Sashman
Experienced
First of all, I have to thank you Cliff @FractalAudio and the whole Fractal team and everyone else who is involved.
And secon, I want to thank everyone in this forum, it doesn't matter if we always agree or not, just thank you, thank you for beeing a part of this forum and the community!
English is ot my mother languge but thank you for reading and my apologies for grammar mistakes etc. I did work in the US and GB but if you are not speaking english daily, you faling back to school days ver quick
In some parts this is maybe emotional but I want to tell a story, why Fractal is a part of my life and why it does make things easier, better for me and why I'm grateful and can't thank you enough.
OK the story goes back to when I was a child, my dad does like to beat us up late at night when he came home drunk.
So my Mom and me did leave our home in one night and we never went back.
My MOm raised me alone. Thank you Mom, that was not easy.
I had no father, at least no one who I coukd love and respect, until the day when Mr. Angus Young came into my life. He came on a Videocassette that was named:" AC/DC Live at Monsters Of Rock at Castle Donnington" That was 1992 and I've got the VHS from a classmate (thank you buddy).
I was flashed, blown away and I had never ever seen something before. I didn't had any contact to music before that day.
After seeing Angus rocking to. "For thoose about to Rock" with his guitar and canons etc. I was total clear that I want to play guitar.
(I still think that AC/DC had her best sound at Donnington when they played Mesa Amps and Cabs) the sound was more focused, tight and agressive)
Yeah I got a copy from that concert for my and played it on my Walkman (yeah kids they did realy exist) as miuch as I could and everytim when I grabbed it with that crappy headphones, I was the Master of the Universe and I felt like I had superpowers.
We had no money and I realy mean no money, so I had to work, work very hard for my first guitar, I did work on a farm after school and in my hollidays. I did earn around 5 DM (Deutsche Mark) which was around 2,70 US Dollar an hour. I worked around 50 to 60 hours to afford my first guitar, it was a black Aria Stratocaster copy for 199 DM (115 US Dollar) and some extra bucks for a strap, a tuner and some picks.
What should I say that guitar was a real piece of sh**, it had sharp edges, an action where a truck was able to drive through and made of plywood (which I discoveredd after some time) and I still had no amp but I was the luckiest kind in the whole world and I felt like a Rockstar when wearing my Walkman and playing that crappy guitar without any amplification.
No money for lessons, so my only teacher were my ears and eyes, listen to music, watching videos and sometimes I could afford a magazine.
Skipping some years...
After a few years of practising I played in some bands and after that I was called from studios and other bands to do some records and playing live with them.
I started to earn money with music, a dream come true... did I earn much money with that? Hell no but it was just a lot of fun.
Sometimes stuffed all my gear, a Marshall 4x12, a JCM 800 and An SG (of course) into my car and drove to a gig, played the whole night and drove straight to work (as a postman) 36 hours without no sleep but that's Rock 'n Roll!
For studio work, you often had to play which guitars was in the studio available at that time. I often got calls and had no time to pickup my own guitar. The job had to be done really quick because if not, someone else did it before you.
Then the time of electro music came, Rock 'n Roll was not dead but as a small player with almost no name in the community etc. only the big ones got called. Or maybe that does proof, I was not that good
So music was not longer the biggest part but a big part in my life, music always saved me. If there was no way out, I grabbed my guitar, Walkman etc. and life was great. I reason to give the next day a try!
And now the Fractal way:
After doing a regular job, I could afford more amps, guitars etc. and I tried near every brand that was availlable.
I was always more a Marshall guy of sound, so I had various Marshalls over the years, 800, 900, DSl, JVM etc. and the last and my favourite one was my custom Friedman BE 100 Deluxe, I just loved that amp!
But there is one amp that I really miss a lot and that is my Steavens Poundcake, modified from Bernhard Stephan (owner of Steavens Amps) himself. I did visit him very often in his shop, he was a one man show, he did everything alone.
He also build amps for Reb Beach, Queensryche etc.
Sadly sadly that amp is lost in the flooding last year that is really the only amp that I wish it were in AXE for that reason (Steavens Poundcake 50 or 100 would be awesome)
Steavens Amps didn’t exist Endnoten which very sad. Bernhard is a great guy and I loved to talk with him.
I'm Axe fX user since the Axe Standard came out, after that I went to the Axe II and FX8 and now the AXE III.
