MRGN AC-20 – Fractal Axe-FX III Preset

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. UPDATE YOUR FIRMWARE: Please upgrade the firmware on your Axe-FX III. and make sure to use the latest version of Axe-Edit III before installing this preset. If your firmware is not up to date, this preset may not load.
2. 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. 
3. FC FUNCTIONALITY BUILT IN: This preset was built to work with the Fractal FC-12 and an external expression pedal plugged into the ‘Pedal 1’ input. See the Per-Preset overrides and FC assignments below.
4. CYGNUS & CNFB UPDATE: We have updated the amp block for the Cygnus & CNFB firmware updates. You’ll need to be running at least firmware 19.06 for this update.

INCUDED PRESETS

1. MRGN AC-20 WT (SC) – this preset is voiced for single coils and low-output humbuckers
2. MRGN AC-20 WT (HB) – this preset is voiced for more traditional humbuckers

Both presets are the same except for the amp, EQ, and control switch settings. See the ‘Control Switch’ section below for more info.

SIGNAL FLOW AND EFFECTS

1. Input 1 (the Input Noise Gate is turned off to save CPU).
2. Compressor 1
   1. Channel A: JFET Compressor (1176 Style Comp): set to be somewhat transparent, general use comp.
   2. Channel B: Studio FF Compressor 1: set to be somewhat transparent, general use comp.
   3. Channel C: Dynamicomp (Dynacomp): Lots of compression and squish.
   4. Channels D: Optical Compressor (LA-2A style)
3. Pitch 1
   1. Channel A: Dual Chromatic (POG type effect, subtle)
   2. Channel B: Dual Chromatic (POG, more pronounced)
   3. Channel C: Crystal Echos (Shimmer)
   4. Channel D: Classic Whammy (Octave up Whammy – the ‘Control’ parameter is not assigned to an external pedal, so assign the control to an expression pedal and have some fun)
4. PanTrm 1
   1. Channel A : Tremolo – fixed tempo
   2. Channel B: Harmonic Tremolo
   3. Channel C: Bias Trem – Bradford’s ramping trem settings (based on LFO1a)
   4. Channel D: Tremolo (1/16 note sync – set for a choppy trem sound)
5. Drive 1  – First Stage OD
   1. Channel A: Timothy 2 (Timmy)
   2. Channel B: Jam Ray – Vermuam Jan Ray (low gain)
   3. Channel C: FET Boost (set up to mimic a Klon)
   4. Channel D: Tone of Kings (Analogman King of Tone)
6. Drive 2 – Second/Third Stage OD
   1. Channel A: T808 Mod – Tube Screamer
   2. Channel B: Tone of Kings (Analogman King of Tone, medium drive) 
   3. Channel C: Shimmer Drive
   4. Channel D: Ruckus Ge (Suhr Riot)
7. Vol/Pan 1
   1. NOTE: The ‘Volume’ parameter is NOT MAPPED. You’ll need to map this parameter to an expression pedal if you’d like to use the volume block
8. Amp 1: AC-20 EF86 Treble (Morgan AC-20) 
   1. Only channel A is set up
9. Cab 1: (only channel A is set up):
   1. Cab 1: 1×12 AC-20 DLX 121  (Factory 1, 106)
   2. Cab 2: 1×12 AC-20 DLX 160 (Factory 1, 110)
10. Chorus 1
    1. Channel A : Dimension 1
    2. Channel B: Japan CE-2
    3. Channel C: Analog Stereo
    4. Channel D: Dimension 1 (more pronounced chorus effect)
11. Delay 1:  (Quarter and 8th note delays in series)
    1. Channel A: Analog Stereo (1/4 delay with a wide stereo field)
    2. Channel B: Stereo Tape (1/4 delay with a wide stereo field)
    3. Channel C: Analog Stereo (1/8 delay with a wide stereo field)
    4. Channel D: Stereo Tape (1/8 delay with a wide stereo field)
12. Delay 2: (All dotted eighth note delays in parallel)
    1. Channel A: Stereo Mind Guy
    2. Channel B: Vintage Digital
    3. Channel C: 2290 w/ Modulation
    4. Channel D: Stereo Tape
13. Delay 3: (All dual stereo delays) in parallel
    1. Channel A: Stereo Mind Guy (1/8 and Dotted 8th in stereo)
    2. Channel B: Stereo Tape (Dotted 8th and Quater in stereo)
    3. Channel C: Stereo BBD (Quater and Quater Triplet in stereo)
    4. Channel D: Vintage Digital (Quater and Dotted 8th – huge washy delay for swells)
14. Reverb 1: (‘Normal’ verbs in parallel)
    1. Channel A: London Plate
    2. Channel B: Recording Studio C
    3. Channel C: Large Hall
    4. Channel D: Medium Spring
15. Reverb 2: (Big ambient verbs in parallel)
    1. Channel A: Stratocumulus
    2. Channel B: Cirrocumulus
    3. Channel C: Deep Space
    4. Channel D: Nimbostratus (this uses the pitch parameters to create a shimmer effect)

