Full commital to the AxeFX: How long did it take you?

G

Gasp100

Power User
Well, today is the day I have decided the AxeFX Standard is the ONLY "amp", Fx unit, recording device, etc... I need AND hopefully will EVER need. This is my third one... I was on the waiting list for 5 months for my first. I really, really dug it but I was in debt and also got into the "I only need ONE sound" mode. Then I missed it and bought a second one. I found some killer amps that were really doing it for me at the time and wanted to pay down debt so I sold that one. Finally, I ended up with THREE amazing amps, but they were all EL84 based. I kept finding myself searching the emporium for a 6v6 based amp (I had JUST sold one :( and finally realized ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
This new one came with 7.04 loaded, I bought it new for sake of speed/inventory and warranty vs. buying used and I'm supremely happy today. Over the past two weeks I have been playing all of my amps and the AxeFX, but I no longer compare them sound-wise. The simple fact that I could use this in an FX loop, before the amp, direct to disk, through headphone (WHICH IS A HUGE PLUS FOR ME, I barely ever get to crank it up) is just amazing.
I'm currently running it into very small Bose powered monitors (I guess these would be considered almost Prosumer level?). Also via headphones through my Echo Audiofire8 and it sounds great. I have Adam A5's on the way and I'm confident that this will be a fantastic way to really tweak/record and fully enjoy what the AxeFX has to offer.
I'm keeping my Marshall 2061cx cab (2 - G12H30's) and I might get an SS power amp. I did actually go that route before with other cabs and ended up selling, but I think this time I would like to have studio based and live "in the room" based configs. The final "live" config will be the Fractal FR when it comes out.
All of the other amps are sold or being sold. They sound amazing for what they are, but at low volumes there is absolutely NO comparison. I also know that with enough research and tweaking I can cop those tones and virtually any other tones that would ever interest me.
Anyway, feels good. Feels really good. With my sales I will be completely out of debt and have a killer arsenal for studio or live jamming.
Now... about another guitar... :mrgreen:
 
For me I was committed since day one... I had to be... I sold two guitars and my Vetta II HD... I had nothing else to play through!!! As I said I had to be committed to the Axe-fx since day one... but it wasn't until 7.xx came out that I was "convinced" that I was committed.
 
Two days for me. I'll have to admit that on the first day with it, I was like "wtf have I done?!? All that money and it doesn't sound that great." Then I started to figure things out and it's been an inspiring journey ever since. Almost two years with my Ultra and I'm still excited. :cool:
 
acwild,

That pretty much mirrors my experience. There was like a day where I had to get used to it. Because I didn't immediately find the "in the room" thump of regular amps, I was temporarily disappointed. Then, when I really dug into how much you could tweak it all, I figured it out and never looked back.
 
I spent a day with it, and realized that it could replace my amps, and could be my long term all-in-a-box solution. It's not perfect, nothing is, but it solves my big problems admirably.
 
7.xx did it for me -- before that selling it was on my mind because I just thought I didnt have the sufficent knowlage to tweak it to my liking.

Now its as plug and play as ever untill the occasions when I feel like being adventurouse. Still a couple of sounds I need that I havent found yet but I am learning slowly and funly.
 
Couple of hours.
I immediately knew it beat the Vetta I'd sold three months earlier (and all the PC-based emulators I'd borrowed in between) with a distance... And any other amp I'd been able to afford before that.

I don't have much chance of cranking tube amps in my sitch either.
 
I was building a stereo tube rack rig. I had even found my dream amp, the rare rivera tbr-1SL with tube power section paired with bogner 1x12 cabs. The only thing missing was some sick stereo effects, which lead me to the axe-fx. Not sure how long it took me to commit but it was well under a month, and then about 2 or so weeks on the waiting list. Now I barely use the remaining tube gear I can't seem to part with.
 
I bought an Ultra in Oct '08 and was blown away. However, within 4 months I thought it was overkill for my needs so I sold it. I've been regretting it ever since. Biggest bonehead, dumbass move I've made in a long time; unfortunately, I'm sure it won't be the last but I hope the next moment of stupidity is way off in the future. :? I can safely say my as-yet-to-be ordered, re-acquisition of a new Axe-Fx will not be involved with that future moment of stupidity.

