My Fractal Journey

serge20261

Inspired
The first Fractal product I purchased when newly released was the Axe Fx Ultra,kept it for a few weeks and immediately sold it,went back to my beloved valve amps,vowing never to go modelling again.
I then gave it another shot and purchased the Mark 1 when released,same thing,immediately sold it,there was no way I would give my tubes up,now I was totally convinced.
Enter 2016,I was as happy as a pig in mud,had eight high end valve amps,and loving them.In May of 2016 we were auditioning guitarists one of which,showed up with an Axe XL,Axe Ah I said,he responded yes it is,
What do you think of it I said,he responded "absolutely love it".Im thinking to myself here we go.
But the sound that night blew me away that much,that I gave it another go,I now proudly say I Absolutely love my axe Fx XL,down to two amps,that I will be selling,I also own an AX8,couldn't imagine playing my amps anymore,these units Rock,and are ultra portable,why on earth would I want a real amp.
 
It's come a long way since the UlTRA and when the Axe-FX Mark 1 came into the market. Its great to see that you gave it another chance.

Their will always be folks that listen with their eyes instead of their ears. We are in a different place as we should be, time marches on, but we still love the sweet sound of an overdriven guitar. I'm glad you're happy, as I am as well.

Quite a remarkable device. There is no way in a million years that I would have thought that this was possible when I was a 13 yr old struggling electric guitar player, trying to coax an overdriven guitar sound from a peavey bandit.

So we have learned two things being older. We would have been a lot better musicians at 15 if we had the internet and Cliff and company makes dreams come true with the best possible modelling devices out there.

Rock on, and welcome back!
 
I think almost everyone has a hesitation when they see the price of an Axe. Then on arrival the doubt sets in.Then overtime you discover your go to amps and.Then you start to panic about what your going to do if it gets stolen or stops working because you love it so much.

Band Master
5150 block letter
JVM 410h
Divided by 13

I can't stop playing these damn amps.
 
I remember firmware 8.0 - unbelievably good....then upgraded to 9.0 ,,how could it get better? - but it does. Now I listen and just get carried away by the sound....it's like a time machine...the hours whizz by.
Welcome back!

Pauly
 
It is a very personal journey that hinges on where you are coming from and what you are trying to accomplish. I still use my Ultra for live work because it sounds stellar and changes presets like lightning. My XL is my studio rig. I have a good friend that is a tube amp aficionado. Thanks to him I have played so many expensive and boutique amps. But he has thinned his herd out for a Kemper that he feels the same about as I do my Axe(s).
 
Great that it's working for you. Love mine, still have amps, and I enjoy them too from time to time, though I haven't used one live since the Ultra. It's a great instrument in itself. Glad to hear another player enjoying theirs.
 
Good story! In my case I bought an XL in Jan '15, missed the 30 day return window, eventually plugged it in, didn't like it, and realised I was stuck with it :( FW17.x, soon arrived, def better, but still no cigar. I started to resent everything Fractal at this point! Then FW updates started coming thick and fast & it occurred to me that perhaps I just needed to hold out until 'my' FW arrived. So I decided in for a penny in for a pound & ordered a MFC-101 and RAC12 in anticipation of the big day! ....well almost a full year and a half later and 'my' FW eventually did arrive. AxeFx has finally hit the road. Pedals and amps are all at home and I don't miss them at all. I've done 20+ gigs on 3.03 and am absolutely delighted with it.
For those using real amps with a Palmer PDI-03 live (like I was) I have to say the transparency of AxeFx now can really open up the midrange in your mix. It has shot ahead of Palmer in terms of allowing the guitar to cut through much better without taking over - more present, yet at the same time leaving more room for everything else. It is a bit of a game-changer for our band vocally actually... Needless to say I'm relieved & thrilled that I hung in there, really looking fwd to trying Q4 now... :)
 
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Welcome back. I remember when I first got mine in 2013. I don't even remember what firmware we were on then. I though it it great. Then I got it to band practice and at gig volume and my tone just fell to pieces. It sounded terrible. I realized it was back to the drawing board and to do a lot more homework about Fletcher Munson. For the next 3 years I kept using my tube amp rig for gigging and the Axe for home practice. But once Quantum came in the picture that changed things for me. It became easier for me to dial in my tones at gig volume. Haven't looked back since. Now my amps collect dust and I use my XL and AX8 for everything.
 
I follow Michael Sweet from Stryper on Facebook and he recently posted that he has switched to using the ISP Theta Pro modeler and that it sounded way better than Fractal, Kemper, Line6, etc. I was about to get into an argument with him about it but I decided to watch his video with his gear rundown and he shows his Fractal unit and it is an Ultra. He then proceeds to say that the Ultra sounds way better than any of the "newer" units but that the Theta Pro sounds better than all of them together. So at that point, I just decided to let it go since I knew he is kind of lost if that is the way he really feels! Not that there is anything wrong with the Theta Pro, I'm sure it's a decent piece of gear but I know that the modeling capability of it is not even in the same ballpark as the AFXII!
 
Two words - Firmware Updates. Many amp guys are sick of hearing it but the fact is the FW updates have made a big difference to the modeling in a much better way and I'm sure they'll continue to somehow improve things.
 
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