CONTROL SWITCH 1 (CS1)

Control Switch 1 (CS1) is set to change amp gain settings. This essentially gives you another drive – pure amp overdrive.

In order to adjust these settings, on the amp block, right-click on ‘Input Drive’. Adjust the ‘Min’ and ‘Max’ values to set your desired amount of drive for when the button is off (Min) or on (Max).

We’ve mapped it to a button labeled ‘Amp Gain’ in the ‘Effects’ layout (layout 8) if you use an FC-12. See the ‘Per-Preset Mapping and Overrides’ for more info.

You can control which scenes have the Amp Gain button on using the ‘SC Per Scene’ tab in the ‘Controllers’ menu.

SCENES

The following scenes are set up for instant access to various tones:

• Scene 1: CLEAN. Basic clean tone with verb and quarter delay
• Scene 2: DRIVE. Light Drive (Drive 1, Channel A)
• Scene 3: DRIVE+. Med Drive (Drive A, Control Switch 1)
• Scene 4: P&W LEAD. Big drive (Drive 2A + Control Switch 1) with big verb and dual stereo delay (1/8 + 1/8d).
• Scene 5: AMBI CLEAN. Clean tone with stereo delay (1/4 + 1/8d) and big reverb.
• Scene 6: 80’s Clean. Clean tone with chorus, 8th note delay.
• Scene 7: POG LEAD. Same as Scene 4 but with the Pitch effect (Channel B, POG)
• Scene 8: SWELLS. These swells are majestic. Engages all three delays (Delay 3, Channel D is what makes this one go). Also engaged are the Plex Delay, big reverb, and Pitch (Channel C). The pitch block gives a shimmer effect. If you want a more subtle pitch effect, try channels A or B in the pitch block.

USAGE NOTES

STEREO

Everything after the amp runs in stereo. If you are running mono, you’ll need to sum your signal to mono before going to FOH (if you only use the Left output, won’t hear the Badger amp or some of the delays at all).

The easiest way to make this adjustment is in the ‘Setup’ menu:

• Choose ‘Setup’, and select ‘I/O’
• In OUTPUT 1 CONFIGURATION (choose the physical output you are using), change the ‘Mode’. Select ‘STEREO’ if you are running in stereo. Select ‘’SUM L+R’ if you are running mono. This will convert your output to mono and sum the stereo image. This will also cause all your presets to output in mono, as it is a global setting.

BLOCK CHANNELS

For most blocks, We’ve set up multiple channels to give you different options for any given effect. However, not all blocks have all four channels set up – some have just couple, and some only one. See the Signal Flow section above to see what is set up in what channel for any given block.

DRIVES

All drive blocks increase in gain as you go up, so Drive 1 is lower gain than Drive 2, etc. Within each drive block, all four channels are set up to give you different flavors of the same gain structure (Drive 2 channels C and D are higher gain than A and B). Every guitar reacts differently with drives (and amps), so it’s good to have options. We’ve chosen our personal favorites within each block and left them in Channel A, but feel free to experiment with your setup to find what you like best.

DELAYS

We’ve used all four channels of three delay blocks (that’s 12 different delays!). Delay blocks are separated into different delay times. For example, Delay 1 is all quarter or 1/8th note delays. Delay 2 is all dotted 8th noted delays, and Delay 3 is all stereo dual delays. Delay three is a bit different because each channel will give you different rhythmic delays, and Channel D is set to give you a huge wash for swells.

REVERB

We’ve set up reverbs the same way as delays – each reverb block contains four versions of the same type of reverb (normal and big).

