If you would have to give up on your Fractal...

P

parlopower

Inspired
So, my CD production is slowly approaching its end, and my musical plans beyond that are currently, like, non-existent.

Since there is quite some stuff for the house that needs to be paid for I am not sure if I can justify keeping the Axe Fx II, as much as I love it - but for merely entertaining a hobby, while at the same time being tight in paying "real life bills", having a 2000+€ processor sitting around does not appear very reasonable. I know, musicians and guitar players in particular, are not compatible with reason... but as a father and family man, I have to be.

So, if I indeed sell my Axe Fx II, but want to keep something around to practice and record some ideas, what would you get? I might take around 500€ from the money I get for the Axe for this purpose... so anything like AX8, Kemper, Helix etc. is ruled out anyway.

Would you rather get a cheaper hardware modeler like a Pod HD? Or one of these little Yamaha THR10 or THR5 amps? Or stick to plugins like Guitar Rig, LePou, whatever? (I have Cubase, a nice audio interface and Yamaha HS80M monitors...) Or sell my Interface, too, get a Universal Audio Apollo Twin and one of the amp sims for that platform? What would be your choice? Remember, it is only for practice, some fiddling around and capturing ideas. But of course I still want the best I could get for that amount of money.
 
I would probably look at something like s-gear that seems to be popular in PC/Mac modelling, and BIAS or similar for an iPad as an alternative. My guess though would be that I would end up buying all of them searching for something that would come close to the Axe Fx and spending quite some money and time in the process anyway. I personally don't see a harm in keeping the Axe Fx even if it's for hobby purposes.
 
Thanks for the reply - that is one reason why I opened this thread, to NOT try around a thousand times. ;-)

The harm is not done by the Axe being there - the harm is done by the over 1000€ that are missing to fix the house...

S-Gear looks nice. Several models for a good price.
Kuassa looks also cool...
 
Probably get a mini mark V, it has the recording output, seems versatile enough, and sounds great. Pick up a used G-major and call it a day.
 
S-Gear is an amazing value for the money. Great models. I use it for a practice tool but there's no reason it couldn't be used for your recording projects too.
 
Speaking of good value for the money, you may want to consider one of the Fender Mustang amps. For instance, this version is 40 watts, has a 12" speaker, does some modelling and has some special effects, as well as a USB port to connect a PC to fiddle with other things. For $199, you could have a lotta fun and it's actually robust enough to jam with a small group.
 
G'day parlopower,
To be frank, I'd think long and hard about how the axe fx makes you feel when you play. I have a couple, and may sell one one day (you're right about it being a lot of dough to tie up in fun), but Im pretty sure I'll keep one axe fx. I spent years thinking I was losing the enjoyment in playing when in fact I was so busy buying crappy guitar amp modellers that never sounded any good, that I just never pulled a good sound. Now, a good sound is in preset one, and most of the others.
So.. You may only play occasionally in the near future, but how's it gonna feel when you don't have the axe fx?
It takes a lot to get the money together and you may just be forcing yourself to do that again.

Pauly


parlopower said:
So, my CD production is slowly approaching its end, and my musical plans beyond that are currently, like, non-existent.

Since there is quite some stuff for the house that needs to be paid for I am not sure if I can justify keeping the Axe Fx II, as much as I love it - but for merely entertaining a hobby, while at the same time being tight in paying "real life bills", having a 2000+€ processor sitting around does not appear very reasonable. I know, musicians and guitar players in particular, are not compatible with reason... but as a father and family man, I have to be.

So, if I indeed sell my Axe Fx II, but want to keep something around to practice and record some ideas, what would you get? I might take around 500€ from the money I get for the Axe for this purpose... so anything like AX8, Kemper, Helix etc. is ruled out anyway.

Would you rather get a cheaper hardware modeler like a Pod HD? Or one of these little Yamaha THR10 or THR5 amps? Or stick to plugins like Guitar Rig, LePou, whatever? (I have Cubase, a nice audio interface and Yamaha HS80M monitors...) Or sell my Interface, too, get a Universal Audio Apollo Twin and one of the amp sims for that platform? What would be your choice? Remember, it is only for practice, some fiddling around and capturing ideas. But of course I still want the best I could get for that amount of money.
Click to expand...
 
