BBN
Fractal Fanatic
Ok, I waited to write my review until I finally got to take the Axe out on the town.….
I’ll slim down the “I’ve been playing tube amps for years and years” speech to just say – I probably have 30+ rack spaces of different pre-amps, processors, tube power, solid state power…and a closet full of combo amps (some tube, some modeling). My ‘go to’ rig is always my Marshall JMP-1, through a 20/20 tube power amp into a Mesa 1x12 or 2x12 (depending on the room I’m playing). Nice small rig with a real fat sound.
I play in a working cover band and also do solo acoustic gigs…I’m squeezing in about 120-130 gigs a year.
I read a ton about the Axe and I am lucky enough to live close to the Fractal office, so I dropped by to try an Ultra out before buying. Only took about 5 minutes of scrolling through patches until the Credit Card came out and I was on my way home. I’ve been test driving my Axe though every amp/speaker I own (tube power, solid state power, guitar cabs, monitors, powered monitors). And they all have plusses and minuses.
Although playing my Axe through a dual monobloc 100/100 into a Mesa 4x12 sounds like a fist in the face, I decided (for simplicity sake) to ‘try’ and go FRFR. I dialed in a QSC HPR122i monitor I have, to sound as close to a guitar cab (and my tone) as I could.
I’m not in love with the HPR122i’s…I feel they have a slight mid range nasal tone to them, but I own two…so it was an easy place to start.
Also, I have a good sized (and good quality) JBL/RCF PA (Dual 18” subs, Dual 12” tops) that I use with my cover band, so prior to taking my Axe on the road, I also set that up in my basement and ran my Axe into the PA so I could tweak a separate EQ for the output to my FOH.
So I was now happy with my basement tones…let’s see how they translate in ‘real life’.
First gig out was at a room I’ve been playing 2-3 times a month for the past 3-4 years. I’d call this my home base, so it was a comfortable place to kick off using the Axe. I put the QSC in the same spot I put my Mesa cab, propped up in the same way so it’s facing right at my ears….and turned it on. I was really hoping that in a ‘gig environment’ that the QSC FRFR would sound close to the tone that I was used to when standing on that stage, or at least that it was acceptable…but it did not sound like the tone I was used to….it sounded better! Thicker high gain tone, more low end chunk, and at the same time - tighter low end. Clean tone was really clean, and distorted tones were smooth and fat.
If anyone has ever tried the clean channel on a Marshall JMP-1, then you'd know that (even with the mods I had done on it), the clean tone still sounded like I was plugged into a toaster. But I always put up with it because I loved the distorted tone of my JMP-1. Well now I have the best of both worlds.
I’m still going to try out an Atomic and the newer QSC K or KW series (FBT stuff isn’t easy to come buy in New England) just to see what they can do…but I have just had my ‘ah ha’ moment with the Axe and FRFR. I love it.
These are my ‘suggestions’ to new owners or people thinking of buying (this is just my opinion and only intended to share what I have learned….there are obviously many ways to approach getting familiar with the Axe. This is what worked well for me):
First: READ, READ, READ….I spend a minimum of an hour a day tweaking my Axe, and I also spend an hour a day reading about the Axe (on the Forum and Wiki). This helped me from to avoid many rabbit holes. My suggestions: read Yek’s “how to’s”, read Scott and Radley’s EQ tips, read Cliff’s tips on tightening up low end, read the entire manual!!, read the Forum and search the Forum for specific information…chances are if you have a question, there is a topic on it somewhere on here.
Second: sample what others have created, it helps to get your head around what the Axe ‘can’ do. I’ve downloaded around 150 patches from the Axe Exchange and have tried them all. This helps in a lot of obvious ways. Best learning from me (even though it sounds simple) was how to get a really nice clean tone (thank you Mark Day!). Also, sample other users IR tone recipes. I bought the Redwirez Big Box collection and was a bit overwhelmed. I read a ton of threads, copied a lot of tone recipes, created them all on the IR Mixer….and started sampling until I found what I was looking for. Scott Peterson has a ton of great recipes (thanks for sharing Scott, and all others on the Forum as well).
Third: once you’ve got yourself grounded a bit, don’t be afraid to start from scratch. Trying other user’s patches is great, but starting from the ground up was the best way for me to find ‘my’ tone. Amp block, Cab block…tweak….add an EQ….tweak….and just keep going from there.
So my review of the Axe, I love it. The tone, the effects, the routing capability, the endless tweaking possibilities….what more could you ask for? (other than more hours in the day to tweak). I’m going to reiterate the tone…because that’s what it’s all about for me. I’ve tried all the Line 6 gear, the Vetta’s, the softwares….yada yada…they have great features (routing, effect combinations, amp types)…but they don’t have the sound quality of the Axe. Not even close! (IMHO)
The only other amp I feel I will ever have to buy….is a second Axe.
