Axe coming in under the radar.....

I was buying a cable one day from my local guitar store. The dude was asking me what modeler I'm using and I said Fractal Axefx. I received a blank look from him and his co-worker but another guy runs out and says "you've got one of those !! Awesome! Can you bring it in for us to try!!". Based on that I'd say 2/3 of music store staff have no clue Axefx exists.
 
Everytime I tell some sales guy I use an Axe FX they either say "MODELING AMPS SUCK...BUT THIS USED LINE 6 POD IS PROBABLY BETTER" or "OH YEAH, I USED TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE A FEW YEARS AGO, I SOLD IT"

Just give me my strings and go away.
 
Brought mine in to GC to try out speakers. Two guys who worked there came over very excited!!! One had an Ultra, the other had a II.
 
bkrodgers said:
Brought mine in to GC to try out speakers. Two guys who worked there came over very excited!!! One had an Ultra, the other had a II.
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I rarely go to GC but needed to grab a set of strings one day. I was talking to one of the guys about the Axe and they had no clue. I happened to have it in the car and they asked if they could check it out. Lets just say the the Axe-II was the star at GC that afternoon. A crowd gathered like it was some celebrity player and guys were grabbing guitars and waiting in line like kids at Disneyland. I wish I had my video camera to record some of the reactions.

Well, I look up and it's close to 3 hours later. Several guys left there swearing they would soon be hitting up FAS with their orders. I wonder if they actually did. And I ended up getting several sets of strings on the house! :)
 
I'm always surprised at how many guitar players I talk to and music stores I go in to don't know about the Axe. I believe that we that use the Axe are truly and have been the under ground movement in guitar tech for the past 5 years.
 
I get the blank look a lot as well as "I can't keep up with all the new gear that comes out every day". I explain to them that it's like a Pod HD times a thousand, but I doubt that gets them shopping. In 5–10 years, their wallets are really gonna hurt when their tube amps aren't worth much :?
 
A lot of guitar players locally have been talking about my rig recently. I get a lot of phone calls and/or people coming to gigs to check it out. It was not like this a year ago however.

I found that I'm also completely spoiled with the axe 2. I attempted to assemble a backup rig using some distortion pedals and after several hours in the shop, the owner says, "just doesn't compare to your live sound, does it?" The weekend prior he had caught a set in a bar downtown where we were playing and said he was "blown away" by the guitar sound... Especially after I told him the strip eq on the board was flat.
 
To be honest I don't think it's a bad thing that the Axe isn't the common. It would be nice for Fractal to sell more, but on the other hand: a much higher demand would require more industrialized productions and I don't think that's a good thing. I really like the fact that it's a relative small company with the best support in the world and that there's a small but impressive community behind it.

Yesterday I told a band member that I was contemplating to sell my tube rig and he thought it was blasphemy. He doesn't believe that you can get a tube-like response from the Axe. I haven't tried mine on high volumes yet, but I fear that because he has already made up his mind, he will always try to hear a difference.
 
Objector said:
Yesterday I told a band member that I was contemplating to sell my tube rig and he thought it was blasphemy. He doesn't believe that you can get a tube-like response from the Axe. I haven't tried mine on high volumes yet, but I fear that because he has already made up his mind, he will always try to hear a difference.
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This mind set is why we will never see a complete shift with modeling tech, Line 6 and other modeling tech made sure of that. Most tube amp users are already jaded from theses devices and will never give the Axe a chance... their loss as far as I can tell. To have a tool like the Axe that is so powerful, to use it standalone or in concert with a tube amp is a win.
 
I talked to a guitar player at a gig last night who was asking me what I was playing on (after liking the tone and not seeing an "amp" onstage). I told him, and got that same "never heard of it" type stare, but the sound had already spoken for itself so there was no condescending air about it.

Personally, I like having something no one else in my area is playing. I think it gives me an edge in gigs, kind of like a secret weapon. Oddly, music stores (the guitar gear "experts") rarely know what it is, but studio engineers all know what it is and love seeing it. That says something to me: the guys who sell gear can't retail it so they have no real reason to praise it or even be up on it. It was like that with Mesa gear for years until Randall Smith opened it up to "select dealers." The guys who record guitar gear know it well, as they have no real interest in selling an amp, just getting you a sound on record you'll dig.

I wouldn't be surprised if studios are one of the more regular customers for FAS. If I had a pro studio, I'd surely have one racked up for customers.
 
cobbler said:
A crowd gathered like it was some celebrity player and guys were grabbing guitars and waiting in line like kids at Disneyland. I wish I had my video camera to record some of the reactions.
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That's what smart phones are for.

I've thought of taking my AXE II to said local store to see their reactions. I wouldn't want anyone's hands on it and such, so that probably won't happen.


prometh said:
I get the blank look a lot as well as "I can't keep up with all the new gear that comes out every day". I explain to them that it's like a Pod HD times a thousand, but I doubt that gets them shopping. In 5–10 years, their wallets are really gonna hurt when their tube amps aren't worth much :?
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I hadn't thought about that. Might be. (I might explain the difference between Line6 and AXE as a comparison between a current Charger, and a Ferrari with the reliability of a Nissan.) a At the very least, AXE and such will be much more affordable.


Rick said:
I wouldn't be surprised if studios are one of the more regular customers for FAS. If I had a pro studio, I'd surely have one racked up for customers.
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I might have two, just in case.
 
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