I got impatient waiting for feedback on this post, so I recently got an LXII to try out. I’ve had it for a week so far and am very impressed. It seems to be the missing bit of the chain that I have been looking for and could possibly lead to me finally selling my amps. Together with the Axe III, it really does sound and feel like playing a conventional amp through a cab and is well worth trying out if that is what you are looking for. It’s even surprisingly good at relatively low volume levels so you could definitely use it at home, although it does of course sound better as you turn it up.
I’ve been an Axe FX user for over 12 years and have owned the Ultra, II, II XL and III. We all know how the product has evolved and just got better over time but some of us - apparently a very small, picky minority - have not been able to completely satisfy the tube amp itch. I used my tube amps with my Axe FX initially and then I got a Matrix GT 1000fx power amp 7-8 years ago which was all the buzz on here at the time. It is very good at what it does and very transparent, but I just felt that I lost something in the feel and tactile response that you get from a real amp and cab and the sound just fell slightly short. So, for quite a while, I used a Retro Channel power amp which is not as transparent as the Matrix, but did provide more of the amp like feel.
The realism of the Axe III models now coupled with the easy manner of setting the speaker impedance curves - an important part of the equation - is a big move forwards and this led to me trying out a few more amp models than my usual go to choices. The Retro was colouring the amps too much and so I dug out the Matrix again and tried it with the Axe III for the first time and found that I preferred the transparency of the Matrix now over the feel of the Retro which was dulling over the differences between the amp models too much by comparison. Things were getting very close now and that lead to me trying the Fryette LX II and I have been A/B’ing it against my amps and I’m honestly now thinking that I prefer the Axe models to the real thing due to the ability to tweak the tone out to a greater degree of satisfaction.
I have 3 Zilla 2x12 cabs with different speakers, a Marshall 1960A 4x12 and a Two Rock 2x12. My amps are:
Marshall JCM 601, YJM 100 and JVM 410 H
Mesa MKV and Express
Two Rock 10th Anniversary
So far, I’ve been able to nail or surpass my Marshall tones and the Mesa’s but not quite yet the MKV clean or the Two Rock, but I’ve only just got round to those recently. I’m pretty sure that I can get the MKV cleans, but the Two Rock is quite a special amp and very transparent and complex - which is why I’ve left it until last.
I know that amp and cab guys are very much in the minority on here, but if you do fall into that category, the LXII could be worth checking out. I have absolutely no connection with Fryette and, in fact, given how long ago the product was initially announced, I didn’t have very high hopes. The only reason I have posted is because my interest was piqued by this thread, and then there has been only silence - so I thought I’d check it out myself, which is the only way to be sure anyway. The LXII is a solid and well built unit and runs surprisingly very cool to the touch. My only gripe so far has been that, after an hour or so of use, the fan noise can be quite loud and irritating high pitched whine, but we suspect that I may have a faulty sensor/fan and the dealer is waiting on feedback from Fryette on that point. It is no problem at all at practice or gig levels, but if you manipulate the Axe on the fly from the front panel as I do or want to use it at home, then this could be slightly irritating.
Apologies that my post turned out to be quite so lengthy!!
