Danny Danzi
Power User
I guess the first thing that comes to mind is "are you f@*kin' kiddin' me with this thing?! I can't fathom what went into creating this beast. Seriously....it is truly a work of art. I've been a guitarist for a long time and have used quite a few rigs in my time as well as huge racks loaded with gear. This thing is an anomaly. From the way the effects sound to all the options....whew, this is a serious piece of gear.
I'll say this for new users....you're not going to learn a thing if you do not learn on your own. Grabbing patches that someone else created gives you examples and instant tone, but it doesn't teach you much. You will probably not be successful with this thing on the first day. I was semi-successful (had mine since Tuesday afternoon) and spent loads of time researching this and reading the manual before I even decided to buy it. So I came into it with an advantage....one I think every person contemplating getting one should consider.
I do have a few things I would like to see improved. Now this could just be that I haven't had enough time with the unit, or maybe these things don't exist....but I'd like them to in the future if at all possible.
1. I'd love a compare button. Is there one somewhere and I'm just missing it? You know, you tweak a sound and want to hear what the sound sounded like before you tweaked it....how do you do that?
2. I notice when you edit something, "edited" lights up but unless you totally keep track, you never know what you edited. One of the cool things about my Digitech 2101 was when you edited something in a spot (just that spot, not a global "edit" alert like we have in AxeFxII) you saw an * appear telling you that parameter was adjusted. When you went back to your original setting on what you just tweaked, the * went away telling you THAT parameter was no longer edited. I really liked that feature. Sometimes while editing my AxeFx, I don't remember what setting I had before. I'd like to be able to have something tell me that if at all possible. And not make it just a global "edited"...make it that you know the patch was edited, but you can also find out WHAT was edited as an asterisk would appear next to the setting you touched. By re-adjusting it you'd eventually find out where you were originally as the asterisk would disappear when you entered the un-edited value. Please look into this for possible consideration? (I beg of thee)
3. I may be impaled for this, so please correct me if I'm missing the obvious. Hear me out here before you impale though...you'll know where I'm coming from if you're a tube guy with classic amp experience as well as modern high-gain experience. I'm not the enemy....just sharing my experiences. Also, I do not know how the architecture of tubes works nor do I know what I'm talking about below. I'm sharing how it "feels" and how it "sounds" when compared to real tube front ended amps and pre-amps.
In my opinion, I would like to have more pre-amp control. I think one of the things this unit is missing, is an authentic 12AX7 pre amp tube front end. Some of the sounds in here are so far away from tubes, it left me feeling like I was using a VST guitar modeler. I know that seems harsh, but I'm a tube man and I also work for a guitar modeling company so I've been chasing this sound via VST for a long time. The 12AX7 sound in my opinion is more important than power amp tube sounds. I know thery work together as a team....however...
The reason being? Not all of us want an Angus Young or EVH "crank the power amp and let the power tubes saturate" type sound. (I'm in a VH tribute band so, ok I do want that sound too...but just stay with me here lol) With a good tube front end, you can use a tranny power amp and STILL maintain the characteristic of your tube front end. If the power amp you use is made for guitar, it's not going to color the tube pre as we know. I don't need to have power amp saturation....I want my pre sound at the forefront...I'll handle how it's projected, know what I mean? Try hooking up a new Rocktron Velocity 300 to your rig and then a Mesa 2:90. Don't use any coloration on either of them. They sound so close it's not even worth a shoot-out...as long as you use a good tube front end. The better the tube front end, the less power amp volume you need. (which with a loud amp, you'll get wet napkins thrown at you by the managers in every club in America. LOL!)
These days, a great 12AX7 tube front end is where the main character of the tone originates for me. I think we need more options for this in AxFx...and if they exist, can you direct me to them? For example, there is a certain sound/delivery that you get out of a 12AX7 front end. I've only been able to achieve this with a few sounds in the AxeFxII. There are sounds that just don't get that and trust me, I don't need to see schematics or any math to show me I'm incorrect. Tube rigs don't die out the way tube modelers do. There are times when AxeFx makes you work harder. It's way easier for me to play through my 12AX7 tube rigs as far as sustain. We have plenty of gain in the AxeFx...but we lack that 12AX7 tube sustain IMHO.
(yes I've lowered and shut off the noise gate....yes I've adjusted the input gain and have messed with the output tube options, sagg etc and other sustain oriented options....it's not like a 12AX7 to *me*.)
