Solarfire
Experienced
Bear with me here, advanced technical English is not native to me. I’ve had my Axe-FX II for about 2 months now and wanted to share my personal experience so that others seeking info’s/reviews (like I was) to justify spending so much money on a guitar processor. Especially us EU people who are coughing up about 22% (customs, VAT,shipping) more for the Axe than people in the US.
Well it was a long rocky winding road to here. Anyway.. I’ve been a tone hunter for the better part of 40+ years now, always looking for that ultimate piece of equipment which has it all, including that “F#*k yeah.. There it is!!” sound and feel. I’m electronics and software engineer and I design/build custom hand wired tube amps on the side, so that really helps in understanding the advanced parameters and what to expect from each. My last build was a 2 channel (stereo) Plexi based amp with separate switchable tube/silicon rectifiers, separate FX loops, separate switchable tone stack characters. All that work just to realize my anal vision of MY, commercially unavailable sound. I’ve been thru a dozen modelers (under others, diverse Line 6, including POD X3 Pro), which all but one (Vox Tone Lab SE for the low level living room play) found their way to eBay. I also looked at the Kemper before going with the Axe but it was too limited in terms of versatility and sound creation from scratch in comparison to the Axe. It’s a great tool if you just want copy existing sounds but unfortunately my sound was in my head so maybe if they can ever do sound profiling via brain waves then I may consider giving it a try.
I can understand that the majority of axe users will probably be overwhelmed by the in-depth-parameters available if they don’t have the technical inclination to understand what each does. For me it’s a revelation and inspiration which revitalized my playing from a couple hours a week to many hours a day. Which raises the question of “Cliff…where the hell were you 20+ years ago?”
The biggest factor for me, besides the tone, is the feel and response to volume/tone control, pick attack and articulation. My tone(s) majorly depend on how the amp/model reacts to my play and the Axe delivers. I play the bridge pickup 99% of the time so the pickup also has to be very versatile and the amp/Axe have to underline what I’m doing in terms of sound shaping on the guitar with my hands. The sound cleans up excellent with the volume control and/or pick attack without getting muddy or losing that tube like chime. I could go on and on but this is getting biblical as is so I’ll save you all the rest.
Bottom line:
Excellent effects, sounds, feel, versatility, support and community here on the forum. Looking forward to future software and hardware updates. Thanks to Cliff and the Fractal team, keep up the excellent work.
Cheers!
Well it was a long rocky winding road to here. Anyway.. I’ve been a tone hunter for the better part of 40+ years now, always looking for that ultimate piece of equipment which has it all, including that “F#*k yeah.. There it is!!” sound and feel. I’m electronics and software engineer and I design/build custom hand wired tube amps on the side, so that really helps in understanding the advanced parameters and what to expect from each. My last build was a 2 channel (stereo) Plexi based amp with separate switchable tube/silicon rectifiers, separate FX loops, separate switchable tone stack characters. All that work just to realize my anal vision of MY, commercially unavailable sound. I’ve been thru a dozen modelers (under others, diverse Line 6, including POD X3 Pro), which all but one (Vox Tone Lab SE for the low level living room play) found their way to eBay. I also looked at the Kemper before going with the Axe but it was too limited in terms of versatility and sound creation from scratch in comparison to the Axe. It’s a great tool if you just want copy existing sounds but unfortunately my sound was in my head so maybe if they can ever do sound profiling via brain waves then I may consider giving it a try.
I can understand that the majority of axe users will probably be overwhelmed by the in-depth-parameters available if they don’t have the technical inclination to understand what each does. For me it’s a revelation and inspiration which revitalized my playing from a couple hours a week to many hours a day. Which raises the question of “Cliff…where the hell were you 20+ years ago?”
The biggest factor for me, besides the tone, is the feel and response to volume/tone control, pick attack and articulation. My tone(s) majorly depend on how the amp/model reacts to my play and the Axe delivers. I play the bridge pickup 99% of the time so the pickup also has to be very versatile and the amp/Axe have to underline what I’m doing in terms of sound shaping on the guitar with my hands. The sound cleans up excellent with the volume control and/or pick attack without getting muddy or losing that tube like chime. I could go on and on but this is getting biblical as is so I’ll save you all the rest.
Bottom line:
Excellent effects, sounds, feel, versatility, support and community here on the forum. Looking forward to future software and hardware updates. Thanks to Cliff and the Fractal team, keep up the excellent work.
Cheers!
