I'm worried about the Ax8 future...

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I’m actually psyched about the Ax3 because it means the prices for used XL units will plummet, and I’ll finally be able to afford one of those!

Not too worried that the next generation will render the current gen obsolete. The tones are already so incredible, my guess is that the majority of improvements will be in the interface itself, and processing speed. And I don’t really care much about those.

Think about smartphones - I just traded in an iPhone SE for a brand new iPhone 8, and honestly I’m not really impressed by this newer, supposedly better model. Sure, it’s a little faster and the screen is a little crisper, but the SE (and hell, even the iPhone 4 it evolved from) was already pretty freaking powerful as a pocket computer, so the improvements aren’t exactly drastic. My guess is that tone-wise, the Ax3 will be the a minor improvement over current gen
 
lqdsnddist said:
I could still continue to check email, use MS Word etc on a Windows 95 computer, just like a 19” CRT tv will still let me watch the Super Bowl etc

Plenty of old products still work fine. I see no reason the ax8 won’t work and sound as good as it did today in 10 years.

However, I also expect a smart phone like device in 10 years will have more power than a axeIII does today, and we may have a $0.99 app capable of even better sound quality.

As a result, a product like the Ax8 wouldnt have much advantage, thus the price will be so low

Reason a 19” crt is worth like $10 these days is because you can get a 23” LCD for like $100. The “better” product is a cost effective alternative, and that is what is going to happen with modeling

It’s going to get better, and cheaper, and as a result older alternatives are going to lose value just like a Fractal ultra has

Does the Ultra sound good still? Sure, but when I can get a ax8 for $1100 or a mkII used for $1200, how much would I realistically want to pay for one these days ? Not much, even though it was once a $2000 product
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fully agree!
 
hbucker said:
At some point, some people here will have to buy into their own hype. That is, "Holy cow! The AX8 sounds awesome! Just like the real thing! Thanks Fractal for nailing it so perfectly!!"

Ironically, this statement is made, then the new firmware comes out, and: "Wow! It sounds even better! More real!" ...More real than the already "nailed it perfectly."

Now, fear of a new unit making the already "perfect, couldn't be better" tone of our AX8s obsolete is starting to creep in.

Either your AX8 sounds great and "nails it" or it falls short and the theoretical new unit will reveal these sonic shortfalls. And at some point in the future the newer model will make that AX8 sound inferior... :)

Thus, the psychological confusion of consumers dealing with computers. Newer is always better, faster, stronger. This isn't the case with traditional guitar gear and actually, the computer aspect is what I like the least about the AX8. Try looking at your AX8 as guitar gear, and not a computer. (Hard, I know. But try...) And this concern about newer units will be much smaller.
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Great post. Too many fractal users seem to tie their enjoyment of the product to the release cycles despite most update being pretty nominal IMHO. The AX8 sounds great to me and is a solid piece of gear. Fractal is a company after all and has to sunset older products in order to introduce new revenue streams. If it works for anyone right now, that's what the concern will be. If it's lacking in certain areas, perhaps the next iteration will answer that for you. If one's worried about the future value of as MFX...well there's this thing called the stock market which is worth looking into...
 
I am definitely on the "who cares?" camp. If anything, it means the product is mature, the firmware stable and will provide many years of service. Each and every time a product gets firmware updates, it opens the owner up to possible bugs, problems, lag and other things that were not there before.
Yes I want to buy an Axe FX III or possibly the next generation AX8 but deciding to keep what I have is still in the realm of possibilities if I have invested a huge amount of hours tweaking, have my presets sounding exactly the way I like. Do I want to get into that learning curve?
Will the presets in our current gear migrate to the new devices? Will they need another 100 hours of massaging?

Therefore, I may just have a look, review, read and say to myself, "awww... fuggitt!"
 
lqdsnddist said:
You can't really cherry pick a specific piece of gear like a 2290 as representative for digital equipment as a whole though.

