How many years is the AX8 designed to last for practical daily use?

dsouza said:
You haven't even looked into the price of repair.
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You have no idea of what I have or have not done. @ZenRigs Man (who is the UK distributor and local to me) has offered advice and support in a friendly and professional manner which shows what an excellent gentleman, Fractal genius, and good all-round person he is. He could have easily told me that he did not supply me with my AX8 and that it was not his concern (in a nice way), but instead as ever he stepped up to the mark and showed and offered his amazing Fractal Audio support. A top man in my book.
 
Dixiethedog said:
You have no idea of what I have or have not done. @ZenRigs Man (who is the UK distributor and local to me) has offered advice and support in a friendly and professional manner which shows what an excellent gentleman, Fractal genius, and good all-round person he is. He could have easily told me that he did not supply me with my AX8 and that it was not his concern (in a nice way), but instead as ever he stepped up to the mark and showed and offered his amazing Fractal Audio support. A top man in my book.
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What did he say when it came to FIXING it? Actually shipping it to FAS and putting in a new USB port? What did he quote you?
 
dsouza said:
What did he say when it came to FIXING it? Actually shipping it to FAS and putting in a new USB port? What did he quote you?
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@ZenRigs Man was kind enough to give me all the advice I needed, but other than that the conversation was private.
I would however suggest that anybody in the UK who needs any "Fractal" support should contact him and I would like to think that his customer service would be given in as friendly way as that given to me.

Just as a footnote, I don't think that I would even be a Fractal user if it had not been for the help, advice, and encouragement that was given to me by Zenrigs Man when I was just thinking about buying myself a Fractal toy. All of this before he became the UK distributor. The forum has a lot of great folk on it, all of whom have helped me along when I have been stuck but I have said this before and I will say it again, ZenRigs Man is one of the brightest Fractal stars around. My hero. LOL. :)
 
Dixiethedog said:
@ZenRigs Man was kind enough to give me all the advice I needed, but other than that the conversation was private.
I would however suggest that anybody in the UK who needs any "Fractal" support should contact him and I would like to think that his customer service would be given in as friendly way as that given to me.

Just as a footnote, I don't think that I would even be a Fractal user if it had not been for the help, advunie, and encouragement that was given to me by Zenrigs Man when I was just thinking about buying myself a Fractal toy. All of this before he became the UK distributor. The forum has a lot of great folk on it, all of whom have helped me along when I have been stuck but I have said this before and I will say it again, ZenRigs Man is one of the brightest Fractal stars around. My hero. LOL. :)
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Just curious you seem to be content with your AX8 unit even though the USB port is broken and you can't use AX8Edit.

What would you do if the footswitches break?

Are you telling me FAS won't SERVICE the ax8 anymore?
 
dsouza said:
Who are you fooling?

The AX8 without AX8Edit is basically useless. How are you going to edit all your settings for presets? The drives, amps, delays etc ? How are you going to manage your preset lists , adding, deleting, moving etc.? How are you going to backup your unit and restore if the AX8 breaks down and needs a reset?
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You are fooled.

The Axe-FX Standard did not even had USB port, and at there was no software editor. The editor was developed later, and it required a MIDI-to-USB converter (It's already been said that you could use one of these MIDI-to-USB converters in the unlikely case that you precious USB port felt apart. They are very cheap). We made all editing at the font panel, which was not very different from the AX8, Axe-FX Standard or Ultra. It is not rocket science

The Phantom Menace Fear GIF by Star Wars

Gold Rush GIF by Discovery
 
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Thank you for all the kind words @Dixiethedog :)

Just to clarify for all folks that have asked, I now run G66 UK, which is the official Fractal distributor in the UK. We also have a UK based service centre now so if anyone has hardware issues, the service centre can diagnose and advise on getting things fixed. As there could be any number of reasons for something mis-behaving, I (personally) cannot give an estimate of a price to fix - that's down to the experts at our service centre.

Sukh
 
Piing said:
You are fooled.

The Axe-FX Standard did not even had USB port, and at there was no software editor. The editor was developed later, and it required a MIDI-to-USB converter (It's already been said that you could use one of these MIDI-to-USB converters in the unlikely case that you precious USB port felt apart. They are very cheap). We made all editing at the font panel, which was not very different from the AX8, Axe-FX Standard or Ultra. It is not rocket science

The Phantom Menace Fear GIF by Star Wars

Gold Rush GIF by Discovery
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Yes and we know DixietheDog has not been successful using a midi to usb connector. He had problems with that solution.

Also how would you backup and restore all your presets in case of a system crash or firmware crash?
 