Cliff, thank you for doing it right.
I’ll slim down the “I’ve been playing tube amps for years and years” speech to just say – I probably have 30+ rack spaces of different pre-amps, processors, tube power, solid state power…and a closet full of combo amps (some tube, some modeling). My ‘go to’ rig is always my Marshall JMP-1, through a 20/20 tube power amp into a Mesa 1x12 or 2x12 (depending on the room I’m playing). Nice small rig with a real fat sound.
I play in a working cover band and also do solo acoustic gigs…I’m squeezing in about 120-130 gigs a year.
I read a ton about the Axe and I am lucky enough to live close to the Fractal office, so I dropped by to try an Ultra out before buying. Only took about 5 minutes of scrolling through patches until the Credit Card came out and I was on my way home. I’ve been test driving my Axe though every amp/speaker I own (tube power, solid state power, guitar cabs, monitors, powered monitors). And they all have plusses and minuses.
Although playing my Axe through a dual monobloc 100/100 into a Mesa 4x12 sounds like a fist in the face, I decided (for simplicity sake) to ‘try’ and go FRFR. I dialed in a QSC HPR122i monitor I have, to sound as close to a guitar cab (and my tone) as I could.
I’m not in love with the HPR122i’s…I feel they have a slight mid range nasal tone to them, but I own two…so it was an easy place to start.
Also, I have a good sized (and good quality) JBL/RCF PA (Dual 18” subs, Dual 12” tops) that I use with my cover band, so prior to taking my Axe on the road, I also set that up in my basement and ran my Axe into the PA so I could tweak a separate EQ for the output to my FOH.
So I was now happy with my basement tones…let’s see how they translate in ‘real life’.
First gig out was at a room I’ve been playing 2-3 times a month for the past 3-4 years. I’d call this my home base, so it was a comfortable place to kick off using the Axe. I put the QSC in the same spot I put my Mesa cab, propped up in the same way so it’s facing right at my ears….and turned it on. I was really hoping that in a ‘gig environment’ that the QSC FRFR would sound close to the tone that I was used to when standing on that stage, or at least that it was acceptable…but it did not sound like the tone I was used to….it sounded better! Thicker high gain tone, more low end chunk, and at the same time - tighter low end. Clean tone was really clean, and distorted tones were smooth and fat.
If anyone has ever tried the clean channel on a Marshall JMP-1, then you'd know that (even with the mods I had done on it), the clean tone still sounded like I was plugged into a toaster. But I always put up with it because I loved the distorted tone of my JMP-1. Well now I have the best of both worlds.
I’m still going to try out an Atomic and the newer QSC K or KW series (FBT stuff isn’t easy to come buy in New England) just to see what they can do…but I have just had my ‘ah ha’ moment with the Axe and FRFR. I love it.
These are my ‘suggestions’ to new owners or people thinking of buying (this is just my opinion and only intended to share what I have learned….there are obviously many ways to approach getting familiar with the Axe. This is what worked well for me):
First: READ, READ, READ….I spend a minimum of an hour a day tweaking my Axe, and I also spend an hour a day reading about the Axe (on the Forum and Wiki). This helped me from to avoid many rabbit holes. My suggestions: read Yek’s “how to’s”, read Scott and Radley’s EQ tips, read Cliff’s tips on tightening up low end, read the entire manual!!, read the Forum and search the Forum for specific information…chances are if you have a question, there is a topic on it somewhere on here.
Second: sample what others have created, it helps to get your head around what the Axe ‘can’ do. I’ve downloaded around 150 patches from the Axe Exchange and have tried them all. This helps in a lot of obvious ways. Best learning from me (even though it sounds simple) was how to get a really nice clean tone (thank you Mark Day!). Also, sample other users IR tone recipes. I bought the Redwirez Big Box collection and was a bit overwhelmed. I read a ton of threads, copied a lot of tone recipes, created them all on the IR Mixer….and started sampling until I found what I was looking for. Scott Peterson has a ton of great recipes (thanks for sharing Scott, and all others on the Forum as well).
Third: once you’ve got yourself grounded a bit, don’t be afraid to start from scratch. Trying other user’s patches is great, but starting from the ground up was the best way for me to find ‘my’ tone. Amp block, Cab block…tweak….add an EQ….tweak….and just keep going from there.
So my review of the Axe, I love it. The tone, the effects, the routing capability, the endless tweaking possibilities….what more could you ask for? (other than more hours in the day to tweak). I’m going to reiterate the tone…because that’s what it’s all about for me. I’ve tried all the Line 6 gear, the Vetta’s, the softwares….yada yada…they have great features (routing, effect combinations, amp types)…but they don’t have the sound quality of the Axe. Not even close! (IMHO)
The only other amp I feel I will ever have to buy….is a second Axe.
Cliff, thank you for doing it right.
