Axe FX II. Not just for Pros.

[Deadpool_25]

TL; DR: Axe FX is awesome for pros and it's good for even lower intermediate players too.

Let's just get this out of the way. I pretty much suck at guitar. I can noodle through a few scales. I can play a few chords. I went to a guitar teacher a couple years ago and he asked me to play a few chords. I got through them without many issues, though I had to think for a second when he asked me to play an F chord. I don't spend as much time practicing as I should. With all that said, I've wanted to learn to play, and play well, for around 30 years.

I often take little breaks from learning/playing/practicing in order to pursue other hobbies. Then I get inspired by a song or by going to a concert. I get into it again for a few weeks, and then taper off. Rinse repeat. I also like to buy equipment. I've been through a LOT of it over the years. A used Ibanez Destroyer II (cream with black zebra stripes?) with a Floyd Rose was my first guitar back in about '85--I didn't even have an amp. I sold it to a friend not long after getting it. Since then I've had and sold numerous guitars, probably around 20. I've had a number of amps/modelers including a Line 6 AX212, Super Reverb, Blues Jr., Peavey Vyper 60, Marshal JVM410, Mesa Dual-Rec Tremoverb, Mesa Mark IV, Pod HD500, Pod X3 Live, Pod Bean, and many more. The point is, I was always searching for quick and easy tone. What I really needed was to practice more. Obviously.

What I was really looking for was a simple solution that would help inspire me to play more. I wanted to be able to quickly dial in a decent blues tone, when practicing along with a blues lesson (I have plenty of those too). I wanted to dial up a nice rhythm or lead tone when practicing some rock riffs/licks. I also wanted something that sounded good at both lower and higher volumes. Honestly, the POD HD500 was in the ballpark, but the presets sucked for the most part and I found myself tweaking more than practicing...and tweaking to make my shitty playing sound less shitty, wasn't inspiring.

On another forum, I saw talk of "the only modeler worth a damn" which was the Axe FX. I figured it was way out of my price range. Considering all the other money spent, I suppose it wasn't, but regardless it seemed prohibitively expensive. I finally found myself in a financial situation where I could go ahead and get one, so I ordered the Axe FX II XL+.

I read through the quick start manual, but I really didn't need to. I fired it up, plugged in my guitar and headphones, and was instantly rewarded by a crapload of excellent presets that I could happily just load up and start practicing with. And all of them sounded amazing. I have a background in sound-quality car audio systems and have a decent ability to tell high quality audio when I hear it. The Fractal unit sounds VERY high quality. It is also surprisingly easy to use, even without Axe Edit. I could delve much deeper than I have so far, but I haven't needed to yet.

After using the headphones for a couple of days, I decided to try a pseudo-Tyler Grund setup, running the AFX through a home receiver and into some home stereo speakers (Bose 301s in this case). It still sounded decent though tweaks needed to be made. That setup was clearly not ideal for me, but I thought it might work. On the advice of a few forum members I decided to get a pair of monitors. I'd originally looked at the KRK Rokits (had a pair back when I had the HD500 and returned them), but a few others were recommended, including Yamaha. I listened to both the Rokit's and the Yamahas, and a few others, in GC and ended up buying the Yamaha H7s. They sound amazing.

In no time at all, I had the AFX, MacBook, and monitors hooked up and I was playing along to songs/jam tracks. I had a huge smile on my face. I can't wait to get home from work to play some more. That's inspiration.

One problem for me as an intermediate is that I get overloaded by inspiration. Bonamassa uses Marshalls and Fender/Dumble amps? I want to try those. Mayer uses Two-Rocks? Wouldn't mind checking out those too. Gary Clark Jr. uses a Vibro King? Yep, I want to try that too. Wait, a bunch of metal guys are using 6505s? Mesas? Petrucci? Hendrix? Etc. Well, I can try out all those amps and many more on my AFX, along with tons of amazing effects. I may never dial up their exact tones (since I don't have a dial on my skills/fingers) but I can easily get in the ballpark.

The bottom line is that the Axe FX isn't just for players who are already great. I think it can also be excellent for players who are still intermediate but who can afford a top-notch piece of equipment. And it's not really even very expensive...not when you consider VALUE instead of absolute cost. I love the AFX. It sounds as good as any of the tube amps I've had (the Tremoverb was the best of them IMO), and is light years ahead of the other modelers.

