AX8 vs Atomic Amplifire

The Amplifire is a great pedal for simple amp tones. The Fender Twin tone sold me on it. If you need a big amp tone, with a splash of verb and delay, the amplifire is the best bang for your buck. When you need more FX, and more options... the AX8 is the way to go. Sold off the amplifire about 6-8 months ago.
 
I would like to hear more about this EQ trick. I'm guessing it's close to what I sometimes do with a parametric EQ which is to use a low shelf to cut some lows before hitting the amp?
 
@Clint Martin It depends on the amp you play with, but I will say that in my experience, most guitars and pickups benefit from cutting below 200hz, EXCEPT for the 80hz-100hz region! That's my personal trick, I cut around that region up to 200hz, as well as the 4.8khz hiss. Can be done with a PEQ but we only have two blocks so better keep them for the IRs imo.

Might not be the trick @cragginshred was talking about, though.
 
I had them all, Kemper, Amplifire, Helix and all Fractals from Standard, Ultra, XL and now AX8. The Axe fx swallow them all! Best amp modeling and effects period! Amplifire is a nice piece of gear in it's price range! Amp modeling is better than Line6 but not close to Axe fx. I had to always eq the mids like hell to cut through mix. Amplifire effects are quite weak, especially reverbs, really artificial sound. Helix was the worst of the bunch! Great pedal board and routing but that's it! Sounds and feel lifeless! AX8 feels and sounds like an amp! I only use it with studio monitors and headphones through my interface for recording! I can't even imagine how great it must sound with a poweramp and real cab!! If you can afford the extra 500$ for the AX8, go for it, you can't go wrong!
 
I had a chance to get an Amplifire for a friend and to spend some time programming it. It's a good unit that sounds good, is easy to program and is quite usable.
But after playing for years with the Axe FX, and more recently with the AX8, it's not quite in the same league.
The AX8 is AMAZING bang for the buck. If I had to downsize because of whatever reason, I would keep my best Parker and the AX8 and let the wolves have the rest.
I have actually played both on stage at the same time and without taking anything away from what Atomic has done, the Amplifier is not in the same ball game.
 
I do prefer my AX8, but I was impressed with the Atomic. I liked it better than the Helix.
FWIW I don't have anything bad to say about any of them. Even the cheap stuff is impressive.
It's hard to go wrong these days.
 
Well said guys!
At this point, if I get another modeler, it will be an FAS and just save my money until I can afford one. Who knows? Perhaps the replacement to the AX8 will be out then....
 
Sjomli said:
Hi just joined today. I've been trying choose either one for the last month and I haven't been able to come too a conclusion. Is there anyone here who has had both of these units? Which do you like better? Are there any significant pros or cons to these units?
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I can't even imagine a gig with 3 footswitches, i can't, well, maybe if i can imagine a nightmare, that would be it. The new unreleased yet Amplifier has many footswitches, but there is nothing new inside.
 
Had both. The main amp I use (Vox) wasn't even close to real sounding/feeling model on the Amplifire to me. Normally I get lots of tone compliments so I doubted myself and bought some pro Atomic presets and IRs - still didn't cut the mustard. Personally I feel like it wasn't any better than a Boss GT6. I liked my Line 6 XT Live better for Vox modeled than the Atomic.

AX8 first chord I hit on preset one my jaw dropped it felt and sounded so real.

If you look at the total package the AX8 I think is a much better value. Tons of amps, studio quality effects, top notch factory IRs, no need to buy a midi controller, and amazing support from FAS and the community here.

I was using a timeline and big sky with the Amplifire as the effects were lacking and now it's just AX8 and an expression pedal and I'm good to go.
 
I love these quantative "my sports car is faster" comparison.
I got a Axe 2, AmplifiRE, bunch of plugs, real amps miked...
As a matter of fact recording template is DI gtr routed into DAW... With Axe running as external plugin through digi I/o.
AmplifiRE as external plug, through analog I/o
overloud TH3, miked cab with 3 close, 1 room mic.
Point is that I mute/unmute the channels so i get what i want to hear.
Works for tracking it reamping.

My experience with the Axe is that I get pretty much all sound I can hear in my head.
In controlled situations nothing beats it.
I got well enough a handle on it that it's pretty instant.

The AmpliFire for me is magic when it comes to having a grab and go box for unknown situations.
When I first got it a year back I did an outdoor show. Was running late missed sound check walked on stage plugged in used one patch the whole set with boost and delay and called it a day.
Box sounds good.
Here's where I mirror Larry Mitchell, I don't care if its emulated the amp right, care for the sound to be dope and it to respond as if expect to my hands.

