Big wave of buyer's remorse.....help calm me down.

rich2k4

Inspired
Pulled the trigger on a XL+ a couple days ago. Hasn't even gotten here yet and I am already feeling a huge wave of buyer's remorse. People may be familiar with my past posts about having a hard time deciding between an Ax8 and a Axe Fx 2.

I ordered the XL+ and a rack case for it, but now have been overcome with a wave of the following thoughts:

"Maybe the Ax8 would have been the smarter choice. Unit, Interface, and Monitors for the same price as a XL+"

"But the Axe Fx would give me those awesome Tyler Grund SRV tones."

"Will I really use the dual amps?"

"But I won't have to worry about CPU trouble with the Axe"

"Although my tones are pretty basic.....Amp, Cab, Delays, Reverb. Extra modulation as needed."

"But the Axe would let me play around more, with complicated chains....Would allow me to explore and make wild sounds."

"And the Axe Fx has tone matching which can be useful"

"It's better to buy the best you can afford....better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it..."

"But its sooooo expensive.....I feel like besides the Tyler Grund presets, I'd use chains that an Ax8 could easily handle."

"But who knows about what I'd like to try in the future....I could literally recreate any rig with an XL+"


Constant struggle....
 
I think you made the right choice. True, it is expensive now, but it's not like buying a smartphone or a computer. Any model of Axe-FX II will be still be rockin' decades from now. They don't slow down like computers do, and the DSP power is a non-issue, since audio requirements are not constantly advancing like general computing requirements. Any no-compromise device like this will hold its value. Look around on sites like Huge Racks Inc. or Gear Slutz, where people are still using PCM 70s, PCM 42s, and H3000 Harmonizers from the early 80s. This is a lifetime investment, and when seen through that lens, IMO it's a pretty good deal, especially considering all the free updates.

Also I think there's something to be said for buying a piece of equipment like this that is really more gear than you need, because it leaves you room to grow. Maybe you won't use a lot of the features now, but in a year or two or three, maybe you will have gone in new directions and you'll want additional routing options, CPU overhead, etc. This way you won't have to buy new stuff and change your rig around in the future to accommodate changing tastes.
 
You'll be stoked with the AF2, and it's future-proof (it's better to have options and not need to use them than vice versa).

Sure, maybe you'd have been fine with the AX8, but maybe you'd have been fine with an L6 HD500... then a little Zoom pedal... etc. That's a rabbit-hole, and "need" doesn't really apply in the world of guitar gear :D

In short: give it a while with the AF2. It really is the pinnacle of guitar amps, cabs (IRs), and effects. If you love what you have and after a few months you've never even tried to use more than a really basic preset, then sell it on and buy an AX8.

But if you're not struggling to eat after buying the AF2, I'd keep it... Treat yourself :)

EDIT: To follow-on... I bought the 2, despite being a bedroom player who usually uses a single amp + cab. Truth be told I could make do with cheap plug-ins for 90% of my playing. But after thoroughly loving my tones the last three years, never being disappointed, and learning a lot about my playing and the amps from the Axe+forum... I regret nothing about the purchase. I spent ~$2,100 AUD, which would get me a single nice amp over here, maybe a matching cab.

You've got incredible value for money, and you're at the natural stage of a purchase - you've lost the money but not got the fun yet! Just relax man. You'll thank yourself for years to come for riding this out :)
 
Why not get both! Axe-Fx for the studio and AX8 for the road!

Seriously though, if you have the money to spend and you want to get creative with your patches and have the best options for routing and effects, the full-blown Axe-Fx is the way to go. If you want an all-in-one solution with enough juice for an Amp+Cab and a generous handful of useful effects for a practical, workhorse type setup then the AX8 is an incredible choice.

The best way I've heard it described is that the Axe-Fx is the ultimate all-in-one studio tool for guitarists that also happens to work very well in live situations, while the AX8 is the ultimate all-in-one live tool for guitarists that also happens to work very well in the studio. You won't go wrong either way.

I think one of the more useful questions you can ask yourself to help you decide is probably something like "do I value being able to make big involved patches full of complex routing and crazy combinations of multiple amps and effects for wild sounds, or do I put more value into having an extremely portable and easy to use solution with always available on-the-fly amp tweakability and patches that have plenty of room for whatever effects the vast majority of guitarists use, but not quite enough to go full retard, just regular retard?"
 
