Axe FX II - First Impressions - Part 1

Big Joe Daddy

Big Joe Daddy

Experienced
Hopefully I don't get slammed for being a rookie player attempting to share some thoughts on a very sophisticated piece of equipment. I guess I'll take my chances in the hopes that there are others out there like me with limited experience but may benefit from a rookies perspective. I'm in my fifties, I've been playing guitar off and on since I was a kid. Basically a weekend warrior who just gets a kick out of playing. A year or so ago, after many years of playing through some average amps with a few pedals, I bought a Line 6 X3 Live on a whim. It was more complicated than I had hoped but I banged through it and after a while I got some pretty decent tones out of the thing. When I stumbled across the Fractal world, my curiosity got the best of me and I ordered an Ultra about 3 months ago. It was/is a major challenge but with some perseverance I fell in love with it. PRS Custom 22 + Ultra + MFC-101 + K12 = the best sound I'd ever had. I haven't played through my tube amp since I got the Ultra.

So not long after I rec'd my Ultra, the II shows up in the news. Like everyone else I was intrigued. Short version is my II got delivered last night via UPS. As I write this note, I've only got about 2 hours on the Axe II.

Out of the box I was impressed by the manual. Really well done.

Interface is nice. Familiar to the Ultra but with many added features.

I tried my Sony MDR-7506 headphones when I first fired up the Axe and it sounded a little thin, weak. Then I plugged in the QSC K12 and whoa! Big sound. Next I tried my Ultimate Ears UE-11's IEM's off the headphone jack and what a difference! They sounded as good as the K12. So I guess the point is the type of headphones you use matters.

USB......in a word.....lovely. I'm a midiot. I wrestled with that midi setup on the Ultra for hours on end. It got to where it would piss me off. With the II, plug in the USB and go. No issues.

When everyone says the first 40 or so presets are usable right out of the box, they're not kidding. They are killer. I haven't tweaked a single one of them yet. Nor have I even gone through all of them yet.

Here's something that I'm really stoked about. First of all I've never had a guitar with a volume knob that worked as well as my PRS Custom. My old LP and SG volume pots are about useless. My Ibanez isn't much better. You've got to roll the knob 75% before anything happens and the tone dissolves quicker than you can blink. On the PRS, the volume knob is superb. Coupled with the Axe II it's amazing. I can pull up a preset and dial down the volume on the PRS and get some lush, chimey, articulate, clean tones with tons of harmonics. Then if I crank up the volume knob, it becomes a roaring beast. Unbelievable transformation without touching the Axe II. This feature in itself opens up a whole new world of options for me. I love that part.

Harmonics is another thing that is really impressive. I don't even understand harmonics but the II has got 'em going on. It really spices up the variety of tones merely with playing style. Again, without touching the Axe, it provides a multitude of tones merely by your playing style. I like that a lot too!

Definition is another descriptive term that I hope means something. With many of the high gain presets, there is still tons of clarity, punch, and definition. Maybe 'lack of mud' is a better term. Angus Young tones (among others) are living all over in that magic black box. I love it.

For now I've got to get back to it. I've got a long road up before I get my arms around this beast. There is so much to learn and I'm just scratching the surface. But in the meantime, I've got usable tones right out of the box.

As for all the conflict over how closely the II replicates the REAL amps, I really couldn't care less. What matters to me is how GOOD it sounds and man does it sound good. Add to the equation that the Axe II can be carried around under your arm, it has endless, endless possibilities for live, studio, and rehearsal applications and it's a no-brainer for me. I love the fact that I can drop an XLR cable from the Axe to the mixer and I've got BIG tone, instantly. No mics, no EQ, no fuss. It's an EASY button.

Anyway, I'm not qualified to offer up a more sophisticated analysis. But I can tell you I'm very excited about this little black box. It's gonna make me a better player.
BJD
 
Fantastic. While the more technical reviews are great it's reviews like this one that talk about just how much of a joy it is to play that really speak to me and fire up my gas. Thanks :)

Cheers
 
Nice review of 1st impressions!

The reason you like your PRS volume control probbaly is that they use a treble bleed that increases the treble balance when you roll off the volume. It can work well with heavily overdriven patches and for certain styles such as country and funk. I generally prefer a treble bleed that maintains the tone balance at reduced volumes, but either is better than nothing, which is probably what you have on the LP and SG you mentioned. Very easy and cheap to fix (and reversible as well), if you want to. Without it, these guitars will always sound dull at lower guitar volume settings.
 