I can hear guys yelling at me now "we have plenty of sustain, you're on crack." There's a difference between what you may call sustain and what *I* call sustain. Like I said, I've been successful getting it with my AxFx on a few sounds, so don't totally kill me, but there's an entire slew of tube rigs listed that do not even come close to getting that pre-tube sound. They SOUND like the amps for the most part, but they don't feel or react like them. A prime example is when doing pinch harmonics. 12AX7's do something on pinches that no transistor based modeler has been able to do in MY experience other than a few of the sounds in Guitar Rig 5.
They sound more like a chirp that hits you in the throat...almost like (if you can picture this) the sound of a small dog coughing as the pick attack of a pinch harmonic. LOL! Yeah I know..."what's that sound like, crack dude?" LOL! It sounds like this, listen for pinch harms:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4909348/WildDangerousLead2.mp3
Another example: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4909348/WCIS_Lead.mp3
It's not loaded with highs using a treble booster to get that sound...it's relatively warm. We can come close with treble boosters on VST's...but they dont' quite get those sounds.
I don't mean to sound like I'm ranting or talking negatively. To me, AxeFxII is worth way more than the price I paid for it. I mean that sincerely. I do have to question though....why not a pre-amp section that is as intense as the power amp section? And...why not some sort of 12AX7 tube to make it a bit more realistic?
Those above are my only slightly off comments. I have nothing but great stuff to say and have been talking about this piece non-stop since I got it. How about some good things?
The Fractal Bot software is a blessing, the Hum Buster technology is sickness, the built in soundcard works perfectly, tone matching is absolutely mind-blowing, all the choices for everything are great, best effects in one unit EVER, pitch stuff is so Eventide (lol) verbs are lush and transparent, more gain in the amps than we'll ever need, input gain is a nice feature (we have this also in our amp sims and have had it since 2010 I believe) ability to use user IR's is a huge plus, routing abilities are perfect, and it amazes me that someone put all this detail as well as super professional sounding effects/components all in one unit for this price.
Seriously....I'm extremely happy with my purchase and look forward to seeing what happens next with this. My next purchase is the pedal board. I wanted to see if I liked this thing before I got the board. I tried a few others I have here...and though they worked, I really think I would like what the REAL pedal board will do for me as well as there not being anything to "power" on the side of the stage. That alone is sort of the deal-breaker for me. I hate plugging things in, extra plugs, power packs....uggh...one cable and I'm done just like my Bradshaw Switching System (which works well with this....it's just a bit more kit than I'd want to bring on stage.)
Thanks Fractal for an awesome product! Now I'm off to post a few questions about blocks and routing.
I'll say this for new users....you're not going to learn a thing if you do not learn on your own. Grabbing patches that someone else created gives you examples and instant tone, but it doesn't teach you much. You will probably not be successful with this thing on the first day. I was semi-successful (had mine since Tuesday afternoon) and spent loads of time researching this and reading the manual before I even decided to buy it. So I came into it with an advantage....one I think every person contemplating getting one should consider.
I do have a few things I would like to see improved. Now this could just be that I haven't had enough time with the unit, or maybe these things don't exist....but I'd like them to in the future if at all possible.
1. I'd love a compare button. Is there one somewhere and I'm just missing it? You know, you tweak a sound and want to hear what the sound sounded like before you tweaked it....how do you do that?
2. I notice when you edit something, "edited" lights up but unless you totally keep track, you never know what you edited. One of the cool things about my Digitech 2101 was when you edited something in a spot (just that spot, not a global "edit" alert like we have in AxeFxII) you saw an * appear telling you that parameter was adjusted. When you went back to your original setting on what you just tweaked, the * went away telling you THAT parameter was no longer edited. I really liked that feature. Sometimes while editing my AxeFx, I don't remember what setting I had before. I'd like to be able to have something tell me that if at all possible. And not make it just a global "edited"...make it that you know the patch was edited, but you can also find out WHAT was edited as an asterisk would appear next to the setting you touched. By re-adjusting it you'd eventually find out where you were originally as the asterisk would disappear when you entered the un-edited value. Please look into this for possible consideration? (I beg of thee)
3. I may be impaled for this, so please correct me if I'm missing the obvious. Hear me out here before you impale though...you'll know where I'm coming from if you're a tube guy with classic amp experience as well as modern high-gain experience. I'm not the enemy....just sharing my experiences. Also, I do not know how the architecture of tubes works nor do I know what I'm talking about below. I'm sharing how it "feels" and how it "sounds" when compared to real tube front ended amps and pre-amps.
