My First Axe-Fx Weekend! Can't believe it's finally happening! (formerly 'Ordered today...')

Shahar said:
I still remember when I first got the unit, I stayed on the first factory preset (68 Bassman) for well over an hour, couldn't believe how good it sounded. Especially how it reacted to the drive block.
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pauly said:
I bet Herman has sore fingers by now! šŸ˜‚
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I remember this exact scenario when I first got my Axe III. I was stuck playing on the first preset for hours just monitoring through headphones and I noticed after owning it for a few days that my fingers were sore as f*ck.
 
I'm only just beginning, but the FC is already proving to be another thought-through and well-built product, which is seamlessly integrated and easy to populate.

I can already see I'll be able to do all the admittedly limited stuff I wanted to do with Amplitube (and way more I've never even thought about) but couldn't because it was either outright impossible by design, impossible through bugs, or frustratingly convoluted and bass-ackwards because of jankiness, so you just would shy away from setting it up.

That really stood inbetween me and AT like a wall - that feeling of "Why can't I just do what I wanna do!". Of course, there are rules to everything and that's also true of the AFX3, but it's just so inviting and usable. Yes, maybe overwhelming at first glance, but how long does a first glance last, anyway?

Another thing: While skeuomorphic design like AT's (and Fender ToneMaster, can't figure out how they came up with their UI ;) ) can be fun and look cool, it's also an enormous waste of space and I couldn't wait to graduate to something a bit more mature/practical and less frilly.
 
ModelGuitarist said:
ā€œwhich no significant other will ever understand. šŸ˜ā€œ
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My wife watched me visit and revisit the Fractal web site for at least two months while I was trying to decide if I was willing to spend over $4K on a new modeler. She could tell I really wanted it and started asking me what it was and why it was over $4K when the web page stated it was ā€œonlyā€ around $2100 at the time. I explained that the $4K included the Turbo upgrade, the extended warranty and a couple foot controllers. She said ok I understand. Later that day she told me she had ordered everything in my name and that I should look in my email for confirmation! Now that is a great wife! I am very fortunate, my wife has fully supported my musical ambitions since we were married when I was a poor gigging guitarist 52 years ago! So, to the unmarried guys a piece of adviceā€¦take your girlfriends to a guitar store and wander around for a few hours and see what happensā€¦if she happily wanders around with you she is a keeperā€¦if she starts asking you if you are ready to leave five minutes after you get thereā€¦try the next girlfriend. šŸ˜‚šŸ¤£
 
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Budda said:
The axe saving me money on amps and pedals put me in the next bracket of guitar buying. Good times.

Then i bought some amps cabs and pedals hahaha
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I told everyone that the Axe-Fx is the last thing on my list that I still need - I now have all the software and hardware I wanted/determined to "need" to get into making music instead of just noodling around alone and aimlessly...

...so of course I'm considering buying my next guitar... :rolleyes: I deffo need a strat. Or a tele? Oh, and a sustainiac-equipped one, but which one?

Of course, it's totally silly. I need to get to grips with all the things (hard and soft) that I acquired over the last 2 years and practice. I have enough guitars to do that. :p And I'm not rich, either.
 
I dont make good money or 6 figures, I just had some fortunate circumstances in the pandemic.

Breaking the cycle of buy/sell is a worthy expedition (that I should embark on).
 
If you are thinking of a strat, have a look at the PRs silver sky (even the se one). Amazing guitar for the price and (ironically) sounded more like a strat than my fender USA Stratocaster!

Thanks
Pauly
Peavey Herman said:
I told everyone that the Axe-Fx is the last thing on my list that I still need - I now have all the software and hardware I wanted/determined to "need" to get into making music instead of just noodling around alone and aimlessly...

...so of course I'm considering buying my next guitar... :rolleyes: I deffo need a strat. Or a tele? Oh, and a sustainiac-equipped one, but which one?

Of course, it's totally silly. I need to get to grips with all the things (hard and soft) that I acquired over the last 2 years and practice. I have enough guitars to do that. :p And I'm not rich, either.
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Budda said:
I just had some fortunate circumstances in the pandemic.
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Well, I wanna keep it light here, but I had an unfortunate circumstance with a silver lining: A death in the family led to a bit of an inheritance which paid for the Axe I/O, LTD, Cort A5, Fantom-8, Push 3 and lots of software - and now, the coveted Axe-Fx 3.