My new backup rig sonically comes close to the Axe-Fx II to my ears in terms of the basic tones. Tech 21 FlyRig 5, Tech 21 BoostComp, and FullDrive 3. The FD3 is a luxury but sounds great. Now that's for live use, haven't tried recording. All analog. The FR5 sounds good on its own, but that BoostComp puts it on another planet IMO.
 
I used to like my Vox Tonelab modeller. It's nothing like the Axe FX but I thought it sounded better than any other modeller I'd tried in that price range (including Line 6 and plug-ins), though it was more limited in functionality/fx. I don't know what their range is like at the moment - no-one ever seems to mention them, it's all Pod, Pod, Pod.

I have Guitar Rig and think that's a piece of shit. As is iZotope Trash for anything other than weird experimental stuff.

cheers
 
I know how you feel. I am always struggling with the idea of keeping such an expensive processor around for playing at home.

However, when it comes down to it, nothing ever seems to do as well. It makes me want to play, instead of make me not want to play like cheaper modelers. I can play it whenever as opposed to loud amps. It actually kind of saves me money in a way because without it I would be buying/selling/trading amps and effects, which is getting hard these days. It also takes up way less room.

If I HAD to get rid of it though, I would probably use my favorite tube head into a Two-Notes Torpedo Live and/or Freyette Power Station. I would use this with a small collection of pedals.
 
I think Cliff himself stated that the only thing that comes close to AXE in built quality is the 11 rack. So I would go with that or POD HD500. As I remember it sounded pretty good for the price.
 
muleskinner said:
I used to like my Vox Tonelab modeller. It's nothing like the Axe FX but I thought it sounded better than any other modeller I'd tried in that price range (including Line 6 and plug-ins), though it was more limited in functionality/fx. I don't know what their range is like at the moment - no-one ever seems to mention them, it's all Pod, Pod, Pod.

I have Guitar Rig and think that's a piece of shit. As is iZotope Trash for anything other than weird experimental stuff.

cheers
Click to expand...

Agreed. Tonelab LE is underrated. I've owned the gt100, pod hd500x, zoom g5, and plays a gt10. The TL LE beats then in terms of tube feel. I will admit it's limited with its effects and only a few of the amp models are any good.

I'm not sure I could go back to it though now that I have an axe 2
 
The Line 6 Spider wouldn't be a bad option. Actually sounded good when I tried one at a music store. You also get their editing software for the amp, so you can edit presets and other things on your computer. I'd go check one out, if there's one in your area.
 
If you purely play at home, plugins are going to be your most efficient route.

Non-plugins:
Cheapest with some semblance of tone? Probably the PODHD.

What's a used Standard going for these days?
 
Keep the Axe and a good guitar, sell something else IMO. Even though the value of the Axe slightly declines over time you can always get most of your money back. Everything else digital loses at least half its value (with the exception of a few boutique pedals and high end processors) soon as the money leaves your hand.
 
To be a fair I don't know your details, but I would generally expect, it probably does not make sense to sell it. You will take a loss on the unit @sale and then pay a premium for whatever inferior thing you replace it with along with your time cost of setup and rerigging/dialing, plus there are always hidden costs associated with a new rig. When you recover, you will eventually want it back, take a loss on the other unit and then pay a premium to get it back. Sell something you are actually not using. As someone who moved within the last two years you will be shocked at how much stuff you have that has value that you have not actually *touched* within a twelve month period.

Also, not to be harsh but if you are down to selling individual possessions that are already paid for to pay for a house or items from your general budget; you may have a lifestyle issue. There'll ALWAYS be some emergency if you have a family; if your budget has zero slack your finances will be a mess your whole life.

Tossing out things that bring joy to your life is not a good strategy, IMHO. The AFX THANKFULLY was built to last. It has saved me so much money by keeping me from tone chasing through gear flipping which is mostly a losing game.
 
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