Reverb blocks 1 and 2 give you ‘normal’ and ambient reverbs respectively. Try Channel D in the Reverb 2 block for shimmer – it sounds glorious.

PER-PRESET MAPPING AND OVERRIDES

This preset integrates with the Fractal FC-12. We’ve set up Per-Preset overrides for both effects and scenes, and we’ve mapped them to Layouts 7 (Perform 1) and 8 (Perform 2).  If you have an FC-12, the following assignments should be plug-and-play. Layout 7 will be your scenes and Layout 8 will be individual effects, plus swells.

HERE ARE THE PER-PRESET MAPPINGS AND THE BUTTONS THEY’RE ASSIGNED TO OVERRIDE 

PP1: Scene 1 – Layout 7 Button 2

PP2: Scene 2 – Layout 7 Button 3

PP3: Scene 3 – Layout 7 Button 4

PP4: Scene 4 – Layout 7 Button 5

PP5: Scene 5 – Layout 7 Button  8

PP6: Scene 6 – Layout 7 Button 9

PP7: Scene 7 – Layout 7 Button 10

PP8: Scene 8 – Layout 7, Button 11

PP9: Drive 1 – Layout 8, Button 2

PP10: Drive 2 – Layout 8, Button 3

PP11: Delay 1 – Layout 8, Button 8

PP12: Delay 2 – Layout 8, Button 9

PP13: Delay 3 – Layout 8, Button 10

PP14: Reverb 1 – Layout 8, Button 5, ‘Plate Verb’

PP15: Reverb 2: Layout 8, Button 6

PP16: TremPan 1 – Layout 8, Button 12

PP17: Chorus 1 – Layout 8, Button 11

PP18: Pitch 1 – Not assigned to a button

PP19: NOT USED

PP20: Control Switch 1 – Layout 8, Button  4

PP21: Tap Tempo/Tuner – Layouts 7  & 8, Button 1 (displays BPM for Tap, Press & hold for tuner)

PP22: Layout switch (layouts 7 and 8) – Layouts 7 & 8, Button 7

PP23: Preset Inc +1 – Layout 7, Button 12

PP24: Preset Dec -1 – Layout 7, Button 6

USING THE CUSTOM LAYOUTS

On the FC-12, press both the far right buttons at the same time to enter the Master Layout (Layout 9). From there, you can choose any of the eight layouts you want to use. We have set up layouts 7 and 8 to be WT Scenes and WT Effects respectively.

On both Layouts 7 and 8, Button 1 (the bottom left button) will be your tap tempo and tuner functionality button, and the top right button (button 7) will switch you between the Scenes and Effects layouts.

On Layout 7 (Scenes), the right two buttons (6 and 12) will let you increase or decrease one preset. This is set up so if you use song presets with scenes, you can Preset Up/Down to the next song in your set.

MAKING CHANGES TO THESE ASSIGNMENTS

If you’d like to change any of these assignments (either the Per-Preset Assignments or the Overrides), you can do so in the ‘FC Controllers’ and ‘Per-Preset FC’ menus in Axe-Edit III, or by editing the ’CONTROLLERS’ menu on the Axe FX III.

If you would like to go back to your default settings for Layouts 7 and 8, you can reset the Overrides from the ‘Overrides’ menu in the ‘Per-Preset-FC Settings’ section.

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.  To adjust the preset for your guitars, the primary controls to adjust would be:

• Input Drive (and/or Input Trim). If the clean sounds from this preset are too dirty, lower the input drive and/or trim. Do the opposite if you want more gain. This preset is meant to be on the edge of breakup at it’s cleanest settings (otherwise the drives won’t stack properly).
• EQ settings (amp block – basic). Once the desired gain staging is set, the next adjustment would be the amp EQ settings.
• GEQ settings (Graphic EQ block). The 5-band Graphic EQ allows you to make simple changes to the overall tone. Feel free to adjust these to your liking. Since this is a passive EQ, you can make rather large changes to the faders.
• Output EQ 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 Axe FX III offers very useful tools to check overall level of individual presets and blocks. In the Output block you can monitor the overall output level. You can also monitor levels of each block individually from the front screen of the Axe FX. 

We’ve set this preset up so that the loudest settings peak around 0db (or a bit above). 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.