So thank you Cliff, for making a unit that works exceptionally well for Steve Vai, Metallica, Animals as Leaders, Scale the Summit, etc., but also works exceptionally well for your run of the mill, average player like myself.

- Kevin

 

[dpeterson]

Looking way back to when fractal just started, I always thought it was funny how slow pro's were to get on the bandwagon. Took years. Some of the old ad's in the magazines crack me up now.

 

[Shenks]

Very interesting post and informative too...

Whilst I have yet to hit the plastic and purchase and Axe FX because I have to wait until I've finished building my music/studio room (or man cave as my wife calls it), I have already learnt a helluva lot about this magic box of tricks from the forum. As a gigging musician I can't wait to explore (or is that explode) all these tones in a live environment... my appetite is well and truly whetted!

My first ever modeller (if you can call it that) was a Yamaha Rex 50 which was many, many years ago, followed by a Yamaha FX500, follow by a Boss ME-6, and then a Boss GT-8 and then I reverted back to stompboxes because I was frustrated with the 'digitalness'... somehow I don't see that being a problem with the Axe FX.

So, to the OP, thanks for your review and your perspective which make me even more certain I have made the correct choice for my next purchase.

 

[Steinmetzify]

I feel the same way you do, OP.....I've never owned a modeler where the presets were usable right out of the box. That blew me out of the water...got it, set it up, expected to have to sit there and tweak all day, and I spent 12 hours playing the first day, only breaking to eat and smoke. I've never played guitar that long in my life...my wife came in a few times and asked if I was ok....the only response she got was a giant pinch harmonic and my 'guitar face' on a big ass bend.

Glad you're enjoying it, man....when you're ready for more plug and play action, check out Fremen's presets; that stuff is AMAZING and his patches are my main rhythm and lead presets for the last few months, from everything from blues on my strat to monster metal on my 8 string.

 

[louyseiz]

I may be a little bit more experienced than you, but I'm very far from being a good player anyway. And I fall into what you describe as well.
Was tired of trading gear, even if I had good findings (Pigtronix, Electro-Harmonix to name a few), it takes energy to learn them all, and change signal paths. With the Axe, life got easier. I've played with it for more than a month now, started to build tones for my band, but still haven't practiced with it. Really looking forward to crank the volume up with it!

 

[Sleestak]

Great post.

I've been a professional musician for 30+ years, and the AxeFX has (1) made me enjoy my practice time even more, and (2) has made me a better player. The first statement is easy to understand; the AxeFX sounds good, and inspires my practice time. It's fun to just goof off with the AxeFX.

The second statement is a more serious assertion, and I mean it honestly. The AxeFX represents the signal chain / amps / cabinets very realistically. Perhaps *shockingly* realistically for users accustomed to budget guitar processing. Some processors use super-saturated, over-compressed signal chains specifically created to hide sloppy playing ("ooh! listen to how great I sound through this thing!"). Users become addicted to those heavily processed tones, and wind up practicing in some bad habits. I've had students that just can't stand to play with a more realistic tone because they are dependent on high compression and high gain to smooth out their uneven playing. I'm not saying those tones aren't cool. I have a rock and roll heart, and love huge modern rock tones. I'm just saying those super high gain sounds can actually cause a player to develop habits that get in the way of developing better speed / advanced techniques. Of course, you can create those kinds of sounds with the AxeFX if you want to, but it also excels at creating transparent, dimensional guitar tones that reveal every nuance in your playing. That means uneven dynamics, poor articulation, or other mechanical issues will not be hidden. More importantly, it means GOOD techniques will shine, and you'll develop a bigger vocabulary for self-expression! The AxeFX, by virtue of being such a realistic modeling system, rewards the development of nuanced playing. And that's what I'm saying : this magical machine will help you develop into a better player.

I ordered my AxeFX and MFC-101 in early 2013. Those units arrived, and I had one week to become familiar with the system before packing up and hitting the road for a tour! I had been using a Boogie Lonestar, and a big board full of boutique pedals. I made the decision to leave that familiar system behind, and plunge in. The AxeFX took a little getting accustomed to, but by the time we had done a few shows, I was very comfortable with the platform. I've posted elsewhere on this forum to describe my experiences with the AxeFX onstage and in the studio, so I'll just share this here : I can't count the number of times that a front-of-house engineer has approached me after a show and said "that was the best guitar tone I've ever had at the board". I like to believe I'm responsible for part of that But I know the AxeFX is what enables me to realize the tones I hear in my head. It makes me better at delivering music.

