My crushing disappointment turns to hope...

J

JustinAiken

Inspired
Like most people that own an Ultra and don't have loads of money, I was highly disappointed by the announcement, and the manner it was done. Realizing that the perfect unit is now coming out that fixes every frustration you've had with the current model (horrible interface, clunkly MIDI/editing, etc..) is now fixed, but you can't afford it... big bummer!

I am highly unhappy with the manner of announcement; as recently as 7 months ago, publicly state that there is no successor or upgrade to the Ultra coming soon, and then dumping the announcement, crushing the resale value of all the users that have support Fractal over the years.

Now the $2200 AxeII is going to cost loyal customers closer to $2700; the $2000 we spent on the Ultra minus the $300-$400 drop in resale it just took (plus the super-high shipping charges FAS always seem to charge.)

If Cliff had been honest and said there's something new on the horizon, those of us willing to go a month or two without our Axe could have saved a boatload of money...

But, my initial disappointment at the slap-in-the-face of it has melted away, as I realized that at least the AxeII would render some of my current equipment unnecessary - my MIDI interface and MW1 studio tool.

I still love the MW1 and what it does to the front end, but my primary use has been for DI/reamping, which I guess I wouldn't need with the AxeII; so I guess I personally will be attempting to get as much as I can out of my Ultra and attached gear before jumping on the AxeII...

I still wish the announcement had been handled better so I could have kept the MW1 when upgrading...
 
I feel the same way, but Cliff has been burned every time he makes an announcement of something new. People whining and moaning that he promised it was going to be done by a certain date. I hope he can have them available in 2 weeks like he said they would be...or it will start again.

I plan on waiting until the hype is over and see what happens.

I would like to try out that Jose Marshall in the meantime though.
 
Its just sort of a no-win situation for the manufacturer. They can tell everyone that something new is coming and then get the Osbourne effect on their existing products.

They can sell nothing at all for a month or so as a warning and maybe have a ten day countdown as a clue. Oh, wait a minute...
 
Well, not selling much and having a countdown are subtle clues compared to "There is not a replacement for the Ultra coming soon, or in development"
 
I repeat: a price reduction during the last months without any official explaination would have been enough.
I've never seen so many disappointed guys on this forum, something was wrong.
 
Strange: when Apple unexpectedly unveils a new phone/pad/pod a lot of people dump their old ones and are happy. When fractal does the same thing people are complaining about resale prices.
 
I wonder if the complainers have ever bought a car? :)
Practically all guitar related gear, including guitars, get a new version every year.
So why the witch hunt?

Oh and early adopters are those that bought their AxeFx 5+ years ago. Not this year or last year (like myself).
 
RB_Guitar said:
Strange: when Apple unexpectedly unveils a new phone/pad/pod a lot of people dump their old ones and are happy. When fractal does the same thing people are complaining about resale prices.
Click to expand...

For four straight years I sold my iPod a month before the new ones came out for little or no loss (once even a profit!) and was very happy to buy the new one.
 
Maybe it's 4 years then? I just remember debating if I should go with the G System or the AxeFx several years back. The Gsys was fairly new when I was debating this and I believe it came out 2005, hence I thought the AxeFx was available in the 2006 time frame. Maybe that's correct and it's more like 4 years. Nevertheless, my point is that buyers of an AxeFx this year or last, are not early adopters.
Also, accusing Fractal of treating actual early adopters badly is just silly. The early adopters of the AxeFx were truly lucky. Others, like myself, had to find out the hard way and spend money on other gear before "seeing the light". In my case it was a G-System followed by Eventide pedals and then the AxeFx. Pretty expensive - wish I'd been an early adopter ;)
 
It was this kind of fallout I was referring to in my rather blatant and somewhat assertive posts in the Countdown thread yesterday. I was reprimanded and lambasted for speaking my mind. I'm a business person and I deal with rather large matters - in my world, there's no smoke and mirrors, no cloak and dagger approach to doing business. The countdown created an INCREDIBLE amount of hype, wasted 10 days of peoples' time, and at the end, as I predicted, pissed many people off. I'm not saying "I was right", I'm not saying "Cliff and Tom are bad men", I'm just saying the mechanism of delivery in the pending launch of this new product had its inherent flaws and caveats. And these inherent flaws and caveats have now resulted in a fan base that are somewhat less enchanted about the whole Fractal Audio Experience than they were, say, a week or so ago.

I've spoken directly with Cliff, and made it clear my remarks were by no means directed towards him in totality, but more or less rhetorically spoken. If it wasn't for the popularity, buzz, hype and lack of competing products, this epic launch would have resulted in an epic loss and erosion of brand loyalty. And even so, aforementioned qualifiers intact, I believe we are seeing some erosion in the loyalty and satisfaction all things Fractal Audio.

So it goes - decisions need to be made, marketing avenues employed, processes processed. But in the case of many whose hard earned dollars were painstakingly deliberated over before being handed over pre-Axe II, I think things could have been done slightly differently.

V.
 
RB_Guitar said:
Strange: when Apple unexpectedly unveils a new phone/pad/pod a lot of people dump their old ones and are happy. When fractal does the same thing people are complaining about resale prices.
Click to expand...

That's so untrue. Unless you're living in a cave, pretty much everyone knows when Apple will be releasing a new product. For example, I have an iPhone 3G and have been thinking about upgrading to the 4. However, it's common knowledge that the iPhone 5 will be coming out later this year. With that in mind, I figure I can wait a few more months before I upgrade.

I think Cliff and Fractal displayed bad business practice with the way they handled the release of the Axe Fx II. Apparently this has been in the works for 3 years? You would think that there would have been some prior mention of this besides some silly, taunting-like countdown.
 
As long as the new AxeII is available to everybody in the near future, there is nothing to complain about.
 
I think FA pretty much thought and acted in terms of extra profit .Some companies inform people about future products,others dont.there s no rules in marketing unfortunately.Speaking for myself I ordered an ultra back in the late February and was mailed about have it shipped late June.Lucky me I hope it will be the new unit.I feel very sorry about the new ultra owners.......I would be very very angry if I were in the same position..eBay is on fire
 
So, are all 3 units (Standard, Ultra, and Axe II) going to be available in the future?
 
Many of us saw the statement on the forum that there was not going to be a successor to the Ultra for quite some time. Frankly, I think many of us feel lied to.
 
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