Axe FX regrets?

[Zado]

Also depends on the genre you are playing. For heavy modern metal I guess modelers can indeed deliver, some might argue they lack the ooomph of a tube amp, but you may just like them anyway.
My problem with modelers comes when you need clean sounds and breakup crunch. The feeling and dynamic on those isn't quite there yet, though they tone might be very close to the real thing.

 

[PBGas]

I may have my III an FC-6 for sale soon as I got a new amp recently.

As far as regrets, not really. The Axe III is an amazing unit and sounds great.

Is it a mini Bogner by chance

No, I didn't go for that one. I ended up with a new JP-2C.

 

[Chris O]

I’m on my 4th round with the AxeFx - had a Standard, Ultra, 2, and now a 2 XL +. Had an AX8 in there too. Still used modelers otherwise though. Since the last go-round with Fractal, I had the Atomic, L6 Firehawk, Helix LT, Native, and Headrush Pedalboard.

Back to Fractal. loving it. It ticks the boxes I need. I run it through a pair of KRK 8’s. If I wanted to run it through a cab, I’d probably grab a powered speaker of some kind, although no idea what - probably Line 6 though.

 

[Emg77]

I have gone this route many times. Fractal, Kemper, Helix.... Definitely great tones. Love the all in one solution. Two things for me, made me go back tubes. 1. All though the modelers are great, there is just a feel thing for me that wasn't as satisfying as tube amps. 2. I could never stop tweaking! Every day it was build a new rig and tones.. It was non stop....

 

[thiswaythatway]

A friend of mine just picked up a used Axe FX II XL. He asked if I could help him dial some sounds in. We pulled up the Splawn Quick Rod model, and I was blown away that I was able to dial in my exact tone within a few minutes. Including my preferred delay and some pitch shift. This has me thinking it might be time to bite the bullet, as I can recreate my current rig and have access to hundreds more. With the current price of the II and the II XL being so affordable.

So I guess my question is this: for those who have gone the Axe FX route, do you have any regrets about leaving the tube amp world? I would have to see my amp to purchase an Axe FX. So it’s kind of an all in situation I would be looking at. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

When you say you dialed in your exact Splawn tone on the Axe what were you running the Axe through? A PA system? Tube power amp on a 4x12? FRFR?

My Mesa took a dive and is in the shop so I went out and bought an HX Stomp. With a few coupons it was $450 brand new. And I bought a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170. Initially on my 4x12 with the HX and 170 I didn't like it, but after some tweaks I have to admit it's not bad. I'll have to compare to my Mark V when I get it back.

Also, with some 3rd party IR's and some signal routing tweaking I'm liking the hell out of the HX Stomp through some JBL Monitors. I've owned the Axe-2 and AX8 and I'm getting as good results with the stomp. My initial plan was to just use it in the FX of my Mesa but it may get a lot of use everywhere. With playing shows and dragging gear around for a 30 minute set the small setup is very tempting.

 

[romanianreaper]

I have gone this route many times. Fractal, Kemper, Helix.... Definitely great tones. Love the all in one solution. Two things for me, made me go back tubes. 1. All though the modelers are great, there is just a feel thing for me that wasn't as satisfying as tube amps. 2. I could never stop tweaking! Every day it was build a new rig and tones.. It was non stop....

I did that in the beginning when I got mine and then over time I had "go to" amps and tones that I wouldn't deviate too much from. The Friedman BE was my main one and then I'd do a Recto tone. For my recordings, it was always great having both tones and panning them left and right.

 

[SFW]

A friend of mine just picked up a used Axe FX II XL. He asked if I could help him dial some sounds in. We pulled up the Splawn Quick Rod model, and I was blown away that I was able to dial in my exact tone within a few minutes. Including my preferred delay and some pitch shift. This has me thinking it might be time to bite the bullet, as I can recreate my current rig and have access to hundreds more. With the current price of the II and the II XL being so affordable.

So I guess my question is this: for those who have gone the Axe FX route, do you have any regrets about leaving the tube amp world? I would have to see my amp to purchase an Axe FX. So it’s kind of an all in situation I would be looking at. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

When you say you dialed in your exact Splawn tone on the Axe what were you running the Axe through? A PA system? Tube power amp on a 4x12? FRFR?

My Mesa took a dive and is in the shop so I went out and bought an HX Stomp. With a few coupons it was $450 brand new. And I bought a Seymour Duncan Powerstage 170. Initially on my 4x12 with the HX and 170 I didn't like it, but after some tweaks I have to admit it's not bad. I'll have to compare to my Mark V when I get it back.

Also, with some 3rd party IR's and some signal routing tweaking I'm liking the hell out of the HX Stomp through some JBL Monitors. I've owned the Axe-2 and AX8 and I'm getting as good results with the stomp. My initial plan was to just use it in the FX of my Mesa but it may get a lot of use everywhere. With playing shows and dragging gear around for a 30 minute set the small setup is very tempting.

We were dialing it in through studio monitors. I was highly impressed with the unit. After talking to some friends that have been using the Axe FX platform for a while, I have decided to save my pennies and get the Axe III. It will probably be summer before I make the purchase. I am looking forward to it though.

 

[guitarnerdswe]

Long time Axe Fx fan. Been around since the Standard/Ultra days, now I use a III. I don't miss tube amps at all.

 

[Shask]

I have gone this route many times. Fractal, Kemper, Helix.... Definitely great tones. Love the all in one solution. Two things for me, made me go back tubes. 1. All though the modelers are great, there is just a feel thing for me that wasn't as satisfying as tube amps. 2. I could never stop tweaking! Every day it was build a new rig and tones.. It was non stop....

I will have dedicated tweak days and play days. Some days when I sit down to play I know I am not really gonna play. I am gonna sit and tweak out some tones. Then I have other days where I refuse to touch the unit, and just play. If you dedicate time to just tweaking, you won't do it as much on the days when you just wanna play.

 

[eecamichael]

No regrets. None.

I bought the AX-8 two years ago, along with the Xitone 1x12 wedge. I kept my Boogies, but they don’t get played nearly as much as the Fractal.

I use my AX-8 for all my gigs - acoustic, electric, and Fly gigs. It is super easy, consistent, and inspiring. My gas level is at an all time low, and even though I have been a tweaker in the past, I have found that I spend the majority of time just playing now.

Leon Todd and Austin Buddy have saved me a a ton of time and shortened the learning curve exponentially.

 

[njshred]

Once upon a time I had 50+ vintage boutique and vintage amplifiers, feeding signals into isolation booths in my basement. It is true that occasionally you could capture amp magic that the Axe misses, but that was rare. The Axe sounded better 99% of the time, so it became a no brainer to go that route exclusively. Once you add in effects and such, that raw amp tone is lost regardless of the tone source. The trick IMO is to add in some far field IRs and have a great system to listen back on. @ $1999 the III is cheaper than most boutique heads.

 

[skullfxr]

Once upon a time I had 50+ vintage boutique and vintage amplifiers, feeding signals into isolation booths in my basement. It is true that occasionally you could capture amp magic that the Axe misses, but that was rare. The Axe sounded better 99% of the time, so it became a no brainer to go that route exclusively. Once you add in effects and such, that raw amp tone is lost regardless of the tone source. The trick IMO is to add in some far field IRs and have a great system to listen back on. @ $1999 the III is cheaper than most boutique heads.

I would love to see a picture of that setup. Cool.