How do you rate Axe-Fx 3 effects vs Eventide and other high end stuff?

fractalz said:
I had the H8000 and have an H9000 now.

Eventide units are not user friendly. As great as they sound, the software is a bear to use.

if you want to design algorithms., i.e., new types of reverb, they are the bees knees. But I find it challenging to extract all that the device is capable of.

their plugins are really good and use the same algorithms. So, I'd suggest getting Blackhole and UltraReverb as plug-ins and look at the rest of them.
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The iOS apps are a crazy good value. Like $14.99 vs $149.99 for PC versions or $499 for hardware and it’s all the same algorithms best as I can tell. Of course this assumes you have an iPad, but still great way to get the authentic black hole reverb for next to nothing
 
TSJMajesty said:
Thanks so much for this thread! Before settling on the Axe3, I was looking to add some high-grade effects to my gear. Really wanted flagship-level stuff, so I first looked up used gear like H3000, 2290, etc., and couldn't believe what they were still going for (well, listing for, at least.) There was no way I'd drop that kind of coin for gear that old. Next it was H9, Strymon, etc., and I quickly realized that I'd end up shelling out a couple thou, and maybe have to return a pedal or 2 to figure out what I really wanted. That's when it just seemed best to get the Axe, and have it all (or at least "all" of everything I could ever need.)

I feel like I made the right choice.
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Yes, exactly my point!
 
TSJMajesty said:
Thanks so much for this thread! Before settling on the Axe3, I was looking to add some high-grade effects to my gear. Really wanted flagship-level stuff, so I first looked up used gear like H3000, 2290, etc., and couldn't believe what they were still going for (well, listing for, at least.) There was no way I'd drop that kind of coin for gear that old. Next it was H9, Strymon, etc., and I quickly realized that I'd end up shelling out a couple thou, and maybe have to return a pedal or 2 to figure out what I really wanted. That's when it just seemed best to get the Axe, and have it all (or at least "all" of everything I could ever need.)

I feel like I made the right choice.
Click to expand...

You could have had some fun with them, but feel disgusted after the honeymoon. Starting with the user unfriendliness and the response times. e.g.: if you run the Eclipse in series at the signal chain (necessary for modulation effects) there is a muted gap of about one second when changing to a different preset. No reverb or delay tails, etc. Totally unacceptable for a live situation, unless you have more than one unit and a Switchblade switching system. But the age of the giant refrigerators is extincted (except for Gilmour and Steve Rothery).

It is ancient technology. I cannot understand how they keep selling at these prices
 
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fractalz said:
I had the H8000 and have an H9000 now.

Eventide units are not user friendly. As great as they sound, the software is a bear to use.

if you want to design algorithms., i.e., new types of reverb, they are the bees knees. But I find it challenging to extract all that the device is capable of.

their plugins are really good and use the same algorithms. So, I'd suggest getting Blackhole and UltraReverb as plug-ins and look at the rest of them.
Click to expand...
The Eventide UltraReverb is my main reverb, when I mix - But I must say, I much prefer the reverb in AxeIII. At some point, I will probably buy the FASverb plugin, I just wish it got a bit more attention from FAS.
 
Piing said:
You could have had some fun with them, but feel disgusted after the honeymoon. Starting with the user unfriendliness and the response times. e.g.: if you run the Eclipse in series at the signal chain (necessary for modulation effects) there is a muted gap of about one second when changing to a different preset. No reverb or delay tails, etc. Totally unacceptable for a live situation, unless you have more than one unit and a Switchblade switching system. But the age of the giant refrigerators is extincted (except for Gilmour and Steve Rothery).

It is ancient technology. I cannot understand how they keep selling at these prices
Click to expand...
I certainly would not buy an Eclipse today for what they are going for. I have the one I bought a long time ago and won't sell it, but it certainly has its limitations. I like refrigerators :)
 
Piing said:
You could have had some fun with them, but feel disgusted after the honeymoon. Starting with the user unfriendliness and the response times. e.g.: if you run the Eclipse in series at the signal chain (necessary for modulation effects) there is a muted gap of about one second when changing to a different preset. No reverb or delay tails, etc. Totally unacceptable for a live situation, unless you have more than one unit and a Switchblade switching system. But the age of the giant refrigerators is extincted (except for Gilmour and Steve Rothery).

