, mate!

no charge

FarleyUK

 One other question - is it possible to use the AX8 to simulate the ‘drone’ effect at the start of Wamted: Dead or Alive, for example?

EDIT: NVM, figured it out

FarleyUK

OK, some more questions if you please.....!

1. I'm running it into 2 DXR10 FrFr speakers; I'd like to setup a W/D/W system, with the output of the signal after the cab going to the center, and the signal from the wet FX going into the left and right speakers. Is this possible?

2. When using scenes, I'm assuming that you cannot set amp settings on a per-scene basis? For example, scene 2 is my solo scene, and I want to engage the FAT and BOOST switches on the JCM800 #34 - but it seems to be global. Do I need to use X/Y for each scene?

3. Seems my output levels (going via the VDU on the unit itself) is stronger on the left instead of the right - any idea why this might be?

Thanks again all

peteri

Hi

away from mine at the moment but to answer point 2. 

You can yse X/Y, but check out the scene modifiers video earlier in this thread. You can achieve a lot with those. 

Equally - maybe use a scene to engage a couple of extra effects? Maybe a PEQ to boost mids and overall level?

DavusPG

No idea for 1 & 3

But for 2 you can assign the Fat and Boost switches to a control switch and then choose whether you want this on or off on a scene by scene basis in the controllers and then control switch (I think) tab. 

If you want the Fat and Boost on and off at thr same time you'll get away with one control switch, if not you'll need two. 

That's also achievable with scene controllers but is a bit more involved.

Jonathanthomas83

For point 1 you’d put your FX on a different parallel path straight to the output. You can pan those however you want. Keep the dry signal panned centre. Not sure it’s gonna work how you imagine.

John_P

For the routing, you could put a path to output 2 before the effects and then stereo outs as normal after the effects.    Not sure how you will get the signal to the PA other than a parallel output on the dxr cabs.      

Funnily I was debating the same thing earlier today but I use outputs 1 to the PA and outs2 to my backline but use regular amps so I'm stuck with a straight stereo setup as far as I can see.

FarleyUK

Managed to do the w/d/w with 2 speakers by having a direct out after the cab on row 2, and then a separate out directly after cab to row 3, which has a delay as the first wet effect, mix at 100%, and then follows through to the output.

Only problem is you can’t really have parallel delay and reverb as the ‘first’ wet effect needs to be on all the time and have 100% mix (or so I believe!).

FarleyUK

Just had some very weird input clipping on my AX8...

Was working fine, and then I noticed a lot of pops and cracks when I hit the strings. I wasn’t hitting the red LEDs on the VDU, so realised it must have been input clipping.

No matter what I set the pad to, it still happened.

Had to go into the input block and change the level to -4dB to get rid of it...

....until I then played around with some cabs and X/Y amps, went back to my original cab on the X switch, and BANG - loads of pops

guitarfishbay

What CPU usage is your patch? 

FarleyUK

guitarfishbay said:

What CPU usage is your patch? 

Around 89% I believe.....

However, it's only on the JCM800 #34. I added a Friedman HBE, and also a JCM800 MOD, and it didn't happen....

guitarfishbay

Are you on the Fractal forum? Might be worth posting about it, could be a bug if it only happens on one model

Jonathanthomas83

89% is pretty much borderline, depending on the amp model it may/may not tip it into clipping territory. I try to keep it 87% or lower if I can.

DavusPG

I have found 89% to do the same

peteri

Agreed - I can't get to 90% without the reverb having issues.

I would pay an extra 1k for the extra processor to be honest, not that it's causing issues really for me.

Update - still loving the unit and the Helix has sold.

One guitar I've not gelled with on the AX8 is a 68 Tele I have, it seems very sensitive to the impedance it sees, it had problems with my G2 rig (the G2 had/has an insanely high input impedance). Nothing like as high on the AX8 but something was slightly missing.

Plugged the KoT I got this year between the guitar and the AX8 tonight, and all is solved! I got the KoT buffer option, really glad I did - it's a handy thing to have!

Tele now sounds amazing - love it, into an amp the BB Preamp or Shredmaster into a nice reverb is getting most playing time, sounds utterly wonderful - and very distinctive (each guitar sounds like it should).

Also very happy with the TC Ditto stereo I've put between the AX8 and the amp/PA - very easy and no CPU impact!