Axe Fx II vs Axe Fx III

K

krash73

Inspired
Ok, so I have had Ultra's, Axe Fx II's and I am wondering what I am missing vs the III tonally and feel wise. I am mostly a bedroom player, got rid of my tube amps after getting the Ultra. I am pretty sure the III has matured now and there is probably a tonal and feel difference from the II. I would just like to get some feed back from others who have had both. Thanks.
 
Having owned the Axe-FX Standard, Ultra, II and AX8, I second the above comments

Have a look to the firmware release notes of the Axe-FX III, and read the user's comments at the threads correspondent to each firmware upgrade.
 
Amp modelling has improved. More complex delays are available from the Delay and MTD blocks.
 
Yeah, Cygnus modeling along with recent speaker algorithms (compression, drive, thump) is even mo beta.

Not including drives, FullRes IRs, ever-evolving effects...
 
I have all 3 units.
The rumors are true ... while the Ultra and II are legit and sound great by today’s standards... the III is definitely better in all ways.
 
In the last two or three iterations of firmware, the improvements are almost unbelievable for me.

The changes around the speaker page have simply moved things beyond what I would have believed.

As others have said, the delays and amp modelling even from a year ago - just wow! Let alone the drive block etc etc
 
I upgraded from the Axe-Fx II to the III about 6 weeks ago. In terms of pure sound, the difference is huge. Everything sounds noticeably better on the III. The III offers a ton of new amps, effects, and ways to sculpt your tone. The number of available IRs is overwhelming (a good thing). It is very similar in terms of functionality. I use Axe Edit and had no issues creating great sounding patches right away.
 
the axe 3 sound more dirty/real than the 2 who was more boxy/ only metal sounding to me . With the 3 I have interest in others amps that I didn’t care about before . The Marshall and vox for example are super cool . I don’t remember that my 2 got these tones in the mid gain family. But It was many years ago now. can be fun to retry a 2 just to see how it improved. But same I don’t miss it at all
 
Hi @krash73
The 3 kills the 2, no doubt about it. The modeling has far surpassed the 2, and the signal to noise ratio has always been better. As mentioned above, when the 3 was released, the differences were subtle. Now there is no contest.
Thanks
Pauly


krash73 said:
Ok, so I have had Ultra's, Axe Fx II's and I am wondering what I am missing vs the III tonally and feel wise. I am mostly a bedroom player, got rid of my tube amps after getting the Ultra. I am pretty sure the III has matured now and there is probably a tonal and feel difference from the II. I would just like to get some feed back from others who have had both. Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
I am curious about this also.

I recently found some strange settings in my Axe II and now have it sounding better than it has in years. That of course makes me think about the Axe III, or an FM3 since I use nowhere near the capabilities of the Axe II.
 
Shask said:
I am curious about this also.

I recently found some strange settings in my Axe II and now have it sounding better than it has in years. That of course makes me think about the Axe III, or an FM3 since I use nowhere near the capabilities of the Axe II.
Click to expand...
I doubt you’ll find a special setting that makes the feel be there
 
unix-guy said:
When the Axe Fx III was first released there wasn't a huge difference.

But after several years of improvement I think it's come quite a long way.

It's much quicker to dial in with less need for advanced parameter editing.
Click to expand...
This. So much easier to stay to main amp page, tweak minimally and there it is.....
 
I've been cheering for the 2 for eons, and had a lot of luck in translating stuff I discovered in the 3 back to the 2.

That's sort of fallen off for me in the last few FWs of the 3. It's really getting too easy to get an awesome sound that I haven't been able to get close to with my 2.

My Ultra still has the 'Ultra' thing and I love it a lot. But it's a dinosaur these days as far as the sims.
 
For me the biggest change from 2 to 3 is not any sound improvements but just that it is easier to use when Axe-Edit is not an option and you have to work with the front panel. I think the 2 still sounds good.
 
I did not evolve to the III for format reasons so got to FM3 and am happy with it. Still I got killer sounds of the II and do not exclude someday I'll find me one again. Also on stage I think there's a heck lot of cables running on the ground with floor units which is why I might get me a rack solution for gigging on the long run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom