Somebody please convince me to NOT buy an Axe FX with my tax return.

4 - What is a "Klon-based drive emulation"? Sorry for the noob question.

It's an inside joke :)

A while back, we had a troll in these forums ruffling people's feathers and causing trouble. Basically, he was making youtube "review" videos (10 minutes of him just complaining about Fractal, no actual product demos) and posting on various forums bashing / threatening the creator of Fractal Audio personally because Fractal had no plans to model the Klon overdrive pedal (a heavily hyped, expensive overdrive pedal). This pedal is modeled in the Line 6 Helix product, and this all started right around the time the Helix was released. It was a dark time in this forum haha! The man was a professional troll. I'm not going to mention his name, but at one point he managed to snag some TV airtime with some of his earlier trolling endeavors. All is well now though. :)

If you really absolutely need a Klon type sound, you probably already have one. If not, I believe someone published a recipe of sorts for creating your own using a drive block and an eq on the forum somewhere.

(Assuming we haven't deterred you yet) Welcome to the family! :)
 
Since I've never heard of a Klon before, I probably don't need a model of it! I'm perfectly happy with the zillion other drive and amp models, and I bet I can find something suitable to my palette.
 
3 - I think that as it stands right now, I can make one preset for my band's set, with 5-6 scenes total. I can add scenes and presets for new songs as we add them. I want unfuckwithable tone, and the flexibility to get whatever tone I want down the road.

This is how I use my AxeFX. I play mostly original indie / alternative rock and I have one patch that I use for 98% of the songs my band plays. It's basically the digital re-creation of a 2-channel amp and a huge pedalboard.

I've got a couple EQs (used as boosts), 2 drives (each with an x/y state, so technically 4 different drives), a compressor, pitch effect, multidelay (ambient wash), delay, reverb and a chorus. One expression pedal controls the mix of delay, verb, and multidelay between a high and low threshold I have set. The other controls output volume and wah

I have 5 scenes for my "core" tones:

1. Clean-ish w/ short delay / verb
2. Dirtier w/ short delay / verb
3. Clean-ish w/ long delay / verb
4. Dirtier w/ long delay / verb
5. Synth-y fuzz lead

All of that combined with the volume and tone knobs on my guitar is incredibly versatile. I also love that scenes can be configured so that they remember your changes as you switch between them (as long as you don't leave the patch). This is cool because I can set up specific combos of effects on the fly (like in the middle of a show) for different songs on different scenes and then switch between them with one footswitch.

I make additional patches for highly specific effects or tones if I happen to need them for a particular cover (i.e. a specific delay pattern or a synth pad in the background), but in reality, I almost never deviate from my main patch. I find that this has been beneficial for my band's sound. It's made all of our songs (covers included) sound more cohesive and uniquely ours. I'm happy with having "my" tone now. With the GSP, I had way more patches and I hated maintaining them all.

That's another thing: The AxeFX has "Global Blocks". For example: you can dial in your core amp / cab tone in your main preset and then designate those settings as a "Global Block". If you have multiple presets that use the same core amp tone, you can link the amp and cab settings in those patches to the global block you created earlier. If you change the tone in your main patch, those changes are automatically populated to any presets that link to the global block. This can be done with any effect too, not just amp and cab. SUPER useful for maintaining large volumes of patches.
 
This is how I use my AxeFX. I play mostly original indie / alternative rock and I have one patch that I use for 98% of the songs my band plays. It's basically the digital re-creation of a 2-channel amp and a huge pedalboard.

I've got a couple EQs (used as boosts), 2 drives (each with an x/y state, so technically 4 different drives), a compressor, pitch effect, multidelay (ambient wash), delay, reverb and a chorus. One expression pedal controls the mix of delay, verb, and multidelay between a high and low threshold I have set. The other controls output volume and wah

I have 5 scenes for my "core" tones:

1. Clean-ish w/ short delay / verb
2. Dirtier w/ short delay / verb
3. Clean-ish w/ long delay / verb
4. Dirtier w/ long delay / verb
5. Synth-y fuzz lead

All of that combined with the volume and tone knobs on my guitar is incredibly versatile. I also love that scenes can be configured so that they remember your changes as you switch between them (as long as you don't leave the patch). This is cool because I can set up specific combos of effects on the fly (like in the middle of a show) for different songs on different scenes and then switch between them with one footswitch.

I make additional patches for highly specific effects or tones if I happen to need them for a particular cover (i.e. a specific delay pattern or a synth pad in the background), but in reality, I almost never deviate from my main patch. I find that this has been beneficial for my band's sound. It's made all of our songs (covers included) sound more cohesive and uniquely ours. I'm happy with having "my" tone now. With the GSP, I had way more patches and I hated maintaining them all.

That's another thing: The AxeFX has "Global Blocks". For example: you can dial in your core amp / cab tone in your main preset and then designate those settings as a "Global Block". If you have multiple presets that use the same core amp tone, you can link the amp and cab settings in those patches to the global block you created earlier. If you change the tone in your main patch, those changes are automatically populated to any presets that link to the global block. This can be done with any effect too, not just amp and cab. SUPER useful for maintaining large volumes of patches.

