Axe FX - experience and general opinions!?

DrGonzo · 2011-03-07T19:10:59+00:00

Hey any of you have any playing time and opinions of the Axe FX by Fractal Audio?? There is really a huge hype online about this and it has an ever increasing professional artist endorsements with the like of Petrucci, Vai, Adrian belew, Dweezil Zappa and many more! Is it worth the hype? Tube amp tone and feel more or less? END ALL solution to GAS? ? Youtube clips sound awesome but you know thats never a reliable base to judge on! In really GAS'ing for a reliable recording solution... I have now gone and got this ridiculously loud vintage Marshall head and cab and have realised I can hardly ever play (stay in a town house) or record it and can only get a few (albeit awesome) tones out of it!?

Tokai-SA

A more reliable comparison would be one person using both pieces of equipment.

True.

ok lol I know i'm being difficult.
time for bed methinks ?

Nope you're not being difficult, I am. ?

Gearhead

I wonder if they are using the most advanced DSPs in the first place. Methinks not, but maybe I'm wrong. It will certainly take quite a bit of effort to keep up nowadays. Would one not be able to abuse non-DSP chips for the parallel computing tasks? :-\

ZarK

Tokai SA wrote
Muhammad wrote
Regarding the comparisons to other modellers..

This has been done to death but anyway this is why the PODs and GT-10's etc dont compare;

Processing power is one part of an equation when it comes to modelling.

I have to disagree, Muhammad.

The processing power of the guitarist/musician/engineer is more important than the processing power of the computer chip.

If I were to use an Axe-FX and one of the excellent guitarists on this forum were to use a Pod HD or GT10, they'd produce better recorded and live tones than I would.
Many Axe-FX owners think because they own the "Mercedes" of modellers they're automatically going to produce "Mercedes" tones...but they don't.

My 2 cents. ?

...I think it's more like the Ferrari of modelers (as much as I like a Benz...) ?

ZarK

BMU wrote I find it really noteworthy that a 2nd hand Axe actually sells for MORE than a new unit - the money vote is indicating that this thing is something special. And it's been going on for a while, a few years now.

It's not actually that unheard of expensive compared to the cost of amps. Personally I'd buy an Axe-FX sooner than I'd buy e.g. a Dual Rectifier. (But software sims beat 'em both for my personal needs at this point in time. Both cost and convenience.)

I'm very curious to see how things develop, the continual exponential increase in computing power combined with business competition should make things very interesting in the next few years.

Sho... I've had a Dual Rec for a while and all I can say is that it has Mojo like nothing I've ever experienced... I just wish they made local stages big enough to be able to drive it as much as it should be driven.... Dual rec + G-system = HEAVEN

BMU

ZarK wrote I just wish they made local stages big enough to be able to drive it as much as it should be driven....

Kinda exactly the point, yes. And not just local stages. Any club stage in the world is too small to justify 100W.

An Axe at the same price as a Mesa head (give or take) is not really as expensive as it seems. Remembering that once you have the Axe, you don't need any other effects system either, just a MIDI switcher. But still need a power amp, maybe. On the other hand, you also have the world's best direct recording simulation. Different strokes...

Tokai-SA

Check this out.

POD HD500 + Line 6 DT50 amp.

http://guitarplayer.com/GearVideo.aspx?bctid=822867953001&bclid=27948268001

ruvann

Also got my Ultra last year. Had a PODx3 before that.
PODs and Gt10 and all that absolutely have no chance at comparing.
As much as people want them to beat the Axe-FX, it's not gonna happen.

Apart from amp and cab sims, even something as simple as the noise gate are not NEARLY as good as the Axe-FX's.

The thing is, PODs and Axe-FX target different markets, and they both sell very well in those markets for obvious reasons.

With that said, I've never heard of many people (if any) that sold their valve amps after getting a POD for the reason that the POD sounds & feels as good, but there are ALOT of people that sold their valve amps and entire rigs after getting an Axe-FX.

If a POD is good enough for someone, then buy it, but the chances are very good that you can get better tone from a unit with much more processing power, way more sophisticated algorithms, and also much better quality parts.

I HAD a Peavey 6505 at home and I got WAY better tone from the Axe-FX because it's an entire rig in itself.

For reference of some great tones on pro albums have a listen to Marco Sfogli and James Labrie's solo albums.... Axe-FX

Norman86

The Axe FX has been beat!
Its called the Axe FX II ?

http://fractalaudio.com/products-fas-axe-fx-ii-2.html

ruvann

Norman86 wrote The Axe FX has been beat!
Its called the Axe FX II ?

http://fractalaudio.com/products-fas-axe-fx-ii-2.html

I'm already saving money for it...

