No offense taken, neither your opinion nor any other. Everyone is more than welcome to hold any opinion they choose and express it freely. Whether or not I agree or not is of no consequence and it's not any pissing contest with me. I am fine with anyone disagreeing with me. I do ask folks to hold their opinions at bay about what the II is or isn't until they have tried one. That's the real acid test. I think a lot of folks that think I am stark raving mad will suddenly think, '...whoa... he's not crazy after all!'
I've always been very upfront about the negatives with the first series of Axe-FX's. Lack of knobs, lack of USB, lack of headphones, substantial learning curve, and so on. From my earliest posts on, I never shied away from such discussions here and elsewhere.
I am fully aware of the perception some folks hang on me; but a rabid lap dog kool-aid drinking fan boi I am really not. I just shoot straight, call it like I see it (hear it) and back up what I say with context and real life experience. Nothing more or less. Regarding the Gen1 Axe-FX; have I always felt the positives fully outshined the negatives? Yes I have. And I have never backed off that opinion nor will I.
The response and actual timbre of the II is indeed far beyond what the Gen1 boxes can do. The response of the high end, the more 3D sensation of the tone, and the dynamics, bloom and ease of dialing tones is leaps and bounds beyond what the Axe-FX Gen1 can do. Add in the interface improvements - it is indeed a carefully thought out, obvious nod to user input over the past years. It's like going from a very workable farm horse to a thoroughbred - everything is seemingly the same from the outside, but once you get in the saddle, you had better have a firm hold on the stirrups. This thing has incredible response to your input. The touch response is at *least* as good as the finest amps I've ever owned and/or used. And I've owned some very serious big boy amps.
This box is a massive evolutionary step into the future. That's no bullshit either. Wait till you try this box yourself for 5 minutes and then you tell me if I'm loony or not. Hint: I am not.
