Fractal vs. pedals Hmmmm...wanna weigh in?

That magazine is a rhino in a tar pit. Still I posted. Why would they ask such a divisive question at Fractal's expense if not to drum up being relevant at all?
 
stupid and irrelevant- what else would someone say who uses pedals and has never played an AxeFX-stupid................
 
I think in order to answer you have to put $2200-2500 on the table- then be allowed to answer.

There's a lot of jealous haters and Pod HD Chasers
 
I could never go back to a "real" pedal board. Since going to the Axe Fx I have not missed chasing bad patch cables, rewiring boards etc at all. If I want change the order of an effect I just drag and drop in Axe Edit. Perfect.

I can also do things with my effects routing and switching that was just not possible with my previous pedal setups, unless I spent serious money on some form of midi switching system.

Being able to go from a light delay tone to a delay + reverb soaked ambient line in one button press is pure bliss.
 
This happened to me last night....

A friend asked to borrow my micropog. So I dug my pedalboard out of the closet where is has been sitting for over a year and a half. I then had an epiphany that I probably still had batteries in some of the pedals from the last time I gigged with the pedalboard. (I would keep them in to keep the internal battery connector contacts from shorting on the cases. Note to 9V pedal manufacturers, maybe consider including plastic plug covers for people that use power supplies so we don't have to tape that stuff up!)

So I spent some time going through and digging out the batteries. Then I put the pedals all back in the closet where they will continue to sit.

I'd take the Axe II. I'd love to have a backup!
 
No easy answer for me. I just switched from a large pedalboard to an XL II+ rig with an LF+ Pro+ controller. I like the AFX for its configurability; that was my motivation to switch.

I'm impressed by what I've discovered about the AFX over the past six weeks; I'm sure I'll learn more as time goes on. But there are some pedals that I suspect the AFX will never replace, at least not in its current incarnation.

At the top of the list: my Boomerang III. Tons of recording time and three or four loops, sync'd or free. That's never gonna happen in the AFX unless there's a huge cache of unused RAM that I don't know about...

Honorable mention: The EHX B9 and Superego pedals. The EHX guys really have something unique going on with their synth algorithms (some form of "granular synth"...?). I spent a couple hours last night making a first attempt at a usable Hammond patch on the AFX. So far I have something that is, with appropriate care, playable. It also sounds OK. But the poly tracking is nowhere near as good as the EHX B9.

For the Superego, I punted by using the hold function on a tape delay block. That gives me some of the unpredictable "evolution" of sound that I get from the EHX pedal. For now it's close enough. But how the heck will I program the poly glissando that the Superego can do?

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I knew there'd be tradeoffs; I'm willing to accept them. I just wanted to point out, using three concrete examples, that the AFX won't do "everything".

Yes, I know: make a hybrid rig. That'd be bigger than than either rig by itself. No thanks; there are limits (space, weight, setup time, etc.)

On the plus side, trying out new ideas on the AFX won't cost me an extra few hundred dollars for each attempt. That's a *huge* plus. (Especially when you take into account that my pedalboard, as configured, costs slightly *more* than my AFX rig. No exotic pedals, just lots of them.)

Bottom line, for me: I like the AFX. I also like pedals. Strengths and weaknesses on both sides. Choose according to need.

[Edited to complete the thought I was having when my tablet decided to post mid-sentence.]
 
Last edited:
It's funny to read that stuff. Unless you own an axe fx or have a friend who owns one that you can play with, you just can't know how powerful it is. There is nothing else on the market that is like it. Plenty of other molders for sure but none that are as powerful or flexible.
 
TieDyedDevil said:
On the plus side, trying out new ideas on the AFX won't cost me an extra few hundred dollars for each attempt. That's a *huge* plus. (Especially when you take into account that my pedalboard, as configured, costs slightly *more* than my AFX rig. No exotic pedals, just lots of them.)
Click to expand...

This is a big + for me too; being able to hear a guitar sound/tone and know I can emulate it on the AFX.

Previously it was, "oh, that's a cool reverb sound" *starts hunting for used Strymon pedals* etc etc.
 
The amount of tube snobbery on PG is disturbing.


Then again, seeing the amount of analog guys there, obviously Fractal isn't even close to market saturation yet.
 
I don't know why it always has to be black or white. One can certainly use pedals with the Axe quite well (and still with lots of flexibility)

I think the Axe is great and replaced nearly my whole board, HOWEVER, I also just bought one of those Band of Gypsy's Fuzz Faces (just for the cool factor of it since I always LOVED that album/tone, and it didn't cost crazy booteek price tag either).

