Newbie - buy discounted Axe Fx II or III??

[randyman]

I read you cannot get decent sound from headphones into the AX8 and need powered monitors instead? Is the II the same? If not, that may be reason enough to go that route so I can listen through headphones in the comfort of my bedroom, etc.

I have the earlier model of this box from Aphex that I use with my Axe-FX II MKII.

http://www.aphex.com/products/headpod-4

The II’s headphone jack is quite good, but I wanted more – and my Grados begged for it. This (or any number of other headphone amps) would do the trick for you. Good luck – you can’t go wrong with Fractal.

 

[K2347]

Last month I sold my X3 Live for $300.Took me 3 months on craigslist but there are buyers that know the value of the X3.Most were punk kids that offered me $50.The guy that bought it was a touring Boston tribute band musician that his whole tone was based on the X3.

 

[playingitloud]

I had a Spider Valve and it was VERY loud but I figured out how to get it down to a much lower volume.

I thought I should mention it since you can still practice on it at a reasonable volume while you are deciding if you should get an AXE FX 2 or 3.

You need to go to each preset and adjust the preset volume then save it at a lower volume level (keep the main volume at the loud volume level but change the preset volume).

You continue to do it for each preset and it takes a lot of time but eventually you get the amp to play at a much lower level.

Remember to do it for ALL presets or you'll find the amp jumps to the main volume level which can make your heart stop, seriously.

I had the Line 6 pedalboard and I found it helped to change the preset volume with the volume pedal raised so you could do this at a decent bedroom level.

I am suggesting you work with your Line 6 amp first before spending any money on the AXE FX since you can get better acquainted with your amp, adjusting/tweaking the presets, and familiarize yourself with the various types of amps that they modeled on the Spider Valve.

I had the original Spider Valve with the Strymon mod and I was able to get a pretty good sound out of the amp so you should play with your amp until you feel you need the next level, hence, the AXE FX, then purchase a 2 at a good price, get familiar with it, then sell it (you won't lose much even if it is a few years later since the 2's will still sell out there), and buy the 3, probably for a much lower price, and you can benefit from all the YouTube videos that would around by the time of purchase.

You'll still need to have an amp to run the AXE FX through if you plan to play at a louder volume than headphones or computer speaker monitors so you might want to keep the Spider Valve for that reason.

Good luck with your quest!!!

 

[bugsysiegals]

Thanks for the advice. For fun, I hooked my Pod up to my Mac and started downloading various patches from customtones site and many patches didn’t even seem to change the tone much if anything between the downloaded patch and blank user presets. If I recall correctly, this is why I never liked the Pod to begin with. I’ll have to play with it some more this week as that just doesn’t seem right.