Axe FX III - the Blog

TeleMaster

How many pork pies do you get for that?

WiresDreamDisasters

The dodgy footswitches doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.  

Gadget

WiresDreamDisasters said:

The dodgy footswitches doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.  

Agreed, as somebody else considering a future purchase.

octatonic

I've had no issues with the FC12.
All manufacturers have faults.

Roland

I’m guessing this is a loose cable. I’ve seen that on a lot of electronic items: DVD player, Parker Fly, Axminster dust extractor. Normally I’d just open up the case and check, but similar symptoms have been reported on the Fractal forum, so G66 want to look at it themselves. 

FarleyUK

No issue here with the FC12 either. In fact, this is the first I've ever heard about 'dodgy footswitches' on any of the FC models from anyone.

Great that G66 will sort it out quickly as well.

TeleMaster

I haven’t had any dodgy footswitch experiences with the Fractal stuff. But the Kemper Stage… worst product I’ve ever bought. 

DavusPG

Never had a problem with any Fractal switches and there have been a few: FX8, AX8, FC6, FC12

Roland

The FC12 hasn’t played up again. Let’s see how it performs at tomorrow’s rehearsal.

Today I spent the afternoon racking everything up, and setting out my pedal board ready for tomorrow. It always interest me how people do this. Wherever possible I take rubber feet off. With the Mission pedals the screws then don’t go in all the way, so I add 3mm mdf plate. This also solves the problem of putting Velcro on the pedal: it goes on the plate. I can’t take the feet off the FC12 to lower it for Velcro. Instead I’ll use a piece of the same 3mm mdf to raise a section of the pedal board floor, and put Velcro on that.

This is a repurposed pedal board that I used for an FCB1010 in Ultra days. The Imps tin holds spare plectrums. The Cycle and Tap Tempo switches are for the lights, and also provide tempo for the FC12. The wah cable is a little long because I haven’t decided whether or not I want it off the board when playing.

You’ll notice that the FC12 still has plastic over the LEDs. That’s because it’s going back on Tuesday.

Roland

One of the differences between the AFX2 and AFX3 is that the guitar input is mono. His means that I can’t have a customer filter on the wireless input, and have to rely on the Line 6 Relay’s “cable tone” feature. This simplifies my grid:

The up side is that the tuner works on both cable and wireless inputs.

Roland

Our rehearsal was a revelation. I knew that the sound would be clearer, but not this good. For years I’ve struggled to get that warm neck pickup sound, even from valve amps. Today it just leaped out. Everything else seemed easier to play. I didn’t have to work as hard riding the volume to get the guitar to cut through without dominating. The clarity means that I can use more overdrive and lower mids without the sound turning into mush.

I didn’t encounter the EQ problem which almost caused @FarleyUK to send his AxeFX back. There are probably two reasons for this. First, I don’t play the same type of music. Ours is a pop covers band rather than rock. Secondly, I’d already put in a PEQ between Amp and Cab, which I wrote about a few days ago. This was set up with initial values, but also because I was fully expecting to need emergency EQ changes during our rehearsal, and wanted to have a place to do it rather than adjust Output block EQ.

I was also expecting to have a list of adjustments to make following the rehearsal, but there’s only one: the acoustic scene needs more volume.

With the AFX2 I had to craft several different patches, using different amp models, to get the range of sounds I wanted. Today I stayed on one patch all through the rehearsal, just changing scenes or adding effects as needed. Which was just as well because a different foot switch on the FC12 failed. This time the one on the top right which I’d set up for changing presets. It’s being swapped on Tuesday.

There’s still work to do. (Isn’t there always?) The lighting controls need improving. The AFX3 is sending colour changes, but I haven’t sorted the Tap Tempo problem yet. Cycle and Tempo buttons on my pedal board are a bit close to the FC12 and Wah for comfort.

TeleMaster

I don’t use any EQ blocks. I just EQ like a normal amp. But I’m not really doing anything through the PA as of yet. 

paulmapp8306

Roland said:

You’ll notice that the FC12 still has plastic over the LEDs. That’s because it’s going back on Tuesday.

Mine still has them on now - and Ive had it 2 months.... My AFX3 still has its screen cover on as well.....   Once Sukh has finalised his FC12 design Ill get a set of his protectors.   always used his products (and I know him personally which helps lol).

robbs1977

Well just ordered my Axefx3 and FC12, I had one before and sold it to downsize to an FM3. Decided to go back. 

paulmapp8306

TeleMaster said:

I don’t use any EQ blocks. I just EQ like a normal amp. But I’m not really doing anything through the PA as of yet. 

Thats the reason   When I go amp/cab I dont use EQ blocks at all BUT when i use irs/cabs (recording) I always need one to fine tune.   Just remember most recorded guitar sounds not only have the cab mic'd - and all the variations of mics/distances/position that entails - but then EQ in the mix as well.  Thats the bit I use the EQ blocks for.

TeleMaster

paulmapp8306 said:

TeleMaster said:

I don’t use any EQ blocks. I just EQ like a normal amp. But I’m not really doing anything through the PA as of yet. 

Thats the reason   When I go amp/cab I dont use EQ blocks at all BUT when i use irs/cabs (recording) I always need one to fine tune.   Just remember most recorded guitar sounds not only have the cab mic'd - and all the variations of mics/distances/position that entails - but then EQ in the mix as well.  Thats the bit I use the EQ blocks for.

Yea I know. The singer uses in ears but she wouldn’t care if I spent 5 mins on the tone or 5 hours lol. 

Roland

The FC12 changeover was a non-event. A courier turned up yesterday morning with a new one, and took the old away. Plug in, turn on, and I was back to auditioning amp models.

FarleyUK

Had my first gig with the AFX3 and my RedSound RSLG12s last weekend  - and it sounded glorious. I stayed mostly on Plexi models (1959SLP jumped, 1970 100w) but also used the modded JCM and AFD100 for a couple of songs. All of them sounded great, especially in stereo in a large space.

Now I just have to try and resist the temptation to tweak them....!

DavusPG

FarleyUK said:

Had my first gig with the AFX3 and my RedSound RSLG12s last weekend  - and it sounded glorious. I stayed mostly on Plexi models (1959SLP jumped, 1970 100w) but also used the modded JCM and AFD100 for a couple of songs. All of them sounded great, especially in stereo in a large space.

Now I just have to try and resist the temptation to tweak them....!

Are the Redsounds for monitoring or is that how your sound is reaching the audience? I love my Redsound but yet to use it at a gig?

Played our first 2 post Covid gigs at the weekend. First with our new PA (RCF Evox 12) which sounded great and the second was a mini festival with a shared PA - a reminder that for all the tone tweaking we do, the final sound is also dependant on the FOH speakers!

paulmapp8306

 a reminder that for all the tone tweaking we do, the final sound is also dependant on the FOH speakers!

absolutely.....  all the tone searching (on whatever amp) very rarely translates.   PA/soundmen make a big difference, and even if its backline providing FOH sound in a pub, where you sit/stand to listen makes vast changes.

Theres a reason most pro musicians dont use top end gear, or chase tone so much live.  in a studio absolutely, but live..... rarely pays off. 

Now - from a players perspective... if it makes you happier and makes you play better its worth it, but I came to the conclusion long ago  that as long as the sound is decent, and (more importantly) replicatable then its good.