AxeFx II (vs. Ultra) - has anybody actually heard it?

Why are we still talking about this? People bringing up things they can't change is "nonsense." Get over it already. I have...and I've only had my Ultra for 3 months so I'm in the same boat as all the whiners.

And as far as the clips go, they sound great and that's promising. There's no way to truly compare without having them side by side using your own FRFR/Amplifier/Cabinet/PA/ETC. Axe-Fx Ultra to Axe-Fx II is an Apples to Oranges comparison anyway. The hardware and firmware both are different...

Still, Scott, thanks again for the clip. Sounds great.
 
bkrumme said:
Why are we still talking about this? People bringing up things they can't change is "nonsense." Get over it already. I have...and I've only had my Ultra for 3 months so I'm in the same boat as all the whiners..
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This. I have had mine for a month and all the whiners are kinda ruining my excitement by going on and on about it, it's not as big a deal as you are making out and it isn't going to change, for your own sake and mine, get back into the excited about your new toy mode and put this behind you. Can we please just move on.

edit: for full disclosure I moaned a bit for like the first hour so I am guilty of this too but come on.
 
chapelizod said:
The only "nonsense" being that he never said "nobody will be disappointed". He said the countdown "would not be a let down." Don't think anyone would argue that the axe fx II introduction was not worthy of the countdown.
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I know he never said it, but it was repeated as a quote from him over and over in thread(s) he was participating in and he never bothered to clear the air. He could have certainly done so w/o letting the cat out of the bag. The "nonsense" i was speaking of was of the numerous folks that think he actually said it.
 
SketchesOfSilence said:
This. I have had mine for a month and all the whiners are kinda ruining my excitement by going on and on about it, it's not as big a deal as you are making out and it isn't going to change, for your own sake and mine, get back into the excited about your new toy mode and put this behind you. Can we please just move on.

edit: for full disclosure I moaned a bit for like the first hour so I am guilty of this too but come on.
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Amen!! I am in the same boat. Ultra owner for just over a month now.....I must admit I would have preferred things to work out differently for me but that's life, you win some and you loose some, but we are all still winners in the end. Any and all Axe Fx owners should feel very fortunate.

Any possibility a Forum could be started for those who feel they have be wronged and want to vent. That way the rest of us could avoid all the discouraging words popping up on EVERY SINGLE thread.
 
Scott Peterson said:


Very quick, very simple. The mp3 does the dynamics *no* justice.

PRS Custom 22, Axe-FX II direct.

Assorted amp/cabs. Room verb from cab block; slight reverb (2.5% wet) on some of them. Rotary on the first part of the Friedman BE. Spent 20 seconds setting up each tone. (No BS on that).
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Thank you Mr. Peterson!!!!!
 
If you listen closely you'll hear the "swirl" in the AC-30 part. That's another part of G2.
 
FractalAudio said:
If you listen closely you'll hear the "swirl" in the AC-30 part. That's another part of G2.
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It sounds great, though I'm not quite sure what 'swirl' is. :)

I'm curious why it's called G2? I already have G2...
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FractalAudio said:
If you listen closely you'll hear the "swirl" in the AC-30 part. That's another part of G2.
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That's what i said. The sound stays inside the amp and turn. It's like a sustain and it growls.
No modeler do that today even the first Axe-Fx, and it's the real deal.
You've got this really big with old amps and NOS tubes.
 
I liked the dirty and crunch tones but wasn't that much impressed by the cleans--hate to say that, but there was some "plasticky" nuance to them that reminded me of the Line's products. I know, I know, you want to kill me now, but I just couldn't find that little grainy bite once the clean amp is pushed.
 
yek said:
Yup, here too. It's the usability stuff (X/Y, global fx, easy dialing in etc.) that gets me going and wanting the II. I'm already very satisfied with the current amp sim tones.

I hope I don't see too many statements from beta testers etc. like "But now it really sounds for real". It'd feeding the trolls about statements made during the last years, if you understand what I mean.
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+10.

