Newbie waiting delivery

Welcome! You'll be quite impressed with the unit and all the flexibility it will add to the amplification portion of your signal chain.

The very best advice I can give is to download the manual from the Fractal site and read all portions pertaining to your setup. Focus on the parts that deal with initial setup and options. It will save you a lot of frustration and get you right into hearing the music. Second to that, you should take a look at the Axe II Wiki, which will become a favored web site once you are actually working with the unit. Last, but not least, check back into the forum regularly. Some great folks here to help you accomplish your tone goals.

Here for the manual: Fractal Audio Systems Support
Here for the Wiki: Axe-Fx II Wiki Home - Axe-Fx II Wiki
 
Two simple pieces of advice that new users and even some long time users have trouble adhering to, most likely because we are stubborn and the ideas are ingrained in us:

1) Assuming you are using an FRFR system, the cab block is as, if not more important to your tone than the amp block.
2) Use your ears, not your eyes. For example, if you dial in a tone you love with the bass is set to 2, don't spend time saying, "gee, this sounds amazing, but on the real amp I'd set the bass to 4", and then wasting time trying to get it to sound right by adjusting the knob to where you visually believe it should be.
 
The acknowledgement that the unit can do almost anything might subconsciously provoke the feeling that the preset you are tweaking never sounds good enough ... thus misleading some people to the conclusion the Axe-Fx II wasn't a good piece of equipment. That's why: Start small. Don't use a dozen effects and don't try to tweak every single parameter - just use an AMP and a CAB-block (and maybe a REV). Take breaks. Listen to music you like, so your ears don't get accustomed to a (wrongly dialed-in) tone that might sound horrible the next day you listen to it.
 
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Got mine last week and was up and gigging in 3 days, including setting up my POD HD500 as a foot controller. I read the manual cover to cover and read the bits about setup, global configuration, and block editing multiple times. I reviewed the wiki, as previously mentioned, focusing on the new-user stuff. I also watch Scott Peterson's videos on YouTube, which were invaluable. I still have a lot of work to do on my patches, and I am slowly working through them to make them better, but after only a few days they were already much better than the POD and it was great to gig with.
 
Two simple pieces of advice that new users and even some long time users have trouble adhering to, most likely because we are stubborn and the ideas are ingrained in us:

1) Assuming you are using an FRFR system, the cab block is as, if not more important to your tone than the amp block.
2) Use your ears, not your eyes. For example, if you dial in a tone you love with the bass is set to 2, don't spend time saying, "gee, this sounds amazing, but on the real amp I'd set the bass to 4", and then wasting time trying to get it to sound right by adjusting the knob to where you visually believe it should be.

I'm afraid I don't even know what FRFR means
Ill be incorporating it into my current setup which is a pod hd 500 into a peavey classic 60/60 into a 2x12 with vintage Celestions or into a Samson servo amp onto Yamaha ns-10 studio monitors,
Plan to control the axe with the pod to begin with and lose the peavey for a matrix to reduce weight
And thanks guys for the tips
Thinks ill enjoy it here!
 
I'm afraid I don't even know what FRFR means
Full range flat response

Ill be incorporating it into my current setup which is a pod hd 500 into a peavey classic 60/60 into a 2x12 with vintage Celestions or into a Samson servo amp onto Yamaha ns-10 studio monitors,

When you use the 2x12, you will want to bypass the cab block. When you use the NS-10, you will want to use a cab block (many to choose from).
 
If you hear a patch you don't like, don't skip over it but instead just bypass a couple of effects on it and see what happens. I found a great clean tone by turning off one of those effects that sound like a bad acid trip while being abducted by aliens.

Also, make your own opinions instead of letting people tell you not to do something. I'm running a 2x12 and some of the patches sound better with the cab block on rather than bypassing the cab block.
 
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