Does this automatically mean the Axe drive block sucks ? Not at all, its simply using that I wanted a certain pedal and will occasionally plug it in in front of the Axe
 
The thing is though, some people who want to use a phase 90 only have to plug it in and turn one knob. On the fractal you need to know how your favourite phaser, flanger etc is put together to then try and emulate it. Would much rather be able to choose a phase 90 model from a menu and turn the one knob instead of being presented with a million options. Those other options could be available in an advanced model from the menu.
 
vinnyburns said:
The thing is though, some people who want to use a phase 90 only have to plug it in and turn one knob. On the fractal you need to know how your favourite phaser, flanger etc is put together to then try and emulate it. Would much rather be able to choose a phase 90 model from a menu and turn the one knob instead of being presented with a million options. Those other options could be available in an advanced model from the menu.
Click to expand...

So you just select the Phase 90 preset from the effect type menu in the Axe and adjust only the rate knob. You've even got the option to have block and script versions. Its as simple or complex as one wants to make it.

Makes no sense to hide any additional controls in different menu's because a few users either can't resist randomly tweaking other knobs they don't understand, or are intimidated by more than one knob.

As I said, if you want to treat it like a stock pedal, adjust only the rate knob, HOWEVER, one might find that hey... having that tone adjustment or depth knob actually is pretty cool and wish their hardware pedal had that ability.
 
luke said:
I love the no tubes = no soul. Someone should tell them tubes are only made eastern bloc nations so that soul is dead red commie.
Click to expand...

My Axe rack has a full compliment of tubes, illuminated via a RGB LED controller with brightness of the tube "glow" controlled via the intensity of the input signal. I thought it was just a silly thing I did with some spare parts, but I those guys would listen and say it sounds better LOL
 
lqdsnddist said:
So you just select the Phase 90 preset from the effect type menu in the Axe and adjust only the rate knob. You've even got the option to have block and script versions. Its as simple or complex as one wants to make it.

Makes no sense to hide any additional controls in different menu's because a few users either can't resist randomly tweaking other knobs they don't understand, or are intimidated by more than one knob.

As I said, if you want to treat it like a stock pedal, adjust only the rate knob, HOWEVER, one might find that hey... having that tone adjustment or depth knob actually is pretty cool and wish their hardware pedal had that ability.
Click to expand...

I have an Axefx XL. You don't need to convince me :)
I am just saying that lots of people don't like the Axe because of this. A lot of my pro mates and producers won't touch it. Don't shoot the messenger.
It's also not quite as simple as you state. How do you emulate an ADA flanger straight out of the box? Not seen or heard anyone do it yet. So it's not simply a matter of pulling a model from the menu.
 
vinnyburns said:
I have an Axefx XL. You don't need to convince me :)
I am just saying that lots of people don't like the Axe because of this. A lot of my pro mates and producers won't touch it. Don't shoot the messenger.
It's also not quite as simple as you state. How do you emulate an ADA flanger straight out of the box? Not seen or heard anyone do it yet. So it's not simply a matter of pulling a model from the menu.
Click to expand...

The few players I know who play professionally have felt the same way for the most part.. but these are more of the "meat n' potatoes" type players that seem to prevail here in Austin. Roots, blues, funk, country, Americana.. etc. Not players who would typically have very complicated rigs to begin with. The Axe is a great option/tool but I can see it not working for plenty of players who like things pretty simple.
 
vinnyburns said:
I have an Axefx XL. You don't need to convince me :)
I am just saying that lots of people don't like the Axe because of this. A lot of my pro mates and producers won't touch it. Don't shoot the messenger.
It's also not quite as simple as you state. How do you emulate an ADA flanger straight out of the box? Not seen or heard anyone do it yet. So it's not simply a matter of pulling a model from the menu.
Click to expand...


If the Axe doesn't have a present flanger effect for the model you want, then your out of luck I guess. There is a pretty good selection of analog, digital etc flanger models. Certainly can't expect it to model each and every flanger on the market (though I will say that given we have over 200 amp models now I for one wouldn't mind seeing some attention being paid to the effects now)

I think the mentality of being so discriminating that one needs a particular model of effect, yet not wanting to rely on those same finely tuned ears to custom tailor an effect with all the controls in the Axe is at odds with itself.

Its kind of like guys who claim things like " I don't want an Axe because I hate tweaking" yet then spend full days doing nothing but swapping out tubes, messing with amp bias etc chasing nearly imperceptible tonal changes. Its like hello!, you just spent all afternoon tweaking your amp!

I totally get there are some guys who just want to play guitar. A flanger is a flanger to them, and they probably could care less if its a $50 Boss BF-2 or a $400 A/DA, its just something they step on to make the whoosy sound during a songs intro. More power them.

But, at the same time, if there are guys who have 10 different flangers in their collection and are always swapping out their boards in order to achieve the slight tonal changes they appreciate, why would they not welcome even more tone shaping options ?

Just seems odd to be that some folks can be so anal obsessive about every little aspect of their tone, yet at the same time recoil in horror at the thought of more than one knob.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom