First Look: My new main gig rig (soon)!

Rick

Axe-Master
*Note* Mine arrived with firmware 1.03 installed.

I will begin by saying this will be a summary. Thirty minutes with the Axe FX III told me I won't be covering this in one quick post. I hope others will fill in other portions of the story, and I'll add more as I learn!

Appearance: Kinda sexy, really. The online pics don't give you a real indication. I'm a bit of a gun guy, so you'll forgive me if I say it's akin to a really well made two-tone gun. The face plate it a sort of black brushed aluminum; shiny but not gaudy. The more matte finish interior plate (where the screens and controls are) offsets it nicely and is, perhaps, why it doesn't look too “slick” out front. It looks electronically badass.

Size: I know the stat sheet says it's a pound heavier, but it doesn't seem like it for some reason. I thought it was going to make my rack, which is deep to allow for cords and such, front-heavy. Nope. Feels the same as it did with my XL+ in it. I did move my patch bay to the rear, so that may explain it. But even in the hands, it doesn't feel heavier. Once in the rack, there is what looks like a huge amount of extra space in the rear now. I might eventually go to a shorter rack, but the storage is nice right now!

Sound: I wired up my PRS 513 and the RCF NX12SMA, my standard in front of and behind the XL+ for years. All sounds tested were at least as good, and I swear there's a bit more clarity on some. Not brighter or anything like that. More... spatial. Coming from a single speaker, that was a bit surprising. I don't know what FAS did to make that so, or if it is just benefitting from the extra power available, but it is noticeable. Pretty sure it's not placebo, but I'll take it if it is. It's inspiring.

Presets: This is where I am not sure that I won't have to disagree with what I've heard. Same amount as in the XL+? I think it's many more. 384 slots used, yes, but there are many iterations of these things in many of them, some with as many as 8 scenes! If you were to put all of that in single presets, it would be more slots than even the XL+ had. I will allow that, yes, there are 384 presets, but you're not really being fair to all the work that is in all of the scenes representing many, many more possibilities. It is AWESOME! By the way, the new HBE presets are massive. Don't know what you did, but it was something good. Oh, and the Petrucci one... and Dweezil's freaking gain-monster... and...

Rear Panel: Man, did they ever separate new from old here! So many options, it's like having two of my XL+s to route inputs and outputs. I didn't see a midi power input, but being as this will be using a new foot controller, I assume that was deemed superfluous. Personally, I love the way this is set up.

Controls: Somehow simplified without making it harder to get around or control things. LOVE the way the push-turn knobs work and are labeled in the screen above. Reminds me a bit of the Eleven Rack, and it's a great addition. I also like that they didn't make only one way to move around... using the knobs or nav keys is great!

Screen: Oh, that big beautiful screen. Clear, crisp, colored bliss. So much more on it, so much easier to see from ALL angles. I will no longer be in fear of having to do a quick adjustment at the gig. This is such an improvement. I guess I will throw in here that the new backlit logo looks great. While you could spot the Axe Fx green screen from a mile away, I believe the glowing blue logo is how the next generation will be spotted in years to come. The ZOOM feature is awesome, and I just love that building presets doesn't have to go completely east to west before sound happens. I see this, combined with the extra inputs/outputs, as being a huge expansion of capability. If it makes sense to say it like this, it feels easier to wrap your head around what you're creating looking at this screen.

Tuner: Yes I know, it's a tuner, what's there to tell? A lot actually, thank you. I was a big fan of the Magic 8 Ball in the XL+. It was quick and accurate as hell. I thought I wouldn't like the change, and I was right. I actually love it. Very fast, much easier to see, and the new "strobo-display" works great! It is better, so good work you guys, and sorry for doubting. In addition, the mini-tuner that is visible in most performance screens is a great idea, very useful, and something I've already referred to several times today!

Channels: Saving what I think is the best for last. CHANNELS! This is glorious, y'all. I get it... 2 amp blocks? Can't we have 8? Well, yes you can. Maybe not 100% autonomously, but you can have 8 amps available to you in a single preset, two at a time, and that's pretty badass. Apply that to most of the other blocks and the REAL available block count is staggering! I normally use 7 or so presets a night for gigging, and fully believe I could build all 7 into a single preset with some work. I won't, but that I can is mind-blowing.

