Axe 2 MK 1 'vs' Axe 2 MK 2 ..... any sonic / tonal differences ..... ?

ben ifin

ben ifin

Experienced
Hey all

Was doing a show 2 nights ago and one of the guys in another band and I were talking that I use a Kemper but that I have an Axe FX 2 MK 2 [ and AX8 ] on the way.

He said he has been looking at an Axe FX 2 MK 1 and asked if I knew if the Axe 2 MK 1 "sounded different" to the Axe FX 2 MK 2 model ...... or if he should look for an XL or XL+ .....

Im sure this was/has been covered *in depth* many times in the past, but as Im new to Fractal land I said ......

..... that as far as I could read on the Axe Wiki when doing my research :-

=> the MK 2 has better heat vents, a better fan and MFC connector ... but otherwise, in terms of tone / sound / audio quality / dynamics etc...... the MK 1 and MK 2 are identical (?)

=> the XL / XL+ when compared to the Axe FX 2 MK 1 / Axe FX 2 MK 2 is "better", but I had no idea to what extent it would actuaslly "sound and feel" better as I have never done any sort of direct A/B comparison (?)

I *really* hope I didn't mis-lead him ?

Im pretty sure he was goiing to grab the Axe FX 2 MK 1 the next day or so.

Thanks,
Ben
 
Someone done tonal comparison back in the past and the results were surprising as two units actually sounded a bit different... that was about 2 years ago because seemingly Mark 2 has some "secreat sauce" albieit I can't confirm it or deny it because I wasn't in the room with the guy doing comparison I only heard sound sample he showed us.
 
I sold my Mark I and got the XL+ just because of my ever growing amount of cab packs. I can't hear any difference between the two, and regarding this "secret sauce"thing, wasn't this about the XL having a slightly better signal to noise ratio on the instrument input? As if that would be audible, I guess the Mark I input is probably better quality than any other brand out there.
 
ztevie said:
and regarding this "secret sauce"thing, wasn't this about the XL having a slightly better signal to noise ratio on the instrument input?
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I think that is true. With Mk2 they changed something in the hardware to have a less noisy output 2 I think. So you have a better sound when using effects loop. For the rest I think there no difference at all soundwise.
 
Chris@AxeFxTutorials said:
i'm not sure this is accurate. if you can find the source, that'd be cool, but to my understanding, they all sound the same.
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One of the forum members was doing comparison but that was back when the old forum was up and running so I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anyways i never seen the set up so he might actually have not set it 1:1.
 
Bodde said:
I think that is true. With Mk2 they changed something in the hardware to have a less noisy output 2 I think. So you have a better sound when using effects loop. For the rest I think there no difference at all soundwise.
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You are correct. I have a vintage Mark I and I had to pay shipping to and from FAS to have Output 2 corrected, so it wouldn't cause a ton of hiss when using 4CM (4 Cable Method). FAS did the upgrade for free but shipping wasn't cheap. Only the Mark I had this issue.

Cliff said that only the first 100 or so Mark I's had the issue but I'm pretty sure mine wasn't. I replied to his post but never got a response.

Here are some posts regarding the Output 2 Hiss Mod:

FractalAudio, May 6, 2015
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fractal-units-have-problems-with-4cm.99640/#post-1195074

GotMetalBoy, May 7, 2015
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fractal-units-have-problems-with-4cm.99640/#post-1195660

FractalAudio, Mar 31, 2015
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...etween-axe-ii-mk1-and-mk2.97766/#post-1178592

FractalAudio, Jun 18, 2014
http://forum.fractalaudio.com/threa...ii-mark-ii-the-same-thing.87318/#post-1056439
 
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