the cult of fractal/ axe efx

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My AxeFx-II sounds unbelievable on recordings and jamming on my computer with the sound coming thru the speakers. It is one of my favorite hobbies and I haven't played guitar more in the past 20-something years than when I got the AxeFx. I nearly play every night and find time to jam.

With that said, I loved the sound of the unit when I had two 4x12s and a power amp but haven't found an ultimate FRFR solution yet.

I love playing guitar regardless if it is a tube amp, digital, etc. I enjoy anything that gets the sound of the strings out.

One comment for the original poster. The reason you sometimes get the negative fanboi stuff on the forum is because there is sometimes a lot of misinformation coming from both sides and ends up in arguments. You'll have one guy saying "it will never sound like a tube amp" while another guy is saying that he sold 100 tube amps because the unit sounded better than any of them. Most of us who have been playing for so many years love the unit AND tube amps. Each situation is different though. I play at home and if I was gigging again, maybe I would have a different amp. Hard to say.
 
skoora":1vjumbxs said:
I also cringe when I see footage of big artists recording guitars in the control room trying to get feedback using the studio monitor's.
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Our boy Mark Day shows us a fix for that too. :thumbsup:





As for the cult business...Y'know, I did think the last Axe Fest seemed a bit peculiar.

satanic-cults1.jpg
 
lester":2qcnbmx1 said:
skoora":2qcnbmx1 said:
I also cringe when I see footage of big artists recording guitars in the control room trying to get feedback using the studio monitor's.
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Our boy Mark Day shows us a fix for that too. :thumbsup:



And for the cult business...Y'know, I did think the last Axe Fest seemed a bit odd.

satanic-cults1-150x150.jpg
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That was Ok I guess but I mean when you're in the room and you have to work to control it. Just fretting an E chord could you get you in trouble or exactly whee you want to be. I've always loved recording where you can here the swell right before a chord is played or some noise/feedback that sneaks in between changes.
 
skoora":39dyg23l said:
lester":39dyg23l said:
skoora":39dyg23l said:
I also cringe when I see footage of big artists recording guitars in the control room trying to get feedback using the studio monitor's.
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I tried the feedback preset, it works well, just have an X/Y switch set up for the pitch blockto change the low/hi note settings (19 and 7 i think). Not quite the same as a real amp, but fudges it nicely if you have the right touch on the expression pedal.
 
romanianreaper":1a4je1es said:
My AxeFx-II sounds unbelievable on recordings and jamming on my computer with the sound coming thru the speakers. It is one of my favorite hobbies and I haven't played guitar more in the past 20-something years than when I got the AxeFx. I nearly play every night and find time to jam.
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The price of the AXE and the MFC puts people off and causes lots of pros/cons noise. I know, i got sucked into it all. I bit the bullet and dropped the coin on it. Simply the best piece of gear i've ever bought. I use it 4CM with an amp for one band, just foldback with others, and in the label's studio every single day via SPDIF straight into the recording rig, all options sound bloody fantastic. I have not used a single guitar modelling plugin since, and i own most of them.

I now play more guitar than i ever have. Most nights i'll sit the AXE on the coffee table with a jambox speaker and play for hours tweaking out on AXE edit, getting presets off AXE change, whatever, a lot of fun, always re-inspired. I'm an axe fanboy, but i'm also a gearboy and a tech nerd, and my valve amp straight into my cab sounds great too.
 
I have an AxeII and love it, use it live and at home for jamming in the house. That said I still love my tube amps and depending on the gig will run one of them. I do very little tweaking and hate computers so pretty much a set it and forget it guy. Bottom line is the Axe is an amazing piece of gear and I don't ever see myself getting rid of it as its just so versatile and sounds amazing. I really don't care if you don't like it or like the Kemper more ( I didn't). I also use a Torpedo live with my tube amps for recording but having every stompbox I could want at my feet with the Axe is just awesome.
 
You can order an Axe Fx and try it. If you don't like it send it back.
You'll keep it though...lol

I still use my tube amps sometimes but every time I plug into them now I wonder why I don't just sell them..

The Axe really is that good....

I would like to state for the record that I'm not a pimple faced "fanboi" that had their mommy and daddy buy them one...

I've been playing tube amps for the better part of 30 years..
 
thats what i have done live be-100, axe in the loop, live out to sound board. love it. housed in a rolling live in case with small rack

saxxamafone":3ecdd74d said:
I've had an Ultra since 08 - for ambient fx and fx in general it is simply amazing.