ActionArnie

Just for interest sake, you chaps using the axe-fx for live, are you still using a guitar amp for monitoring? Are you DI'ing directly and using stage monitors etc.?

ruvann

ActionArnie wrote Just for interest sake, you chaps using the axe-fx for live, are you still using a guitar amp for monitoring? Are you DI'ing directly and using stage monitors etc.?

I've never used it live before, cause I'm not in a band. The Axe-FX sounds absolutely epic through FRFR systems so I for one do plan on going direct and just getting my own extra wedge monitor on stage.

DrGonzo

Norman86 wrote The Axe FX has been beat!
Its called the Axe FX II ?

http://fractalaudio.com/products-fas-axe-fx-ii-2.html

Hectic...

Does this mean that the previous AxeFX are gonna be sold off at a cheaper price??? Im hoping so!

ruvann

DrGonzo wrote
Norman86 wrote The Axe FX has been beat!
Its called the Axe FX II ?

http://fractalaudio.com/products-fas-axe-fx-ii-2.html
Hectic...

Does this mean that the previous AxeFX are gonna be sold off at a cheaper price??? Im hoping so!

I actually wonder if the Standard and the Ultra models are still gonna be made
I can't imagine them both being discontinued. Possibly the Ultra but not the Standard. That way they would still have a cheaper unit with slightly less effects and stuff and then one with everything.
Or maybe a Axe-FX II Standard is also still coming out.

I will be selling my Ultra in the future but still not as cheap as people are probably hoping, cause even though people could see maybe see them going for $1600 on EBay, R11000 would still not be the price someone would pay for it, as customs and shipping also adds quite a lot to the price.

aja

Can anyone really argue that the Axe FX is not worth it because a POD HD is almost as good for much less money, but then rush out to buy a tube amp for crazy money because solid state amps do not sound as good as tube amps even though the SS are cheaper?

Unless you have used the darn thing in person, there is no way a sound/video clip is going to tell you if it is worth it or not.

Jacquesg4j

Like paul said... Let each man determine his own salvation... Let each man determine his own tone! I would rather spend money on a tube tamer than too much money on digital equipment. But hey, that's just my salvation!

Jacquesg4j

I will go digital the day that the grand piano on a keyboard actually sounds exactly like a grand piano... Because then they can't make it better!

AlanRatcliffe

Jacquesg4j wrote I will go digital the day that the grand piano on a keyboard actually sounds exactly like a grand piano... Because then they can't make it better!

Better pre-order your Axe-Fx2 then! ? Piano sample sets have been indistinguishable from the real thing ever since the better sample libraries started coming out for GigaSampler2. The arguments between keyboardists these days are down to whose action is nicer or whose soundset is based off the better specific example of a piano model.

They are much further away from accurately modelling stringed instruments where fingers are in direct contact with the strings. There is a lot more nuance comes from the player that must be interpreted correctly and incorporated into the sound that is output.

Really, analog or digital, it doesn't matter what gear is used, it's what the musician does with it that counts.

Tokai-SA

We did a few VERY QUICK clips with my HD500 yesterday, PJH is playing a Les Paul, I just scrolled to an amp sim, did no tweaking at all.
This is still with the old version, I haven't uploaded the new software with a bunch of new tweaking updates, like 'sag' control, 'tube bias' adjustment, poweramp volume, etc, etc.

We didn't have time to even get to the Marshall and Bogner amp sims...we were in a rush.

It starts with a Mesa Dual Rectifier, it ends with the DrZ Route 66.

Try micing an amp and getting these tones, not so easy.

Listen at volume through studio monitors and keep in mind this is without spending time tweaking the patches.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10632968

Bring on the Axe-FX 11...we'll match the tones everytime with a Pod HD500 for a 1/4 the price. ?.... ?

Jacquesg4j

I know of an artist called Lincoln Brewster and he uses the normal POD X3 Live... And I seriously dig his tone. I won't go spending 20k on something if I can get something very nice for 6k?

And I am with you Alan on the HD500... I might invest in one of those because I am getting tired of carrying heavy equipment along!

ruvann

Jacquesg4j wrote I know of an artist called Lincoln Brewster and he uses the normal POD X3 Live... And I seriously dig his tone. I won't go spending 20k on something if I can get something very nice for 6k?

And I am with you Alan on the HD500... I might invest in one of those because I am getting tired of carrying heavy equipment along!

Lincoln Brewster is actually using Axe-FX since somewhere around beginning of 2010.

Quote
“Ever since I starting playing guitar, I have been a serious tone chaser. It's got to sound right AND feel right. For me, those two things are never negotiable. I can honestly say that I have yet to achieve a better tone on anything, anywhere than I have with the Axe-Fx. It is a truly brilliant design.”

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