Matthew Shoquist
Member
Here is why:
I came from owning a Pod HD500. The unit itself was very enjoyable for the 2 years I owned it, and it served its purpose very well for me playing in my youth band at church, and it really motivated me to practice, and allowed me to excel to be what many worship leaders at my church have said, "the best guitar player in the church". It gave me an inspiration I hadn't seen from any other modeler (the Pod HD500 did). I played many different worship venues within my church as well as summer camps, youth retreats, among other venues/memories I'll cherish for a long time. Fast forward to this past few months, and I noticed it was becoming a drag to play guitar. It was something I only did at church and it wasn't something I was absolutely in love with anymore, due to feeling limited by my gear. Within the past month, I graduated high school and was blessed with some money from family and friends and a new MacBook Pro. Throughout my 6 years of playing guitar, I knew that the Axe FX was the holy grail of digital modelers and that nothing could touch it as far as sound or quality. I knew I had to have one someday.
I decided to purchase a used one from moderator Scott Peterson, and an MFC-101 footboard. Here is where the journey starts:
By owning the Axe FX II, I am able to come up with every single darn tone that I could ever need and they all sound so incredible. I am able to get my typical AC30 U2 chimey stuff that I use at church, combined with cool shimmer effects and big cavernous reverbs with modulation, but MUCH higher quality than my HD500. I now have an incredible tone that rivals huge pedalboard full of boutique pedals and delays.
The Axe FX II has also given me the ability to come up with tones inspired by Angus Young, Eddie Van Halen, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, John Mayer, and other bands I enjoy listening to. This black box is seriously full of inspiration and I never get bored of playing guitar anymore. I always rush home from work and instantly go to my room to pick up my guitar.
The only thing I dislike about this machine is that it no longer feels like a bottleneck in my gear collection at all, but my guitars do. I have rediscovered my love for classic rock and bands such as Def Leppard, AC/DC, Dokken, Tesla, etc because now I can copy their tone pretty spot on, but it's giving me major GAS because I now want to buy more guitars to be able to expand my horizons from my Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, and cheap Laguna humbucker guitar. I also want to buy a bass guitar so I can start recording some stuff on my computer. Just when I thought my gear purchasing days were over, it feels like the Axe FX has only fueled my passion for playing guitar and buying more guitars. Kinda a first world problem, isn't it? Anyways, this forum is practically my homepage now, just because of how much I love hearing the recordings people are doing, and learning more and more. I've only had this thing for maybe a month, but I've learned so much, and can't wait to learn even more.
TL; DR: The Axe FX II is more than I ever imagined, but it makes me want to buy more guitars and more recording gear.
I came from owning a Pod HD500. The unit itself was very enjoyable for the 2 years I owned it, and it served its purpose very well for me playing in my youth band at church, and it really motivated me to practice, and allowed me to excel to be what many worship leaders at my church have said, "the best guitar player in the church". It gave me an inspiration I hadn't seen from any other modeler (the Pod HD500 did). I played many different worship venues within my church as well as summer camps, youth retreats, among other venues/memories I'll cherish for a long time. Fast forward to this past few months, and I noticed it was becoming a drag to play guitar. It was something I only did at church and it wasn't something I was absolutely in love with anymore, due to feeling limited by my gear. Within the past month, I graduated high school and was blessed with some money from family and friends and a new MacBook Pro. Throughout my 6 years of playing guitar, I knew that the Axe FX was the holy grail of digital modelers and that nothing could touch it as far as sound or quality. I knew I had to have one someday.
I decided to purchase a used one from moderator Scott Peterson, and an MFC-101 footboard. Here is where the journey starts:
By owning the Axe FX II, I am able to come up with every single darn tone that I could ever need and they all sound so incredible. I am able to get my typical AC30 U2 chimey stuff that I use at church, combined with cool shimmer effects and big cavernous reverbs with modulation, but MUCH higher quality than my HD500. I now have an incredible tone that rivals huge pedalboard full of boutique pedals and delays.
The Axe FX II has also given me the ability to come up with tones inspired by Angus Young, Eddie Van Halen, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, John Mayer, and other bands I enjoy listening to. This black box is seriously full of inspiration and I never get bored of playing guitar anymore. I always rush home from work and instantly go to my room to pick up my guitar.
The only thing I dislike about this machine is that it no longer feels like a bottleneck in my gear collection at all, but my guitars do. I have rediscovered my love for classic rock and bands such as Def Leppard, AC/DC, Dokken, Tesla, etc because now I can copy their tone pretty spot on, but it's giving me major GAS because I now want to buy more guitars to be able to expand my horizons from my Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, and cheap Laguna humbucker guitar. I also want to buy a bass guitar so I can start recording some stuff on my computer. Just when I thought my gear purchasing days were over, it feels like the Axe FX has only fueled my passion for playing guitar and buying more guitars. Kinda a first world problem, isn't it? Anyways, this forum is practically my homepage now, just because of how much I love hearing the recordings people are doing, and learning more and more. I've only had this thing for maybe a month, but I've learned so much, and can't wait to learn even more.
TL; DR: The Axe FX II is more than I ever imagined, but it makes me want to buy more guitars and more recording gear.