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dsouza said:
Yes and we know DixietheDog has not been successful using a midi to usb connector. He had problems with that solution.
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It was suggested to me to try the USB idea by (I think?) somebody who had had experience with an Axe FX2 or even an earlier model. The advice was given in good faith and was worth a try due to the low price of a MIDI interface. It was also just me being lazy as I did not want to unscrew my AX8 apart and remove the electronic board in question to possibly have to resolder the replacement USB or even just do an electronic continuity test to see if there was a break within any circuit.

I used to work as a technician for an electronics engineering company (owned by The Honeywell Group) which was one of the biggest of its type in the UK. I have City & Guilds ( a well-recognized industry standard) qualifications in electronics so in all honesty I am probably equally qualified as anybody who might be at the service end of the Fractals repair business here in the UK. Of course that said with the utmost respect to them.

So to shorten the above, "I am lazy".

If my AX8 should have a failing footswitch I will assign a new switch to do whatever is necessary. In answer to another question.

At the moment I am not working due to a health issue (which will get better), I am (and I hate this description) asset-rich (maybe not rich, but things look good on paper) but don't have an endless amount of good old fashioned cash, so I do keep checking the s/h adverts looking for an affordable deal on a more modern Fractal device. Once bought, my AX8 will be retired, given away as a gift, or sold off to a new owner at a very low price. I will give it a pat on its back (like you would a pet dog) and thank it for its years of good service. And then move on.

So, as I am sure this thread will become a bit of a bore to people, let us all move on. Your AX8 will no doubt last for a lot more years to come so plug it in and enjoy!
 
Dixiethedog said:
It was suggested to me to try the USB idea by (I think?) somebody who had had experience with an Axe FX2 or even an earlier model. The advice was given in good faith and was worth a try due to the low price of a MIDI interface. It was also just me being lazy as I did not want to unscrew my AX8 apart and remove the electronic board in question to possibly have to resolder the replacement USB or even just do an electronic continuity test to see if there was a break within any circuit.

I used to work as a technician for an electronics engineering company (owned by The Honeywell Group) which was one of the biggest of its type in the UK. I have City & Guilds ( a well-recognized industry standard) qualifications in electronics so in all honesty I am probably equally qualified as anybody who might be at the service end of the Fractals repair business here in the UK. Of course that said with the utmost respect to them.

So to shorten the above, "I am lazy".

If my AX8 should have a failing footswitch I will assign a new switch to do whatever is necessary. In answer to another question.

At the moment I am not working due to a health issue (which will get better), I am (and I hate this description) asset-rich (maybe not rich, but things look good on paper) but don't have an endless amount of good old fashioned cash, so I do keep checking the s/h adverts looking for an affordable deal on a more modern Fractal device. Once bought, my AX8 will be retired, given away as a gift, or sold off to a new owner at a very low price. I will give it a pat on its back (like you would a pet dog) and thank it for its years of good service. And then move on.

So, as I am sure this thread will become a bit of a bore to people, let us all move on. Your AX8 will no doubt last for a lot more years to come so plug it in and enjoy!
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You are not lazy. There was a problem with the USB port. And FAS didn't directly repair it for reasons you won't disclose. Or you choose not to send it in.

Secondly, you say you don't care for the Midi-USB route so what would you do if your USB port breaks down on a new FM9 or AF3 unit? Same problem again.

The solution lies in repair.

I am just hoping the AX8 although not part of the FM3/9/AF3 family is still supported by FAS in terms of repair costs even if it means paying for it.

It's still a great unit that is used on stages all around the world.

I plan on buying another AX8 for gigging.

I also plan on keeping the AX8's for years to come.
 
I am done with worrying (or not) about how long my AX8 will or will not work or for how long. I am happy with the sounds I am getting with some simple changes to my set up (new cables....) but I am looking as said before for a more modern Fractal device. Not because I have to buy one but because I want to buy one.

Somebody said something to me yesterday. "Spend it today as one day you will be dead and then you won't be able to spend it". They then said something along the lines of if you buy it and don't like it, sell it and move on to something else.
 
Does someone really expect an AX8 to last THIRTY years? I’m not sure I want to keep most family members that long. I probably wont live another 30 years. That is the length of a career. I think of where computing was 30 years ago…….we were in the infancy of the internet. Why would anyone want a guitar modeler that long????
 
Bruce Sokolovic said:
Does someone really expect an AX8 to last THIRTY years? I’m not sure I want to keep most family members that long. I probably wont live another 30 years. That is the length of a career. I think of where computing was 30 years ago…….we were in the infancy of the internet. Why would anyone want a guitar modeler that long????
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You are right that I just recently bought an FM9T. :) Christmas came early this year....

Still got my ax8 unless I get a wonderful offer I will not give it up.
 
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