How much are decades worth of Zoom, Digitech et al., digital effects processors worth ? Next to nothing

Same with older modelers, what is an original POD worth ?

The AX8 is going to go down the same pathway, in 10-15 years it will still work, still sound good, but its going to be next to nothing because products are going to keep evolving.

The 2290 is an isolated case due to its rarity, famous artist roster, and the "they don't build them like they used to" design of the circuit.

AX8 isn't going to be a 2290
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You are correct sir!!!! I have a boatload of really great digital gear that is worth almost nothing. It's only the 2290 and the Roland SDE-3000 that retained any kind of value.

Eric
 
Ericbr1 said:
You are correct sir!!!! I have a boatload of really great digital gear that is worth almost nothing. It's only the 2290 and the Roland SDE-3000 that retained any kind of value.

Eric
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If only we could of predicted what would of been valuable and what wouldn't..... I kick myself for selling some old EHX stuff like a 18v mistress, green russian tall font, etc for probably $20-30 back in the early 90's when that stuff is worth hundreds these days lol
 
I think another key thing to point out with the firmware updates and Fractal is that the amount of advancement just isn't going to progress at the same rate. I bought my Axe II back when it was on firmware 5 or 6, and now counting Quantum versions we are on like firmware 29

Those early firmwares were pretty massive and significant upgrades, totally changing the sound and feel, but these days, stuff while still for the better, is pretty minor. There is no way I could tell Q2.09 from Q8 in a blind test honestly. Now I do think I could tell Q8 from firmware 8, as we have come a long way in edge of breakup tones etc. The older early firmware sounded a bit like a modeler, for lack of better term.

Back in those early days, firmware was pretty exciting, and was like getting a totally new toy to play with these. These days, the differences are pretty darn slim, and even if there is a new amp, how different is it really going to sound from the other 200+ amps ??

I haven't even bothered to update my AxeII to the very latest version because what did it change ? CF Hardness value slightly ? Fine and good, but not to exciting for me.

That is the reality as far as I'm concerned with the AX8, it surely will still get updates, but are they going to be night and night differences ? No, I don't think so, and as such, even if you don't get updates, your not really missing out as we simply aren't going to go back to the glory days of massive Cliff "break thoughs" on a weekly basis.

Maybe the III can take things to another level, but honestly even that product, which I admit I got on the wait list for, I don't see being radically different at least for a while.


I get where new users are coming from, and you've probably heard a lot about this whole modeling ride, but as someone who's been on it from the start, the future isn't going to be like the past was.


Everyone is going to get their III, and after a day of the newest cool factor, its going to go right back to being another tool, just like the AxeII or AX8 was.

When I got my II from my Ultra it didn't change my music, didn't make me a rock star, didn't even make be a better guitarist. It was a better unit sure, and it had a great, and still going run, but it wasn't really that big of deal.

Trust me, after the III hype dies down, we are going to see plenty of folks selling them, going back to the II or the AX8 because it "better fit their needs" and more so, budget.
 
I think a lot of AX8 users were waiting if not craving for improvements on usability. The chances of getting any of those wishes fulfilled depend on what the FAS plans are for an AX8 MK2.
 
If it were only for the sound, I'd stay exactly where I am w/ my AX8 and be totally happy. Of course, future FW updates are welcome but it's progressed to where the audible differences are so minor that I can't really hear them.

The reason I would upgrade is for the usability improvements - many of which are now included in the III (and hopefully in an upcoming floor model). Scribble strips, seamless switching, more blocks, more routing flexibility, channels... those are the reasons I would move to an AX8-2.
 
lqdsnddist said:
If only we could of predicted what would of been valuable and what wouldn't..... I kick myself for selling some old EHX stuff like a 18v mistress, green russian tall font, etc for probably $20-30 back in the early 90's when that stuff is worth hundreds these days lol
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You've got that right! I collected pedals for many years, so did pretty well selling things when prices went up, but typically studio gear or pa gear just didn't go up. .
 
