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

claxor said:
That's very cool, but I'm concerned... I really am not a fan of the "warts and all" aspect with amps. I love the slick, produced, high gains on records. If the Axe 2 can sound MORE slick and studio produced than the Ultra... then I'm really excited.

I NEED TO HEAR MARK DAY PLAY SOME DOKKEN/WHITESNAKE/QUEENRYCHE/ETC. ON THE AXE 2!!!!! :D
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Haha, same here. Mark's VH vids were what converted me to the original axe and made me buy. I remember seeing his Eruption vid and picking my jaw up off the floor.

That clip sounded great Scott. For how raw those tones were, they sounded excellent. Raw isn't really my bag, though. I tend to favor tones a little wetter sounding, and I love me some gain too. Any chance you can dial in a higher gain reverby monster to satisfy those of us with the thirst for those kinds of tones? :mrgreen
 
Weaves87 said:
Haha, same here. Mark's VH vids were what converted me to the original axe and made me buy. I remember seeing his Eruption vid and picking my jaw up off the floor.

That clip sounded great Scott. For how raw those tones were, they sounded excellent. Raw isn't really my bag, though. I tend to favor tones a little wetter sounding, and I love me some gain too. Any chance you can dial in a higher gain reverby monster to satisfy those of us with the thirst for those kinds of tones? :mrgreen
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Indeed, my good man! Indeed!
 
Armin said:
Sounds simply great!
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Yesterday I listened via my Computer speakers - today I connected it to the Adam speakers I used for the AxeFx Ultra - WOW - the new AxeFx II sounds not just great - it sounds KILLER!

The FLAC clip is very good to hear how the Axe reacts - well done!
 
I've always loved my Ultra since about day 2 (after the learning curve was conquered for the superb high gain tone).

When I finally had a chance to do a stage-volume comparison of my VHT vs the Freyette model in the Axe.. I came to the realization that the Axe was about 80% there for the total package. The tone was nearly identical with some trial an error... but feel was all wrong. It just couldn't get that "fire breathing monster" vibe that my VHT does so well.

So really.. I am hoping that firmware 11 on the Ultra gives it that little extra oomph and that the new progressions the Axe-II will make in the future will solve it further still. Hopefully we can get some fairly definitive opinions from the people jamming on them now.
 
Mark should be on the free goodies list for Fractal, Suhr, and CAE. I'm sure he's sold more stuff for them via youtube and forums than all the other reviewers combined. In fact, I'm quite surprised Fractal did not send him a beta unit.
MoreK said:
+1 Mark's clips convinced me quite thoroughly when I was planning to purchase Ultra.
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yek said:
And so it was...
That on the Third Day after the announcement of the mighty Axe-Fx "The Second"
Mark Day created clips
And God saw and heard everything that Mark had made, and behold, it was very good
Although there was a little too much Gain
So God said: "Let there be less Gain"
And there was less Gain.
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LOL!
 
claxor said:
That's very cool, but I'm concerned... I really am not a fan of the "warts and all" aspect with amps. I love the slick, produced, high gains on records. If the Axe 2 can sound MORE slick and studio produced than the Ultra... then I'm really excited.

I NEED TO HEAR MARK DAY PLAY SOME DOKKEN/WHITESNAKE/QUEENRYCHE/ETC. ON THE AXE 2!!!!! :D
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I'm in quite the opposite position. Even though I realize Mark's clips are great for you guys, I just don't like them (Sorry, Mark :eek:ops )

The good thing is: With the Axe-FX (Standard/Ultra/II), both you and I can be satisfied 8)
 
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Yeah, Mark Day's clips are what convinced me to buy my Ultra, too... ( there can never be TOO much gain... )
 
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Mark Day said:
Two posts in a row that you directed at me. I was sure you didn't notice that I pee'd in your coffee this morning ...damn...lol.
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Mark, didn't they teach you in school that you can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time ? :D
 
s0c9 said:
Mark, didn't they teach you in school that you can't please ALL of the people ALL of the time ? :D
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Oh I'm fully aware of that :) trust me..lol. Two posts in a row capture my attention:razz because the gentlemen is trying to make a point, just letting him know point is acknowledged :) Kinda like flirting on the webz ain't it? lol

Mark
 
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Hello, I don't even own any of your products "yet" although I am on this site daily trying to educate myself and saving for a unit...which one I don't know,but what I do know is that just by listening to tracks,watching videos and reading responses from actual users that all three versions are incredible. Everyone that owns a piece of this gear should be happy that they hold the most impressive sound ever. Now, you have the option to go even further should you wish, but if you stick with what you have it's still the pinnacle of tone. No matter which unit I get, I know it's the best and backed by an owner that involves himself. Looking to join this revolution soon.




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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I'm actually really surprised that Mark Day is not a beta tester. We need to start a "Send Mark an AXE FX 2" campaign so he can really put the high-gain models through the wringer... and post some more amazing videos of course!
 
Sidivan said:
We need to start a "Send Mark an AXE FX 2" campaign so he can really put the high-gain models through the wringer... and post some more amazing videos of course!
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Been there done that already.. !!! There was a whole thread dedicated to it. #1 Issue - shipping to CANADA !!
 
Mark Day said:
Two posts in a row that you directed at me. I was sure you didn't notice that I pee'd in your coffee this morning ...damn...lol.


:)



Mark
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Wasn't meant as a stab, Mark. Please go on doing your thing, as it seems to please both yourself and a lot of others!

:)
 
Gytaxor said:
Why is it I can't play any clips from sound cloud? They appear to be there and then they simply don't play and if I try to download, it says internal server error.
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You've probably already figured it out, but if not, try opening in IE. Soundcloud's not working in my Firefox anymore either. FWIW I've tried several blocker whitelist tweaks to no avail.

Best regards,
Vic
 
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