8
1 INTRODUCTION
In the world of traditional gear, our options are limited by budget, space, weight, and the limits of the gear itself.
Building a rig means making hard choices. With the Axe-Fx III however, a limited selection of gear is instead
replaced by a vast (ever-growing!) “inventory” of virtual amps, cabs, effects, and more. Every preset gives you the
flexibility to design a totally new rig composed of whichever components you choose.
Let’s learn the vocabulary of preset creation. To create a preset, virtual pieces of gear are selected from the
inventory and placed as blocks into the slots of the layout grid, a structure of rows and columns. Each block
represents a different component like a wah pedal, amp, reverb, etc. Blocks are connected together using virtual
cables, and you can create splits, merges or multiple parallel paths as needed. Passive shunts carry signal
through empty grid spaces. Special input and output blocks connect to the various jacks and USB signals of the
Axe-Fx III. The following graphic illustrates these concepts:
INTRO TO THE LAYOUT GRID
CABLE
CABLE
Let’s review what is happening above. Various blocks have been placed on the grid and connected with cables.
Signal flow begins at the Input block on the left. It then goes to a Wah block. The wah connects to a shunt, which
has no effect on the sound and is shown only to introduce the idea of how it carries signal from one location to
another. The shunt is connected to an Amp block (we might set its type to “Plexi 100W High”), which in turn feeds
a Cab (one of the many “4×12” options, perhaps). This is connected to a Reverb and then to an Output block. In
this limited example, only a few blocks are shown on a partial grid. In reality the size of a preset is limited only by
the grid structure, block inventory, and total processing power (“CPU”). You will find that you can create very large
virtual rigs with multiple amps, cabs, and effects.
A new “ZOOM” feature shows the whole grid at once. Look for the ZOOM button on Layout menu pages.
