Fredlegentil
New Member
Hi All,
Although I just registered, I have been lurking the Fractal Forums since before the Axe FX 2 was announced ...
A little back story first!
I have been playing guitar since the mid 90s when i started as a teenager. I'm a big Metallica fan and my quest for tone is pretty much that ... late 80s, early 90s Metallica tones (you know ... RTL, MOP, ADFA, Black album ...). Both Crunch and Clean tones.
I've always been a bedroom player and pretty much always played through headphones (Sennheiser HD590 for 15 years that died last week, replaced by HD598SR).
At one point during the mid 2000s, my rig was composed of an Engl 530, Mesa Triaxis, G-Major, a 24? band rack EQ (can't remember how many but that was a lot), a Red Box DI going through a very basic mixer and my headphones.
At the time, this was pretty much my way of "tone matching" using the EQ. That worked great but I then moved to NYC and had to let my gear go. That's when i switched to a Pod XT.
I now use a Pod HD500X that I'm not in love with mainly because of the "no IR loader" feature and just being Line 6 in general. Not that other people can't get amazing tones out of any type of gear, for me, it doesn't click anymore and I'm ready to move on.
I'm not a professional musician or play in a band. This is my hobby and I would like to enjoy it a bit more again.
I'm a firm believer that the bulk of what we are seeking in terms of tone comes from the IR. I mean think about it ... how many albums were recorded with pretty much the same gear but sound different? It's mostly because of the engineers ears. But anyhow.
I'm at a point in my life where I can technically afford the Axe FX III ($2,900 shipped with extended warranty) but that is still a lot of dough for my limited use.
And that is why I'm also looking at the AX8 for a much more affordable $1,300 shipped with extended warranty.
Now aside from being the latest and greatest, the Axe FX III also includes a headphone jack and tone matching capabilities. To achieve that, the AX8 requires an audio interface / mixer and software to create the tone match which could add easily $200 or so. So in essence the AX8 for my case would be about $1,500.
Again, my goal is not to find my personal tone, it is to emulate the tones of my favorite artists.
I'm a firm believer that Fractal Audio is the best at what they do and the huge community around the products certainly helps. I know about the Helix, the Headrush, the Boss GT 1000, the Atomic Amplifire but while they look like great products, all my research brings me back to Fractal. I tried VSTs and while it was fun for a bit, I prefer the hardware route.
I know I want Fractal but I'm torn between the III and the AX8. I know some of you would recommended the middle route and go with the II XL+ but I believe that if I was to go the rack route I might as well jump on board the III bandwagon.
My worries is that I would have to find workarounds with the AX8 to use it the way I want (Headphones / Tone match) but at the same time, the III is a lot of money that I would rather keep in my pocket.
I've read countless of threads and I guess I just wan't to have a bit more personalized feedback based on what I'm trying to achieve.
Thanks for reading!
Although I just registered, I have been lurking the Fractal Forums since before the Axe FX 2 was announced ...
A little back story first!
I have been playing guitar since the mid 90s when i started as a teenager. I'm a big Metallica fan and my quest for tone is pretty much that ... late 80s, early 90s Metallica tones (you know ... RTL, MOP, ADFA, Black album ...). Both Crunch and Clean tones.
I've always been a bedroom player and pretty much always played through headphones (Sennheiser HD590 for 15 years that died last week, replaced by HD598SR).
At one point during the mid 2000s, my rig was composed of an Engl 530, Mesa Triaxis, G-Major, a 24? band rack EQ (can't remember how many but that was a lot), a Red Box DI going through a very basic mixer and my headphones.
At the time, this was pretty much my way of "tone matching" using the EQ. That worked great but I then moved to NYC and had to let my gear go. That's when i switched to a Pod XT.
I now use a Pod HD500X that I'm not in love with mainly because of the "no IR loader" feature and just being Line 6 in general. Not that other people can't get amazing tones out of any type of gear, for me, it doesn't click anymore and I'm ready to move on.
I'm not a professional musician or play in a band. This is my hobby and I would like to enjoy it a bit more again.
I'm a firm believer that the bulk of what we are seeking in terms of tone comes from the IR. I mean think about it ... how many albums were recorded with pretty much the same gear but sound different? It's mostly because of the engineers ears. But anyhow.
I'm at a point in my life where I can technically afford the Axe FX III ($2,900 shipped with extended warranty) but that is still a lot of dough for my limited use.
And that is why I'm also looking at the AX8 for a much more affordable $1,300 shipped with extended warranty.
Now aside from being the latest and greatest, the Axe FX III also includes a headphone jack and tone matching capabilities. To achieve that, the AX8 requires an audio interface / mixer and software to create the tone match which could add easily $200 or so. So in essence the AX8 for my case would be about $1,500.
Again, my goal is not to find my personal tone, it is to emulate the tones of my favorite artists.
I'm a firm believer that Fractal Audio is the best at what they do and the huge community around the products certainly helps. I know about the Helix, the Headrush, the Boss GT 1000, the Atomic Amplifire but while they look like great products, all my research brings me back to Fractal. I tried VSTs and while it was fun for a bit, I prefer the hardware route.
I know I want Fractal but I'm torn between the III and the AX8. I know some of you would recommended the middle route and go with the II XL+ but I believe that if I was to go the rack route I might as well jump on board the III bandwagon.
My worries is that I would have to find workarounds with the AX8 to use it the way I want (Headphones / Tone match) but at the same time, the III is a lot of money that I would rather keep in my pocket.
I've read countless of threads and I guess I just wan't to have a bit more personalized feedback based on what I'm trying to achieve.
Thanks for reading!