Nice Review ... thanks. I've heard folks say that the II really excels in the hi-gain world but that the differences between the II and I are less dramatic for clean and lo-gain patches. Was that your experience as well? How do the II and the Ultra compare for you with lo-gain/clean patches?
 
GM Arts said:
Nice review of 1st impressions!

The reason you like your PRS volume control probbaly is that they use a treble bleed that increases the treble balance when you roll off the volume. It can work well with heavily overdriven patches and for certain styles such as country and funk. I generally prefer a treble bleed that maintains the tone balance at reduced volumes, but either is better than nothing, which is probably what you have on the LP and SG you mentioned. Very easy and cheap to fix (and reversible as well), if you want to. Without it, these guitars will always sound dull at lower guitar volume settings.
Click to expand...

Not familiar with the treble bleed concept. Is that a mod that can be applied to any vol pot?
 
Yes, a cap and often a resistor in parallel across the pot, which creates a high-pass filter as the pot is lowered (more bass is subtracted as the pot is lowered etc).

One can also wire guitars in what's known as the 50's style which connects the tone pot to the pots wiper (center lug), which also keeps more treble as the pot is turned down, though there's more volume interaction with the tone control too (50's Gibsons were wired this way, as are their current Memphis tone guitars).

Treble Bleed: Treble Bleed Circuits Explained!

50's Wiring: GuitarNutz 2 - Modern and 50's Wiring




Tonemaster said:
Not familiar with the treble bleed concept. Is that a mod that can be applied to any vol pot?
Click to expand...
 
I actually prefer the resistor and cap in series to maintain the same tone at reduced volumes. In parallel, it changes the volume taper IMHO.

Either way, it requires a little experimentation with your own gear, but it's very cheap and very effective.

Here's my web page on this and other mods:

http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=236
 
GM Arts said:
I actually prefer the resistor and cap in series to maintain the same tone at reduced volumes. In parallel, it changes the volume taper IMHO.

Either way, it requires a little experimentation with your own gear, but it's very cheap and very effective.

Here's my web page on this and other mods:

http://www.gmarts.org/index.php?go=236
Click to expand...

There's a bunch of valuable info in there. Thanks for the tips. I've got some studying to do! ;-)
 
Great review! I agree with you about the presets. I have been having a blast with them. I am just so happy with this purchase. Like I mentioned in my review, I expected some headaches, confusion, etc. with the Axe-FX II, especially because I've never owned a Fractal product. This thing is easier to tweak than my TC Electronic Nova System I had a while back. I have only cracked the book a few times but I agree that it is a good read.

The tone in this thing just hits you in the chest. I have barely dabbled in the "tube" settings, depth, etc. The tweaking is endless. The best thing is that you can use those extra things but really it is not necessary. My advice would be for people to start with a sound they like in the presets, and go from there.
 
romanianreaper said:
Great review! I agree with you about the presets. I have been having a blast with them. I am just so happy with this purchase. Like I mentioned in my review, I expected some headaches, confusion, etc. with the Axe-FX II, especially because I've never owned a Fractal product. This thing is easier to tweak than my TC Electronic Nova System I had a while back. I have only cracked the book a few times but I agree that it is a good read.

The tone in this thing just hits you in the chest. I have barely dabbled in the "tube" settings, depth, etc. The tweaking is endless. The best thing is that you can use those extra things but really it is not necessary. My advice would be for people to start with a sound they like in the presets, and go from there.
Click to expand...
Hey thanks Reaper,
I'm with you, the presets out of the box are a great place to start. No need to reinvent the wheel. I also like the consistency in the layout template. After a short while, the edit process is becoming much more instinctive. It's cool the way you have several methods of switching presets and tweaking values. Haven't found which method I like the best yet. They all work great.
 
I have an hour or so in to mine, got here today, and my assessment is almost exactly the same as yours. I think it is a tremendous unit and a MAJOR advancement, not an incremental upgrade in any way. I am blown away by the sound and i would agree with zman, it smokes the Ultra ;) I had my Ultra for over a year and a half and I think this thing is significantly (yes, significantly) better in all the ways that matter.
 
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