Just ordered my Ultra from Australia ! IM TINGLING !

D

deadletter

Member
I'm in a band called Dead Letter Circus.. we tour Australia a lot and the guitar sound we have is begging for this unit. Lots of delay driven guitar parts which benefit from a big stereo sound and multiple amps... it has been such a struggle to find a single amp setup that does the job well... the Axe-FX looks like the answer to my prayers....!

I'm planning on using it direct to front of house but also using the FX loop to send non cab-simmed signal to a stereo solid state power amp into a couple of cabs. I'd only be doing this to give off a normal stage sound for the people up the very front of the crowd. We use in ears so its nothing to do with hearing myself..

Could anyone recommend what is the idea minimum solid state power amp wattage I would want to go for to have a non-compromised "full amp" sound on stage?

We tour venues that range from 400 capacity to 2500 capacity and lots of major festivals. Very keen to see how it goes.. I'll definitely share my experiences with you on here

If any of you are interested in checking out the band you can hear us at www.myspace.com/deadlettercircus

Rob
 
Excellent decision, man :) Prepare to be burnt by customs duties, though! Hopefully you didn't have a brain-fart like me and totally forget to consider them, lol.
 
I paid about $450 in tax/fees/duties on the axe. From memory, it was 5% duty, then 10% gst on top of that (cumulative), and then a processing fee. This was when the AUD was at about .80 USD, if that helps, too.

It took maybe 3 weeks to arrive, from memory. World's biggest, most robust box too, lol.
 
I got lucky but dont know how.

Was watching the USPS delivery status online and noticed it had arrived in Sydney so I was then expecting the customs notification to pay the duty. Next thing I saw the axe cleared customs and arrived at my house. Took a week in total to arrive.

Definitely sure they made some mistake and missed it but so glad they did when I hear it could have cost me $450.
Anyway I have paid enough duty in my life to the australian government so maybe someone up there was feeling sorry for me this time.

Cheers
 
that would be pretty amazing if that happened...

how are you guys finding your axe-fx's ? reliable ? everything you wanted?

and are you using them to gig with?
 
Not a problem yet in 12 months of use and gigging with it in the back of my trailer.

Sounds great! Enjoy. Have you got a controller for it yet? If not, I'd seriously recommend Liquid Foot. That said, I'm yet to check the vids out on the MFC101, but I still love my Lf-Pro. Awesome customer service too!

TimmyM
 
Same here - about 12 months of gigs and no problems except mine's a standard which is gradually developing envy for all ultra's which are landing here :cool:. Lots of gigs, lots of km's in the car and a few planes and ships along the way and still going well. Don't get me started on P&O's PA systems though.

+ 1 on the Liquid Foot which has been a more recent aquisition for me.

Chris
 
I'm not gigging with mine, but I'd have no qualms about its reliability. I'd keep an eagle-eye on it, but you can't blame the Axe for being thief-bait ;) I only have a midi-mate so far, which is a cheap and dirty controller, but fit for purpose. How much did you guys get your LFs for (after shipping etc)?
 
I currently have a behringer FCB1010.. I think I'm going to use that for now and focus on getting the right power-amp setup...

I'm thinking getting 2 ART SLA-2's... run both in bridged mono at the same time so I get a very powerful stereo setup I can run 2 cabs with.. but if something goes wrong with one of them, I simply run just 1 of them in stereo mode at less power, but enough to get me through the gig.... does anyone foresee any problems with this?

I like the idea of the ART SLA-2 because its very compact and in the space of 2U I can have 2 of them covering me in case one of them dies...

What do you think?

Rob
 
Fikealox said:
How much did you guys get your LFs for (after shipping etc)?
Click to expand...

All up - after paying customs duty and customs broker fees - cost me a little under $AUD1300 for the LF-Pro. Sure a lot dearer than Behringer, but so much more flexible and so much faster to program and update if you tweak anything on the Axe-FX Ultra. Makes any tweaks I have to do live (ie where I need to save a patch with a different IA arrangement than originally planned), SO much faster.

I had a behringer FCB1010. Good value for the money, but I found it too time consuming to program. Liquid Foot Auto-load presets and pulling patch names and IA on/off states as well as tuner info is what sold me. Plus Jeff is a champion like Cliff is when it comes to customer service and helping you to be up and running quickly. Just make sure you use the right accessories like a proper AC power supply (thanks Jaycar).

Deadletter - personally I find my QSC HPR122i louder than I'd ever need and a little more flexible and lightweight than using my two 4x12 Achillies Cabs (which required a trailer to move around). I did the four cable method with my Sherlock Fat Head for a while, but have found that while the tubes still sound awesome, the reliability was not as good as the Axe-FX. I need to take the Fat Head in for a service. I don't ever have to worry about that for the Axe-FX. I guess if you have the room and the ability to use real guitar cabs, the SLA-2 option is quite feasible and I have to admit I haven't heard it in action myself so cannot really compare with my FRFR or 4 cable method with Fat Head tube power amp.
See with using real cabs, you lose out on the awesome IRs available like the RedWirez. I bought them and am using them pretty exclusively now. Sounds real to me, and being able to switch cabs at the push of a footswitch is pretty awesome and really great for helping achieve richer cleans and ripping drive tones. Its really a matter of preference and personal taste.

Anyway, congrats on your purchase. Let us know when you are hitting Canberra. I might just come along for a listen.

TimmyM
 
Another ozzy user :)

Did my first gig with it Friday night. Cant wait for the next gig.

Good luck with it.
Kitch
 
I've had mine now for a month and loving it.
It ended up costing: $2,729AUD to FA plus $456.18AUD to customs (5% import duty + 10%GST) = $3,185.18
The dollar was at 79.48
I also got a Liquid Foot Jr for $631.94AUD

I'm playing though an FBTMaxX4a which is a bi-amped 400W self powered monitor.

Very happy! :mrgreen:
 
cool !

and youre in katoomba hey.. we just played there a couple of weeks ago ! it was surprisingly good... crowd were really into it. never know what to expect with those smaller towns...

im so pumped about my ultra !

arhghhghghghh! (apply arnie style painful grunt)
 
deadletter said:
cool !

where'd you play ?

and whats your setup?
Click to expand...

I'm in Sydney, I play with a band called "The Scarletts" amongst others I also play solo Shows under the name "Kitch".

My rig is;

Axe FX Ultra
Liquid foot Pro
Mission Enigineering EP-1 for volume
Mission Engineering SP1-LF for Wah & other effects
Mission Engineering TT pedal for tap tempo

I have 2 x QSC K12 on order. Hopefully I'll have them tomorrow :)

BTW your music sounds great I'll have to come check you guys out when I'm in Brisbane Next.
 
I've had my Ultra for nearly 2 years now, it was the first one in the country and from memory i paid about $300 AUD in Customs duty and about $80 in shipping i think. At that time Fractal didn't ship Internationally so i had a friend send it on for me from the US.

I've also got the Liquid Foot Junior which is INCREDIBLE! Can't speak highly enough of it.

My only advice with the Axe FX is to ensure that there is NO Phantom power running down the line from the desk when you plug in. I've had to have the Output Opamps/Diodes repaired/replaced twice now because of this...

Other than that, get ready to enjoy!

T
 
I've been looking at the Liquid Foot JR.. seems like the no brainer thing to get ! I dont need anything big so it seems perfect...

What are the things you like about it the most?

Thanks for the tip on phantom power... sounds like you might have just saved me from a bit of a potential nightmare. I will most likely use DI boxes in between my axe-fx outputs and front of house...

Rob
 
deadletter said:
I've been looking at the Liquid Foot JR.. seems like the no brainer thing to get ! I dont need anything big so it seems perfect...

What are the things you like about it the most?
Click to expand...
It packs a surprising lot of features for such a small footprint. I like that it displays the Tuner, also that i can hook in a couple of additional pedals, i use a FS5-u for Tap Tempo.
I LOVE that you can program step commands. I use this a lot, for example i have programmed my main dirty to double as a solo patch when i step on the preset a second time by having it trigger gain, reverb, delay, and an Eq all simultaneously. I have different step commands in all my presets, it saves a LOT of tap dancing.
It's compact! It fits in my rack case. I phantom power it also...

deadletter said:
Thanks for the tip on phantom power... sounds like you might have just saved me from a bit of a potential nightmare. I will most likely use DI boxes in between my axe-fx outputs and front of house...

Rob
Click to expand...
I prefer to use the balanced outs than the unbalanced (requiring D.I) but i've just become used to asking the question "are you running phantom down this line?"
 
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