Just ordered a II. The (longer than normal) wait begins

J

James_E

Member
Gulp. Lots' of money for one piece of gear (at least it was wait-list price) but based on what I read/hear it's going to be awesome.

Longer than normal wait? You see... I'm in Canada... and I'm going on vacation in the USA July 6 - 19th. I'm having it shipped to a friend there to save a bit on shipping (about $120 difference) and to use my $800 exemption at Canada customs when I come back to save on HST when I declare at the border. (I'll save about $100 on the HST.. nothing major but worth it.) So... I have to wait until July 6 to see it.. but I won't have a guitar with me... then I'm on vacation until July 19th.. so I don't actually get to use it with a guitar until I get back! I guess I'll turn it on and look at the pretty lights and get used to the interface.

Time to devour the manuals.

I was really close to getting a used STD or Ultra locally (a STD + Mission SP-2 is available for $1100 locally) but all the talk about how awesome the firmware updates are going to be (like they were on Gen 1) convinced me to just pull the trigger on a II.

Will be enjoying it through a QSC K10 and/or headphones when I get it back to my house.
 
Always tough to wait out gear use opportunities! I'll echo what many here have already said in an effort to allay any cost concerns: when you consider what even 4 or 5 or the amps in this box would cost to have available, the money invested suddenly doesn't look like much more than that, an investment! I'll probably end up with $5K in my rig once I get around to buying a second powered FRFR and such, but then I had that much in my Mesa Road King II rig, counting two speaker cabs, a G-Force for FX, midi controller, and pedal board boxes. That was an awesome sounding rig, but I sincerely do not regret moving to the Axe Fx. The flexibility and pure ability of this setup totally offsets the effort to learn and set up whatever you want. And when what you want changes... you're already there.

I look forward to hearing your experiences come the (ouch!) end of next month!
 
The wait does suck but it is so worth it. I did find myself taking it slowly, used presets, enjoyed them, got more confident with tweaking them and trying to understand what changes made the tone I wanted and then started making my own presets with that knowledge. So far so good, the AxeFx II is an amazing unit. To second what the above member mentioned.... I replaced a Mark IV rig, G-Force, midi switching and I have no regrets. I can get so close to my original Mark IV tone for both Lead and Rhythm it's amazing, I can probably get it bang on, just have to learn a bit more....but that's 1/2 the fun. The effects, amps, cabs, eq options, plug and play for cabinets, FRFR setups are what make the Axefx so fun and satisfying.

Good Luck
 
Yeah I'm selling a couple things to offset the cost. My 5150III 50W rig is up for sale here in my town in the local CL. The head actually already sold in just a few hours. The 4x12 will take longer I know. I have a boss GT-10 and a QSC K10 that will be my rig while I wait. Only have 2 more band rehearsals before vacation and no gigs planned, so it's ok for that. I used the GT-10/K10 at rehearsal tonight and it was ok (not great). I'll also use the GT-10 as my midi controller for the Axe and it'll nicely double as a backup if there is an issue with the Axe.

Got the Axe 2 manual on my iPad. Heading to bed now to read it a bit and probably watch some Axe 2 vids on youtube.
 
Well, it shipped today. So now I have a tracking number and can attempt to bring down the UPS site by checking on it 100s of times per second (maybe I'll write a script... )

Picked up Gator case for it today.

Reading the manual during compiling time at work.
 
Excellent decision, I don't regret selling my g system and mk III. you sure you can't take a guitar a some cans??? :)


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Muzza.. you read my mind. I bought a cheapo guitar to keep at work: a crappy Epiphone Junior with bolt-on neck. Spent a whopping $75. I plan to un bolt the neck and take this thing with me on vacation packed in the suitcase.. and put it back together there. I won't have a TON of time to fiddle with it with the Axe 2, but I will have some. Wife is cool with it. We will have some downtime in the hotel room so while they are watching tv or reading I can mess around a bit.
 
Well.. I have the Axe II. Picked it up at my friends place in California. Playing it via headphones in the hotel room this evening. Gotta say... it is pretty amazing. The sounds through the headphones are great. I'll enjoy it during downtime in the hotel room during the vacation. Will be fun to play it through my QSC K10 when I get home in a couple of weeks.
 
James_E said:
Well.. I have the Axe II. Picked it up at my friends place in California. Playing it via headphones in the hotel room this evening. Gotta say... it is pretty amazing. The sounds through the headphones are great. I'll enjoy it during downtime in the hotel room during the vacation. Will be fun to play it through my QSC K10 when I get home in a couple of weeks.
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Congratulations!
To hear from a new owner, it is as astonishingly good as it is it famed to be?
that said..might be getting into your shoes of a new owner
 
I think I would race to Craigslist to buy a $75 Squier Strat....even for a few days, it would be worth the fun to have the Axe and a guitar. Of course, if you value sleep at all, I would avoid this course of action.
 
thekonas said:
I think I would race to Craigslist to buy a $75 Squier Strat....even for a few days, it would be worth the fun to have the Axe and a guitar. Of course, if you value sleep at all, I would avoid this course of action.
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LOL no need. Brought a $75 used bolt-on Epiphone Junior with me! I'm good to go. Took the neck off at the house and have had it packed in my checked baggage. Been playing through headphones. I'm in a timezone 6 hours earlier than my home, and I just left home 2 days ago.. so I'm pretty tired (it's about 11:30pm at home right now and we are just showering for dinner now.)

slash07: through headphones, using just the built-in presets... it's pretty freaking great! I also tried the 5150III (i have owned one) and IMHO they *NAILED IT*.
 
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Update. I played about 30 minutes a day while away, usually in the time right before we went to dinner. I'm very glad I brought the cheap guitar with me to do this.

Got the Axe II home. I ended up using an Alcatraz bag I brought in SF to allow me to carry it on to the planes. I left the box behind and carried it on the airplanes. I had no problems other than security always swiped it for explosives LOL.

So the Axe travelled a bit!
Fractal -> SF area California to my friends house
California -> Kauai (Hawaii)
Kauai -> Maui
Maui -> San Fran
San Fran -> Toronto.

When I came into Canada I declared the purchase... but they didn't charge me any tax! They could have charged me HST (13%) on the non-exempt amount (about $1400) but they didn't. So it turns out I saved a bunch by having it shipped to California and carrying it instead of having it shipped to me in Canada. If I had it shipped to Canada I would have paid $160 shipping + 2199 * 0.13 = $285 HST. Instead I paid $40 shipping only... savings of $405.

Got it home in the Gator case now. Sounds awesome through the QSC K10. Looking forward to trying it at rehearsal next week.
 
fatoni said:
just be glad you ordered the axe fx 2 and not a suhr. 9+ months is brutal
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You should try ordering your Suhr's from Dan at RocketMusic. I just got one in 4 months and he was great. The bigger dealers have "slots" in Suhr's production schedule so you don't get put at the end of the line
 
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