Whats the life expectancy of the AxeFx2?

[luke]

I just fired up my Digitech GSP21 Legend. It was made back in the 20th Century. Still sounds like it did back then.

You mean horrible, I gigged one of those for six years.

[sundance_kiddsg]

interesting thread...
one of my laptops that i have lying about had the blue screen of death recently and almost immediately i wondered if that will ever happen to an axe fx..

[ventura]

I wouldnt call caring about your equipment OCD. It seems like a very valid question to ask.

Worrying about putting electrical tape on the inside of the chassis' vents to mitigate dust settlement is definitely borderline OCD.

Play yer guitar, make some music, have some fun.

Don't worry about "dust" getting into your "vents".

Just sayin',
V.

[saturate68]

I would love to get a picture of the inside of an Axe-FX, based on the components grade you would get a good idea of its life expectancy.....There is no reason why the Axe would escape Moore's law and not get replaced by a more powerful processor and software in the next 18 months...
Capacitors fail, displays fade out, processors overheat.....unfortunately nobody will have a working Axe-Fx in ten years but that is just part of the deal, we will all have moved to a more powerful better sounding device and who knows? it might be made by Fractal Audio still !

EDit : here is a video of the inside in an ultra....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q63C8...layer_embedded

[Cagey]

I would love to get a picture of the inside of an Axe-FX...

There's not much to see. It's a very clean design.

IMG_1503_Sm.JPG

If Fractal ever decides to make these things in China, they'll probably drop in price to about $300.

[saturate68]

Thank you for the pic, indeed its very clean.....nice design, I agree with the comments in the video
having a separate power supply is a good thing as most failures come from there
I like that its built in the US, (is it really?).....

[Speculum Speculorum]

I like that its built in the US, (is it really?).....

Yes.

[maxdown]

Right r wrong it's for this reason I generally leave my components on, including the Axe2. I'm not sure whether I'm ding it harm or not.

Henry .... I blame you for all the rain this year .... either power down at night or send me an umbrella!

[Cagey]

Yeah, they're built in the US. Also, it's not easy to see from that picture, but it's nearly all SMD components which have little mass to them, so vibration shouldn't ever be much of an issue. Plus, they don't get hot. I'm not sure why there's even a fan inside. There's no ventilation to the chassis, so the fan isn't doing any cooling, per se - no heat exchange/dissipation is possible. I suspect if you get one of these to work for 2 days, it's probably going to work for 20 years+.

[Ole]

Offc there is cooling. The fan circulate air that gets cooled down. Trust me 10 min and the difference of the processor is 10 degrees celcius.
So there is deff alot of cooling.
But yea i agree on the +20 years. I dont see why not. I still have a working Commodore 64 from mid 80's i would guess.
So why not a working Axe in 20 years?

[NiceChris]

My SPX 90 was doing great until a couple of years ago, which I think made it 22 when it shuffled its mortal coils.

[count_chocolat]

IMO, moisture & heat is the number one enemy for anything like the axe. Keep it cool and dry, the axe should outlive your hearing... At that point, you can downgrade to a Kemper!

[ccroyalsenders]

Cliff answered this in an identical thread a while back. The answer was something ridiculously long. Depending on how old you are, I'd bet on the Axe still being able to power up every morning longer than many of us will be.

[StevenH]

5 years

[PALYGAP]

Just ancedotal of course, but I have a Rocktron preamp dating to the early 90's and it's still kicking.

I agree. Rocktron preamps are a good comparison. I have 2 that are still running flawlessly after years.

It will likely be obsolete before it matters.

Agreed. Could actually be: It will likely be obsolete after we are.