Ericbr1 said:
You've got that right! I collected pedals for many years, so did pretty well selling things when prices went up, but typically studio gear or pa gear just didn't go up. .
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There's hardly any vintage market for digital and PA stuff. Reason being there have been huge improvements on sound in this arena.
 
I feel like I saw somewhere in the past 2 or 3 months that a comment was made by cliff that the ax8 is still a young product and would not be discontinued but I could be wrong. I do wonder if we will receive the newer amp technology but I would question the ability of the hardware. the processor power of the iii is a huge step above the ax8. It sure would be nice if they could find a way to do the seamless channel switching but not a deal breaker by no means.
 
I really do hope a new floor version isn't far behind. I had two AX8's and kept going back to my XL setup because I was just used it so much. To have more CPU and a better UI with the screens would make it a no brainer for many. Kind of like how Line 6 released the Helix and Helix rack together.
 
I've posted on this thread a few times, but I'd like to just say I'm 100% happy with my AX8 purchase and use it all the time. I've owned it for quite awhile, have NOWHERE NEAR scratched the surface of it, and use it at most of my gigs, and play with it when I can at home. I write programs all the time on it, and am happy with ones I write. I'd like to be able to have the ambition to delve into it further, and hopefully I will Meanwhile, I paid full price for it, it's already gone down 300.00 for new ones and will continue to go down in price BUT it was a 100% satisfying purchase for me. I own a museum-full of music gear, and I very rarely can say I'm 100% satisfied with something but with the AX8 I am. Carry on

Eric
 
Yup, I’m intrigued with what the future holds for an Ax12...
Also enjoying watching what unfolds with the AxeIII.
Eventually I see some more power brought down the lines as we have had with the AxeII and Ax8.
 
Ericbr1 said:
I've posted on this thread a few times, but I'd like to just say I'm 100% happy with my AX8 purchase and use it all the time. I've owned it for quite awhile, have NOWHERE NEAR scratched the surface of it, and use it at most of my gigs, and play with it when I can at home. I write programs all the time on it, and am happy with ones I write. I'd like to be able to have the ambition to delve into it further, and hopefully I will Meanwhile, I paid full price for it, it's already gone down 300.00 for new ones and will continue to go down in price BUT it was a 100% satisfying purchase for me. I own a museum-full of music gear, and I very rarely can say I'm 100% satisfied with something but with the AX8 I am. Carry on

Eric
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Very, very happy with my 8 and will be for a long time!
 
Eyes on the prize: The Music!

Thankfully; I'm not afflicted by the corrosive confusion of having an investment mentality about music gear: My condolences to those who worry about the potential resale value of a tool years down the road.

I didn't buy the AX8 as an investment to try and resell. Ironically, I got it as an economy measure: I felt constrained with "just getting by" with amps/MFX/other modelers that fell short of excellence: The cost of the AX8 was similar or less than the better amps I was considering upgrading to: especially if I included the attenuator I'd need to play in many amps' sweet spot at the moderate volumes I require, and the cost of a few boutique pedals. Maintenance not included.

If I amortize the cost of the AX8 over the 20 some months I've had it: It's less than a dollar per hour of use. I've spent as much money in that time on coffee. I've spent more than that on car insurance. I've spent money on a lot of things I'll never see again that aren't nearly as valuable as the AX8's contribution to my life and music. Plus, I still have it in perfect working condition. IME: The AX8 at v9.04 represents a maturation of amp modeling: It sounds better and is a more expressive extension of my guitar than the amps & effects or modelers I've used over the last 30 odd years. Partly that's because I've seldom had high end gear. Its also that I won't/don't play at the really LOUD levels most amps require to hit optimal distortion tones. Who can say what the future holds: but my chops and hearing are more at risk of deterioration than the perceived sound quality of the AX8.
 
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