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Switching banks with the IOS Amplifi App


dbouvet
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The lack of any manual for the IOS app makes it quite difficult for new users to discover it.

I can see now that I have 100 presets organized in 15 banks of 4 on my Amplifi 75.

How do I switch from one bank to another using the app?

Is there a quicker solution than selecting 4 prestes one by one and saving them one by one on the hardware ?

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You can switch them in the app by selecting the screen in the menu that shows all of the presets. Just connect to your amp, select it in the app and then select the preset you want to use.

 

They're also all already saved on the amp itself. That's where they're stored. So there's no need to save them to another bank. If that's what you're doing you're just overwriting other presets.

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I suppose that the screen in the menu that shows all of the presets is the AMPLIFI 75 menu item. It shows all the banks but does not offer any way to switch from one bank to another. The only thing i can do is to select one of the 100 presets in order to try it but this does not result in any bank switch, the choice is not reflected on my Express pedal and if I press any other switch of the pedal or the tone button of the amplifier, then it comes back to the corresponding preset of bank 1.

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Thanks Jaguar9080

My question is not about switching with a pedal. I know that I can't switch with the FBV Express Pedal. My question is about bank switching within the iPad application.

I suppose that this should be done from the attached screen but I do not see how. Please, can you tell be in detail how I can switch from Bank 1 to Bank 4 ?post-2199224-0-70874500-1428248695_thumb.png

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I'm not sure what you're asking....

 

In the screen shot you posted you've selected preset C of bank 4.  So you've switched to bank 4 just by pressing one of the presets in that bank.

 

The tone button on the amp can only select the A/B/C/D presets of bank 1.  There is no way to "switch" to another bank to control them with that button.  The only way to switch banks outside of the app is with the Shortboard MKII, which can cycle through all 25 banks.

 

Without the MKII your only option for selecting presets (other than bank 1 as noted above) is to scroll to the preset you want in the app, and then select it from there.

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Thanks again.

That is exactly what I saw and this means in fact that you cannot switch from one bank to another with the app. The only thing that you do is to select a preset (but not a bank) and that does not affect what is available from the hardware itself which is only bank 1. This means that, if you want to use specific presets without being connected to an IOS device, you have to override those stored in Bank 1. This is an incredible limitation or a marketing strategy to make you buy a FBV Shortboard MKII which is almost as expensive as the Amplifi 75 !

So, in order to be able to use my FBV Express MKII, I will copy the presets of bank 1 into bank 25 in order to save them and then store 4 of my own tones into Bank 1. This will enable me to footswitch on the fly while playing, without needing to use the app. But this means that I have in fact an amplifier offering 4 presets but not 100 presets.

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The Shortboard MKII is only half the price of the Amplifi 75 ($269 vs $529 where I live) and it's well worth it if you want to be able to cycle through all of the presets as well as be able to turn effects on and off. 

 

And no, there are still 100 presets.  The Amplifi series were designed to be used in conjunction with the Remote app.

 

But yes, if you want to be able to switch on the fly without getting the Shortboard MKII you can overwrite bank 1 with your own presets.

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How so?  You can select any of the 100 presets, as well as tones from the cloud using the app.  You can also change, edit, and turn on/off any effects with the app.  The app can actually do more than the Shortboard can do.

 

The difference is, you do it with your finger instead of your foot.

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Not exactly. The app obviously does more than the Shortboard pedal but it does less in terms of bank switching. In fact the app deals with presets but not with banks. I was expecting to be able to select in a very simple way a bank in the app (let us say through up and down buttons) and then to be able to switch through the four presets of this bank by using the Amplifi buttons or a Express MKII pedal. I am disappointed that this is not the case. 

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I think you're confusing the functionality of the amp, the footboard, and the app.

 

The app lets you switch between any bank and preset by just selecting the preset in the app.  

 

Not being able to switch banks and cycle through all of the presets with the amp and the MKII Express is a limitation of the amp and that footboard and has nothing to do with the app.

 

You can only switch between presets A/B/C/D of Bank 1 on the amp because that's the only buttons that are available. There is no button to switch banks on the amp.  Same with the MKII Express.

 

I agree that it's a shortcoming of the amp, and maybe it can somehow be addressed in a future firmware upgrade, but it has nothing to do with the app.

 

If you need to be able to switch banks without using the app, I would suggest you consider getting the MKII Shortboard.  As I said before, it's well worth it.

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I do not confuse the functionality of the amp, the footboard and the app.

 

"The app lets you switch between any bank and preset by just selecting the preset in the app"

This is only half true ; the app allows to select any of the 100 presets and to play it but this does not result in a "hardware" bank switch. In fact the app does not deal at all with the concept of bank. Let us suppose that we are on preset A of bank 1. If the app were really switching banks, then after selecting for instance the preset B of bank seven, pressing the tone button of the amp would give access to preset C of bank seven instead of preset B of bank 1.

Anyway this is not a big problem for a hobbyist like me who uses the amp only at home. This would be one for someone using it on stage and then the shortboard MKII would of course be the right solution for bank switching on the fly.

Anyway I thank you very much for your precious help. Without it I would have spent much time looking for a functionality that does not exist.

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I agree with you, it's a pain.  All I'm saying is that not being able to do a hardware bank switch is a shortcoming of the AMP, and not the APP.  It's the amp that won't switch banks, because it doesn't have the capability.  The app is just a visual interface that allows you to interact with the amp.

