Adventures in fan replacement! IXP-34-16/12/8 and FD-FAN-60

Fan Replacement

It was about a 10 minute job, and I cant imagine why 12 DB would be too loud. Seems like Guitar Playing is about volume, not silence, of course the difference between the two is called dynamic range.

Disclaimer: I gave up on the AxeFX because of the lack of a supported editor. Only google can get away with keeping production products (Gmail) in beta for years. I really dont think guitar stuff should have a motherboard, but the AX was best of class. I Miss it, sort of.

For the record, mine wouldn't save patches upon delivery. I had to figure out the "motherboard" had a bad CMOS battery. Do I want to own a product like this, and have the continued "beta version of AxeEdit" 10.xxxxx is now available, without, maybe "Version 1" being supported seems a little strange.





Thanks for the post Godprobe.
I replaced mine last week. Took me about 5 minutes start to finish. To me...dead silent, so glad i did it.
 
Just did this mod to my 08 Ultra. VERY quiet now. I have to have my ear right next to the unit to hear that the fan is working. Very happy with the mod, very easy to do. :)
 
I don't know. My Ultra is in a 6 space right next to my desk. When I'm playing, I don't hear it. I can't say I'm even aware of it when I'm not playing. Plus, much of what I read about these fans is that they're made like crap and don't move much air. Not sure I'd want that in my Axe. I'll go with what Cliff thinks is the better fan for the unit.

Also, is it silent or not? Most of you are saying "It's dead quiet. Except for the whirring sound."

Dave
 
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I don't know. My Ultra is in a 6 space right next to my desk. When I'm playing, I don't hear it. I can't say I'm even aware of it when I'm not playing. Plus, much of what I read about these fans is that they're made like crap and don't move much air. Not sure I'd want that in my Axe. I'll go with what Cliff thinks is the better fan for the unit.

Also, is it silent or not? Most of you are saying "It's dead quiet. Except for the whirring sound."

Dave
Read the post right above your's. This is my exact experience; it's still audible if you get within about 6 inches and the room is completely silent.
 
Swapped fans in my STD (used, of indeterminate vintage, but judging by the rack-rash etc. I'd say it's not-so-fresh). It is much, much, quieter now. Thanks to the OP for sharing this info.
 
IXP-34-12 mod done, took less than 10 minutes and the reduction in noise is drastic. My main advice: make sure you remove the screws on the top front and sides first, as the screws are made of trash metal and will strip easily if they are bound up by the casing moving slightly away from the front of the Axe. Removing the rear screws last prevents this.

Anyone know where I can buy some appropriate screws to replace the ones that I stripped? Preferably super-strong ones.
 
How Quiet is Quiet Enough

Make sure you turn the volume down enough so you can enjoy not hearing the fan. I was recording direct, so there were no active mics to record the noise that wasn't there any more. what was I thinking ? Cool project- fan was 8.95 at Frys and a couple of shorter screws at the local hardware store. in a few years everything we own will have a motherboard. Sorry, time to reboot my toaster.



IXP-34-12 mod done, took less than 10 minutes and the reduction in noise is drastic. My main advice: make sure you remove the screws on the top front and sides first, as the screws are made of trash metal and will strip easily if they are bound up by the casing moving slightly away from the front of the Axe. Removing the rear screws last prevents this.

Anyone know where I can buy some appropriate screws to replace the ones that I stripped? Preferably super-strong ones.
 
bear with me. i tend to go a bit nuts with stuff.

how about putting in a larger fan? 80mm? remove standoffs. 4 dots of liquid nails (or similar). place standoffs on liquid nails let harden overnight.

that way you could get plenty of air flow and very quiet. i doubt silicon or liquid nails would ever melt or come loose.

in other news you have a spectrum of people with this fan thing. on one extreme are people playing at 100db who could care less. on the other you have people like me who have a loud fan in a very quiet room that they track in occasionally.

the reason i bought the fractal is because it's one of the few products that actually delivers on it's lofty promises. hats off to that. but it is surprising to see such an well designed and high end product suffer from a bit of noise. big picture it's very hard to complain for me. whether i do the mod or not i still don't regret selling my fender twin or marshall 25th an amps.

btw i believe this is the stock fan according to the model number i pulled off mine. looks the same too. thin profile, high speed, noisy bugger. Newegg.com - Delta EFB0612MA 60mm Case Fan

the fan suggested here...SILENX IXP-34-12...seems to check out. quiet. moves a little less air then the stock fan. has a hybrid bearing (fluid dynamic).

anyone see an issue this installing a larger fan? i would probably offset the thing so the heatsink on the fractall was not in the eye of the storm.

thx
 
As long as it doing so doesn't void your warranty... IIRC - Cliff has said that replacing the current fan with the Silenx or equivalent will not void the warranty, but I'd double-check on changing mount points and fan size (if it were me).
 
what fan does g66 use?

is it silenx ixp-34-12 ?

My Standard came from G66 with a Noiseblocker XR2.

So, When I got my Ultra (Which came from the US) I changed the stock fan for an XR2. The drop in fan noise is negligable, really, hardly any difference at all noise-wise. However, the XR2 fan is ROHS compliant, the stock fan is not. I suspect that is the real reason G66 changed the fans. In fact, at some point, I might even replace the XR2 with the original stock fan, which I think moves a bit more air, though it's hardly worth bothering with. Incidentally, what size (width) are the screws with which the stock fan is fitted? I had a hard time finding any longer ones to fit the XR2 (which is wider) with. In the end, I got some pattress box screws from an unused twin UK power socket, they just about fitted, but needed to be a bit longer really.
 
What a huge reduction in fan noise with the SilenX 12dB IXP-34-12 ... My Ultra went from irritatingly bothersome when playing at low volume to "pin-drop" silence! Makes one wonder if FAS should consider changing their source for this particular part? Maybe they already have? I found this change to be much easier than described here in the Forum. I simply found screws with the same diameter but shorter than the originals and it installed without issues. NOTE: The screws that come with the SilenX do not fit chassis stand-offs. Took 15 minutes from chassis-open to chassis-closed and it's dead silent - That's a beautiful thing.
 
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