It is ancient technology. I cannot understand how they keep selling at these prices
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Church musicians are probably keeping Strymon afloat at this point. Some of those guys have some crazy pedalboards.
 
spagthorpe said:
Church musicians are probably keeping Strymon afloat at this point. Some of those guys have some crazy pedalboards.
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I'm a church muscian. I have mist of the strymon pedals. They sound great and Ilike them. I even have them in my rack. But, the are used for the rare times I overload my processor with my kitchen sink presets. Problem is, preset management become a bit more of a chore.
 
javajunkie said:
I have a lot of effects. Eclipse, h8000, most of the strymon pedals tc 2290, tc1210, tri-stereo chorus, echoplexes ,space echo, among other things (probably 50 or so pedals). The Axe-fx more than hangs with them. They are all different and have their sound and place, but the Axe-fx III just has it all in one unit and makes it all easy. I wind up just using it just about all the time.
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I think there are alot of issues with using big refrigerator racks nowadays due to reliability and maintenance of those old units, they cost a fortune now, and you really need to know what you are doing or hire someone like LA Sound, Friedman or Bradshaw to put it all together so it will sound right, which also costs a fortune. I have found that trying to assemble a good pedalboard is expensive and a pain to make it sound good, and I just said "piss on it" and got an FM3 that has the whole package in one. The old rack units will always sound a tad better, but Fractal stuff is close enough to where it's hard to notice a difference, which is the best you can do when you are modeling old
units like we are discussing.
 
Every time I pull up an effect (or an amp for that matter) on Fractal, in my head I go "yep that's what X is supposed to sound like." It's not like in the old days with pedals where you have to compromise if you don't have the right pedal, or even on Helix or other modelers where it starts off bad but with some tweaking you can get it to sound decent.

So I guess my answer is "good enough that I don't feel like I'm missing anything from my old pedal rig."
 
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As awesome as the Axe is, and despite the fact it can do a million things really well, it’s only 3u. Provided your not moving it around, I’ll take a refrigerator sized rack over 3u any day in the studio just because of the visual impact lol.

let’s face it, what guy doesn’t like a huge rack ?
 
deweime said:
So, an H9 is a good addition to an FM-3 board but otherwise not needed - the Axe is plenty good enough.
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It is a good addition if you run out of CPU at the FM3, or if you are too lazy to program the simple algorithms of the H9
It is a bad addition because the quality of the H9 effects is significantly lower than the FM3
 
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Hey guys, great thread!

I'm thinking about upgrading my AXII to AXEIII but wondering if the III have FX presets for the modules? It's nice to know the AXEIII can imitate the h9, etc, but having to dial each preset from zero is a pain. That have always been my issue with AXE FXII. Maybe there are some companies selling these presets?

In any case, does the AXEII have FX module presets or do you have to start from scratch? Obviously there are presets already made with each patch but and you could save those blocks (as i have) but not really the point.
 
Imzadi said:
Hey guys, great thread!

I'm thinking about upgrading my AXII to AXEIII but wondering if the III have FX presets for the modules? It's nice to know the AXEIII can imitate the h9, etc, but having to dial each preset from zero is a pain. That have always been my issue with AXE FXII. Maybe there are some companies selling these presets?

In any case, does the AXEII have FX module presets or do you have to start from scratch? Obviously there are presets already made with each patch but and you could save those blocks (as i have) but not really the point.
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The latest firmware included a lot of 'presets' in the models of the different delay blocks, reverb and flanger. They are creations of some of the users here and are a big step forward as far as minimal tweaking to get certain sounds. However, whether the presets will do what you want is not a guarantee.

Keep in mind that there is a Block Library for effects you tweak and want to save.
 
Piing said:
It is a good addition if you run out of CPU at the FM3, or if you are too lazy to program the simple algorithms of the H9
It is a bad addition because the quality of the H9 effects is significantly lower than the FM3
Click to expand...
H9 effects are stellar. Maybe you have a broken one.
 
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