So yes. It's not just for pros, but before you know it, you might find yourself on the path to becoming one

 

[Deadpool_25]

6 month update. My playing is a little better because I practice more. Why? Because the Axe FX is friggin awesome.

Recently I've pretty much "completed" my rig. I added a Matrix GT1000FX and a Mesa 2x12 Rectifier cab. Holy shiznit it's amazeballs. Seriously. Low or high volume it sounds great. The Matrix power amp pairs incredibly well with the Axe. It provides nice clean power and allows the Axe to do its job of modeling tube power amps.

I finally feel like I have all those amps at my fingertips--as if I bought them and brought them home.

I understand wanting to use IRs, especially for recording, but I love just dealing with a single awesome cab.

I love my Axe FX.

 

[Davesjourney]

Great post.

I've been playing (with the same goddamn 3 guys for over 25 years!) for years. I kinda stagnated with my last rig (Vetta) for a while as it was always in our rehearsal space and I only played it when we ran through our set. I now have the Axe in a rack at home and take to the rehearsal room whenever we practice. At home it's plugged into some little Yamaha MS5 monitors and am playing every day and just so inspired by the tones and the effects - god, the effects!!! Yes, it's expensive but for that, you get more amps than you know what to do with. The choice of gazillions of cabs/speakers/mics plus THE best effects I've ever heard. Oh yeah, then the lovely folk at FAS provide free updates and Firmware with additional amp models.

Best thing I have ever bought. No question.

 

[Deadpool_25]

Update:

TLDR: Still F***ing awesome.

After building my AFX rig (XL+, MFC, pair of EV-1s, Matrix GT1000FX, pair of Mesa 2x12 cabs...this is all for home use mind you), I got the itch to build a more traditional amp/pedal rig.

I put together a pretty sweet rig IMO. The amp is a Mesa Mark V:25. I run it through a 1x12 Recto slant cab and a GigRig G2 with a bunch of great pedals. It truly is an awesome and amazingly flexible rig (The GigRig G2 is no joke btw; amazing piece of gear).

I was loving the V:25 rig. The V:25 rig can do anything I ask it to, from crystal clear cleans, to warm cleans, to any level of crunch, or any level of high gain.

After a few months, I went back and plugged into my AFX again. I was reminded just how insanely awesome and flexible the AFX is. Not only can it do all the same general types of tones, but it can do a vast variety of tones within each of those general types. And the AFX can do it all in just a few patches (one patch if wanted). With the V:25, I might need a little bit of knob turning or mode switching, but on the AFX I can have *anything* I want at the click of one footswitch.

I'm a big Adam Jones fan and decided to build an "Adam Jones" patch on the AFX. I took about 20 - 30 minutes to build and tweak it in Axe Edit. With a VH4 blue Ch3, a 100W Superlead Plexi, and a few effects I feel like I have a passable Tool tone on my LP. No tweaks outside of the amps' basic controls (and speaker pages for my cabinets). Does it sound exactly like Jones' tones? I don't know...I doubt it, though I suspect with a few tweaks and with Adam playing through it, it *could* sound like that. It doesn't matterthough. It sounds fantastic on its own merit.

The flexibility and sound quality of the AFX unit is mind blowing, and that's before you even bother getting into any of the advanced parameters, which I really haven't felt the need to tweak.

I continue to love and be amazed by this unit. Thank you Fractal.

 

[MysticTR1]

TL; DR: Axe FX is awesome for pros and it's good for even lower intermediate players too.

Let's just get this out of the way. I pretty much suck at guitar. I can noodle through a few scales. I can play a few chords. I went to a guitar teacher a couple years ago and he asked me to play a few chords. I got through them without many issues, though I had to think for a second when he asked me to play an F chord. I don't spend as much time practicing as I should. With all that said, I've wanted to learn to play, and play well, for around 30 years.