 

Even with the Shortboard MKII, which does allow cycling through all of the presets, and shows which bank and preset is selected, if I press the tone buttons on the amp itself I can only switch between A/B/C/D of bank 1.  This is because that's the way the amp is programmed and designed.  The Shortboard MKII doesn't perform a hardware bank switch, it again only acts as an interface to interact with the amp.

 

Anyway, I'm glad I could help you out.

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  • 6 months later...

My conclusion so far is that selling the Amplifi as an amp offering 25 banks of 4 presets each is completely misleading. The truth is that the Amplifi offers 1 bank of 4 presets and that the remote app provides access to 96 additional presets. Nothing less but nothing more. I would appreciate a reaction to this statement from some Line6 representative... 

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  • 2 months later...

I found that I would not normally want my 4 "handy" Tones from any one of the stock Banks.  Handy meaning in Bank 1 so they can quickly be accessed via foot switch or Tone button.

 

So I saved off the 4 original Bank 1 Tones to My Tones.  Then I found the 4 Tones I wanted most of the time to be available and set those in Bank 1.  Now I have what I need 90 percent of the time.  The rest of the time, I can set from the app or I could temporarily move it into Bank 1, depending on how frequent the need will be.

 

I think it is a decent compromise.  I was at first disappointed not all Banks were accessible via a Bank switching mechanism.  But as I worked with the amp and realized I would not want any of the Banks as-is anyway, I was satisfied to simply stow my favorites in Bank 1 for handy use.

 

It would be nice someday to be able to customize Banks to suit various needs, and be able to call up a bank on-the-fly.  But in the mean time, I have found an acceptable compromise.

 

KEN

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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 months later...

Hopefully someone will see this and reply.  

I will switch to a different bank in the app on the 15th bank and the A tone for example, but when I hit the B, C, or D pedal on my FBV express, it always goes to the number 1 bank.  Why is this?   

 

Obviously, I'm late to the party with this whole thread, and this most recent post. But I'm a new Amplifi user who was searching for the same information regarding 'bank switching', and read this thread with interest.

 

My situation relates to using two pieces of gear -- Amplifi 30 and Amplifi FX 100.

 

  • Of the two, the FX 100, which has 4 footswitches, is capable of switching to any of the 25 4-preset banks and selecting one of 4 presets stored in that bank.
  • The Amplifi 30, which has four panel-mounted pushbuttons, can change between four presets that are stored in Bank 1. It is not possible to select a different bank and have its 4 presets automatically available at the pushbuttons.
  • It is possible to select a tone from any of the 25 banks while connected to the Amplifi Remote App on either iOS or Android via bluetooth and use it (almost) immediately, after a loading short delay, but to make it subsequently available via switch A, B, C or D, it has to be written to the Amplifi 30 -- the hardware device, itself. Unless this is done, the selected tone will always revert to whatever tones have been previously stored in those 4 switch positions.

It's simply the way the device is designed/intended to be use by its manufacturer. Some find it restrictive and misleading, given the advertising hawking 100 tones in 25 banks of 4 tones each. It's not a false advertising situation -- the tones are there, and they are available for use, but they have to be selected via a bluetooth-connected app on a phone or tablet. Only 4 can be invoked via a hardware switch, and changing the presets stored in these switch positions cannot be done 'on-the-fly' in a performance situation. We, perhaps, misunderstood the functionality, and hoped or presumed it would be much more flexible than it is.

 

My understanding is that the rest of the Amplifi series works the same way in this regard, but that using a specific model of the Line 6 accessory floorboard series  does permit selecting from the available banks. I'm not well-versed in the specifics, though - you'll have to investigate and confirm for yourself whether this is a viable solution for your needs.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 years later...
  • 3 months later...

Playong in a band again and I want to use the Amplifi 75 on stage. With the remote app, I modified a number of the standard presets according to my Needs and in such a way that e.g. the 4 presets of one specific bank contain all the 4 different “sounds” I want to use in one specific song.

 

on stage, with the remote app, I could switch to a different preset by touching it on the screen of my Ipad. But, in reality that means that in order to switch I need to stop playing everytime and use my finger to touch the required preset. This is not practical and absolutelly not fool proof.

 

the switch pedal would be a much better tool for this but it can only switch between the 4 presets that are currently “stored” on the amplifier (bank A). A solution here is, with the app at the beginning of a song, send the the needed presets, ONE by ONE, from the app to the 4 available preset locations on the amplifier. Then I can do the needed switches with my foot while performing.

 

But doing so is time consuming and absolutelly not practical.  It would be already much better if I could, at the start of a song, save the 4 presets of one specific bank into the amplifier (being bank 1) IN ONE GO. But this option is, as far as I can see, not available in the remote app.Cannot be that difficult to implement that? It is just software. Line 6 devlopers, why don’t you go for it and make our stage life so much more comfortable.

 

The MKII Shortboard allows you to switch banks but in case you need to switch from bank 2 to bank 25 ( to give an extreme example) you need to be a trained tapdancer AND expert mathematician in order to fix that during a live performance.

 

I lke my Amplifi 75 very much but this shortcoming is a nuisance and very annoying!!!!!!!!

 

Greetings  to all of you

 

Walter (Belgium)

 

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