Axe for the long term

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famished

Member
I'm wondering what will most likely break first on the Axe-FX and what I can do to prepare for it.

Moving parts: fan, knob.

Fan: I'm not sure how many more years it will be easy to buy replacement fans that are compatible with this board. Anybody know?

Knob: I live on that knob when I use this thing. I would imagine that eventually it'll get creaky. Any way to repair it if it goes?

Anything else to anticipate breaking down?
 
famished said:
I'm wondering what will most likely break first on the Axe-FX and what I can do to prepare for it.

Moving parts: fan, knob.

Fan: I'm not sure how many more years it will be easy to buy replacement fans that are compatible with this board. Anybody know?

Knob: I live on that knob when I use this thing. I would imagine that eventually it'll get creaky. Any way to repair it if it goes?

Anything else to anticipate breaking down?
Click to expand...

there is one fan and it can be replaced w/ a standard computer fan. knobs, buttons, plugs, caps, op amps, etc. can be purchased at an electronics store like Mouser.
 
How many years you think you can get out of a Fractal before it starts to spew? Maybe 20, or is that pushing it? My Mac has held up pretty well over the last few years, but most PCs seem to just wilt under the increasing demands of their expanding operating systems. I see they've got new firmware releases all the time.

Also, talking about spare parts, do any of them require tinkering with the motherboard? Are there going to be licensed professionals out there who can rejuvenate the Axe, if Fractal itself should lose its ability to maintain old units?
 
There are guys touring these worldwide and guys like me working playing live constantly locally in our area. I've got 2 years in them, never one hiccup.

Everything that can break is easily replaceable. And even if one does get roasted in the upcoming Judgement Day (Terminator reference); you can always drop your backed up presets and hard work into another Axe-FX in 3 minutes.
 
famished said:
How many years you think you can get out of a Fractal before it starts to spew? Maybe 20, or is that pushing it? My Mac has held up pretty well over the last few years, but most PCs seem to just wilt under the increasing demands of their expanding operating systems. I see they've got new firmware releases all the time.

Also, talking about spare parts, do any of them require tinkering with the motherboard? Are there going to be licensed professionals out there who can rejuvenate the Axe, if Fractal itself should lose its ability to maintain old units?
Click to expand...

This isn't a desktop processor. The firmware on the Axe-fx is written specifically for the DSP and it's constraints. If you don't know what you are doing, don't mess with it. Any qualified electronics technician can fix misc parts going bad. If the motherboard or DSP go bad they will need to be replaced.

Who knows how long a particular Axe-fx will last. There are too many variables. I have had my Ultra 2 years. Many people have had the Axe-fx for 3-4 years.
 
Twenty years?

Twenty years ago I was using a (20 MHz?) 386 with a couple of megs of memory and maybe a 50 megabyte hard disk. Now I'm running a quad core with each core running at 2,670 MHz, 8,192 megs of memory, and 5,242,880 megs of hard disk space. I can't really guess what this means for the Axe-FX over the next twenty years, but I suspect Cliff's software will evolve to fit the times.
 
I think the oldest piece of electronic music kit I have is a midi controller from '94.
15 years later, and it's still going strong, although the hand-held controller's contacts and wiring are sometimes a little off. According to that controller's message boards, cleaning those contacts and replacing the internal battery are about all the maintenance usually required.

I'd expect about the same with the Axe-Fx. Most likely, the only real long-term maintenance will be having to replace the internal battery (I think it's rated for at least 10 years) -- assuming nothing horribly tragic befalls it first.
 
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