Now THIS is a bit more like it! (V.7)

zack

zack

Inspired
Now THIS is a bit more like it! (V.7)

Here is my review / story for anybody who's interested:

I've been a 'serious' guitarist in giiging bands for the past 25 years - mostly playing rock and metal.

During that time I have played and owned many amps and still own the best amp I ever had - a 80's 2204 JCM 800 50 watt head combined with a 80's Peavey 4x12 - sounds phenominal! Of course the only problem with that amp (apart from occasional reliability problems) is it's not exactly what you'd call flexible or easily portable - and consequently I've tried all sorts of amps / modellers / you name it in an effort to acheive THAT tone with in a more useable format - pretty much without any real success.

So cutting a very long story short in Nov 2010 I found myslef with an Axe FX standard. Now as much as I loved the priciple behind it and the ethos of the company ( a constantly evolving product - what's not to like about that?) I never really liked the Standard as much as I wanted to.... Despite the many, many opinions to the contrary - ( and it has to be said; being in a different league to comparable products) I always felt it wasn't quite there - something a little 'digital' about it - just something not quite right.

Anyway, ffwd a couple of years and all the rave reviews had me GASing for the II. I took delivery about a month ago ( V.6.2) and in all honestly I was pretty much underwhelmed by the difference - yes the feel was marginally better - same for the overall sound; but nothing blew me away - in all I was pretty dissapointed.


So, you know whats coming next - upgrade to V.7. Now this is what I'm talking about! What a difference - suddenly this unit is in my opinion 100% the real deal. The Brit 800 just steams like the real thing on full chat. The Brit Super is worth the price of admission alone. I've been playing this thing pretty much non stop every spare minute I've had since the firmware update - totally unprecidented, it really is THAT good.

I'm not a fanboi and I'm certainly not one for gushing praise unless absolutely warranted - hence this is my 1st review ever of a Fractal Audio product - but I've got to say: Cliff - you have absolutely nailed it this time.

Put another way: before V.7 I was seriously thinking I'd have to get a Kemper to satisfy my quest for great tone - not any more.

All the best.

Zack

PS G66 are a credit to your company.
 
I felt the same way about the higher gain stuff. It was good but not quite there. I spent far more time tweaking than I did playing. 7.0 drops and it's 2 minutes of basic tweaking and just rich saturated face melting tone. The amps finally feel/sound like the real ones!
 
TheGoatLord said:
I felt the same way about the higher gain stuff. It was good but not quite there. I spent far more time tweaking than I did playing. 7.0 drops and it's 2 minutes of basic tweaking and just rich saturated face melting tone. The amps finally feel/sound like the real ones!
Click to expand...

One of the things that I like about the AxeFx is that you can recreate studio/recording type tones that a normal tube rig would have trouble doing. Do you guys feel you still have that ability after the fw 7.0?
 
Can't wait to try this,once I get back home after my holidays.
I don't know the previous firmwares would get you that feel but after some in depth tweaking but I believe 7.0 has just closed the gap according to reviews and made things easier. Just my assumption based on reading. I always tell people that the Axe FxII is not a plug in and play unit,it needs to get tweaked really well for a certain type of sound a player is going for. Glad to see that gap is finally closing.

Congrats Cliff and team :D
 
Hello Zack, please tell us how do you compare the gear? Right into the PC, PA or Poweramp/cab? You seem to be a player with a Marshall in the back who needs ´air pressure´.

Greetings from Germany
 
zack said:
Now THIS is a bit more like it! (V.7)

Here is my review / story for anybody who's interested:

I've been a 'serious' guitarist in giiging bands for the past 25 years - mostly playing rock and metal.

During that time I have played and owned many amps and still own the best amp I ever had - a 80's 2204 JCM 800 50 watt head combined with a 80's Peavey 4x12 - sounds phenominal! Of course the only problem with that amp (apart from occasional reliability problems) is it's not exactly what you'd call flexible or easily portable - and consequently I've tried all sorts of amps / modellers / you name it in an effort to acheive THAT tone with in a more useable format - pretty much without any real success.

So cutting a very long story short in Nov 2010 I found myslef with an Axe FX standard. Now as much as I loved the priciple behind it and the ethos of the company ( a constantly evolving product - what's not to like about that?) I never really liked the Standard as much as I wanted to.... Despite the many, many opinions to the contrary - ( and it has to be said; being in a different league to comparable products) I always felt it wasn't quite there - something a little 'digital' about it - just something not quite right.

Anyway, ffwd a couple of years and all the rave reviews had me GASing for the II. I took delivery about a month ago ( V.6.2) and in all honestly I was pretty much underwhelmed by the difference - yes the feel was marginally better - same for the overall sound; but nothing blew me away - in all I was pretty dissapointed.


So, you know whats coming next - upgrade to V.7. Now this is what I'm talking about! What a difference - suddenly this unit is in my opinion 100% the real deal. The Brit 800 just steams like the real thing on full chat. The Brit Super is worth the price of admission alone. I've been playing this thing pretty much non stop every spare minute I've had since the firmware update - totally unprecidented, it really is THAT good.

