Axe-Fx3 resale value in 10 years

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kobestory

Member
Hi all, I’m considering a transition from FM3 to a Axe FX III. Since it is a heap up in price, I’m wondering about its resell value in say, 10 years from now.

Sure, all modelers get cheaper and cheaper over time and that’s inevitable. But I wonder if the current Fractal sound is close enough to the real thing that, there is not much room for improvement of modelers in general (in what we can hear)? Or did we think similar back in 10 years ago with the FX II, and its market value now are 1/2 of original price.

Interesting in hearing people’s opinions.
 
Honestly? And you don’t want to hear this - I don’t care.

Here’s the justification - I imagine two scenarios:

1. Fractal never release an Axe 4, in which case I’ll have had ten years usage and utter pleasure for a few hundred a year (what maybe the price of a coffee a week?) and I’ll have saved a fortune buying and selling amps/pedals. Assuming the 3 has dropped to zero
2. Fractal release the 4 in 2-3 years and I early adopt that - I lose maybe 1/3 of the 3 price, but again - the pleasure and GAS reduction is worth it.

Just my viewpoint
 
Nobody could answer these questions in this fast-moving time. In three years we could have a Tone Master Pro II, a Fractal FM10 anf FX IIII
and so on. The chips will be faster and so on .... if you wait, the situation will not be better for you , that`s for sure. And there is always a room for improvement.
 
5 years, 10 years doesn't mean much really on its own, certainly there is no directly linear price decline. A friend of mine made the plunge to Fractal in the waning months of the AXE II and as soon as the AXE III was released he felt like his resale value had declined enough that selling and buying the latest model wasn't possible for him.

I've had my Axe III for almost 5 years, and if a new platform was released tomorrow that blows away the III, I would have zero regrets about the purchase. I've had similar utility from the Macs that I have bought, I look at ANY resale value from a 10 year old computer as a plus.
 
just my $0.02, but I am not expecting more than $500, at most, in 10 years. Based on the trends with microprocessor improvements there should be 2 newer generation of chips that could power modelers. Using that increased processing power I just don't see older modelers being desirable. I am not saying that they won't still be good and useful tools.
 
kobestory said:
I’m wondering about its resell value in say, 10 years from now.
Click to expand...

kobestory said:
Or did we think similar back in 10 years ago with the FX II, and its market value now are 1/2 of original price.
Click to expand...
The Axe Fx III has already been out for 5 years. The used price hasn't gone down significantly from the new price.

The Axe Fx II wasn't selling for too much less than it's (new) price until the Axe Fx III was released.

The Axe Fx III isn't going to sound worse if a new unit is released... And it's pretty stellar already.

You can infer what you want from that information.
 
Hardware is hardware — in this case, a fast computer and nice A/D converters in a fancy box. I only bought it to run Cliff’s world-leading codework (which just keeps getting better and better) and THAT’S what I’m paying for.

When my AFX3 no longer runs his latest/greatest code I’ll let my ears be my guide insofar as whether or not a hardware change needs to be made. What my current “box” will be worth then is very difficult to say — were I smart enough to know I’d be a really wealthy investment guru and money wouldn’t matter…
 
Digital modeling units are tools, not investments. There's no telling what kind of stuff will be here 10 years from now so it's kinda riduclous to even think that way. But if you must, just assume resale value 10 years from now will be half as much, if not less.

Also, buy a used unit if this kind of thing is bugging you that much. That way, when a new unit comes out, the hit to resale value wont feel as bad.
 
Buy it for what it can do for you today.

I only have an Axe III, and have no need for a different version. But if say, I had gotten the FM3 first, then got an Axe, and was concerned at all about resale values, I'd simply get rid of the FM, sooner rather than later, as opposed to selling the Axe at some point in the future.

And as great as the Axe is right now, I seriously doubt I'll ever sell it. So personally, I just don't care about the resale aspects.
 
If the Axe fx II is anything to go off of, I would say around 1k or so in 10 years? At that point the axe fx III will be 14 years old I think.
 
Good to hear thoughts from all of you guys. Owning the FM3 I do agree that the current Fractal sound is worth the price. It sounds good to me, to the point that I don’t know if I can be convinced something else can sound any better.
 
I have 10 guitars, and most of them cost more than my FX3, and a couple were more than the FX3 and FM3 combined and, oddly, I never once wondered what they’d be worth in 10 years.

I didn’t buy this gear as a financial investment, there are many better ones out there, but these are an investment in myself. I will say that the rate of improvement in functionality and quality of sound we have because of the steady stream of firmware updates keeps raising the value of the FAS modelers, and is unmatched by their competitors.
 
kobestory said:
Sure, all modelers get cheaper and cheaper over time and that’s inevitable.
Click to expand...
That’s not quite how the computing world works. While chips have reduced prices over time, there are also improvements in processing power and the software grows to be more capable which requires that power. So, the manufacturers have pricing strata and the systems that exist in those price ranges become more powerful and are able to do more.

The current generation of processors used by Fractal will eventually be replaced by something that can do even more. What will Fractal do with them? We don’t know because we can only dream but I’m sure Fractal is also dreaming and possibly even experimenting because sitting still isn’t a choice in any industry. The company that continually reduces the prices of their products will find themselves not making money eventually.
 
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