10 YEARS OF FRACTAL AUDIO

You make it sound as if the MI industry is like Game of Thrones or something. It's not. A bunch of us at Line 6 are fans of Fractal, and a couple of us own an AxeFX. Cliff makes a great box, and as long as his creations inspire people to play more guitar (instead of pressing space bars), we all win.

I'll freely admit a $2500 box with dual TigerSHARCs is certainly daring and new, but it's obviously not in Line 6's wheelhouse. Our business models are very different, and one isn't empirically better than the other.

Oh, and we weren't "sold off" to Yamaha, because no one owned us before. Yamaha loved our people, technology, and corporate culture, and they offered to make us a wholly owned subsidiary. We looked at the numbers, and an agreement was made. Thus far, very business as usual.

Happy Anniversary, Cliff! Here's to another 10. 8)

I'll be perfectly honest and say I have no idea what 'game of thrones' even is. I've heard the name bandied about and I'm certain it's a TV show but I litereally have no idea. I don't watch TV. Anyway I'm not saying line 6 are crap or anything, they make some great stuff at various price points. But they did stop short and eventually sold 'the name' to Yamaha, I think most will agree. I like their wireless stuff which is great, I might invest in one of those at some point. Actually, my dad owns a Line6 combo, and he's 70. I think it sounds lousy, but he likes it. What do I know, I didn't share the bill with the Beatles, The Stones, The Searchers etc. in the 60's like he did. And Prior to Fractal, I was a diehard Digitech guy for years. I loved that 2120, but was mightily underwhelmed by the GSP1101.
 
Last edited:
Congratulations to Cliff and team. In an era of disposable consumer electronics, it's wonderful to see that innovation, quality products, excellent customer service and perseverance still lead to success in the marketplace. Bravo! Don't ever lose those things. It's also important to recognize how the community has contributed to the success of Fractal. Great folks abound.
 
You make it sound as if the MI industry is like Game of Thrones or something. It's not. A bunch of us at Line 6 are fans of Fractal, and a couple of us own an AxeFX. Cliff makes a great box, and as long as his creations inspire people to play more guitar (instead of pressing space bars), we all win.

I'll freely admit a $2500 box with dual TigerSHARCs is certainly daring and new, but it's obviously not in Line 6's wheelhouse. Our business models are very different, and one isn't empirically better than the other.

Oh, and we weren't "sold off" to Yamaha, because no one owned us before. Yamaha loved our people, technology, and corporate culture, and they offered to make us a wholly owned subsidiary. We looked at the numbers, and an agreement was made. Thus far, very business as usual.

Happy Anniversary, Cliff! Here's to another 10. 8)

So, Line6 DOES read this forum :D Anyway, kudos for a classy response.

And happy 10, Cliff and Fractal! :)
 
what sold me was Ketil's Revolution of Rock Guitar videos. i sold everything in my 12 space rack and bought the ultra in 2010. i've learned more about amps and speakers in the last 5 years than in the previous 30. congrats to cliff and the team and here's to many more years of innovation, amazing customer service and fantastic products!
 
Congrats FAS!

I had used several different processors over the years due to the variety of music I played. I had finally settled on Line6 starting on a Flextone, then the Vetta and Variax. I kept having issues with their 'monkey' software and was not having much luck getting an answer on their forum when I saw a post about Fractal. Ketil Strand's videos then sealed the deal.

Best purchase of music gear ever!
 
I've been a modeler user for a long time now, and I've had my eye on the Axe since the Ultra came out when I was back in college. I never got a chance to buy one until about 6 months ago though.

It just makes more sense than a tube amp when I've spent most of my time living in apartments or terraced houses. I was mostly a Line 6 user since they seemed to be the pinnacle of modeling technology back before the Axe.
 
what sold me was Ketil's Revolution of Rock Guitar videos. i sold everything in my 12 space rack and bought the ultra in 2010. i've learned more about amps and speakers in the last 5 years than in the previous 30. congrats to cliff and the team and here's to many more years of innovation, amazing customer service and fantastic products!
+1 on all counts. And the spectacular scope and tone of Ketil's videos had a big influence on my choice.
 
It was Scott's "This thing is a monster" thread on TGP that hipped me to Fractal and...well...changed my guitar-playing life. Good times indeed.
I think I was the one who turned Scott onto the Axe-Fx.

I knew a local who had one (goes by Tedge I believe), went to his place with my tube amp/pedals, built about 4 rigs from scratch in it, compared to the tube amp and immediately went seeking one. Found a used one and snatched it up. Haven't looked back since.

Congrats to FA on an INCREDIBLE 10 years. It's been an awesome ride for me.
 
I think I was the one who turned Scott onto the Axe-Fx.

I knew a local who had one (goes by Tedge I believe), went to his place with my tube amp/pedals, built about 4 rigs from scratch in it, compared to the tube amp and immediately went seeking one. Found a used one and snatched it up. Haven't looked back since.

Congrats to FA on an INCREDIBLE 10 years. It's been an awesome ride for me.

You bought my standard in 07 as I was one of the first in line for the Ultra. Good times....
 
You bought my standard in 07 as I was one of the first in line for the Ultra. Good times....
Good times indeed. Glad you remember.

