Axe fx?

[johnnysdred]

So I use a Bogner XTC with a 212 cab. It sounds so good. Lately been hearing some awesome clips with Axe Fx and the Line 6 HD stuff. I'm thinkin of goin' that way. What are some of the live set ups you guys use? How does it sound going straight to the board and back in a monitor mix? Axefx no longer makes the ultra but do upgrades work for the Ultra? Is the Axefx II worth the money/wait?

 

[MississippiMetal]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

 

[Ventura]

It's all relative. I owned an Ultra and quickly upgraded to the Axe-II. It's a phenomenal piece of kit. The firmware upgrades, the ability to model real-time other amps and clips, the constant expansion of its capabilities, the refining of its sounds, yada yada yada...I couldn't care less where it's made. It's a stellar device. Now, having been a No.1 opponent to the corporate policy and product roll-out a la Cliff Chase and the 1 year ago saga that I delved into with he and his posse, well, ya, they fucked up. But I will say the R&D to get this thing to what it is and where it is must have been nuts. That costs money. The fact the product is out and they're constantly improving it through continued R&D, this costs money. SO whatever, we all blow $5000 on a rig and think nothing of it for 2 or 3 primary tones from said rig. Here's a box with endless possibilities and routes well into any set up.

I see it as $3000 well spent for sure. And at the end of this all, it increased my play time 3x from the amount I was playing because of the headphones.

Done.

 

[Ventura]

I still have my Diezels, Mak4, Bogner 20thA though... And that's because nuthin' beats these heads and their cabs when the MV goes past noon.

I'm lucky to have both worlds.

 

[shredi knight]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

If you get on the waiting list and get the coupon, the Axe-FX II is $2,199. It's also made in Plaistow, New Hampshire - USA, not China.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

I was suprised by the gut shots of it on that youtube video before it was pulled. Not exactly a sight I was taken aback by.

Alot of people will pay anything for something if it sounds good to them and not care about anything else but it affects me can't help it.

 

[jlbaxe]

I had the Ultra and upgraded to the AXE II. I believe there are or were 3 Ultras left that cliff said are new w/factory warranty for $15XX.xx He mentioned that a few days ago on the forum.

I prefer the AFX II for all the updates and features over the Ultra. Tone matching and IR capture are pretty cool along with headphone and USB features. The Line 6 Pro HD is great also but a different flavor and sits in the rack along side the Axe also. Wish they made the Axe as easy to program as the Pro HD. That said I also have a Mesa III and 20th A. XTC and neither the Axe or L6 can push them out of the Stable. I guess I could live with only the Axe but I am old school and still need to see an Amp and cab sitting in the house

 

[Spaceboy]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

It's 'assembled' in the USA. Almost all electrical components are manufactured in Asia. The same goes for all tube amplifiers and production model guitars.

I couldn't get the Axe FX II to work at band practice. I attempted the FRFR thing, and using it with a guitar cabinet. It was too uncontrollable at loud volumes and needed way too much tweaking to be reliable. I do think I should've spent more time with it, but I got fed up and decided to leave it at home for personal use, and went back to tube amplifiers for the band. I have also had reliability issues with the Axe FX II making strange sounds and quitting working, and a handful of other users on the Fractal Audio message board have had similar problems. I'm teetering on the edge of selling it, but waited so long that I can't pull the trigger yet. If I find a decent replacement for DI recording, then maybe.

I had the Pod HD500 too. I plain didn't like it.

In the end, I think I'm just simply not a modeler guy.

 

[Steinmetzify]

I bought an HD500 used for under $300. I think it sounds good (not great) but you get what you pay for. Here's a review I did: hope it helps.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=117068

 

[TeleBlaster]

Axe??
That was a couple 15 minute cycles ago wasn't it?

AxeII, CCV, Atomica, Dirty Shirley...
We're on Kemper now, right??

 

[Steinmetzify]

Axe??
That was a couple 15 minute cycles ago wasn't it?

AxeII, CCV, Atomica, Dirty Shirley...
We're on Kemper now, right??

 

[MississippiMetal]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

If you get on the waiting list and get the coupon, the Axe-FX II is $2,199. It's also made in Plaistow, New Hampshire - USA, not China.

Okay, that makes more sense. I was originally led to believe the Axe FX was chinese made.

I don't mind asian components. Panasonic and Nichicon make excellent capactiors. I would just feel cheated buying a $3,000 piece of electronics that was fully manufactured somewhere specifically to cut down on cost. It's like "We wanted to make it as cheap as possible, but we aren't passive these savings onto you." This is exactly why I don't own any Apple products.