Also Channels (Channel 2): I know I hear a lot on the forum about gaps, and that's been the question here. I hear nothing. As in nothing... no gap when switching. Now, I am sure someone will come in with their audio version of the 1000-frames-a-second-camera and prove me wrong, but I am telling you that for my purposes and to my ear, this is too quick to hear. YMMV, depending on what craziness is in your presets I suppose, but in the several tests I did it was clearly better than the bevy of multi-thousand-dollar amps I have that use footswitches to channel select. It is awesome, awesome, awesome.

Ok, I realize none of this is earth shattering news... but it is just such an experience rolling through it. Once I get my bearings and build up my gigging presets, I will add more. My gig rig is in the picture: Furman PL-Pro DMC at the top, Axe III below, Vafam patch bay in the rear, going to the NX12SMA under the stand. Compact and sounds killer!
 

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The screen is really clean. Lettering is fine line, and sharp. While the font size looked a shade smaller at first, I quickly realized it was due to the extra real estate of the screen it was being displayed on. At any rate, it is easily readable, and I don't have perfect vision. I didn't think being in color would make that much difference, but it totally does. I now see why FAS was heralding the change. The combination of color and sharpness is a whole new ballgame for the Axe FX.

Just wait until you edit blocks and presets on it. New world. Fast, clear, easy. If a knob adjusts a parameter, it's a circular knob shape. If the knob below it toggles it on/off, the parameter name is in a rectangle. Little things like that make it so intuitive that I haven't needed to look at the manual yet for how to set or adjust anything so far. I'm sure I will, but so far it's just been so visually leading and common sense (especially if you're coming to the III from another FAS product) that there hasn't been the need.
 
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Day Two Update: Liking it better as time goes on. That says a lot. I liked it a lot yesterday.

Processors: I finally noticed the CPU use as I have been playing with settings. I've never seen CPU values this low on any previous Axe FX device, even with very sparse presets. I have presets with blocks in every slot east to west, 4 amps in the channels, CPU hungry things like big verbs and rotary going on, and CPU at, like, sub 55%! That massive sounding Petrucci rig? Oh yeah... 50.7%. Are you kidding me? I don't get much wilder than this, so I doubt I'll be seeing a CPU warning anytime soon.

Sound: Went back to square 1 and set everything per the instructions (first access of the manual so far, besides reading before The Box arrived) and bumped the input up about 20%. Actually I could have gone to near 100% with just a bit of red blipping when I hammer the 513. So, I don't believe it is hyper-critical where this is set. Cranked up the RCF, and twisted the Out 1 knob up to about 60%. It's euphoric, really... I mean it sounds really, really good. The quality and size of the tone is inspiring.

More to follow...
 
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Later in the day update:

Went to the 05 Double Verb preset, scene one, and spent an hour. My goodness. Click in a single TS808, and another hour gone. Great touch feel, reacts to volume knob perfectly. Day-amn. I could cover the whole night in this preset.

Time to go play tonight. Have to leave the III at home, will be gigging the AX8. I am so looking forward to the FC or setting up my midi controller to get this thing on stage.

I feel like I am running the III wait list; 24 hours and I have moved 5 presets. lol

Stay tuned...
 
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You sound almost as excited as I have been with my recently acquired AxeFX XL+ ..... : )
You know, you'd think the "wow factor" would wear off at some point and new Axe FX gear would be a "yah, I suppose that's nice" sort of thing. It just hasn't happened for me. Every new product has its own wow moments, and every new Axe FX has had many! It's a tool, yes, but it's also an instrument in its own right. Exciting stuff, to be sure!
 
But... but... any rig pics?
Click the thumbnail in the original post. My gig rig is very nice, compact (takes up just a hair more room than the monitor itself) and could literally be carried in the front seat of your car. Awesome setup, and sets up fast to boot!

If you can't tell from the picture, the rack is sitting on a 4 leg folding stand, the QuikLok WS-540 if I remember right (been using it a long time!). The stand folds flat, and can be adjusted for height. It's heavy duty... I can stand on it and I weigh over 200 pounds! The RCF NX12SMA fits right under, and the ATA rack sits securely on rubber feet on top. The whole setup generally sits to my left onstage, and makes tuning and adjustments easy. The RCF can be adjusted to two angles below, depending on how close it is to me, or mounted on a stand behind on really large stages.

All very tidy and secure.
 
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Click the thumbnail in the original post. My gig rig is very nice, compact (takes up just a hair more room than the monitor itself) and could literally be carried in the front seat of your car. Awesome setup, and sets up fast to boot!