Users recalling their first Axe buys and even remembering who bought the first axe boxes they sold. I'm sure Cliff is enjoying this thread!
 
scott, because of your thread, I bought mine 11/2007.
but I had seen the line 6 forum mention in 2005.
the Axefx killed the vetta. Dutch needs to chime in.
he was there.
Me and a whole lot of other ion members are now fractalites! Like Sean aka javajunkie who crossed over to the tubular side for a while in between. Ion was a fun board, though.

I remember that thread. Hugely interested in this new machine. The Vetta had shown promise and I hoped they could fulfill that promise. But after FW 2.5 with known bugs that still aren't fixed, it was obvious line6 abandoned the Vetta and it wasn't up to par yet. Even though I wanted to believe it was, I wasn't satisfied. And the thing was bloody heavy. I had the combo.


Took me a while to move on because of financial reasons and, of course, being halfway round the world. A lucky tax return got me into an Ultra at firmware 5.13. There was a while on the II where I had some trouble finding the tone and feel of some presets I had on the ultra and I wasn't entire entirely happy. When I sold the ultra the buyer and me compared both and we found the ultra to be warmer and chewier and the II to be more sterile. Maybe more accurate, but not more fun. In faith I stayed on the II. It took a while but it payed off. I was really enjoying rehearsal last week.


It's logical that early adopters of high end digital gear would gravitate to the next thing, just like most early gen1 owners now almost all have the II. Is just in our nature. It's a testament to the AxeFx's quality that many haven't moved on to another brand. Early adopters are fanatical and missionary, but not extremely loyal. Just look at the number of tastes du jour for monitors that passed by in between.
 
Oh yeah. I forgot.


CONGRATS, CLIFF!




We really need to know the official start date of the company so we can institute a worldwide day of celebrations! Something like Christmas. But only for forward thinking guitar players.
 
It was Scott's "This thing is a monster" thread on TGP that hipped me to Fractal and...well...changed my guitar-playing life. Good times indeed.

Same here....then I called G66 early 2008 and ask if they would sell to switzerland...they put me on the waiting list and by august 2008 I got the box. What a great day! AF2 came in february 2013, sold my Standard in December 2013.

cheerio to FAS:encouragement:
 
My personal amp journey

'99 - 1st amp [Peavey Rage 1x10] for Xmas
2002 - Fender Frontman 25R
2003 - Digitech RP50
2004 - POD 2.0
2005 - Roland JC120, POD XT Live, boss pedals
2006 - Randall RG200G3, Roland Cube 60, Boss ME-50
2007 - Mesa/Boogie Mark III, Crate Palomino 1x10, POD X3 Live
2008 - Mesa/Boogie Mark IV, TC Electronic G-System...........began reading up on Fractal
2009 - Mesa/Boogie Roadster 2x12, Blackheart 1x12, too many pedals.........more Fractal desires
2010 - Mesa/Boogie 2:90 + TriAxis, TC Electronic G-Major, etc., POD HD 300........I can't take it anymore!!
2011 - Bought Axe-FX II....and we lived happily ever after! I sold everything except the HD300 [emergency backup- still crap by comparison]

My only regret: selling the Mark III
 
The interesting part for me was, Line6, DigiTech and the other large companies will have seen this coming, and watched it appear and sail right by them, totally incapable of doing anything about it.
In large businesses / corporations, they often get to the stage where they are so busy resting on their laurels, and their management are literally terrified of taking a punt on something daring and new, the risk seems so much greater when your feet are under the table and there is potentially more to lose if it fails. Ultimately you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. Line6 didn't and well, they ended up getting sold off. Digitech lost the plot and went back to making pedals again.
To be fair, Line6 and Fractal were never trying to reach the same customers. They missed an opportunity to reach a new market, but nothing more. I highly doubt there's a lot of competition between L6 and Fractal, considering the huge gap in unit cost...

... note that this is only the status quo. With the AX8 on the horizon, things might change dramatically.


But wow, it's been only 10 years to get to the top? An "american dream" story out of a picture-book.

EDIT: My first contact with Fractal was long after the FX2 was released. I guess it was at FW7 when I bought it. And still, at that time, it was mouth-to-mouth propaganda that sold me on it. I was never a reader of guitar print-media. This goes a long way in proving that still customer satisfaction is the best advertisement you can get. Back then, I was interested in getting the 11R, but decided going one price bracket upwards after seeing Walliman's comparison between the 11R and the Ultra. "If the Ultra is already that good, how much better would the FX2 be?" was I thinking at that time. Needless to say, I'm glad I invested the extra grand just for the constant updates alone.
 
Last edited:
Played Line6 for years, easy to get over here. Read about AXE-FX ULTRA in 2010 on Vais website
News Archive - vai.com – The Official Steve Vai Website - page 39

I didnt even bother about checking it out. Figure, if Vai uses it, its going to cost 6,000USD so took another 6 months or so before I stumbled on Ketils Youtube clips, shat my pants and robbed my bank account for a used ULTRA. and then again for a new AXE-FX II when it came out.

To OP, way cool post, love to read more about what people were saying at the time. I bet tons of them were calling Cliff nuts spending massive amount of time and money on this project...

well, turned out pretty good I think ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom