Description
In this demo Brian is playing a Suhr Alt T with Suhr Thornbucker pickups. This demo is using the Axe-FX III, but the AX8 preset sounds roughly the same. See below for included effects and scenes.
IMPORTANT NOTES
- UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE: Please upgrade the firmware on your AX8. and make sure to use the latest version of AX8-EDIT before installing this preset. This preset was created with AX8 FW 10.01.
- EVERYTHING IS STOCK: This preset does not use third party IR’s. If you’d like to experiment with 3rd party IR’s, feel free to do so in the cab block.
SIGNAL FLOW AND EFFECTS
Here is the signal flow and effects:
- Input (the Input Noise Gate is turned off to save CPU).
- Compressor
- X State: Studio Comp: less pronounced, general use comp.
- Y State: Pedal Comp 1: Lots of compression and squish. Use this for funk and super clean stuff. Also gets the ‘Bethel sound”, especially on verby clean lines.
- Drive 1 – First Stage OD
- X State: FET Boost
- Y State: Esoteric RCB (RC Booster)
- Drive 2 – Second Stage OD
- X State: Full OD: Fulltone Fulldrive
- Y State: Rat
- Amp: AC-20 EF86 B
- X State: Voiced for Single Coils
- Y State: Voiced for Humbuckers
- Control Switch 1 (Mapped to FS1): Increases gain for amp gain OD – stacks great with the drives.
- Cab: F119: 1×12 AC-20 Dlx Mix
- Delay 1
- X State: Mono Tape – set to 1/4 note delay
- Y State: Mono Tape – Set to 1/8 delay, with more modulation
- Delay 2
- X State: Deluxe Mind Guy – set to dotted 8th delay – pretty prominent with modulation
- Y State: Vintage Digital – Dual delay for swells – very washy with lots of repeats
- MultiDly – used for big verb
- X State: Big modulated reverb
- Y State: Same as X
- Reverb
- X State: Rec Studio C – set to be more subtle ‘always on’ type of verb
- Y State: Deep Space – Big huge modulated verb
SCENES
This preset is meant to be used with scenes to replicate different sections of the song:
- Scene 1: VERSE (FS1) – Drive tone with verb.
- Scene 2: CH/HOOK (FS2) – Use this for the chorus and main hook of the song
- Scene 3: TURN-AROUND (FS3) – This is the turn/instrumental section before the bridge
- Scene 4: BRIDGE (FS4) – Like the turn-around but bigger drive
- Scene 5: PUSH-CLEAN (FS5) – This is an alternate sound with dotted 8th delay you can use during the intro and first verse.
- Scene 6: CLEAN (FS6) – not in the song, but useful to have.
- Scene 7: AMBI CLEAN (FS7) – not in the song, but useful to have.
- Scene 8: SWELLS (FS81) – Huge ambient swells.
USAGE
FOOTSWITCH LAYOUT/SCENES
By default, this preset is laid out with scenes mapped to the foot switches (all eight scenes are used).
DRIVES
The Drive blocks are designed to give you two options each for stage one and stage two drive (via X/Y states). The X/Y states for Drive 1 and 2 are set at roughly the same level of gain, but just a different type/sound of overdrive.
You can combine the drives for a lead sound (which is what we’ve done in our LEAD scene), or you can combine the drives with the Control Switch 1 for bigger drive or lead sounds.
DELAYS
Both delay blocks are set to stereo, and have different delay options in their X/Y states. Delay 1 will give you either quarter note or eight note delay, while Delay 2 is set up for dotted 8th note delay in its X state and a big ambient delay for swells in its Y state.
REVERB
You have three options for reverb with this preset. The Reverb block is set to give you an ‘always on’ type of reverb in the X state, but in the Y state you get huge ambient verb via the Deep Space verb. Because switching X/Y states on the reverb block does not give you trails, we’ve also set up an ambient reverb using the MultiDly block.
FUNCTION BUTTONS
By defualt, this preset is set for different effects mapped to different buttons, with button eight engaging scene eight. Once you engage Scene 8, you’ll need to switch to a different scene to get out of it. Because of this, we have the function buttons set to the following:
- F1 Tap: Preset Up
- F1 Hold: Sticky Preset/Bank
- F2 Tap: Preset Down
- F2 Hold: Sticky Scene (this allows you to jump to any scene at any time within the preset)
- F3: Tempo tap and Tuner (stock functionality)
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS FOR YOUR SETUP
SETTING THE PRESET UP FOR YOUR GUITAR
All guitars are different, so you may want to make changes to suite your playing style and guitar. We set this up with a variety of guitars, including both single coils and humbuckers (primarily a Telecaster style guitar). If your guitar has humbuckers, please refer to the suggested settings below.
To adjust the preset for your guitars, the primary controls to adjust would be:
- Input Trim (amp block – basic). Because the ‘Input Drive’ is mapped to CS1, input trim is an alternate way to increase or decrease the overall level of gain on the amp. You can alternatively adjust the ‘Min’ and ‘Max’ values of the Control Switch 1 modifier to set the on/off values of the Input Drive.
- EQ settings (amp block – basic). Once the desired gain staging is set, the next adjustment would be the amp EQ settings.
- GEQ settings (amp block). The Graphic EQ on the amp block is a great way to make final EQ adjustments. We’ve set it to ‘Post P.A.’, which means the EQ settings will not be affected by the Power Amp section.
ADJUSTING THE OVERALL LEVEL OF THE PRESET
The AX8 offers a very useful tool to check overall level of individual presets. Press the “Page >” button until you see the ‘VU’ tab on the main screen. This will give you a level read-out.
We’ve set this preset up so that the loudest settings peak around 0db (or slightly above). This is recommended in the AX8 manual. If you’d like to adjust the level up or down (to match it with other presets), we recommend adjusting one of the following:
- Level (amp block – basic). This will adjust the overall level of the preset up/down. Avoid using the ‘Master Volume’ control, as this will change the tone of the amp.
- Level (cab block). This will also adjust the overall level of the preset up/down.
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