Advice for gigging the first time with a Fractal

[crankyrayhanky]

I always run a little verb, even on my rhythm tones. Not heard this as being an issue before. Out of curiosity, why is this an issue?

It depends on the material, but for my high gain rock/metal rhythms I use no reverb/delay/modulation. Clean OD boost and maybe an eq in the loop, but no wet makes the sound more immediate and punchy. Lots of the local bar gig rooms already have tons of ambience going on and the last thing I want is my guitar washing away with more reverb distance. I've jammed in bands where the other guitarist had reverb pumped and I would always beat them into submission- you can't understand a thing they're playing when it's washed away. I guess if it's a 1 guitar band playing some 80s stuff it could work.
Cleans, low gain, & mellower stuff can all get splashed in my world.

As for the OP, if it works well at practice then I say go for it! Villainous Soundman usually squashes all on stage volume anyway, so that wedge will likely rule for your own mix!

 

[LanierP]

First off, the band really sounds great man. The singer does Ozzy better than anyone I've heard, maybe even the current real Ozzy. Haha. The rig sounds good and you seem comfy on the toe tapping when it comes to switching up the patches. I thought 'I don't know' sounded great. Loved how it sounds when you transition from the heavy to mellow part. The distortion Drifts off into the clean part ("Nobody ever ....") perfectly. I could have taken a little more wah on the signal during the last part of the song. Does the AX8 let you select the amount of the wah you want on the signal. Could be the video isn't picking it up compared to actually being in the room. All in all, you gonna do great brother. Steve K's tip on the Global Eq is a very good point. Every room is different. I have a friend that always comes to my gig, and once I think I have everything set up and sound checked with the sound guy, I let him jam on my rig and go stand out in the crowd to hear for myself the mix. About half the time I end up asking the sound guy to roll some treble off the high end or boost the lows,,,something.
Hope you guys slay it man. Let me know if you guys ever come to Central Florida. Would love to catch a show. Going to see 'Get the LED out' this weekend. Tribute bands are big around here right now.
Best of luck man.
Len

 

[Lord Toneking]

Damn your band sounds good!

 

[Bishop5150]

I could have taken a little more wah on the signal during the last part of the song. Does the AX8 let you select the amount of the wah you want on the signal. Could be the video isn't picking it up compared to actually being in the room.

I think it's just the video but I setup the wah in a hurry almost as an afterthought and didn't spend a lot of time tweaking it. Along with all the tweaking of the unit I've been having to throw together a new board for all of this and get it all wired and setup and looking nice. I actually decided to ditch the expression pedal and just take the Crybaby wah off of my G-System pedalboard and use it instead of the Axe wah.

Damn your band sounds good!

Thank you bro. I have a blast jammin with these guys and playing this music.

 

[Racerxrated]

First off, 90% of the battle is already won...because you are a very good player. No matter what always trust your ability and it will sound/look good to the crowd. Some can make anything sound good, you are definitely in that category. Like others have said get there early enough to get a good sound check. Nothing worse than dialing in your rig and then fn with it on the fly during a show. My 2C+ is great but when a tweak is needed for a different room, damn I gotta move a slider....that changes everything else lol. Great band and playing! Wish I were closer, like to check you guys out!

 

[Bishop5150]

First off, 90% of the battle is already won...because you are a very good player. No matter what always trust your ability and it will sound/look good to the crowd. Some can make anything sound good, you are definitely in that category. Like others have said get there early enough to get a good sound check. Nothing worse than dialing in your rig and then fn with it on the fly during a show. My 2C+ is great but when a tweak is needed for a different room, damn I gotta move a slider....that changes everything else lol. Great band and playing! Wish I were closer, like to check you guys out!

Thanks man. Unfortunately, we are the opener for this show so I'm not sure what kind of sound check we will get. We will get one but probably not a very in depth one. Hopefully we'll get to do a song and not just line checks.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Don't do your best song first. That 1st song is usually the soundcheck in these situations, so I usually treat song #2 as the place where the set takes off. That first song is going to have levels moving everywhere. Tough balance because the audience is getting a 1st impression of you, but I would try to pick a song that is decent but one that is basically sacrificed as a throw away. I actually wrote a 2 minute song just for this opening act-we-don't-get-a-soundcheck purpose- high energy instrumental that starts with drums and bass, gently guitar building into hi gain guitar and then the vocals come in at the end.
https://soundcloud.com/bbmpideas/1growt ... et-8-28-15

Also be aware that the song that is next to last in your set list will be the first one cut in the event that time runs out and the club guy yells out "last song". Make sure that is a tune that is sacrifice level as well.

 

[squank]

I gigged an Axe-FX for several years, and then gigged a Kemper until last year when I stopped playing live. Here's my advice based on my experience:

1. Bring a tube amp backup, if you have one available. Not because you'll need it, but because you are really nervous about this. It WILL ease your mind to know it's there in case of a problem.

