You are like me -- multiple Fractals! I use the AX8 for gigging and keep the XL in the rack for recording and sound design. Makes life easier.
It's a great, smart question. Unfortunately there is not a "preferred answer" -- because you give something up either direction. So you have to choose what is more valuable to you.
Bottom line: mainly, you lose any cab mics chosen for factory cabs if you go with the AX8 then convert to XL or Mark II. On the other hand, you lose the pre-assigned foot-switches if you go from XL or Mark II to convert to AX8. And if you start with the Mark II version, then you don't have the presets that use factory cabs over #132 (up to 189) if you convert to AX8 or XL as originally designed.
Further Details (fair warning, we are getting weedy here):
AX8 VERSION:
1. The AX8 TonePack version will not have any microphone assignments like the XL or Mark II does - because the AX8 cab block does not allow for those (the way it is designed) like the XL does. I designed all presets on an XL, including cab mics. So -- you lose my mic choices if you buy this version hoping to use it on an XL or Mark II.
The ReadMe file has a list of all presets and all Cabs used as a helpful guide. I encourage people to experiment with other cabs as well -- it really changes the nature of an amp.
2. On the other hand, the AX8 version does have the preset foot-switches already assigned -- Drive block in switch 3, Scene 1/2 block in switch 4 (and reverb and tremolo if the amp has them, plus some "easter eggs").
So XL or Mark II won't have that -- preset foot-switches don't translate over to the rack mount units....so you would need an MFC101 or similar with those IA switches assigned to access them. That is surely doable.
3. For JUST the AX8 Bonus 40 or so Classic Rock & Blues presets, which were originally designed on the XL, the AX8 version had to lose an effect block or two, due to less CPU availability in AX* than Axe-Fx. The "truest" versions for the bonus preset component are the XL or Mark II. For example, the Jimi presets (26-40) use two amp blocks in tandem -- you can only have one in the AX8.
XL VERSION
1. Here you do get the cab mics I assigned in these presets part of the sound design. If you convert to AX8, it will strip those out since AX8 can't use them.
2. If you convert an XL bank to an AX8 bank, you will have to, by hand (unless you can figure out how to get FracTool to do this, I don't think it can -- yet), set up a Scene 1/2 block for every preset, and other blocks -- a pretty tedious task for 350+ presets.
3. In the XL (or Mark II) -- you should set up an IA switch on your foot-controller for Scene 1/2 switching (or just do it in Axe-Edit) -- you really want to be able to access the Scene 2 in every preset!!! Because sometimes I switch cabs or mics, etc. in a Scene 2 in addition to changing gain, level, and tone control settings.
MARK II VERSION:
1. If you convert to a Mark II version, it will show up with USER cabs (yours) for any presets that had a factory cab between #133 and #189. When I created the Mark II version, I went back and substituted in/out factory cabs so that they were all under #132 -- using choices I thought sounded the best, but they were not my first tone cab choices for XL and AX8 when I had access to those cabs between #133 and #189.
2. To put a little differently, Axe-Fx II/Original users (unlike the AX8 and XL models that have Factory cabs going up to #189) only can access factory cabs only goes up to #132. So roughly 50 or so presets created for XL or AX8 but converted with Fractool for Mark II will now point to your own user cabs for any naked amp or bonus presets that had factory cabs above #132.
If converting, you'd have to make your own assignments for those presets set to cabs above #132, preset by preset -- and understand they would not sound as designed. If you go his route, after conversion, you can use FracTool to print a list of cabs and highlight where it now points to user rather than factory cabs, and go back to edit those presets to your liking.
Hope that helps you all understand what's involved!
