After about 10 months with the FX8

MMike

MMike

Member
No Regrets!

This was a big step / risk... Over $1,000 is a lot of money to me.

Got it plugged into a 20 watt tube amp on a stage.

It's perfect!

Light weight
Plenty of stomp buttons...and I use two control pedals for Wah and Volume
Sound is top quality IMHO
I can get every sound I need from it with no need to compromise.
If in the future, If I do a show that I need scenes...I'm covered.
It has worked flawlessly.

No Regrets!
 
I am building an all analog pedalboard again.

Does that mean I regret buying my fx8? Not at all. I use it live all the time and will continue. And I claim I use most of its abilities in one of my bands (U2 tribute).

Still the fx8 can't do everything. One very small example: after one year of trying and exchanging presets it seems that the fx8 is simply unable to recreate the Mysterious Ways autowah patch - every patch I've heard so far is rubbish, including my own (very sorry guys, no hard feelings, we've tried so hard but let's face it). This led me to building an analog board around my boss AW3 again (I sold my Emma discumbobulator after I bought the fx8) only for this song and... boom, there it is, an autowah that immediately sounds like in heaven. No tweaking, no jokes. Not 100% like the Korg A3 but with all the other analog components surrounding the AW3 the song sounds marvelous. Most would say it's not worth it for one song but I do as I love this song.

The fx8 is a great unit with unbelievably good options for live use. Yes, it sounds great though not 100% as good as the analog effects I've used in the past (I will not mention the superior design an options of the fx8 here again, we all know them).

There is room for improvement with the fx8 though, not only soundwise (it already sounds awesome for what it is: a "small digital box", but I am sure in 10 years and with quantum dsp's it will sound much better as FAS try to get closer and closer to the analog real deal) but more hardwarewise.
 
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Has mine for 4 month just got back from a 13 week Europe tour and was stoked with it. Made life easy.
Yes I have a pedal board as well as an axefx2 and MFC but I'm digging the fx8 enough to use it right know tracking guitars with my amps.
 
Panagiotis Pechlivanos said:
it seems that the fx8 is simply unable to recreate the Mysterious Ways autowah patch - every patch I've heard so far is rubbish, including my own (very sorry guys, no hard feelings, we've tried so hard but let's face it)
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This has been a unicorn that's been chased since the Ultra and Standard days! Something about how the envelope on that old Korg A3 unit open and closed seems to be tough to recreate in Fractal-land. You're not the first who's tried and given up on this one.

We should have like an open bounty for this tone. Everyone who wants it chips in $10 -- bet the pot would be pretty huge right about now. Whoever solves the Mysterious Tone gets the bounty!
 
I know everything here has already been discussed to the bone. But here are a few "old" thoughts and new experiences again, maybe they are good for something...

Yes, overall I am happy with my fx8. I gigged last night with my U2 band, my new analog board AND the fx8. Mysterious Ways sounded terrific with the BossAW3 and the analog effects (no fx8 here). No need of a korg a3 any more to my ears (I have one for sale, btw. So if anybody wants it give a sign). I decided to play half of the songs with my new analog board, as kind of a reward for spending so much efforts to be able to tap dance again...:-( (what a sh**). After all nothing sounds better than my pure Amp sound and as few effects as possible, I thought, so... what the **** I gave it a try and programmed half of the old U2 delay orgy into my boss dd500 delay, turned on the ts808s and other pedals when needed...

The overall reward was this: my band mates said that they had missed that brilliance and clarity of my old sound and they were happy to have that again. Yes, the analog sound depth and clarity was more than pleasure, it was like opening my eyes again. Maybe I should go tweaking my FX8 a little bit again if I don't want to have the superior control features being the MAIN reason for using the fx8, I thought. To avoid misunderstandings: I still think the fx8 sounds good and that it can fulfil most U2 geeks' and others' needs. But my analog sounds sound better, fatter, clearer, chunkier and carry much more tonal information, if this makes sense. On the other hand they are more complicated to cotrol and kept noise and hum free.

Fact is that I would have to spend thousands of euros to have the control options of the fx8 and there still would be the higher risk of failing on stage if I decided to play U2 fully analog again...

Here I am. Torn again. Maybe others don't complicate things like I do.... My hope and belief is that dsp technology will advance within the next 5 years and that the next fx8 will be a much bigger sound pleasure...
 
I've had one since the Beta stage and I love that I can program all the sounds I need for whichever band or gig I'm hired for and easily get back to those sounds months later if I need to. Taken it out with three really different bands and dozens of other one-off gigs. I love it.

If FAS can ever give me a pallet of legit fuzzes then I won't need other boxes even in the studio.
 
I hope that I am as satisfied as you are. I'm on the MK II wait list. I'm sure that will take months but I'm ready to pull the trigger any time.

OP mentioned a few things, one of them being weight.

I'm 60 years old. I've been playing for 50 years. During that time, I've tried just about every approach imaginable multiple times: guitar-cord-amp (hey, that's all we had in the late 60's), stomp boxes, channel switching amps with and without rack effects, rack units, modelers. I'm actually reasonably happy with my current analog pedalboard into a clean amp (either a Morgan SW50R or Vintage Sound 15, depending on stage volume requirements). But OMG the weight thing has become an issue. My pedalboard and ATA case has to be close to 50 lbs. While that doesn't present a problem on flat ground, add stairs to the situation and it most definitely becomes an issue for me.

Also the lack of tonal flexibility has become something that I need to deal with. My board is configured with a dual-loop switcher, so I can set up two dirt sounds per song. One loop is OD/Dist, the other is fuzz. Still increasingly I need more flexibility, and I need it one tap away, right away.