2. Go direct to FOH from one channel, and out to a powered speaker from the other, so you can use it as a "guitar-only" monitor on stage. You might get enough guitar in the side fills and your vocal monitor, but you might not. I don't have to tell you that the sound guy's ability to get monitor mixes correct varies wildly. It's important then to only adjust your stage volume on the powered speaker. You don't want the sound guy to see you as that guitarist who is constantly turning up all night.

3. Don't have any reverb in your rhythm tones. A little bit in your lead tone is fine. Delay is fine in any patch. But constant reverb will be a problem for FOH, especially direct.

4. If at all possible, check how hot your direct signal is before the show. If you have access to a mixer, plug it in and see how easy or hard it will be for the FOH guy to manage your signal. Then check your solo boost signal. Make sure it's not too much of a volume jump. I know you don't want the sound guy to be responsible for boosting your lead, but if your solo patch is too hot, he will turn you down during the solo and forget to turn you back up when you go back to the rhythm patch. This happened to me and it's very frustrating.

Have a great time! You sound great on those clips above, and the band sounds amazing. You'll kill it on this show with your gear!

This is interesting. I always run a little verb, even on my rhythm tones. Not heard this as being an issue before. Out of curiosity, why is this an issue?

It's a general statement, and I realize all rooms vary, but I've found it to be true in most rooms. There's also no downside to following the rule.

On stage, reverb usually sounds great. But for the audience, the room provides all the reverb the mix needs. The problem comes in when you combine all the different instruments together in the house mix. Reverb is always going to put you in the background a little bit because the trailing sound is mixing with the new notes. This won't be perceived (usually) as the FOH guy sets the initial levels, but during the song you can get buried without knowing it.

Depending on the room and the amount of reverb, it can create feedback issues through the mains. Remember the PA is usually pushing a lot more power than our amps, so just because it's not coming close to feeding back at the amp doesn't mean you won't be giving your sound guy headaches.

As I said, this all depends on the room size and shape, as well as the sound guy. But once I got rid of the reverb in my stage sound, I found it eliminated these problems.

 

[Bishop5150]

Ya, I don't use reverb very much. I have some for the preset I use for Sabbath's NIB but that's about it. It does tend to wash out the sound in my experience.

 

[Bishop5150]

So I got the last bit of work done in getting ready for the show which is putting together the pedalboard. Using a Pedaltrain NOVO 24 with a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus to power everything. Wanted to thank everyone for all your input and advice. Since it's my first show think I'm going to go ahead and bring my Matrix amp and Mesa Recto 2x12 cab for a little "amp feel" on stage along with my active XiTone wedge front stage by my pedalboard while going direct to FOH. Wish me luck!

 

[lowmantotempole]

Only thing I can recommend is to bring your own powered monitor to every show. I bring an inexpensive 1x12 powered Alto cab. So that way I can always hear myself. I've been using the Axe Fx II live for a few years now.

 

[Bishop5150]

Only thing I can recommend is to bring your own powered monitor to every show. I bring an inexpensive 1x12 powered Alto cab. So that way I can always hear myself. I've been using the Axe Fx II live for a few years now.

Noted. Thank you bro.

 

[nevusofota]

Man, videos sound great! It's kind if bitter sweet to see one of the main 5153 guys around here and on the FB page switch to a modeler, lol!
I remember when you first were thinking about joining this band years ago, you definitely made a good choice.
I really dig the go pro POV, it would be cool if you could do that during a show. Your playing is fun to watch. Like a machine!

 

[Bishop5150]

Man, videos sound great! It's kind if bitter sweet to see one of the main 5153 guys around here and on the FB page switch to a modeler, lol!
I remember when you first were thinking about joining this band years ago, you definitely made a good choice.
I really dig the go pro POV, it would be cool if you could do that during a show. Your playing is fun to watch. Like a machine!

Thank you bro! I'm still using the 5153 blue channel in the Axe with a boost though! you and me been on board with that for a lot of years now. Around 7? It's definitely not a permanent switch to the Fractal. I love my glass too much. But I'm not getting any younger and I've already had one lower back surgery. This rig will be perfect for out of town shows and for one day when I can't physically lug around half stacks anymore.

 

[Mr. Willy]

You've gotta let us know how it went once the gig is in the bag. : )

 

[5150clone]

The way you play you'll be fine. takes some balls to roll out to a gig without a traditional rig the first time for sure!

 

[Bishop5150]

The gig was great. The headlining band were rude pricks but other than that the show was great, we secured a future headlining spot and the AX8 was awesome. I had no need for my XiTone or the power amp and 2x12 cab. The sound man was awesome and had me pumped through my monitor. It sounded killer. We have a show coming up April 2nd at House of Blues Houston. Last 2 shows there I've run my 5153 half stacks in stereo but this time I'm going to use my AX8 in stereo. Here's some videos from Saturday's show my wife recorded with her phone.

 

[Chris6870]

Rig and the band sound great, nicely done.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Sounds stellar

 

[Racerxrated]

Sounded great!