Fractal Audio Systems AX8
Preparing for an upcoming European tour, Godsticks guitarist Darran Charles steps into the unknown and, for the first time ever, brings a digital modeller into rehearsal
As detailed in issue 410, I made the decision to ‘go digital’ and stick with a brand I was familiar with: Fractal Audio. I use the Axe-Fx II both at home for practice and studio recording, but investing in a roadworthy version was not financially an option. Fortunately, Fractal released a pedalboard version of the unit called the AX8. I view the AX8 as a stripped-down version of its big brother with 50 amps onboard, as opposed to over 200.The most commonly used are found in the AX8, however.
So, prior to our first ‘all-digital’ rehearsal, I spent time with the unit programming my sounds. I used the Axe-FX II for all songs on our Emergence album, so this was my first opportunity to replicate rather than approximate sounds on stage (up until this point my live setup was a Marshall 410H head and 4x12 cab). The profiles I used on that album were Marshall-based from the ‘Brown Sound’ preset, Fractal’s take on what the ultimate ‘Brown Plexi’ should sound like (and based on a 100-watt SLP). I was in love with this sound at the time and while it wasn’t my preset of choice (that was a Diezel VH4 profile that Gavin had snagged!), it still felt rich, warm and heavy without being too saturated.
Another rhythm preset I selected was based on the Overdrive 1 channel of a Marshall JVM410H. For the solo sounds, I used a profile based on a modded Marshall JVM800, which is rich and warm but has a top-end that cuts through heavy rhythm guitar during solos.
There are a number ways to configure the 11 separate pedalboard switches and I chose the method whereby you assign patches/presets to footswitches 1 to 8. I then set the F1 button to activate the ‘Stompbox’ mode whereby you’re able to go deeper, editing within that patch. I experimented with using different rhythm sound patches within a song, but there was a slight lag when changing between patches that used different amp profiles.
Once I settled on my sounds, I stored everything in bank 23 (each bank contains eight separate presets). So, for example, pressing footswitch 8 in this bank activates the preset for the song Lack Of Scrutiny, which uses the ‘Brit Brown’ amp with a 4x12 Marshall Greenback cab. Once selected, I can press the F1 button I’ve set to activate the Stompbox mode for this patch. In this mode, I assign different pedals or functions to each of the eight footswitches and I’ve chosen to assign different ‘Scenes’ to footswitches 1 to 4. With the Scene function, you can create different configurations of both the amp and pedals that you’ve assigned to a particular preset. For example, I’ve set footswitch 4 to trigger ‘Scene 4’, which turns on the ‘Filter’ (which I use to give me a 5dB boost for solos), ‘Delay’ and ‘Reverb’ pedals, which are off in the default scene.
With familiar presets selected, I felt I was more than prepared for the first rehearsal. So far, so good. Now it’s time to take it out on the road…