That said I was able to make the Park 75 in the HD500 work great.
But I digress...
I did a 10 week Euro tour on FX8, loaded down 4 watt head into Amplifire as an IR loader, and half the shows used it without the head just fx8 into AA.
Loved it...

It's not highlander "there can be only one"... I use different screw drivers for different screws.
Hell I use different DAWs for different jobs.

Over the years I had 2 Ultra, Axe2,Fx8, Cablab, 2MFC, Fractal Verb.
2 Atomic Reactor wedge style, 2 straight style, AmplifiRE, EL84 power amp, 1974 style head proto.

I'm on both companies artist roster, as well as Tyler, Gibson, Marchione guitars. Life is too short to make tone such a serious worry.

Fwiw Steve Vai Passion and Warfare 25th anniversary and Modern Primitive.
The new one has this godawful YouTube sensation drum sound, Passion has vibe.
Same withvguitar.
On Passion you can hear the Marshall with pedal vibe it's glorious. Open a JCM and a ML cab or two with a pedal and adjust dynamic parameters and mic pre eq. And it's done.
Whereas Modern Primitive sounds like any type of modern preset with a blanket across the speaker.
On amps I can get there with analog pedals or FX8.
On other modellers I need to deal with it the same way and I get there.
It's all eq, gain and attack, decay, release...all there is.
 
nicolasrivera said:
I can't even imagine a gig with 3 footswitches, i can't, well, maybe if i can imagine a nightmare, that would be it. The new unreleased yet Amplifier has many footswitches, but there is nothing new inside.
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I have... Boost on/off, mod on/off, delayon/off.
Hell I've done gigs OD into a head....
 
Ed DeGenaro said:
I have... Boost on/off, mod on/off, delayon/off.
Hell I've done gigs OD into a head....
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Me too.

One of my best gigs was last minute stand in. I played my Les Paul into my vintage Princeton with a Keeley modded DS-1 as my only pedal.

It was so clear and had so much vibe it was insane. It was inspiring. Played my ass off lol
 
I feel I may be out here on my own with this opinion but I could not find a single useful tone in the Amplifire. Felt dull and lifeless. Everyone loves them so maybe it was just me, but I definitely do NOT have that problem with the AX8 so...
 
You are probably right, no one can ever say your hears are wrong, that is just impossible. If it doesn't work for you, it just doesn't. It can be a matter of taste, I agree. I am just saying that:
1) Amplifire IS better then a Line6 HD500 (actually my iPhone running BIAS app in a cheapo DAC is too);
2) AX8 is far better :D

But I have to give the Amplifire guys a shoot since I actually interacted directly with them doing my presets and they are awesome support. "Almost" Fractal level. And for me, to be honest, support > product in a lot of situations. That is the reason I never even think about the Helix. I believe it sounds good or whatever, but I really doubt that a monster corporation like Yamaha will take their time to do the same level of 1x1 support that Fractal or the Amplifire guys do.

RKF said:
I feel I may be out here on my own with this opinion but I could not find a single useful tone in the Amplifire. Felt dull and lifeless. Everyone loves them so maybe it was just me, but I definitely do NOT have that problem with the AX8 so...
Click to expand...
 
I've owned just about all the hardware modelers that have been made. I'm still using Fractal AX8 and AxeII (previously the Ultra and FX8 as well) and all the rest have seen the door. That doesn't mean the rest suck because they don't - even the worst ones out there have some basically usable tones.

As for the Amplifire specifically, it is a very nice sounding unit for the basics. Here's my pro's and con's for the Amplifire (they've revised the firmware since I sold mine and it appears the V4 that they just released is a nice upgrade so some of this may not be relevant anymore).

Pros: Small, lightweight, well built, very good amp tones, usable basic effects
Cons: limited selection of effects - no Vibe (big problem for me), dorky expression pedal connection, can't use expression pedal and the effects loop at the same time (Amplifire 12 remedies this), editor was clunky and buggy (it's been revised so I assume it's better), no auto-engage, very limited MIDI capability which stinks because it has very limited footswitching capability.

I did a few gigs with the Amplifire. The limited effects and switching capabilities meant I had to run a couple outboard pedals (H9, Dejavibe, wah). Once I got the FX8 I ran it with the Amplifire and that was pretty cool - basically the Amplifire was just amp sims and the FX8 did everything else - this was a nice rig but a little cumbersome. Then the AX8 arrived and that was the end of that rig.

The AX8 bests the Amplifire at everything across the board - better and more amp sims, better and more effects, better and more switching and MIDI capability, plus all the features that the AX8 has that the Amplifire doesn't (scenes, advanced controllers, flexible routing etc). For me, the AX8 is the hands down winner.
 
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