Sleestak
Power User
I have been a professional musician for 30+ years. The AxeFX is the best gear purchase of my career. If you're asking people here on the forum, they're going to tell to buy one I"ll tell you that since buying the AxeFX, I practice more, record more, and with better results. I used to spend a lot of time crafting tones with my boutique tube amps and a big board full of expensive pedals. I've been a gear hound for a long time, and had acquired a mountain of pricey equipment. The AxeFX (1) has a bigger, better collection of amazing amps / effects (2) is MUCH easier to manage when putting together complex signal chains and (3) has freed me to spend more of my time recording and practicing.
In the studio, I can dial in tones pretty quickly (thank you, Axe-Edit), and the AxeFX is fantastic for re-amping and re-tracking, and for recalling patches and mic settings. I went back into the studio recently to add additional parts to a client recording that was originally tracked almost a year ago. He had written a new bridge for a song that we did at an early session, and wanted me to re-record it. I pulled up the original patch and flew in just that bridge section in about an hour. It was a perfect match for the previous recording, so we only had to record the new bridge. Before the AxeFX, that might have taken a full day, most of which would have been trying to match the original sound. Since we still had a few hours left in the session, we wrote a new song and I tracked the guitar and bass parts via the AxeFX. Again, we saved time and money by not having to even drag out a bass amp, DI, and other outboard gear.
The tones in my AxeFX are so good, and so responsive, that it's improved my playing dynamics. I've had to refine my picking technique because the amp response is so revealing. I hadn't realized how much of my dynamics were being impacted by my pedalboard's signal chain. I'm a better guitarist since getting the AxeFX a few years ago.
In the studio, I can dial in tones pretty quickly (thank you, Axe-Edit), and the AxeFX is fantastic for re-amping and re-tracking, and for recalling patches and mic settings. I went back into the studio recently to add additional parts to a client recording that was originally tracked almost a year ago. He had written a new bridge for a song that we did at an early session, and wanted me to re-record it. I pulled up the original patch and flew in just that bridge section in about an hour. It was a perfect match for the previous recording, so we only had to record the new bridge. Before the AxeFX, that might have taken a full day, most of which would have been trying to match the original sound. Since we still had a few hours left in the session, we wrote a new song and I tracked the guitar and bass parts via the AxeFX. Again, we saved time and money by not having to even drag out a bass amp, DI, and other outboard gear.
The tones in my AxeFX are so good, and so responsive, that it's improved my playing dynamics. I've had to refine my picking technique because the amp response is so revealing. I hadn't realized how much of my dynamics were being impacted by my pedalboard's signal chain. I'm a better guitarist since getting the AxeFX a few years ago.