How do you rate Axe-Fx 3 effects vs Eventide and other high end stuff?

Bruce Sokolovic said:
H9 effects are stellar. Maybe you have a broken one.
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The reverbs and the modulation effects definitively sound with lower quality than the Axe-FX. Not apparent if you just listen to the H9, since they are not bad, but evident when doing A/B comparisons

I am not sure if that could be the cause of a broken unit. Everything seemed to work normally.
 
The Axe Fx effects are as good as anything else out there- the only effects I keep around are a select few that do something really specific- I have a Shallow Water, a Microcosm, a FreqOut, a Blackstone overdrive (which I really, really wish was in the magic box...), and an Echofix Tape Echo. I might pick up a Meet Maude, but for everything else, I'd rather use the Axe effects. They're better, and you don't deal with noise issues, etc.

I posted this a few days ago in a different thread, but the Axe lets me use my old amps in new, different ways. Analog gear can be utilized more effectively with an Axe Fx controlling it all. Right now, in the music room, I have my Shallow Water before the input of my Axe Fx, and the Axe feeds a Swart SST-30 with output 1, the Echofix (tape echo) is in the output/input 2 loop (it can connect with xlrs), Output/Input 3 hosts a Microcosm in stereo followed by a Mimiq, and Output 4 sends a stereo signal to a Swart Stereo Master 20, which runs the wet effects. It's an easy w/d/w rig with multiple pieces of outboard gear, all controlled and integrated with the Axe. Or if I need to practice silently, just switch patches, plug in headphones, and jam away. Just want to play one of the amps? No big deal- just setup a patch with the output of whatever amp you want. Need to play at church? No sweat- unplug it, and you're on your way with a complete rig you can set right on the stage, ready to rock. It's absolutely crazy how flexible the Axe Fx is, how many possibilities it opens up, and how well it integrates with other gear.
 
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lqdsnddist said:
I’ve tried, and tried a bunch of the plugins designed to emulate some of the vintage reverbs and nothing really gets the same sound and coloration.

they had some really quirky algorithms back on those “vintage” units, along with really cheap converters and such. Sounds “bad” in a real pleasing way, especially when your slightly clipping the inputs.

fantastic dark and gritty artificial sound that sounds killer on synth lines, gets that old Detroit sound as those guys were using those very units quite often.

wish I bought up more of that stuff back in the day when you could pick up unloved rack gear for like $25 at pawn shops. Now you can spend a few hundred on some of it.

I remember having an ensoniq dp4, probably sold it for $75 back when plugins seemed all the rage. Now those things fetch a grand....
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Love my MidiVerb 4. Might have to break out my Boss GX700 :)
 
It's probably harder to re-create Axe-Fx sounds on an eventide or stymon unit than it is to mimic those units on an Axe Fx. I started with the Ultra which may have been lacking in a few areas, but with the III... it's excellent across the board more so than any other effects processor.
 
Adman103 said:
The Axe Fx effects are as good as anything else out there- the only effects I keep around are a select few that do something really specific- I have a Shallow Water, a Microcosm, a FreqOut, a Blackstone overdrive (which I really, really wish was in the magic box...), and an Echofix Tape Echo. I might pick up a Meet Maude, but for everything else, I'd rather use the Axe effects. They're better, and you don't deal with noise issues, etc.

I posted this a few days ago in a different thread, but the Axe lets me use my old amps in new, different ways. Analog gear can be utilized more effectively with an Axe Fx controlling it all. Right now, in the music room, I have my Shallow Water before the input of my Axe Fx, and the Axe feeds a Swart SST-30 with output 1, the Echofix (tape echo) is in the output/input 2 loop (it can connect with xlrs), Output/Input 3 hosts a Microcosm in stereo followed by a Mimiq, and Output 4 sends a stereo signal to a Swart Stereo Master 20, which runs the wet effects. It's an easy w/d/w rig with multiple pieces of outboard gear, all controlled and integrated with the Axe. Or if I need to practice silently, just switch patches, plug in headphones, and jam away. Just want to play one of the amps? No big deal- just setup a patch with the output of whatever amp you want. Need to play at church? No sweat- unplug it, and you're on your way with a complete rig you can set right on the stage, ready to rock. It's absolutely crazy how flexible the Axe Fx is, how many possibilities it opens up, and how well it integrates with other gear.
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Interesting pedal collection you've got there, tip o the hat to you sir :)
 
Piing said:
It is a bad addition because the quality of the H9 effects is significantly lower than the FM3
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I have to disagree. I have an Axe fx and a H9 and also some Eventide plugins. I think both are fairly equal. I don’t consider the H9 as lower quality.

I think the Axe fx could need some better envelope filter sounds. Still using my envelope pedals for that.
 
In the past, I've recorded in some high-end studios with, at the time, state of the art effects. I'll put it this way: to my ears, the AXE III effects sound at least as good.
 
I probably watched every video I could find on the H9 and H9max, and read quite a lot about them before deciding on the Axe Fx III, and based on that, it sure seemed their effects were state of the art. I think one of the (many) reasons I chose the III, was the limitations on the H9 of running multiple effects at the same time. They had algorithms that could do delay, chorus, & reverb together, but it didn't appear to me you could string them together like you can in the Axe. And for a few hundred dollars more, you could get full amp modeling as well, in the FM3, but you had to add additional H9's to get effects strings like you can with Fractal units.
 
Bodde said:
I have to disagree. I have an Axe fx and a H9 and also some Eventide plugins. I think both are fairly equal. I don’t consider the H9 as lower quality.

I think the Axe fx could need some better envelope filter sounds. Still using my envelope pedals for that.
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I dont really play with envelope filter at all - would you be able to post an example of axe/other for this?
 
Budda said:
I dont really play with envelope filter at all - would you be able to post an example of axe/other for this?
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Not sure what you mean. But I am talking about envelope filter sounds like the Mutron III or Seamoon Funk Machine or EHX Bass Balls. I can’t get those sounds convincingly out of the Axe fx. The pedals sound much better.
 
What I love about the Fractal ARE the FX.
Sure all the amps are great and I use several. However, live I'm generally using two amp tones (clean and dirty) and have all the FX to add the gloss to it all.

I find the FX are as good or better than what they model.
 
steadystate said:
For effects power and flexibility, the H8000 and H9000 are untouchable. But their greatest strength is also their Achilles heel. Programming them can consume all of your time.
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Ive had an H9000 for 2 years now and at least once a week I have a holy shit look at that moment still.
 
I have a H9 and consider the effects to be on par with my III. Trouble is, it can only run one algorithm at once. The FX on the III are absolutely world-class, but so are the Eventide algorithms. It's nice to have both, but tbh I think I could get by without the H9 if I had to. The III can do everything it does, at least for the FX I like.
 
Dave Merrill said:
I just had a look at the price of the H9000 and had one of those moments too :)
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small potatoes in comparison to its intended environment. 1 Briscati reverb unit would set you back just the same, and you can run 16 separate reverb algos at once with the H9000. Its way overkill to put in a guitar rig, though. That was the purpose of the H9, but realistically they can definitely use something floor based like a TC G System killer or similar. Figure 4 algos would be a nice compromise at maybe a 1500-2000 dollar price point or so (as long as it has G Sys type functionality too).
 
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