Mk 2 fan noise

Nobody is buying a mark 2 to replace a mark1 are they???????
There are NO improvements that matter. The screen is just fine on the original and how close exactly are we to the flash limit? As for the presets, 1kplus is so irrelevant.
Exactly my opinion. To quote Steve Lukather from his infamous Star Licks instructional video:

"Or if you just wanna piss away your money: That's fine too! You can do that."
 
Yeah...I installed the same one. Dead silent.
I don't understand why a fan like this is not standard for such an expensive piece of gear. But well...It's a 15 minute + 15 dollar fix...no problem :)
Apparently, the fan is not really important in the Axe-Fx III. The later MKI models has a fan that switches off when it's not needed, which is most of the time.
 
Hi Andy,
You assume that everyone thinks as you do. In fact, that’s not the case. I want the mk 2 for 2 reasons.
1 extra preset space
2 support Fractal
Thanks
Pauly

Nobody is buying a mark 2 to replace a mark1 are they???????
There are NO improvements that matter. The screen is just fine on the original and how close exactly are we to the flash limit? As for the presets, 1kplus is so irrelevant.
 
One thing is for sure: if you seriously believe that there will be noise, your brain will perceive noise as soon as you power power it up, no matter how low it is. Even though light is faster than sound, the brain will say "noise!" before it processes the visual information of the new logo colours ;)
 
I can hear the fan in my MKI spool up every once in a while but it's no issue at all. It just means I'm not playing loud enough. Also the hiss from my Headrush FRFR's is infinitely more annoying.
 
To be clear, I have a bunch of mics in the studio, and it’s just a single room so it has the mixing desk, pc, etc. everything with a fan in it is important if I’m recording an acoustic guitar and the axe fx is just one of them. Getting the pc silent was really hard, and the mixing desk, impossible - but I’m able to make the axe fx much quieter with a larger diameter fan spinning slower. I’ve had no thermal problems and the audible difference is significant.
Thanks
Pauly
 
Hi Andy,
You assume that everyone thinks as you do. In fact, that’s not the case. I want the mk 2 for 2 reasons.
1 extra preset space
2 support Fractal
Thanks
Pauly
Well I suppose you need a new fractal T-shirt , or you could start a "just giving" page.
It is unbelievable that these alteration even make a mention never mind a "mark II " moniker.
 
One of the selling points for me was that I didn't need to have a separate audio device, and it works great for that! Sure, I could use a separate audio device, but I don't wanna. But it made me wonder if my using it that way is a contributor to the fan noise.

Soooo...this morning, I ran some tests - Note that I had my speakers turned down completely so I could just focus on the fan sound. The output was still sending and all that, I just didn't want the sound to impede with my ability to hear subtle fan changes. Also, it should be noted that I am using a Noctua fan in the system, which is already quieter compared to the original fan.

* Unplugged the USB cable and plugged in my guitar and just start jamming, doing a bunch of different patches, etc. Fan didn't make a peep.

* Plugged the USB cable back in and just listened. Nada.

* Opened AXE-EDIT and started clicking around. The fan picked up just a little, but soon relaxed and was back to inaudible.

* Flipped on YouTube and picked a song at random. The fan hummed ever slightly throughout, but I wouldn't have noticed it if the speakers were turned up.

* Started playing a song through iTunes while keeping the YouTube video running. There was no discernible difference.

* Opened Logic and started a song up while iTunes and YouTube were doing their thing. Fan went up slightly. Still not awful, though.

* Shut off Logic/YT/iTunes and waited for fan to die down.

* Opened Logic again and restarted the song. Fan went up to about the same level as when all three sound sources were running. It's a lot of tracks, so I expected some noise. Still, though, tolerable and definitely not annoying. But, again, this is with a Noctua fan. If it was the original fan, I'd probably be hearing it pretty well by now.

* Shut down Logic and got ready for a Zoom meeting. Opened Zoom about 5 minutes later, speakers are on, and fan went up to be a little louder than what Logic had done. I could even hear it during the meeting. Now, everyone knows Zoom hogs CPU, but I didn't expect it to have that impact on the audio device. Stinkin' Zoom. ;)

* Meeting ended, shut down Zoom...fan relaxed for a bit.

* Stopped using the audio device at all. No Logic, no YouTube, no iTunes, and no @#$!ing Zoom. Slowly, the fan started to ramp up over 15 minutes. It's now about the same loudness as it was when I was running Logic (not Zoom, thankfully) and I've got no audio running through the Axe at all at this point.

* Asked the wife to come into the office and see if she heard anything. I didn't tell her what to listen for.
She said, "I hear some white noise, I guess."
I said, "Okay, now close your eyes. I'm going to do something."
She gave me a funny look.
I said, "No, not that. Something else."
She closed her eyes.
I flipped off the Axe and she said, "It just got quieter in here."

* And now, as I'm typing this line (was just about to send this reply), the fan just kicked off for no apparent reason and it's louder than Zoom levels. It's pretty loud, actually, and I see no reason why that should be. There are no audio channels feeding it. No guitars attached. Nada. I even have it set to a blank patch. Volumes are completely down. It's just fanning up and going to town. ...waiting... Okay, so the fan ran loud for about two minutes straight and then went back to silent again.

Mysterious!

So, that makes me wonder how many of you are using this as only an effects rack vs as an audio device?

I do plan to put the original fan back in and run the same tests at some point for...you know...science. ::cough:: I just don't know when that's gonna happen. :D
 
So now, about every 5 minutes or so, the fan kicks on and runs for 2 minutes, and then stops again. Didn't do that this morning during my tests at all. And I've still not turned on any audio from the computer. Weird.

Also, note there's plenty of airflow around the unit. Open back, about 6-inches cleared to the sides. Room is nice and cool.

Not sure why it's warming up to the point of the fans needing to kick on at all, to be honest. ::shrugs::

Gonna unplug the USB cable again and see if the fan-on/off cycle persists. I'll be back...

EDIT Before pulling the plug, I waited another 5 minutes to see if the fan started up again. It did. Waiting for it to stop and will then pull the plug.

EDIT #2 It's been 4 minutes since the fan started and it's not stopped yet. Yes, I'm timing. I unplugged the USB cable about a minute ago to see if it'd stop. Nope. Still humming along, and it's pretty loud, even with the Notcua.

I'm thinking it's time to contact support. ;) Anyone else seeing (erm...hearing?) this, too, or did I win the tech-lotto again? hahaha
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom