People who say "My Axe II sounds like POD" needs to go to one of these live shows.
That's why I bought the Ultra and now the II, because I am a sound engineer AND a guitarist. I have Marshalls, Twins, a Tremoverb, etc. and I would much rather use an Axe FX in just about any situation. As I get older, I want consistency and repeatability and that's what the Axe-FX provides. I wish more guitarists in bands I work with would use them, too, but I would be happy, not mad.
SAC is nice, but like most of Bob's products, pricey! Yes, I've used it and Saw Studio. SAC is quite a departure from a physical console, and takes some getting used to. Personally, I prefer other interfaces and I'm still somewhat of an analog "grab the knob" kind of guy. Don't want to dig thru 4 layers to turn down input trim.
I paid $500 for SAC. I built a 32in/32out rack for under $4K. It replaces over $20K worth of gear (for me): mixer, snake, FOH rack, etc. It is easy to understand, if you already know how to mix and have worked with various analog or digital consoles. I have shown several other people how to use it in only about an hour. They had never experienced it before, but knew how to mix, use compression, EQ, FX, etc. I mix from a netbook, while walking around the venue. All controls are a few key clicks away. I have it setup that way, but you can configure it any number of ways. SAC, like the Axe-FX, replaces gear costing many more times the cost of SAC (or Axe-FX) and is more reliable, has less parts to break, etc. It is the wave of the future. The band I work with uses IEMs, Roland V-Drums and other direct input setups. There is no stage volume, other than the vocals or horns, when we use horn players. The sound is stunningly better than a comparable analog setup with Marshals (or some other loud amp on stage), real drums, loud bass rig, screaming wedge mixes, etc. The audience notices this immediately and we don't have to make any comparison for them. They have heard other bands in a variety of venues and they are startled (in a good way) at the difference.SAC is nice, but like most of Bob's products, pricey! Yes, I've used it and Saw Studio. SAC is quite a departure from a physical console, and takes some getting used to. Personally, I prefer other interfaces and I'm still somewhat of an analog "grab the knob" kind of guy. Don't want to dig thru 4 layers to turn down input trim.
And "most" sound people I know, do what they do 'cus they love it. Sometimes they have to work with the cr*p they are given by the house versus equipment of choice. And yes, there are tone-deaf sound people out there who can totally hose things, but if you "work" with them and are not dictatorial, you can get done what you need. Counter to popular belief, cranking an amp to "eleven", a la "Nigel" (so you can "feel" your sound) does little to help the soundguy get a good mix. It might be that approach that coined the phrase " Can we get a little more talent in the monitors puh-lease?"