If you can't tell from the picture, the rack is sitting on a 4 leg folding stand, the QuikLok WS-540 if I remember right (been using it a long time!). The stand folds flat, and can be adjusted for height. It's heavy duty... I can stand on it and I weigh over 200 pounds! The RCF NX12SMA fits right under, and the ATA rack sits securely on rubber feet on top. The whole setup generally sits to my left onstage, and makes tuning and adjustments easy. The RCF can be adjusted to two angles below, depending on how close it is to me, or mounted on a stand behind on really large stages.

All very tidy and secure.
Yep... Those stands are great!
 
Click the thumbnail in the original post. My gig rig is very nice, compact (takes up just a hair more room than the monitor itself) and could literally be carried in the front seat of your car. Awesome setup, and sets up fast to boot!

If you can't tell from the picture, the rack is sitting on a 4 leg folding stand, the QuikLok WS-540 if I remember right (been using it a long time!). The stand folds flat, and can be adjusted for height. It's heavy duty... I can stand on it and I weigh over 200 pounds! The RCF NX12SMA fits right under, and the ATA rack sits securely on rubber feet on top. The whole setup generally sits to my left onstage, and makes tuning and adjustments easy. The RCF can be adjusted to two angles below, depending on how close it is to me, or mounted on a stand behind on really large stages.

All very tidy and secure.

Didn't catch it on my mobile the first readthrough. Thanks for the description, Awesome setup!
 
Day 3 Update: Hate to admit it, but spent the majority of the day still exploring sounds on 05 Double Verb. And, I admit it, just playing a lot of songs. Come to think of it, that's not such a bad admission after all. It's just that fun to play.

Discovery of the Day: 018 AC-20 Deluxe (yes, I made it all the way to 018, lol), set to the EF86 Treble scene. Tom Pettyville. Played every TP song I knew in his memory, and every one sounded great. A little volume knob one way or the other is all it takes. You owe yourself a spin in this groove machine. You'll be the Nightwatchman in a flash.

New Thing for Me: Plex Delay (PLX Block). I have always been a straight delay sort of guy... grew up on the Memory Man, had some Boss DD series boxes, digital rack units, yada, yada. I stumbled across this in the 014 USA IIC+ layout and played with it some. Very cool, spacious, and reactive effects with this block. I will be incorporating it more. In this preset it begins sounding more reverbish before the feedback loops take it to a bouncing delay feel, then it just washes away. Very nice.

Do you get the feeling there is a lot to dig into with the new member of the family?
 
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Day 3 Update: Hate to admit it, but spent the majority of the day still exploring sounds on 05 Double Verb. And, I admit it, just playing a lot of songs. Come to think of it, that's not such a bad admission after all. It's just that fun to play.

Discovery of the Day: 018 AC-20 Deluxe (yes, I made it all the way to 018, lol), set to the EF86 Treble scene. Tom Pettyville. Played every TP song I knew in his memory, and every one sounded great. A little volume knob one way or the other is all it takes. You owe yourself a spin in this groove machine. You'll be the Nightwatchman in a flash.

New Thing for Me: Plex Delay (PLX Block). I have always been a straight delay sort of guy... grew up on the Memory Man, had some Boss DD series boxes, digital rack units, yada, yada. I stumbled across this in the 014 USA IIC+ layout and played with it some. Very cool, spacious, and reactive effects with this block. I will be incorporating it more. In this preset it begins sounding more reverbish before the feedback loops take it to a bouncing delay feel, then it just washes away. Very nice.

Do you get the feeling there is a lot to dig into with the new member of the family?
# 18....bliss all the way
 
Day 4 Update: Don't worry guys, I won't be spamming the forum with these forever (Day 267 Update...) ;)

Some Utilities Love: Because it isn't the sexiest thing, it often gets overlooked by players and creators alike, but not so here. All those things that don't necessarily make a sound, but have all to do with making sounds, have been given a lot of thought.

Looking for a preset used to be a tedious exercise. Normally, by the time you find the special effect you're looking for, the special moment to use it has long gone. When you're ready to shock someone standing by the mains with a little Poltergeist Pig, you just Page > one to Presets, click the A knob for Sort A-Z, and zip over to the presets starting in P. There at 163 is our illustrious, snorting fun stop. Just a few seconds to find any preset you know the name of, and that is a great function, smartly located right off the Home Screen.

While we're talking about Paging >>> from the home screen, one more from Presets will take you to Meters. One screen, and all Inputs (blue, left side) and Outputs (green, right side) are there for your setting pleasure. That includes your analog, along with 4 stereo USB in and out. All together, one screen, shown in stereo (except, obviously, the mono instrument input, which is also there). By the way, these are even squeezed into each block in the layout screen by Paging > once from Layout. Crazy amount of information available.