And, if the G2 owners start shouting that it's that much better than the G1 that would really ruin the used market for G1s.
 
Scott Peterson said:
It changes the impedance of the input; different amps and pedals have different impedance loads on their input to load down the pickups/signal offering different feels/responses.
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You mean something like the Eleven Rack? Can I use the impedance of another amp, If I like it for some reason?

Kind regards
Aaen -AKA The GAStronaut :)
 
Scott Peterson said:
Let me do proper clips once I have things actually dialed in.

It is so easy to dial up tones now. I've never found any box/amp/pedal whatever that gives up the goods like this. The dynamics and clarity are stunning. It's like ripe fruit is on a low hanging branch now - ripe, sweet and ready to pick. The sweet spots are massive. It's more expressive than some of the actual amps - folks will go insane huffing and puffing when I say that; but this is exciting and undeniable. The pick attack and response you can change up with the impedance selector with about a dozen choices there and do that per preset. The in the room parameters in the cab block will make you laugh out loud.

It builds on what the Ultra/Standard already did well and goes beyond...

Here's the FLAC file format:
For bmi/mba: http://www.mediafire.com/?bbbxd77al53ime5
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Hey. I said stop it already.

You're ruining resale value here.
 
Dpoirier said:
I don't think that would have been necessary... but I do think it would have gone down easier if nobody had slapped the entire existing user base with highly abrasive statements like "the Standard and Ultra are history". *Especially* in print, on the Internet, and coming from the one-and-only official European distributor for Fractal.

A more politically correct way to introduce the Axe-FX II (without sh!tting on every Std and Ultra in existence) may not have led tho the mass exodus we're seeing.

On that note, I am keeping my Ultra. There's not enough good stuff in the II for me to jump ship (plus, the II only has one pedal input, and my use-model depends on having access to two of them).

EDIT: p.s. some official word from Fractal on whether the existing user base will or will not see any further significant f/w enhancements for Std / Ultra would also go a long way to restore customer confidence (which has now been badly shaken up).
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Listen, guys. The Axe-FX gen1 has improved miles since the introduction. I got in at FW 5.14 and it's a totally different beast by now. But there is a limit to what can be improved. It can't go on for ever like it used to be for the early (and medium) adopters. Cliff started out as a very talented and knowledgeable engineer but has probably had a huge learning curve in the specifics of modeling amps and now all of that has been incorporated into the AxeII. But his learning curve might also be flattening. Chances are that the Axe2 will not see the kind of growth the Gen1 has seen. I'm betting the G2 will not go beyond FW 5.x in its life cycle. And that's being cautious.
 
LMO said:
Scott, I haven't tried to A/B your clip with anything else, but standing alone it sounds very impressive. Do the new features fundamentally change the way you will approach doing patches?
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Scott is the master of fundamentally changing the way he approaches doing patches. He does this every couple of months or so. I'm going to miss those threads on the G1 Axe-FX.
 
FractalAudio said:
An incredible amount of work went into the amp modeling. I spent three years refining the algorithms. Heck it took months just to figure out how to model an output transformer.

The Ultra is a great unit. The Axe-Fx II is better. I wish I could retrofit the new algorithms into the Ultra but they won't fit. My latest modeling algorithms simply need a more powerful platform and that's why I developed the II. I listened to the users and developed a product based on their feedback.

The hardware in the Axe-Fx II is really good. Still using all film caps on the I/O. The D/A converters are now buffered with instrumentation amps for improved S/N when doing the 4CM. The circuit board is controlled impedance with gold-plated pads. The layout is "partitioned" and uses EMI filtering between partitions which achieves an incredibly low noise floor. The self-noise is so low that I can barely measure it with my audio interface.

There is a ton of RAM and FLASH for future expansion. There's a 200K gate FPGA that offloads tasks from the processor. Etc., etc., etc.

The Axe-Fx II is the finest hardware I've ever created in my 25+ years as a designer and I've designed probably over 100 circuit boards in that time.
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Dear god... Cliff this is unfair for GAS. UNFAIR!!!!!!!!!
 
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