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Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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Ran it through my 2 new DXR10's in a wet-dry-wet chain in the AX8. Sounded awesome!
Even had a guy in another band I know who has a Helix come in while we were playing to check it out as he couldn't believe how good it sounded.
One quick question though... I'm using a DAW to set the patch levels. Is there a specific LU level I should be aiming for..? Or doesn't it matter, as long as there's no clipping etc.?
I use a Matrix power amp and traditional cabs so there's no danger of me not having enough headroom, my cabs will blow up long before I get close to 1000 watts. I'd imagine same scenario with a pair of DXR 10s - loads of headroom (and less chance of them blowing up since the drivers are built with the power in mind).
Which is a long winded way of saying it probably doesn't matter as long as you're not clipping, but it's best to be safe and give yourself plenty of headroom.
FRFR with IR's sounds like being in the control room with your cabs mic'd listening through studio monitors..
real cabs are.. well.. real cabs..
so on stage, real cabs are that familiar trouser flapping joy
live I only disable cab modelling
power amp modelling stays on because the Matrix is tonally transparent
so.. I only use the Axe cab emulation when practicing and recording..
on stage the Axe makes the amp tone, the Matrix makes it loud without tonal colouration and the cabs do what cabs do the best... which makes my heart race with joy as I bask in the volume...
if you leave cab modelling on and run through real cabs:
- you'll lose a lot of level
- top end will go missing
- low end will get strong
so... you'll not be as loud and you'll lose a lot of definition..
I use backing tracks to dial in levels, then refine it at rehearsals...
the levels your various tones should be at relative to each other has nothing to do with VU meters..
it's all about context in a live band setting..
a live band can have a very extreme dynamic range.. so soft can be very soft.. and full-on can knock down walls...
out of context you'll think my lead tones do not step up enough and my clean tones are way too soft..
live on stage they all work a treat..
Ive been toying with the idea of the Axe-FX II, the only real reason being that I can run two amp blocks and therefore not have to compromise on the four core sounds.
But thats a lot of money just for that when you include a floorboard! And it’s not so tiny at the AX8.
So today changed my mindset a bit. Viewed the preset as a two channel amp. So I have a blues one with a Vibroverb and Dumble, then an AC30 patch, then a Plexi etc.
It means patches rather than scenes. But the delay is so small for my use. Completely fine.
Vibroverb AA is sounding great!
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
in many ways the Helix is More flexible in that you can automate any parameter on the AX it works quite differently.
Almost all blocks (including amps and cabs) have x/y and this can change with the scene (snapshot), so you can have a clean amp of a Fender and a dirty amp of a Boogie for example.
And in each scene you can toggle blocks on and off.
Finally you have two modifiers which can have a different value per scene. So additionally you could have gain changing and (for example) and maybe the volume.
The modifiers can change more than one parameter too.
Honestly- it’s certainly flexible enough
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
and to be honest barely any gap between patches. Yes there’s some but it’s pretty damn quick
you have scenes and controllers
you can turn assign the boost switch to a pedal to change a riff tone to a soloing tone..
that is essentially two amp channels without X-Y switching the amp [I do this with the 5153Red]
you can use scenes of morphing to clean the amp further and 'fix up' the tone..
so that's 3 tones and you've still not switched X-Y..
experiment with amp types that can work well from clean right through to hi-gain..
you can get surprising results..
changing tones does not have to mean changing amp..
you can be smart and creative with 1.. this will result in seamless tone transitions..
if you are X-Y switching, the amp block is reloading so the delay is not the scene change, it's the amp switching over
Helix snapshots are more powerful than Fractal scenes
Snapshots can alter all kinds of parameters, Scene just switch blocks off / on and switch X / Y
to get away with what I do with the Axe, I have the MFC transmit 2 simultaneous MIDI commands
one changes scene, the other sets the value of a modifier via a MIDI CC which I exploit within the Axe-FX [I use this for panning.
Also Fractal has a feature called a 'scene controller'. This is very useful for having a parameter set on a per scene basis.. great for changing the strength of a reverb or delay scene by scene...
overall though, if Scenes could be expanded to the degree of control offered by Snapshots in the Axe-FX I'd be a very happy bunny indeed
In the AX8 no because they'll need to be within the same amp block so you're X-Y switching the block
no it's not..
and changing preset cuts the delay / reverb tails..
this is why Snapshots become important..
essentially, build everything you need for a given song within a single preset and change Snapshot rather than preset