 

[Spaceboy]

I honestly think it's cheap. I haven't sold the Axe FX because the alternatives cost so much more and don't have the same versatility.

 

[katsumura78]

I would buy an Axe FX II in a heartbeat if the price even remotely reflected the manufacturing. For the Almost $3,000 pricetag, you'd think it was manufactured in California instead of China. The profit margin must be as wide as the Nile River on those things.

If you get on the waiting list and get the coupon, the Axe-FX II is $2,199. It's also made in Plaistow, New Hampshire - USA, not China.

Okay, that makes more sense. I was originally led to believe the Axe FX was chinese made.

I don't mind asian components. Panasonic and Nichicon make excellent capactiors. I would just feel cheated buying a $3,000 piece of electronics that was fully manufactured somewhere specifically to cut down on cost. It's like "We wanted to make it as cheap as possible, but we aren't passive these savings onto you." This is exactly why I don't own any Apple products.

You keep throwing that 3,000 dollar price tag around. It's 2,199 and worth every single penny. Go play one first and then tell us what you think. It's only gotten better over time and firmware 6.1 is almost here (More amps and who knows what else will be added) You could always try one out for 2 weeks and return it if you don't like it. Just look at the artist list (Petrucci, Abasi, Vai, ect ... ) They can't all be wrong . Not trying to sound like an a-hole or ultra fan boy; this black box is killer.

 

[Audioholic]

Axe is cool though the most expensive. If you like tons of odd sfx then it's really cool. At this point I don't think it's any better then say a Kemper in amp soun quality and even some I the 11 rack clips have impressed me more. Sgear is cheap an sounds really good as well. I have never really liked a moddeller for amp sounds direct as much as a good amp but that is just me. For direct recording they are really useful to me though.

If I were to get into a fractal unit I would def go version two as its supported. And I think the price reflects the RnD rather then the actual parts.

But I love my Kemper

 

[romanianreaper]

I was always searching for the next amp and went thru at least 5 tube amps in the past few years, maybe more. Since I got the Axe-FX II a year ago I haven't even considered any other amps. It is expensive but I was spending way more than that buying and selling amps.

 

[MississippiMetal]

I've been contemplating one as a tour rig. Not only because it's far cheaper, but because it takes up far less room than a two-head rolling case, one 4x12 cab and a 3x4 pedalboard.

 

[Spaceboy]

The Kemper sounds cool but there's been a lot of comments online that the software boosts are garbage and that it needs a real pedal in front... huge downer IMO.

 

[MikeDV]

I had all three versions at different times - Standard, Ultra, II. At low volumes, like listening to a CD. At volume, trying to get in the mix, I never could make it happen for me. Tried: VHT 2902, MB 20/20, and lastly the Matrix ss. I'd get something dialed in and love it. Then, fire up the rack unit with the Triaxis, or a Mark V head, and - I'd wonder what I was thinking. I'd try all the tricks the forum guys would suggest to make it work at volume, but could never get there. Like Petrucci and Vai and plenty of others, as an fx unit - awesome fx, very easy to program in many different ways, super versatile. Never could bond with any model amp at volume, with ANY of the modeling units - Vox, Digitech, Fractal. Lots of folks say it's the convenience of a light-weight unit that sounds 95% like the "real" thing, and I can understand that one. I've heard folks run an Eleven Rack through a PA at bar gigs that sounded great as well. But - really at the price point, you can put together a conventional rig as well - it's all pretty close if you're a shopper. $3-4 thousand bucks total (Axe, foot controller, expression pedals amp/speakers or powered speakers) or Mark V, cab, fx unit, or Triaxis, power amp, foot controller, speakers - all ends up in a similar price range - you end up getting what you pay for anyway. For me, even if I could afford 100 different amps, I'd still only use a few of them on a regular basis. Not smart enough to tweak unusual electronic parts and pieces or other esoteric amp settings, either in real life, or in the virtual world (like you can of the Axe), so it's all lost on me. They make an effects-only unit, I'm on it in a hurry. Otherwise -oooooh, my achin' back!

 

[daveg62]

Bottom line is there are a lot of people who really like them, some who tried and just find them either too difficult due to the vast amount of options or just would rather have a simpler set-up and go back to an amp. Not doubt about it they do sound very good, for me it was just a matter of how much time do I want to waste tweaking the damn thing. I'm much happier with a simpler set-up, just could not stop tweaking the parameters so it had to go.