what i'm about to say makes absolutely no sense, but it comes from over 4 years of helping people with the Axe and with guitar gear in general longer than that:
if i give people a starting point that sounds "good" or even "ok," because *I* (as opposed to a factory default) gave it to them that way, they are reluctant to ever change it because "that's what it's supposed to sound like." however, if i do give them the factory default, they immediately learn how to change things so they can find their own tone. that seems way more beneficial in the long run.
you might then say "well if the factory default drive pedal settings sounded good, then people would still want to change them."
but i would say look at what happens with the Factory Presets. they sound "good" and many people don't want to touch them or adjust anything because that's how it's "supposed" to be.
it's really interesting how people interpret things on the axe, what they think should and shouldn't/can't be adjusted and why.
honestly, i think this whole conversation is moot because everything can be changed regardless of what the factory default is. would it be neat if all drive pedals had a "good" sound when you selected them? sure. but i don't think it's that much different from what we currently have.
of course this whole thing started about a discussion about the Level of drives being similar as you try them. i think that helps mostly during the first time you try the different drive pedals, and maybe "later" when you haven't tried the different ones in a while.
but you'll discover the ones you like and go to those and know what settings to change when you learn them better. same goes for amps, which i feel doesn't have this issue, yet there are over 222+ that do have different levels as you scroll through them.
re: the specific quote, i think the Axe and FAS have given people a ton of direction to make people happy. by now, over 7 years after the first Axe was released, there have been many, many, MANY improvements as the direct result of customer feedback and suggestion. at this point, we are mostly nit-picking, and things that are "that'd be nice" seem like "this MUST be done!" because there really are no major problems or requests by now.
should we stop suggesting things or should FAS stop improving? of course not. but it'd be nice for a moment to reflect on how far it's come over the years and just how much dang work has already been put into these products
perhaps easier for me since i started using the Ultra in 2007 and have seen all the improvements over the years.
with that in mind, sometimes when i see something like this, i want to say "reach over and turn down your volume"
this thread and topic is really far out by now, so this will be my last post regarding it. perhaps one day it will be implemented. until then... reach over and turn down your volume