Biggest Axe-Fx III surprise?

G

Ghast

Member
I just got my Mk II about a week ago, and I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of creating presets. Last night I was working through the synth block and was surprised at how many cool sounds you could get out of it. This is my first foray into Fractal gear, so I'm really amazed at the completeness of the unit.

Were there any features, blocks, or controls that surprised you most? Maybe some of you veterans can clue me into some hidden gems.
 
The water is so deep, you can dive as far as you want and still have room to roam. I’ve been gigging Axe FXs since the Ultra in 2011, and still am amazed at both what it will do, and the quality with which it does it. That doesn’t even cover the constant updates and upgrades... free.

One of the best maps of the deeps is here: https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Axe-Fx_III

Consider it your “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”

Never use more than two Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster blocks at once...
 
Well, that's hard. Stuffed full of cool effects.

Don't miss the shimmer effect in the plex-delay block and some ambient reverbs.
And modulation available in the delays. Ah, and the compressors are outstanding.

For boosting gain also try the sat switch on ideal but with sat set some lower from 4 to 2 or so (on non MV amps only).

And about the looper. You can go to a different preset and the loop plays on there when a loop block is the new preset. So you can start recording loop with some rhythm, then go the solo preset and solo to your own playing.
 
I’m waiting to get mine (delivery tomorrow) and only reading up on stuff, but I just found out about the custom scales which look awesome and were an unknown feature for me. Leon Todd has a great video which was linked on a TGP thread: Axe-Fx III Custom Scales (...newbie not allowed to post URL).
 
Rick said:
The water is so deep, you can dive as far as you want and still have room to roam. I’ve been gigging Axe FXs since the Ultra in 2011, and still am amazed at both what it will do, and the quality with which it does it. That doesn’t even cover the constant updates and upgrades... free.

One of the best maps of

Consider it your “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”

Never use more than two Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster blocks at once...
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Man, HGttG has been on my "to read" list forever. I've got a copy, just haven't cracked it. Your post is pushing me to it...

Also yeah, the AF3 is unreal. When I decided to abandon my old setup and go digital, I was comparing it to the other stuff on the market and i literally couldn't see how it's a tough decision for some. It's expensive, sure, but its miles ahead of anything else out there.
666was999 said:
Well, that's hard. Stuffed full of cool effects.

Don't miss the shimmer effect in the plex-delay block and some ambient reverbs.
And modulation available in the delays. Ah, and the compressors are outstanding.

For boosting gain also try the sat switch on ideal but with sat set some lower from 4 to 2 or so (on non MV amps only).

And about the looper. You can go to a different preset and the loop plays on there when a loop block is the new preset. So you can start recording loop with some rhythm, then go the solo preset and solo to your own playing.
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I'll try the sat switch some more, haven't bonded with it yet. The compressors really are fantastic though. Loving the JFET.
Overcaster said:
The Grinder preamp boost is really T I G H T for heavier stuff
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I've always avoided signature gear (yes, I'm "that guy"), but there is no denying the the Thordendal amp with the Grinder is huge sounding. So far, it's my go to for metal, but I'm starting to really like the Archean.
royal73 said:
I’m waiting to get mine (delivery tomorrow) and only reading up on stuff, but I just found out about the custom scales which look awesome and were an unknown feature for me. Leon Todd has a great video which was linked on a TGP thread: Axe-Fx III Custom Scales (...newbie not allowed to post URL).
Click to expand...
Yes! Really cool idea. Would be great to assign to a momentary switch and use it for some outside/Holdsworth leads and fills before returning to key.
 
To be honest, I’m not at all into effects. Give me a good reverb, a little delay a nice compressor and I’m happy. What amazed me most was the quality of the amp models. I still cannot get over it... had the axe iii since a bit more than a week and I can’t stop playing. And I really mean playing and not tweaking. With the Kemper, I tweaked but didn’t play. It’s a bit weird as lors of people are raving about the fact that the Kemper sounds so great (with the right profiles) with little to no tweaking. That was definitely not my experience. The axe is often considered as a tweaker machine (by people in my musical environment), but for me it’s just super easy to get great sound. A very big difference to the Kemper is that the interaction is better. It really feels like you’re interacting with an amp. Great stuff. Don’t want to bash the Kemper, because I got great sounds out of it. But I spend a lot of time testing out different profiles and always tweaked a bit.

