It arrived yesterday afternoon! I'm running stereo into my MOTU 2408 MK3, monitoring through my HR824s. I spent a good couple hours troubleshooting a "no sound" issue (including reseating the PCI424 card), only to discover (and you'll love this one) instead of adjusting the volume of the main out, I was using the volume knob for the headphones! I suppose if I had just brought this equipment home and not owned it for the past 13 years, I would have an acceptable excuse (no idea what I was thinking), so of course, I decided to blame my better-half since, as an audio engineer, she should have checked this during troubleshooting; of course, having assumed I was turning the correct knob, as soon as this came to light, she spent a good twenty minutes rolling on the floor in what can only be described as extreme hilarity!
Needless to say, the reviews pertaining to the learning curve being "steep" are quite accurate! I haven't spent too much time kicking myself in the ass (yet) for putting-off what amounts to, at least, five years of what can only be described as masochism, suffering through the sophomoric technology that comprises the family line of Line6, insofar as two years ago (against better instinct and judgment, influenced by an older drummer-friend hounding me to get tubed-amplification, which over the course of my 30 years of playing, I've never owned), I second guessed myself and bought a H&K. Having ditched all of my heavily invested-in BOSS pedals of the mid to late 80s when I bought my first rack unit 22 years ago, and thus having to reacquire some of those same pedals again, and never being sated by any of this, I can only say that my AXE FX 2 XL+ seems to be everything I've ever dreamed!
If this is "coming to the dark-side," I graciously rescind my application to the Jedi order. I've always loved Obi Wan, but we all know that both Indiana Jones and Han Solo were into side-arms (and blasters, respectively). This thing is truly the cleanest, most robust sound I've experienced in my 30 years of playing. I can't wait to slide this baby into my rack and totally thrown-down! If it sounds this good trough my MOTU and HR824s, my faith remains unwavering that it shall sound just as good (if not better) moving through my Boogie power amp!
For those interested, my setup is as follows:
STUDIO
Intel DX79SI
Intel Core i7-3960X (no overlocking)
8x Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR4 DRAM 2400MHz
Nvidia GTX 960
MOTU 2408 MK3
2x WD 1500HLFS VelociRaptors (150GB) 1 for Windows 10; 1 for music, videos, video games, etc.
Corsair Force 3 SSD (150 GB) -> Cakewalk Sonar Platinum; plugins, etc.
Samsung SSD 840 Pro (250 GB) -> FXpansion BFD1-3
Seagate Barracuda (1TB) misc
Seagate Backup Pro (3TB) removable backup
LIVE
Mesa Boogie 20/20
2x Mesa Boogie 2x12 Roadsters
AXE FX 2XL+ (YAY!)
EDITED -> took-off work today; back to the learning curve!