Want to see if the Delay sounds better elsewhere in the preset? Simple; Page > twice while in Layout and move to your contentment. That applies to blocks, rows, and columns by the way. Some of the first tutorial videos clued me in on that, and it is easier to do than it was for them to explain it.

These are functional utility screens that are always at your disposal, right from the Home screen. These, combined with the meters, mini-tuner, and CPU meter available on the Layout screen keep you constantly apprised of your performing parameters and conditions, and make it a snap to gather other performance info quickly. It is apparent that a lot of thought and experience went into how these are arranged. By players, for players.

Ok, off to get some honey-dos accomplished. The lovelier half of my marriage is ultra-tolerant of my disappearing for hours at a time to explore, and deserves a little attention today. I shall return...
 
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By the way... (back from house duties...)

Have I mentioned that screen? lol

You can use the zoom feature and see all 84 blocks at once, routings and all. And the resolution is so good you can actually read the lettering in each one. That may not seem impressive, but when you figure each block, edge to edge horizontally, is about a quarter of an inch (a touch over 6 mm) and there are as many as 4 characters in some (Out1 for instance), and my eyes aren't 20/20, it impresses the heck out of me.

I guess what keeps coming back is that they took a lot of stuff out of the front panel compared to my XL+ (having kept only the page, nav, enter, exit, home (similar to recall), store, and tempo, and yet I feel I can get to everything as easy or easier. Some will miss the control of the ABCD knobs, but Cliff tells us a version of that will make its way back in some form. The ABCDE dual controllers are awesome, and having them available and labelled makes all the difference. And having control for all 4 outputs is pretty killer too. I can see that being a major help to some here with complex or recording setups.

Back to playing :)
 
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Last Edit of the Weekend:

More love for the interface
: Naming presets is a snap, and naming scenes is AWESOME!

Have a good Sunday night, I am off to sample the wife's lasagna!

Edit to the Edit: Lasagna was great. Then I downloaded and installed Firmware 1.04 while I was "turning everything off." That is one tolerant woman there. :)
 
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Not labeling days now, because I've lost track...

MIDI: Ah, MIDI, how I love to love and hate it. I've always thought it was a great tool, mystically making things happen from the shadows, switching this and that at the touch of a toe. I've also hated that, when it doesn't work, you can't tell where the heck the water flow is stopping. Ever had a "the light is blinking, but nothing is happening" moment? Me too, lots.

I love that I can just assign MIDI numbers as I want, and at the same time hate that I have to do it. I know this will create a big headache for pedal makers like RJM because there is really no preset pattern to build into your device. In this day and age, it seems silly to even have to limit choices to 128, but this isn't today's tech. This was developed when I was a teen, and standardized in my early 20s. It's like trying to pay my bills today with my paycheck from then.

It's my guess that this is what Cliff and Pals are trying to address in moving to a server/workstation arrangement with the FC series. I am also going to guess that there has been a glitch in the glide path to landing that plane. I hope it gets here soon. I also hope RJM and others can take advantage of the FasLinkII technology! Meaning both that it is shared, licensed, or whatever, and that there is interest in getting beyond the limitations of a 1983 standard. I am currently controlling my Axe FX III with a Ground Control Pro. Come on, now. It's tantamount to piloting the space shuttle with the steering wheel from a VW bug.

On the plus side, I am glad to not have a bunch of MIDI numbers tied up on FX I will never use, or block instances I will never reach. This is the right way forward. Compatible without being needlessly saddled. As it is though, the AX8 will still be what goes to the stage this weekend for a big area show. I'm just not comfortable enough with the control here to risk it yet. Hopefully, the following gig will be the debut.

Interface: Yes, the screen and its controllers. As I have been working through the settings, I have become more impressed with the functionality of the GUI than before. I was impressed with the size, sharpness, and color originally, but now have come to a conclusion: Without the awesome screen and the associated knobs and buttons, and in the absence of the foot controller, this device would be only half as useful or accessible as it would have been if issued with the old screen, even the larger XL+ version. It is relatively easy to move around, there is sufficient real estate to see enough things at once that you can control settings and see interactions together. It was wise to focus on this advancement, but in light of the inability to bring the FC to market with the release of the Axe FX III, this has risen to pure brilliance.

And now, back to making music... update to come when stage debut happens.
 
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