So while I absolutely adore my tube amps (and none have loops), it seems likely that going to modeled effects is a reasonable compromise that will help me gain flexibility, shed some weight, but also keep that tube warmth, detail and feel we all love so much. I've generally been quite underwhelmed with Line 6 modeled pedals. Even the DM-4 which most folks rave about, seems really fake sounding and lifeless to me. I'm hoping that the Fractal product is noticeably more realistic and lively. Fingers crossed.
 
I've had my FX8 for almost a year now and couldn't be happier. I'm not trying to start anything but the claims of an analog board having more clarity or brilliance doesn't line up with my experience at all. Everyone hears things differently and some will have needs that the FX8 won't quite measure up to.

Each person is entitled to their opinion and to state what they believe the shortcomings of the FX8 are. I'm offering my experience in hopes of helping those looking at the FX8 and are on the fence about it. If I were to have read some of the not so glowing reviews and comments about the FX8, it may have swayed me away from it. That would have been a shame since my experience has been nothing but positive from day one. It has only gotten better as I've learned and understood the many ways to use, configure and tweak the effects to match my needs.

Guitars and amps will come and go but the versatility, quality, type and number of different effects, and ease of use make it money well spent. The FX8 has easily replaced the effects I sold to purchase it with no compromise on tone and given me many more effects. The bottom line for me was answering this question: Could I spend anywhere near the same amount of money and get noticeably better effects from an analog board that would give me anywhere near the quality, tone and versatility of the FX8? The answer for me was a resounding no and I still feel the same today.
 
I've had mine for almost a year and totally dig it. I had a huge pedalboard switching system (and a smaller one).
I think I like the pedals a bit better for tone but it is almost negligible.
I hated all those patch cables and trying to troubleshoot an issue was a sweat pouring nightmare if it happened 5 minutes before showtime.
fx8 is rock solid and setup/teardown is super easy. It sounds wonderful and the nosiefloor is infinitely better than traditional pedals.

Great value for the $ IME
 
BTW...I like this case as it's light weight and room for two expression pedals too..

CNB PDC-410G Locking Aluminum Pedal Case
 
I had mine for almost a year. Coming from every setup imaginable, G System, G Major2, then Strymon, analog pedals etc buying and selling things 3x over again ...I purchased an FX8 ...I loved it at first, but then found myself spending too much time tweaking everything. The AX8 seems to get a lot more attention and I think it is a little disappointing that presets cannot be exchanged between the 2 units (understanding about the amp blocks). I found myself constantly asking forum members for just the effects blocks etc because I had the FX8.
I had a few issues with freezing for no reason that solidified my reasons to move on.
Overall I think the unit is fantastic because of the full integration and multitude of effects available, but like Panagiotis Pechlivanos' experience I found that some other setups have a more pleasing experience.

Just for the record, this is my opinion based on my experience. I would never tell anyone not to purchase a Fractal unit for themselves.
Most of my issues are self inflicted tone chasing making things too complicated for myself ideas. I am sure I will be back around to buy another Fractal at some point :)
 
Panagiotis Pechlivanos said:
I am building an all analog pedalboard again.
it seems that the fx8 is simply unable to recreate the Mysterious Ways autowah patch - every patch I've heard so far is rubbish, including my own
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Not to derail a good thread (thanks, OP!) but that sound is most definitely possible on the FX8. I wish I could tell you more, but from time to time I work with the Edge, and we agreed long ago that I wouldn't divulge any details. My advice would be that if you can achieve the sound on the equipment originally used for that song, you can take things apart and quite easily use the FX8 (or AX8 or Axe-Fx) instead.
 
Admin M@ said:
I wish I could tell you more, but from time to time I work with the Edge, and we agreed long ago that I wouldn't divulge any details.
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Say hello and tell him that I challenge him for a battle: A stage, an amp and a guitar straight into it...not one effect, not even reverb . Just us two and our guitars...:).

No, seriously, I think you are right, and that's why I've took out my analog effects. I have put every effect separately around the Boss AW3 and it sounded great immediately (but also because my band is great, and plays Mysterious Ways tight and groovy). After all I love this song (AND its sound) but I also want to play it at some reasonable point and not keep tweeking my fx8 till I die. If there is a way to play Mysterious Ways with the fx8, then some day a tweaking nerd will come up with this. This did not happen, yet. The first AxeFX videos trying to catch that sound are about 8 or 9 years old but nobody in the world has achieved it imho. Seems like (also you seem to kind of confirm it ;-) ) that there is a secret that only Edge knows...
 
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Many years later after the last post: did anyone tweak the perfect Mysterious Ways sound with FX8? The sound of Mysterious ways is realy difficult to match with any equipment, even with my Korg A3 I was not always happy about it. Even if there is a phaser added in the A3 it sounds to me more like a flanger. For me one of the secrets maybe the bass does some autowah-stuff in the beginning too. Where does this deep addition in the sound come from? I think in the studio-version there was no 12-string-ricky it was his LesPaul. Tomorrow I will get my FX8 and it the tweaking will start.
 
bjule76 said:
Many years later after the last post: did anyone tweak the perfect Mysterious Ways sound with FX8? The sound of Mysterious ways is realy difficult to match with any equipment, even with my Korg A3 I was not always happy about it. Even if there is a phaser added in the A3 it sounds to me more like a flanger. For me one of the secrets maybe the bass does some autowah-stuff in the beginning too. Where does this deep addition in the sound come from? I think in the studio-version there was no 12-string-ricky it was his LesPaul. Tomorrow I will get my FX8 and it the tweaking will start.
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Not easy with the FX8, I'm afraid. I haven't heard anything new since I started years ago. I saw a video from somebody recreating it quite good with the Axe Fx, though. Also the Helix has a copy of the Korg A3, it can also do Mysterious Ways perfectly (do a youtube search).
 
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