For me it isn't able to do high gain. Doesn't have the tube amp 'thump'. Some guys want it, some don't, some don't care.
I also spent more time trying to tweak this than I did playing and writing. I hated this.

If you're after flexibility and the ease of 1 box, you'll love the axe.

If you really love the sound of tube amps and are looking to replicate this perfectly, you may be dissapointed.

Luckily the torpedo live has solved this issue for me and I'm building a rig containing the axefx, my amp and the torpedo live.
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My thoughts

You live once , play the real thing if you can ...

It is a cool tool , but to me there is nothing like the real deal.
 
Pbfoot":2j388hkw said:
thats what i have done live be-100, axe in the loop, live out to sound board. love it. housed in a rolling live in case with small rack

saxxamafone":2j388hkw said:
I've had an Ultra since 08 - for ambient fx and fx in general it is simply amazing.

For me it isn't able to do high gain. Doesn't have the tube amp 'thump'. Some guys want it, some don't, some don't care.
I also spent more time trying to tweak this than I did playing and writing. I hated this.

If you're after flexibility and the ease of 1 box, you'll love the axe.

If you really love the sound of tube amps and are looking to replicate this perfectly, you may be dissapointed.

Luckily the torpedo live has solved this issue for me and I'm building a rig containing the axefx, my amp and the torpedo live.
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Would love to see a pic of that setup if you have one?! :rock:

I've only just figured out I can play the head straight up and/or remove the preamp section of my head and use the axefx with my heads poweramp. Or use the amp with the axefx for fx only.
Doing this with the RJM effect gizmo - I can also do it in true bypass.

Wish I knew this 7 years ago!!

I've never tried my torpedo live to FOH yet.. the thought of sending the exact same tone to FOH every night is pretty awesome.
 
ill have to take a pic, i dont have any. im still using a cab live but plan to ditch it soon. the live is really easy to dial in. we have our own pa so once its set it's done. plug and play!
 
two notes needs a low pass filter, you can eq it just takes alot longer ( the royer gets low end boomy) and hopefully they can engineer in some angle to the mic also
 
OK perfect example, Mark Day just posted "limelight" from Rush. He did a great job, really excellent. But if I can be a critic of tone for a second, I get closer tones to the original thru any number of real tube rigs than the Axe in that recording. To me not very open and lush, sounds like what it is , a reproduction of a great tone, not the chunk and girth of the real thing. I listened on my studio monitors, my B&W speakers (Nautilus) and AT headphones.

I played that tune for years (one of my favs Rush Tunes) and have board cassettes (yeah that's right, I'm that old..cassettes from the mixing board) from my old band days and my tube amps using a red box DI sound more authentic, bigger, girthier, richer, not more gain or less or even EQ a ton different but just more real, more present and rich in some way without being louder. That's the big difference for me, they (The digital devices) sound really good, better than ever, but I have recordings made with my Bogner XTC 20th (recent) thru the old red box or mic's that just have the "it" that is still missing from the digital Axe stuff IMO. Nothing I've heard so far has made me say, ouch, I gotta get me one of these. The last amp that did that for me was the Friedman BE100 and I have one downstairs in the man cave. No Axe though...not yet................just an opinion.
 
it's kinda of a messy shot. Friedman be with axe standard in loop (tried 4cm, just didnt want to do it) torpedo live to FOH. there is an akg ivm 4500 in ear in there also. I can shoot a line out of the two notes to a little behringer mixer and run audio thru that back into my in ears for silent practice ( cover band stuff)all housed in a road case usa live in with 8 space rack. it weighs in the 100lb range, my pedal train board has a audio and power snake i built so i pop the covers off hook up a few cables and i can be up and making sound in about 5 minutes
 
If you except it will never sounds like the real deal and use it just for effects then:
- there is no need for weekly updating
- a Standard and a Ultra will do the job

Much cheaper and without all the crap.
 
I love mine for home practice and recording. Incredible unit. But for live use I'm not there yet. I still love my glass to much.
 
DADA":9v153sk1 said:
If you except it will never sounds like the real deal and use it just for effects then:
- there is no need for weekly updating
- a Standard and a Ultra will do the job

Much cheaper and without all the crap.
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Having an ultra makes things easy for me as I can't update it anymore :lol: :LOL:
Probably a good thing as it forces me to edit and use the options more
 
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