I often take little breaks from learning/playing/practicing in order to pursue other hobbies. Then I get inspired by a song or by going to a concert. I get into it again for a few weeks, and then taper off. Rinse repeat. I also like to buy equipment. I've been through a LOT of it over the years. A used Ibanez Destroyer II (cream with black zebra stripes?) with a Floyd Rose was my first guitar back in about '85--I didn't even have an amp. I sold it to a friend not long after getting it. Since then I've had and sold numerous guitars, probably around 20. I've had a number of amps/modelers including a Line 6 AX212, Super Reverb, Blues Jr., Peavey Vyper 60, Marshal JVM410, Mesa Dual-Rec Tremoverb, Mesa Mark IV, Pod HD500, Pod X3 Live, Pod Bean, and many more. The point is, I was always searching for quick and easy tone. What I really needed was to practice more. Obviously.

What I was really looking for was a simple solution that would help inspire me to play more. I wanted to be able to quickly dial in a decent blues tone, when practicing along with a blues lesson (I have plenty of those too). I wanted to dial up a nice rhythm or lead tone when practicing some rock riffs/licks. I also wanted something that sounded good at both lower and higher volumes. Honestly, the POD HD500 was in the ballpark, but the presets sucked for the most part and I found myself tweaking more than practicing...and tweaking to make my shitty playing sound less shitty, wasn't inspiring.

On another forum, I saw talk of "the only modeler worth a damn" which was the Axe FX. I figured it was way out of my price range. Considering all the other money spent, I suppose it wasn't, but regardless it seemed prohibitively expensive. I finally found myself in a financial situation where I could go ahead and get one, so I ordered the Axe FX II XL+.

I read through the quick start manual, but I really didn't need to. I fired it up, plugged in my guitar and headphones, and was instantly rewarded by a crapload of excellent presets that I could happily just load up and start practicing with. And all of them sounded amazing. I have a background in sound-quality car audio systems and have a decent ability to tell high quality audio when I hear it. The Fractal unit sounds VERY high quality. It is also surprisingly easy to use, even without Axe Edit. I could delve much deeper than I have so far, but I haven't needed to yet.

After using the headphones for a couple of days, I decided to try a pseudo-Tyler Grund setup, running the AFX through a home receiver and into some home stereo speakers (Bose 301s in this case). It still sounded decent though tweaks needed to be made. That setup was clearly not ideal for me, but I thought it might work. On the advice of a few forum members I decided to get a pair of monitors. I'd originally looked at the KRK Rokits (had a pair back when I had the HD500 and returned them), but a few others were recommended, including Yamaha. I listened to both the Rokit's and the Yamahas, and a few others, in GC and ended up buying the Yamaha H7s. They sound amazing.

In no time at all, I had the AFX, MacBook, and monitors hooked up and I was playing along to songs/jam tracks. I had a huge smile on my face. I can't wait to get home from work to play some more. That's inspiration.

One problem for me as an intermediate is that I get overloaded by inspiration. Bonamassa uses Marshalls and Fender/Dumble amps? I want to try those. Mayer uses Two-Rocks? Wouldn't mind checking out those too. Gary Clark Jr. uses a Vibro King? Yep, I want to try that too. Wait, a bunch of metal guys are using 6105s? Mesas? Petrucci? Hendrix? Etc. Well, I can try out all those amps and many more on my AFX, along with tons of amazing effects. I may never dial up their exact tones (since I don't have a dial on my skills/fingers) but I can easily get in the ballpark.

The bottom line is that the Axe FX isn't just for players who are already great. I think it can also be excellent for players who are still intermediate but who can afford a top-notch piece of equipment. And it's not really even very expensive...not when you consider VALUE instead of absolute cost. I love the AFX. It sounds as good as any of the tube amps I've had (the Tremoverb was the best of them IMO), and is light years ahead of the other modelers.

So thank you Cliff, for making a unit that works exceptionally well for Steve Vai, Metallica, Animals as Leaders, Scale the Summit, etc., but also works exceptionally well for your run of the mill, average player like myself.

- Kevin

Great post!!!!! I really enjoyed it, now I really can't wait for the Ax8!

 

[MysticTR1]

TL; DR: Axe FX is awesome for pros and it's good for even lower intermediate players too.

Let's just get this out of the way. I pretty much suck at guitar. I can noodle through a few scales. I can play a few chords. I went to a guitar teacher a couple years ago and he asked me to play a few chords. I got through them without many issues, though I had to think for a second when he asked me to play an F chord. I don't spend as much time practicing as I should. With all that said, I've wanted to learn to play, and play well, for around 30 years.

