Andrew Male
Experienced
So, having owned the Axe FX 2 and MFC for several years I finally bought an Axe FX 3 Mk2 and FC-12. Just a quick summary on where I am so far after a week or so.
I started by porting my presets across using frac-tool (amazingly useful, although it doubled all my delay times for some reason).
Then I set up a custom layout on the FC based on Perform 1, changing colours for my colourblind eyes, very useful.
The above took me about 30 minutes and I was ready to go.
Observations on features
So I plugged in, put on my Blue headphones and honestly, I wasn't ready for the jump in sonic improvement from the Axe 2.
I thought how much better can it be right?
Wrong.
The difference is utterly astounding, with the most overriding adjective being pleasing. Everything sounds glorious and now I'm excited every time I turn the unit on. Throughout the entire sonic spectrum there is improvement, the low end sounds tight and chunky, the high end sounds incredible. I play all the way from clean, edge of breakup, to filthy metal and all of it sounds better. I don't know if it's the 32/64-bit FP precision or the improvements to the modelling (probably both) but compared to Axe 2 Ares the difference is huge (In my opinion).
This is only week 1 too, with Cygnus just around the corner!
So if you are like me and holding onto the Axe2 because you're not convinced it's worth the upgrade, just know that there is a jump and it is worth it.
I started by porting my presets across using frac-tool (amazingly useful, although it doubled all my delay times for some reason).
Then I set up a custom layout on the FC based on Perform 1, changing colours for my colourblind eyes, very useful.
The above took me about 30 minutes and I was ready to go.
Observations on features
- What immediately hit me was the sheer number of factory cabs vs the 2, which is fantastic, they've all been useable so far
- Naming scenes, great feature, especially with the FC text displays, I'm already going through and giving names to everything
- Channels vs X/Y offer a lot of scope within 1 preset and will allow me to consolidate
- The FC-12 is just flat out awesome, the best foot controller I've owned
- I don't miss the 3rd row of footswitches from the MFC, at all
- The Axe 3 UI and screen is great
So I plugged in, put on my Blue headphones and honestly, I wasn't ready for the jump in sonic improvement from the Axe 2.
I thought how much better can it be right?
Wrong.
The difference is utterly astounding, with the most overriding adjective being pleasing. Everything sounds glorious and now I'm excited every time I turn the unit on. Throughout the entire sonic spectrum there is improvement, the low end sounds tight and chunky, the high end sounds incredible. I play all the way from clean, edge of breakup, to filthy metal and all of it sounds better. I don't know if it's the 32/64-bit FP precision or the improvements to the modelling (probably both) but compared to Axe 2 Ares the difference is huge (In my opinion).
This is only week 1 too, with Cygnus just around the corner!
So if you are like me and holding onto the Axe2 because you're not convinced it's worth the upgrade, just know that there is a jump and it is worth it.
Last edited: