Had an AX8, will I be disappointed w/Axe Standard?

JerEvil

JerEvil

Inspired
So I sold my AX8 but have the opportunity to get an Axe Standard. Price seems good.

How disappointed am I going to be tonally? Can it load IR's? Am I wasting my money?
 
Had an AX8? Dude. You had the best. It's a downgrade.

When I sold my Ultra and the buyer and me compared it to my, then new, II. We concluded the Ultra sounded warmer and more pleasing, even if the II sounded more accurate. Actually we both preferred the Ultra, but I had faith. The II made some strides since then (FW 5.1, pre Quantum).

Will you be disappointed? That would depend on your sensibilities and preferences.
Standard was an awesome machine at the time.
 
I never had a standard, but have an ultra. The ultra is a good unit but I don't use it any more. The AX-8 beats it hands down for my needs. I am afraid you may be very disappointed, in the IR's, effects, and amps. the editor for the standard will work off line, which it will not for the AX-8 will not, but midi connection of the editor can be problematic.
 
The standard/ultra are still fantastic units, but once you get used to how easy the AX8/Axe2 are to dial in and their extra functionality (especially scenes and scene controllers) programming the first generation units is a bit of a chore. You do have space for 10 user IR's though, and they do make a big difference.
 
2112 said:
The standard/ultra are still fantastic units, but once you get used to how easy the AX8/Axe2 are to dial in and their extra functionality (especially scenes and scene controllers) programming the first generation units is a bit of a chore. You do have space for 10 user IR's though, and they do make a big difference.
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Pretty much, this. When I upgraded my II to 7.02 this week I got really frustrated and dusted off my Ultra for a break and was playing it side by side to reality check... I was completely blown away by how good it sounded. WAY better than my II. Why? It was fully dialed in and completely tuned for my tastes and the II had a bunch of presets that got borked by the latest FW changes.

So, I looked at the presets and thought maybe I could use a few of the amp model types and cab ideas as starting points. Then I remembered how work-intensive those presets on the Gen 1 are... they have lots of PEQs (minimum 2 per preset) and often have deep parameter edits (Sag, Damping, etc).

I got the II presets straight and now it sounds almost as good as the Ultra. ;)

Honestly I could have lived forever with the Ultra but the 10 user slots is a pretty severe limitation if you use it as a direct unit. I have never liked Fractal's cab choices... The II has maybe 10 cabs I really like tops out of 100+ and the Ultra probably less. If you are constantly dialing in new tones (like in cover band or something) or are wanting to use cab IRs or direct out extensively, the AX8 and II offer so much more along with the extra switching. Also the scenes stuff is so great for live use.

That said: If you want an amazing modeling preamp (I run my Ultra in a power amp->cab config now that I have the II for direct; so who cares about IRs? ;) ) and are the type of person who is going for your own tone with < 10 presets or so and are willing to put in the effort for that initial dial (thankfully no firmware updates to trash them); these unit are INSANELY good. They are crazy bargains for what they go for... easily compare to a Tube Preamp + FX unit rack rig in quality and easily outclass it in versatility and now that they are discontinued and have dropped to reasonable prices they are cheaper to boot.

Go listen to some of Mark Day's Ultra FW9 era recordings. IMHO FAS had tone to die for before 2010.
 
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