Well, I hear rumors of Cliff planning something big, so I'm fighting the GAS to see what it is, and I'm in the middle of a large (for me) real estate deal so I don't want to spend any money at the moment, if ya know what I mean? :roll: A new Ultra is at the top of my list (depending on what Cliff's surprise is).

So now I figured so what if its overkill for my current needs, it does what I need very well and I have room for more fun / experimentation / future needs.

So how long did it take me? My four months of ownership, and handing the package to the UPS driver to send it on its way to its new home. I knew within minutes of my final moments with it.

I'll be back to "happy owner status" as soon as I can close this property deal favorably.

Peace.
 
Played through two patches (Brown Sound and Crazy Train) to realize what this box could do so I was in fact sold almost overnight. The journey however can be much longer. It has been many months and I take the rig out on stage, get feedback from our soundman, bring it back home, tweak some more, take it back out and so forth.

I think the ramp up period was much shorter with the Pod XT and X3 Live stuff I was using before, just because once I got it to a certain point, I really couldn't get it any better. With Cliff's frequent updates and my increasing knowledge gained from trial and error and great info on this forum things keep improving.

I go direct to FOH and am using inner ears to monitor through and couldn't be happier.
 
I knew it would in the first few minutes; but I also knew it would be a bit of work to get there.

Took me about a two or three days to start 'getting' it enough to nail down patches.

This is back in the 3.05 (I think?!?!) firmware days, June 2007.
 
New member here: T - Minus 4 days until Ultra owner status :mrgreen:

I don't know about full commital yet, but I know that two consecutive evenings with a buddy and his Standard convinced me to sell my Bogner Ecstasy Classic last week to fund an Ultra and a poweramp. My Aiken Intruder will remain for a number of reasons, but I'm 100% confident the Black Box will solve any need for future amp revolving door purchases. It took about 20 seconds of tweaking on a patch my friend had created to basically morph the blue channel of the Bogner to the point that I couldn't really tell the difference between the two. That was really all it took. A much appreciated discussion with Scott Peterson cleared up any lingering questions and I was convinced. For now it will be the Ultra into a VHT 2/50/2, or the Ultra into the Aiken front end or loop - but I will explore all methods with I'm sure great results. Never been more excited about a gear purchase.

Steve E
 
I'm not sure about the "full commital" part - it's a tool to do a job, after all - but I knew within less than an hour of receiving my Standard in October 07 that I would be keeping it. Within that first hour, the potential of the unit became evident to me. Although it has since been vastly improved via firmware updates (mine originally came with 3.18), the only feature I was counting on being added post-purchase was user IRs, which had already been announced.
 
Same as many others here ...

I actually had to start tweaking some patches by myself to really measure the power of this box, so about 3 days ...

Claude
 
Having had 6 months in advance to read forum post from obvious professional musicians I was almost sold in advance. On finally getting one I was hooked within minutes of rifling thru the 128 presets that came with the box.
 
I wasn't sure at first, but I was just playing presets. After taking the advice to start with a blank patch an experiment with just an amp an cab block to find sounds the Axe came alive for me and as I tried to copy tones from my favorite amps I found I was coming up with (to my ears) better tones with the Axe. Keeper.

What really surprised me is how the Axe pretty much killed my lust for new gear. I was pretty much a pedal junkie, always buying an selling, searching for the next great thing. Haven't bought a pedal or even kept up with whats new since getting the Axe. I was a fanatic about my Eventide Timefactor , which I've since sold. GREAT pedal, just don't need it. In fact last year I was Gasing hard for the rumoured Pitchfactor as I needed a high quality pitch shifter on my board an just couldn't wait until they made it....about a month ago I opened a guitar mag an there was an ad for the new Pitchfactor and I couldn't believe that nothing inside of me felt the least bit excited. Looks like a cool pedal, and out of curiosity I went on their website to listen to samples and that was it, no real intrest. A year ago I would've been on a pre-order list somewhere for it an spent about 5 bills, a really good chunk of what the AXE cost, for just pitchshifting capabilities.

Fractal Audio has freed me! :lol:
 
Sound-wise, I'm committed. Functionality-wise I'm still afraid to sell my Vetta II combo (even thou I haven't power it up in months). I hope the Fractal MFC will work like the Vetta/FCB.
 
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