I got a few helpful tips from long time users and pros and maybe they’ll be helpful to you as well:

  • in the amp block under the speaker tab, make sure your impedance curve matches the speaker ir you are using in the cab. I definitely noticed that this is important in terms of feel. But you can always try out different things
  • in the cab block under the preamp tab, increase high cut to 20k. It will give you the most realistic response (you can always cut afterwards)
  • in the amp block under the dynamics tab, try the gain enhancer output compression around 1-2. Works really great for overall playing feel and with volume knob.

For the soon to be owners, prepare to be amazed ;)
 
Ghast said:
I just got my Mk II about a week ago, and I'm just beginning to scratch the surface of creating presets. Last night I was working through the synth block and was surprised at how many cool sounds you could get out of it. This is my first foray into Fractal gear, so I'm really amazed at the completeness of the unit.

Were there any features, blocks, or controls that surprised you most? Maybe some of you veterans can clue me into some hidden gems.
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hi, the 2 unexpected easter eggs were for me the pitch follower:choose this as a modifier and the pitch of your playingchanges for example your amount of drive or delay.
second is my recent discovery of the dual detune effect (thank you Leon). Instant van halen sound but it works great in a lot of presets. Very chorus-y. Didn’t know that.
Harm
 
Not sure this is the sort of thing you're looking for, but it was on the AXE FX III, it did surprise me, make me laugh and it also drove home how incredibly flexible this thing is.

I was wandering through the presets and came across "354 W@rped Vinyl" a very clever and humorous patch. What surprised me, was that the pitch block was not engaged. So where did the pitch wobble come from? It had me scratching my head for a while and when I found the answer it really did make me laugh out loud. :D Whoever the creator was, hats off for thinking out of the box.

I won't spoil the fun, if you haven't seen/heard it yet, go and take a look. :)
 
Harm said:
hi, the 2 unexpected easter eggs were for me the pitch follower:choose this as a modifier and the pitch of your playingchanges for example your amount of drive or delay.
second is my recent discovery of the dual detune effect (thank you Leon). Instant van halen sound but it works great in a lot of presets. Very chorus-y. Didn’t know that.
Harm
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Is the pitch follower really new? The term “Easter eggs” has a specific meaning in software.
 
It was a couple of years ago for me when I moved from Axe FX II to Axe FX III that I got the biggest surprise. It might not be a feature that anyone would be thinking about as such, but at the same time it's the most "core" feature of any in all amplification for musical instruments, particularly tube guitar amps.

I had thought that the last iteration of Axe FX II firmware "edge of breakup" tone and feel on cleaner amps, and Factory IR sounds were about as good as modellers were ever going to get. Definitely good enough that I wouldn't be buying many more real amps and cabs.

The Axe FX III was a massive surprise for the improved feel and sound of those models, and since then the simulations and interfaces (front panel GUI layout/Axe Edit) have improved incrementally so many times - one day I must set the Axe FX II back to where I started in 2016, or whenever it was, and compare it with modern day Axe FX III models. It has been quite a journey, and it really is hard to imagine the blood, sweat and tears the Fractal Audio team have ploughed into the last few years. Just in case any of them are reading this - a lot of us really appreciate your efforts, you have been amazing and I'm sure you will continue to be. The first surprise was the way your products changed the way I think about modelling amplifiers, but the last few years they have changed the way I think about everything guitar related.

Second biggest Axe FX III surprise? Well it involves another purchase, but FC controllers. Come ON! A new era when I got my FC-12.

Liam
 
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For me the most unexpected (and appreciated) surprise has been the number of free updates we've seen over the years. I saw it with the Axe-Fx II, and that was one of my primary motivations for upgrading to the Axe-Fx III. I just love seeing the improvements and additions (both subtle and huge) that Cliff and the FAS team have continued to make to their products.
 
TG3K said:
For me the most unexpected (and appreciated) surprise has been the number of free updates we've seen over the years. I saw it with the Axe-Fx II, and that was one of my primary motivations for upgrading to the Axe-Fx III. I just love seeing the improvements and additions (both subtle and huge) that Cliff and the FAS team have continued to make to their products.
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Agreed! Most unexpected benefit of all is the constant attention to continuous improvement and excellence.
 
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