I'm not a fanboi and I'm certainly not one for gushing praise unless absolutely warranted - hence this is my 1st review ever of a Fractal Audio product - but I've got to say: Cliff - you have absolutely nailed it this time.

Put another way: before V.7 I was seriously thinking I'd have to get a Kemper to satisfy my quest for great tone - not any more.

All the best.

Zack

PS G66 are a credit to your company.
Click to expand...


My Kemper is on ebay right now. Not a bad product at all, but it aint the axe. The novelty of 2 million profiles gets old quick with no way to really keep it all straight-and I only use 5 amp patches on the axe anyway, and 5 special patches that the kemper can do. Oddly enough, in the past I would always gravitate to amps I had owned. At the moment, my fabfive are amps I've never even heard in person. Pretty cool stuff. I'm a herbie fan.
 
immortal_soloist said:
I always tell people that the Axe FxII is not a plug in and play unit,it needs to get tweaked really well for a certain type of sound a player is going for. Glad to see that gap is finally closing.
Click to expand...

Yeah well to be honest - why should it be any other way? How much 'tweaking' does an amp and a cab normally take? Not very much I'd argue - even a relatively inexperienced guitarist should have no trouble at all dialing in a decent tone out of a JCM 800 and 4 x 12.

If the modelling is good enough why should it be any different in the 'virtual' world?



slash07 said:
Brother, are you the great Zachman - the Rackman, from the Marshall forum :)
Click to expand...

Sadly not!


norbert said:
Hello Zack, please tell us how do you compare the gear? Right into the PC, PA or Poweramp/cab? You seem to be a player with a Marshall in the back who needs ´air pressure´.Greetings from Germany
Click to expand...


All my work with the Axe's has been monitoring through Mackie HR824's.



BUT! My live rig for tha past 4 years has been a POD XT fed through a marshall EL 34 100/100 into 4 x 1960 A&B 4 x 12's ( yes I know the POD is garbage but I love the simplicity of use - 4 switch footpedal - and to be honest, by the time it's fed through that lot at facemelting volume is actually sounds pretty damn reasonable!)

Anyway, once the II arrived I took the Standard down and swapped the POD out - I only spent an hour or so with it - but at this stage all I can say is I will need a few more hours to fully dial it in! I think the II through that rig would result in a god-like playing experience - but i don't want it going in the live rig - too much potential for beer damage!



Someone (another II owner) asked me today what the big difference was with V.7 - I thought about it and replied ' the guitar feels ALIVE in my hands' - and for me that's it in a nutshell really.

I've literally gone from thinking 'well that was £1,600 I could have spent on something else' to ' That's the best £1,600 I've spent in a long while' in the space of 2 days!

Cheers

Zack
 
I fully agree on the "ALIVE" feeling.. More life under my fingers, sweeter top end and just plain out better tone and feel. Can´t point out 1 thing. Just from standard amp to customshop-like feeling to me. It´s all good...
 
Sometimes Axe FX II makes me feel like a junkie.... I tend to stay clean from the forum to concentrate more on my playing... and each and every time I come back I found something like this thread.... I just can help it.... I am an AxeFxIIdicted, badly addicted :)

Cheers!!...
 
One thing I've always felt that was somewhat lacking from my perspective was the whole "feel thing". Pick attack, stuff dynamically related. It wasn't bad... but just not quite there yet. That was my struggle with the Ultra as well. All I got to say is that whatever happened with V.7... it is so right! Dynamics coming out the "wazoo" now. Never before has it felt so good in the hands and IMHO feels like all the the amps I've owned over the years previously. No hype. It just feels that good. Cliff, whatever you did... you did it and don't change it. It feels that much better in the hands !!
 
swass said:
One thing I've always felt that was somewhat lacking from my perspective was the whole "feel thing". Pick attack, stuff dynamically related. It wasn't bad... but just not quite there yet. That was my struggle with the Ultra as well. All I got to say is that whatever happened with V.7... it is so right! Dynamics coming out the "wazoo" now. Never before has it felt so good in the hands and IMHO feels like all the the amps I've owned over the years previously. No hype. It just feels that good. Cliff, whatever you did... you did it and don't change it. It feels that much better in the hands !!
Click to expand...

Yup, I agree totally...last night I spent time auditioning presets with TMA blocks/matched amps and my impressions were that the feel was kicked up another notch...seriously digging the feel, attack and dynamics that 7 has brought...indeed a 'epiphany' heh.
 
zack said:
I think the II through that rig would result in a god-like playing experience - but i don't want it going in the live rig - too much potential for beer damage!
Click to expand...

Spoken wisely ;)
I've seen it all. Ramsa 20x8 console screwed by someone who fell and dumped their mix drink down its freaking faders. We got paid for only two sets that night. LOL!
Also, another time - someone dropped their beer bottle on the table which happened to splash the backside of my 5150 which took out one side of the 6L6 Tubes.
This literally happened about 8 bars from the end of our last song of night.

I certainly respect why you may want to keep it in the studio.....hmmm... maybe two? LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom