Axe II mk 2 --> XL/XL+

C

claxor

Power User
Thinking of upgrading from my Axe II mk 2 to an XL/XL+, but I'm not sure if the XL/XL+ will take my presets. Will the XL/XL+ receive them easily, or is there a problem?

Thanks!
 
the XL/+ will load Mark I/II presets via Axe-Edit. as for FW 9, the XL will ship with much more recent firmware and any sound differences will be because of updates, not the hardware.
 
A couple comments based on my experience a few months back:

If you use global blocks, those settings are stored as part of the system settings. Those are NOT transferred with presets, and you can't copy them between different hardware types.

But, what you can do is go into Axe Edit on your II and save each global block into your block library. Then transfer your presets to the XL+ and load the block settings into each global block and save. You'll have to do this once for each global block, not per preset.

I was able to load my presets directly into the XL+ from a backup with no problem BUT the level on all was about 12dB quieter than on my II.

I spent a couple hours trying to figure out why but came up with nothing.

I then used FracTool (for the first time ever!) and just opened my backup and saved as XL+ format. After loading that, everything was where it needed to be.

I immediately made a nice donation to FracTool creator @AlGrenadine !
 
claxor said:
FW 9, and not Quantum 9, correct?
Click to expand...
My Axe Fx II shipped with FW 9 in 2013... Before the XL was released. I don't think it is available for anything else...

And there were a LOT of changes since then. I believe 20 major version releases, not counting minor ones.

I would encourage you to go to the latest Quantum version... But you will almost certainly have work to do. I think the mix laws were changed in 10, the Drives have all been redone, other major changes have also been made not even considering the incredible number of changes to amp modeling! Actually, I think UltraRes IRs were not even there at FW9...
 
If your seemingly quite happy with the sound of your AxeII rig, running Fw9, and seemingly don't want any of the new amps/features of the newer firmwares, what is the point of upgrading ??

Its going to cost you probably $500 or so on the buy vs sale, and really the main reason I think people want the XL+ is that it has a longer foreseeable future of firmware updates. The II's last update could be who knows when, its been at "end of life" quite a few times already and Cliff always finds a way to still update it... BUT, your happy with FW9, so even if there is Q5 or whatever, and even if the XL can run it, but the II can't, you seeming will still be on FW9, so doesn't seem like it would benefit you
 
lqdsnddist said:
If your seemingly quite happy with the sound of your AxeII rig, running Fw9, and seemingly don't want any of the new amps/features of the newer firmwares, what is the point of upgrading ??

Its going to cost you probably $500 or so on the buy vs sale, and really the main reason I think people want the XL+ is that it has a longer foreseeable future of firmware updates. The II's last update could be who knows when, its been at "end of life" quite a few times already and Cliff always finds a way to still update it... BUT, your happy with FW9, so even if there is Q5 or whatever, and even if the XL can run it, but the II can't, you seeming will still be on FW9, so doesn't seem like it would benefit you
Click to expand...

My reason for considering upgrading was because of the X/Y feature on GEQ and PEQ. Handy, but not a huge gamechanger.
 
lqdsnddist said:
If your seemingly quite happy with the sound of your AxeII rig, running Fw9, and seemingly don't want any of the new amps/features of the newer firmwares, what is the point of upgrading ??...
Click to expand...

FWIW, my primary reason for moving from a Mk II to an XL+ was the additional storage space for presets and IRs. I upgraded before any of the potential "end of" discussions had started fro the Mk II.
 
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