Now I'm almost broke again. :) But I figured since music was a connection to that person in both good and bad ways (forced piano lessons during which he became physically and mentally abusive, which he generally was a bit, anyway), I could excorcise bad vibes from my childhood by using the inheritance to get back into music and get over the bad stuff while celebrating the good stuff. :)

Worked quite well, so far.
 
pauly said:
If you are thinking of a strat, have a look at the PRs silver sky (even the se one). Amazing guitar for the price and (ironically) sounded more like a strat than my fender USA Stratocaster!

Thanks
Pauly
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I have been looking at them, actually! :) Thanks for the tip. Phil McKnight's deep dives on YT are priceless (and the friday KYG live Q&A!).
 
No worries,
I got an SE, and besides a fret job that is appropriate for its low cost, the rest of it is actually amazing. Im pulling the strat tones Iā€™ve always had in my head but could never get with my fender. I sold the fender not long after getting the PRs.

Peavey Herman said:
I have been looking at them, actually! :) Thanks for the tip. Phil McKnight's deep dives on YT are priceless (and the friday KYG live Q&A!).
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Peavey Herman said:
1 Axe-FX III (Mk II Turbo), 1 FC-12 and 2 EV-1s. :)

Picked up my guitar again ~2 years ago after a looooong "pause" (no, I gave up! :() Been using Amplitube 5 since then and am continually perplexed at the developments I missed, particularly the stuff I dreamed of 15 years ago that is suddenly both feasible and mature.

Then the saving-up and wishing-for and fawning-over and forum-lurking...

Should arrive friday or maybe monday, if all goes well... I can't believe it's actually happening now and my hands are shaking!

Well, off to work, were today I will no doubt be the most concentrated, effective and focussed worker they got... ;)
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Nice screen name. Respect.
 
Thanks! (Also to everyone who I missed saying so before.) :)

I'm currently editing my first preset, almost all front panel style - god, naming your presets/scenes is a breeze! The aforementioned Roland Fantom relies on a virtual keyboard on a touchscreen... the Achilles' heel of the otherwise fine controls. (Edit: The virtual keyboard, I mean. The touchscreen itself is fabulous and otherwise not mandatory to use!)

Everything that I've discovered so far has been practical, user-friendly, most often intuitive (and if not, it's been in the manual, so far).

The front panel really makes it easy to dive right in, and highly encourages my favourite way of learning: alternating bouts of experimentation and reading-up. I was so into it for the past 2 hours I didn't even realize how into it I was - what gamers call "immersion", I guess. ;) I'm having a blast both playing and just operating the unit.
 
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TheAnalogKid said:
Yeah, the Fractal stuff really is a Wonderland of tone. Iā€™ve been playing with guitar gear since the 80s and it is absolutely the best money Iā€™ve ever spent. If you canā€™t tell, Iā€™m a RUSH freak.

I have an incredible (to my ears) RUSH (Grace Under Pressure) tone dialed in right now on my FM9. I havenā€™t changed the preset in weeks but thatā€™s OK because I know thereā€™s countless other tones waiting for me. šŸ™‚

Have fun and read the manual multiple times. Also make sure to search YouTube for Rosh Roslin, Cooper Carter, Leon Todd and Doug B. for some excellent Fractal tutorials/info. Enjoy!
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Care to share?
 
Peavey Herman said:
...so of course I'm considering buying my next guitar... :rolleyes: I deffo need a strat. Or a tele? Oh, and a sustainiac-equipped one, but which one?
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I have the Schecter Blackjack SLS and can confirm that the sustainiac is great fun to play, obviously thereā€™s a time and place for it but luckily the guitar is fully capable in all areas when sustainiac is bypassed.
Also, Schecter guitars are made to a very high standard for the price range IMO.
 
Whistler said:
I have the Schecter Blackjack SLS and can confirm that the sustainiac is great fun to play, obviously thereā€™s a time and place for it but luckily the guitar is fully capable in all areas when sustainiac is bypassed.
Also, Schecter guitars are made to a very high standard for the price range IMO.
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What's the sustainiacs plain single-coil mode tone like?
 
I just found out the biggest local independet guitar store is a Schecter dealer! Might just swing by at the weekend, ask a couple questions, talk a bit o' pricing... and maybe leave my Vendetta there for a set-up.
 
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