shasha
Fractal Fanatic
So as some may have noticed I had my brand new EBMM Gamechanger up on e-Bay for the last few weeks. I finally sold it so I figured I'd give the skinny on it after the fact. I think that it would have come off pretty crappy if I had talked it up while I just happen to have it up for sale. 
Fit and finish: Just like every other EBMM I've ever owned; just fantastic. I think that the Axis/Reflex necks are damn near perfect. Played fantastic out of the case and everything was set up great. The finish was all black which I hate because I cannot keep it clean. There wasn't a blemish on it and it was a great paint job.
Functionality: It's just like it said it was. Plugging into USB into the web app required downloading an Active X plugin or something; after that it connected every time. Changing settings and saving them was very simple. I did get some noise when I had the USB connected and the AxeFX to the PC at the same time; most likely a ground loop. It was only noticeable when actively changing/storing stuff so it wasn't a real issue. Changing settings worked exactly as described. Coming up with 2 banks of 5 settings was pretty easy; I basically went for one normal bank and one with parallel pickup settings and some out of phase stuff. Never messed with the Z bank.
Sound: This is where I kind of hit a rock. I mean don't get me wrong there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but after having it for a few days and messing with it I just didn't think that it offered anything that my Axis didn't already have. Now I love parallel wiring for humbuckers so that was a great thing to have, but I started to catch myself looking for the tremolo and wishing that I had bought one with the piezo. Once that thought got into my mind it was kind of stuck. You would think that with all the versatility that I would have been satisfied and I probably could have been, but what I really wanted was that damn piezo or at least something similar to try do some acoustic stuff.
With all that said I just prefer my Axis. It's probably the best guitar for me that I've ever played. The Gamechanger was basically a redundancy without the floyd rose and without the piezo pickups that I wanted. Thinking about it objectively even with the piezo pickups I think that it would have been too similar still. I will never be one of those people that own 10 strats or 15 Les Pauls. I get one good one of each and stick with it. I couldn't say anything bad about the sound quality.....but I will say that I think that the Axis pickups are just really, really great for me.
Value: It wasn't cheap, but compared to some of the other stuff that you guys play around here it's probably pretty middle of the road. I've never played a Suhr or anything fancier than my PRS513 (which I subsequently dumped on e-Bay as well). I just don't know if it's me or if it's these guitars, but I like to have a little struggle and fight when I play and they're just a bit too nice or something. It's really weird. But getting back to value I don't know if there is a better made instrument out there in the price range. I know that there sure as hell isn't something as versatile that is in the all analog realm. I mean sure it had USB and took batteries, but it is an all passive signal path. To me that's the selling point; you can wire up just about anything you can imagine with this little switching mechanism inside and have instant recall....that's kind of an AxeFX type of mentality if you ask me. It worked exactly as advertised.
So the overall impression to me is that it delivered 100% of what it promised. I suppose that I wasn't really needing what it delivered. Some guy in Washington state got a great deal on a really good guitar and hopefully it is what he wants. It definitely didn't deserve to sit in the case for the last 3 months.
Fit and finish: Just like every other EBMM I've ever owned; just fantastic. I think that the Axis/Reflex necks are damn near perfect. Played fantastic out of the case and everything was set up great. The finish was all black which I hate because I cannot keep it clean. There wasn't a blemish on it and it was a great paint job.
Functionality: It's just like it said it was. Plugging into USB into the web app required downloading an Active X plugin or something; after that it connected every time. Changing settings and saving them was very simple. I did get some noise when I had the USB connected and the AxeFX to the PC at the same time; most likely a ground loop. It was only noticeable when actively changing/storing stuff so it wasn't a real issue. Changing settings worked exactly as described. Coming up with 2 banks of 5 settings was pretty easy; I basically went for one normal bank and one with parallel pickup settings and some out of phase stuff. Never messed with the Z bank.
Sound: This is where I kind of hit a rock. I mean don't get me wrong there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but after having it for a few days and messing with it I just didn't think that it offered anything that my Axis didn't already have. Now I love parallel wiring for humbuckers so that was a great thing to have, but I started to catch myself looking for the tremolo and wishing that I had bought one with the piezo. Once that thought got into my mind it was kind of stuck. You would think that with all the versatility that I would have been satisfied and I probably could have been, but what I really wanted was that damn piezo or at least something similar to try do some acoustic stuff.
With all that said I just prefer my Axis. It's probably the best guitar for me that I've ever played. The Gamechanger was basically a redundancy without the floyd rose and without the piezo pickups that I wanted. Thinking about it objectively even with the piezo pickups I think that it would have been too similar still. I will never be one of those people that own 10 strats or 15 Les Pauls. I get one good one of each and stick with it. I couldn't say anything bad about the sound quality.....but I will say that I think that the Axis pickups are just really, really great for me.
Value: It wasn't cheap, but compared to some of the other stuff that you guys play around here it's probably pretty middle of the road.
I've never played a Suhr or anything fancier than my PRS513 (which I subsequently dumped on e-Bay as well). I just don't know if it's me or if it's these guitars, but I like to have a little struggle and fight when I play and they're just a bit too nice or something. It's really weird. But getting back to value I don't know if there is a better made instrument out there in the price range. I know that there sure as hell isn't something as versatile that is in the all analog realm. I mean sure it had USB and took batteries, but it is an all passive signal path. To me that's the selling point; you can wire up just about anything you can imagine with this little switching mechanism inside and have instant recall....that's kind of an AxeFX type of mentality if you ask me. It worked exactly as advertised.So the overall impression to me is that it delivered 100% of what it promised. I suppose that I wasn't really needing what it delivered. Some guy in Washington state got a great deal on a really good guitar and hopefully it is what he wants. It definitely didn't deserve to sit in the case for the last 3 months.