You're preaching to the choir. I watched some tutorials on X/Y states, scenes, programs, global blocks, Axe Edit, scene controllers, MIDI links, PC mapping... Talking me out of buying an Axe FX II XL+ is a nearly impossible task.

I'm going to set my stuff up similarly as Cowmaster39...

Wah (auto engage, set to MIDI CC 9) > OD > phaser (for one part in one song) > amp 1 X/Y> pitch/harmony with a scene controller for the key > delay > reverb. Put a volume block between pitch and delay, set volume to MIDI CC 7. Set delay and reverb to "Mute FX in." Map PCs from the GCP to scenes. Scene 1 is rhythm, Scene 2 is lead, scene 3 is solo, other scenes for specific parts in specific songs.

I am ready to rock!
 
So, do you have non-mortgage debt? If not, I cannot think of many good arguments. Otherwise, you would be foolish (IMHO) to buy one. I would absolutely never buy gear, especially expensive gear with outstanding debt.
 
So, do you have non-mortgage debt? If not, I cannot think of many good arguments. Otherwise, you would be foolish (IMHO) to buy one. I would absolutely never buy gear, especially expensive gear with outstanding debt.
That is the ONE argument that I've considered the most. I have some credit card debt. However, i am paying off about quadruple what the minimum payment is, and I have calculated that I will have it paid off within the year, if I keep paying off at the rate I am. In the meantime, I could actually use this to make money doing studio work, and it would be awesome to then sell off the rest of my amps and effects and have one rig to rule them all. And once i pay off my credit card, I'd just turn around and buy an Axe FX anyway.
 
That is the ONE argument that I've considered the most. I have some credit card debt. However, i am paying off about quadruple what the minimum payment is, and I have calculated that I will have it paid off within the year, if I keep paying off at the rate I am. In the meantime, I could actually use this to make money doing studio work, and it would be awesome to then sell off the rest of my amps and effects and have one rig to rule them all. And once i pay off my credit card, I'd just turn around and buy an Axe FX anyway.

Unless not having an AxeFx is stopping you from earning money on those gigs (can't see how this would be the case) you should use that return to pay off your debt (IMHO) and even if it did prevent you from doing other work, you'd still want to consider doing the math (taking into account other factors/strategies).

If you have a *YEAR*s worth of CC debt: this sounds like a ton of money to me. It seems unlikely to be a good decision, IMHO. You can crunch the numbers but you are probably losing a significant amount of money by buying it now rather than later. I.e. after you look at the numbers (i.e. a $3000 AxeFx now vs a $2000 one in a year with no debt; who knows there might even be some new product by then).

Getting the reward before the sacrifice (debt) is generally a losing game and eventually catches up with you. Managing your personal finances well is not very YOLO-internet-s*xy but it is smart and something you will thank yourself for over time, IMHO.

You are always going to GAS for something. As soon as you get that Axe you will want a set of CLRs, a matrix power amp, or new PRS.

Love,
Dad
 
I have a solid state class D power amp going into a Mesa cab. I'm using it with a GSP1101 right now and the power amp / cab combo works great. The other guitarist in my band plays his Axe FX through another class D amp into a Marshall cab. He's happy with his rig too. I also have studio monitors for practicing alone. And I embrace the GUI of Axe Edit. I've messed with it a bit on my bandmate's rig. It's pretty simple at first glance, and I am awesome at Googling things.

Buy it then as you are set up. No guitar (except maybe a used Jeff Beck Strat) has made me as happy as any Fractal gear. Products are great and they take care of their customers. By getting an AX8 instead of a II, you are only forgoing some rather esoteric effects and getting a little more switching delay when changing presets. (The switching delay is noticeable, but you can get around it by using switching options within the preset). Having a bandmate with one will shorten your learning curve. You guys will also be able lock in your tones really well since everything's preset
 
That is the ONE argument that I've considered the most. I have some credit card debt. However, i am paying off about quadruple what the minimum payment is, and I have calculated that I will have it paid off within the year, if I keep paying off at the rate I am. In the meantime, I could actually use this to make money doing studio work, and it would be awesome to then sell off the rest of my amps and effects and have one rig to rule them all. And once i pay off my credit card, I'd just turn around and buy an Axe FX anyway.
Credit card debt is terrible. Kill it with your tax return. You'll save faster without a +19% interest debt load to service every month.
 
All signs point to me upgrading from a GSP1101 to a brand new Axe FX II XL+ when I get my tax return. Can anybody convince me to NOT buy the Axe FX?
There is no alternative, I tried many effect processors, but there is soooooo much you can do in axe fx that would almost be impossible to create otherwise. You'd be missing out on a whole world of tones!
 
Being a former Digitech biggot myself...

Nope, not gonna do it. Won't comply, sorry. You OWE it to yourself to upgrade to the AxeFX.

DO IT!
 
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