I often take little breaks from learning/playing/practicing in order to pursue other hobbies. Then I get inspired by a song or by going to a concert. I get into it again for a few weeks, and then taper off. Rinse repeat. I also like to buy equipment. I've been through a LOT of it over the years. A used Ibanez Destroyer II (cream with black zebra stripes?) with a Floyd Rose was my first guitar back in about '85--I didn't even have an amp. I sold it to a friend not long after getting it. Since then I've had and sold numerous guitars, probably around 20. I've had a number of amps/modelers including a Line 6 AX212, Super Reverb, Blues Jr., Peavey Vyper 60, Marshal JVM410, Mesa Dual-Rec Tremoverb, Mesa Mark IV, Pod HD500, Pod X3 Live, Pod Bean, and many more. The point is, I was always searching for quick and easy tone. What I really needed was to practice more. Obviously.

What I was really looking for was a simple solution that would help inspire me to play more. I wanted to be able to quickly dial in a decent blues tone, when practicing along with a blues lesson (I have plenty of those too). I wanted to dial up a nice rhythm or lead tone when practicing some rock riffs/licks. I also wanted something that sounded good at both lower and higher volumes. Honestly, the POD HD500 was in the ballpark, but the presets sucked for the most part and I found myself tweaking more than practicing...and tweaking to make my shitty playing sound less shitty, wasn't inspiring.

On another forum, I saw talk of "the only modeler worth a damn" which was the Axe FX. I figured it was way out of my price range. Considering all the other money spent, I suppose it wasn't, but regardless it seemed prohibitively expensive. I finally found myself in a financial situation where I could go ahead and get one, so I ordered the Axe FX II XL+.

I read through the quick start manual, but I really didn't need to. I fired it up, plugged in my guitar and headphones, and was instantly rewarded by a crapload of excellent presets that I could happily just load up and start practicing with. And all of them sounded amazing. I have a background in sound-quality car audio systems and have a decent ability to tell high quality audio when I hear it. The Fractal unit sounds VERY high quality. It is also surprisingly easy to use, even without Axe Edit. I could delve much deeper than I have so far, but I haven't needed to yet.

After using the headphones for a couple of days, I decided to try a pseudo-Tyler Grund setup, running the AFX through a home receiver and into some home stereo speakers (Bose 301s in this case). It still sounded decent though tweaks needed to be made. That setup was clearly not ideal for me, but I thought it might work. On the advice of a few forum members I decided to get a pair of monitors. I'd originally looked at the KRK Rokits (had a pair back when I had the HD500 and returned them), but a few others were recommended, including Yamaha. I listened to both the Rokit's and the Yamahas, and a few others, in GC and ended up buying the Yamaha H7s. They sound amazing.

In no time at all, I had the AFX, MacBook, and monitors hooked up and I was playing along to songs/jam tracks. I had a huge smile on my face. I can't wait to get home from work to play some more. That's inspiration.

One problem for me as an intermediate is that I get overloaded by inspiration. Bonamassa uses Marshalls and Fender/Dumble amps? I want to try those. Mayer uses Two-Rocks? Wouldn't mind checking out those too. Gary Clark Jr. uses a Vibro King? Yep, I want to try that too. Wait, a bunch of metal guys are using 6105s? Mesas? Petrucci? Hendrix? Etc. Well, I can try out all those amps and many more on my AFX, along with tons of amazing effects. I may never dial up their exact tones (since I don't have a dial on my skills/fingers) but I can easily get in the ballpark.

The bottom line is that the Axe FX isn't just for players who are already great. I think it can also be excellent for players who are still intermediate but who can afford a top-notch piece of equipment. And it's not really even very expensive...not when you consider VALUE instead of absolute cost. I love the AFX. It sounds as good as any of the tube amps I've had (the Tremoverb was the best of them IMO), and is light years ahead of the other modelers.

So thank you Cliff, for making a unit that works exceptionally well for Steve Vai, Metallica, Animals as Leaders, Scale the Summit, etc., but also works exceptionally well for your run of the mill, average player like myself.

- Kevin

Great post!!!!! I really enjoyed it, now I really can't wait for the Ax8!