In my opinion, I think you made the absolute best choice. There are AX8 users who've indeed hit the CPU ceiling. You may not use everything in the XL+ arsenal immediately, but it's great to know you've got it at your disposal when you need it. And tone matching is awesome. It's definitely something I think anyone who's trying to nail a certain tone should have at their disposal. You may not use dual amps all the time, but you don't have to worry about not having it if and when you find a killer tone that requires it. Yes, a lot of people consider the XL+ an expensive unit, but think of it this way. You've got the biggest expense out of the way now and purchased one of the best modelers money can buy. You can always add the rest later. That said, you do have a couple of weeks to try it. If it feels like overkill, return it.
 
When you have been sitting there noodling for what you perceived to be about 30 minutes only to look at the clock and realize it was two and a half hours you will know. :)

Congrats and enjoy!
 
You'll love it! Don't worry
The only regret you will have it how long you took to decide. ;-)
Thanks
Pauly

Pulled the trigger on a XL+ a couple days ago. Hasn't even gotten here yet and I am already feeling a huge wave of buyer's remorse. People may be familiar with my past posts about having a hard time deciding between an Ax8 and a Axe Fx 2.

I ordered the XL+ and a rack case for it, but now have been overcome with a wave of the following thoughts:

"Maybe the Ax8 would have been the smarter choice. Unit, Interface, and Monitors for the same price as a XL+"

"But the Axe Fx would give me those awesome Tyler Grund SRV tones."

"Will I really use the dual amps?"

"But I won't have to worry about CPU trouble with the Axe"

"Although my tones are pretty basic.....Amp, Cab, Delays, Reverb. Extra modulation as needed."

"But the Axe would let me play around more, with complicated chains....Would allow me to explore and make wild sounds."

"And the Axe Fx has tone matching which can be useful"

"It's better to buy the best you can afford....better to have it and not need it, than to need it

"But who knows about what I'd like to try in the future....I could literally recreate any rig with an XL+"


Constant struggle....
 
I agree with all of the above.... remorse is a fleeting emotion when it comes to purchasing an Axe FX XL+

Actually, the only remorse I ever had was not jumping in and making my purchase earlier.
 
Best choice - you would regrett it for the options Cliff will come up with in the future and you would need this addidional CPU for it!
 
I was feeling similar remorse while waiting for the XL+ to arrive but yesterday I played 3 presets for 2.5 hours in my first sit down with the unit and thought a 1/2 hr went by. Hang in there, it's well worth the investment!
 
All this remorse over a product you haven't even touched or felt or heard yet. You've been beating yourself up since long before you bought anything. At this point, there is no decision that could have made you happy. I can't help you with that, as it's a self-inflicted personal struggle.

When you receive it, play it for a week. You'll enjoy the hell out of it. Play it for a few more days, then decide whether to keep it.

At which point you have the option of buying something else, regretting it, returning it, and repeating the pattern until you wake up and realize that at least one of those purchases was well worth it. :)
 
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as long as your buyers remorse isn't because you don't really have the money to spend you'll be ok. i have both and although most of the time my presets are the meat & potatoes type I usually have to compromise something to recreate them in the ax8. if you start adding an h9 to free up some cpu, getting a pedal type wireless unit and mounting that (along with a couple expression pedals) to a pedalboard and a roadcase, i don't think it's any easier to transport and setup than my AxeFx rig. So enjoy, once it arrives your concerns will be out the window!
 
I learned the hard way when I first started playing some 30 years ago, it would have ALWAYS been smarter and much CHEAPER in the long run to buy the best possible piece of gear I could. If I think about all the cheaper stuff I bought that didn't hold any value over time or that I eventually grew out of musically and ended up having to spend more money to upgrade/replace and all the possible great & cool gear I could have collected along the way in those years, it's definitely an, "if I only knew then what I know now," things.
 
I went through EXACTLY the same agonizing thought process. I was on the AX8 wait list, and during the wait I began to second guess myself, and finally decided to go with the XL+. I am SO GLAD I did! Even though I couldn't imagine using two amps, I soon found there are some advantages to having that capability. I also concluded that having the additional processing power gave me confidence that I could enjoy all the new features and firmware updates for many years to come. NO REGRETS HERE.
 
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