In my opinion, I would like to have more pre-amp control. I think one of the things this unit is missing, is an authentic 12AX7 pre amp tube front end. Some of the sounds in here are so far away from tubes, it left me feeling like I was using a VST guitar modeler. I know that seems harsh, but I'm a tube man and I also work for a guitar modeling company so I've been chasing this sound via VST for a long time. The 12AX7 sound in my opinion is more important than power amp tube sounds. I know thery work together as a team....however...
The reason being? Not all of us want an Angus Young or EVH "crank the power amp and let the power tubes saturate" type sound. (I'm in a VH tribute band so, ok I do want that sound too...but just stay with me here lol) With a good tube front end, you can use a tranny power amp and STILL maintain the characteristic of your tube front end. If the power amp you use is made for guitar, it's not going to color the tube pre as we know. I don't need to have power amp saturation....I want my pre sound at the forefront...I'll handle how it's projected, know what I mean? Try hooking up a new Rocktron Velocity 300 to your rig and then a Mesa 2:90. Don't use any coloration on either of them. They sound so close it's not even worth a shoot-out...as long as you use a good tube front end. The better the tube front end, the less power amp volume you need. (which with a loud amp, you'll get wet napkins thrown at you by the managers in every club in America. LOL!)
These days, a great 12AX7 tube front end is where the main character of the tone originates for me. I think we need more options for this in AxFx...and if they exist, can you direct me to them? For example, there is a certain sound/delivery that you get out of a 12AX7 front end. I've only been able to achieve this with a few sounds in the AxeFxII. There are sounds that just don't get that and trust me, I don't need to see schematics or any math to show me I'm incorrect. Tube rigs don't die out the way tube modelers do. There are times when AxeFx makes you work harder. It's way easier for me to play through my 12AX7 tube rigs as far as sustain. We have plenty of gain in the AxeFx...but we lack that 12AX7 tube sustain IMHO.
(yes I've lowered and shut off the noise gate....yes I've adjusted the input gain and have messed with the output tube options, sagg etc and other sustain oriented options....it's not like a 12AX7 to *me*.)
I can hear guys yelling at me now "we have plenty of sustain, you're on crack." There's a difference between what you may call sustain and what *I* call sustain. Like I said, I've been successful getting it with my AxFx on a few sounds, so don't totally kill me, but there's an entire slew of tube rigs listed that do not even come close to getting that pre-tube sound. They SOUND like the amps for the most part, but they don't feel or react like them. A prime example is when doing pinch harmonics. 12AX7's do something on pinches that no transistor based modeler has been able to do in MY experience other than a few of the sounds in Guitar Rig 5.
They sound more like a chirp that hits you in the throat...almost like (if you can picture this) the sound of a small dog coughing as the pick attack of a pinch harmonic. LOL! Yeah I know..."what's that sound like, crack dude?" LOL! It sounds like this, listen for pinch harms:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4909348/WildDangerousLead2.mp3
Another example: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4909348/WCIS_Lead.mp3
It's not loaded with highs using a treble booster to get that sound...it's relatively warm. We can come close with treble boosters on VST's...but they dont' quite get those sounds.
I don't mean to sound like I'm ranting or talking negatively. To me, AxeFxII is worth way more than the price I paid for it. I mean that sincerely. I do have to question though....why not a pre-amp section that is as intense as the power amp section? And...why not some sort of 12AX7 tube to make it a bit more realistic?
Those above are my only slightly off comments. I have nothing but great stuff to say and have been talking about this piece non-stop since I got it. How about some good things?
The Fractal Bot software is a blessing, the Hum Buster technology is sickness, the built in soundcard works perfectly, tone matching is absolutely mind-blowing, all the choices for everything are great, best effects in one unit EVER, pitch stuff is so Eventide (lol) verbs are lush and transparent, more gain in the amps than we'll ever need, input gain is a nice feature (we have this also in our amp sims and have had it since 2010 I believe) ability to use user IR's is a huge plus, routing abilities are perfect, and it amazes me that someone put all this detail as well as super professional sounding effects/components all in one unit for this price.
Seriously....I'm extremely happy with my purchase and look forward to seeing what happens next with this. My next purchase is the pedal board. I wanted to see if I liked this thing before I got the board. I tried a few others I have here...and though they worked, I really think I would like what the REAL pedal board will do for me as well as there not being anything to "power" on the side of the stage. That alone is sort of the deal-breaker for me. I hate plugging things in, extra plugs, power packs....uggh...one cable and I'm done just like my Bradshaw Switching System (which works well with this....it's just a bit more kit than I'd want to bring on stage.)
Thanks Fractal for an awesome product! Now I'm off to post a few questions about blocks and routing.