The Axe III is the one machine that replaced everything, I sold my Friedman (also for some other reason you can read below) and all my effects etc. it made my life easier.
And now here is the part where I have to be thankful again.
My doughter, my princess, I can't describe how much I love her and I'm down to tears full of joy while I'm writing this, is born december 2020 and 14 month old.
She is the most beautiful the greatest and adorable thing I have ever seen and I have archived in my life and I would do everything for her.
Now with the Axe I'm able to play my guitar, making music, what did keep me up for years, while my doughter is sleeping in the room next to me.
Some of you my heard about the flooding in germany last year and actually we are living together with my mother and father in law and even her, I'm able to play guitar and enjoy the axe every single day.
The Axe is truly the best piece of gear that I have ever bought in my entire life and it does make things so easy and simple for me, so simple that I can have and enjoy more time with my family which does make my happy.
Just my personal verdict, I think that everyone could be grateful in a way that we are able to have such an amazing product these days. We should think about that when we are starting moaning and complaning about small issues.
Thank you Cliff @FractalAudio and everyone else.
Thank you, everyone for reading
And secon, I want to thank everyone in this forum, it doesn't matter if we always agree or not, just thank you, thank you for beeing a part of this forum and the community!
English is ot my mother languge but thank you for reading and my apologies for grammar mistakes etc. I did work in the US and GB but if you are not speaking english daily, you faling back to school days ver quick
In some parts this is maybe emotional but I want to tell a story, why Fractal is a part of my life and why it does make things easier, better for me and why I'm grateful and can't thank you enough.
OK the story goes back to when I was a child, my dad does like to beat us up late at night when he came home drunk.
So my Mom and me did leave our home in one night and we never went back.
My MOm raised me alone. Thank you Mom, that was not easy.
I had no father, at least no one who I coukd love and respect, until the day when Mr. Angus Young came into my life. He came on a Videocassette that was named:" AC/DC Live at Monsters Of Rock at Castle Donnington" That was 1992 and I've got the VHS from a classmate (thank you buddy).
I was flashed, blown away and I had never ever seen something before. I didn't had any contact to music before that day.
After seeing Angus rocking to. "For thoose about to Rock" with his guitar and canons etc. I was total clear that I want to play guitar.
(I still think that AC/DC had her best sound at Donnington when they played Mesa Amps and Cabs) the sound was more focused, tight and agressive)
Yeah I got a copy from that concert for my and played it on my Walkman (yeah kids they did realy exist) as miuch as I could and everytim when I grabbed it with that crappy headphones, I was the Master of the Universe and I felt like I had superpowers.
We had no money and I realy mean no money, so I had to work, work very hard for my first guitar, I did work on a farm after school and in my hollidays. I did earn around 5 DM (Deutsche Mark) which was around 2,70 US Dollar an hour. I worked around 50 to 60 hours to afford my first guitar, it was a black Aria Stratocaster copy for 199 DM (115 US Dollar) and some extra bucks for a strap, a tuner and some picks.
What should I say that guitar was a real piece of sh**, it had sharp edges, an action where a truck was able to drive through and made of plywood (which I discoveredd after some time) and I still had no amp but I was the luckiest kind in the whole world and I felt like a Rockstar when wearing my Walkman and playing that crappy guitar without any amplification.
No money for lessons, so my only teacher were my ears and eyes, listen to music, watching videos and sometimes I could afford a magazine.
Skipping some years...
After a few years of practising I played in some bands and after that I was called from studios and other bands to do some records and playing live with them.
I started to earn money with music, a dream come true... did I earn much money with that? Hell no
but it was just a lot of fun.Sometimes stuffed all my gear, a Marshall 4x12, a JCM 800 and An SG (of course) into my car and drove to a gig, played the whole night and drove straight to work (as a postman) 36 hours without no sleep but that's Rock 'n Roll!
For studio work, you often had to play which guitars was in the studio available at that time. I often got calls and had no time to pickup my own guitar. The job had to be done really quick because if not, someone else did it before you.
Then the time of electro music came, Rock 'n Roll was not dead but as a small player with almost no name in the community etc. only the big ones got called. Or maybe that does proof, I was not that good
So music was not longer the biggest part but a big part in my life, music always saved me. If there was no way out, I grabbed my guitar, Walkman etc. and life was great. I reason to give the next day a try!
And now the Fractal way:
After doing a regular job, I could afford more amps, guitars etc. and I tried near every brand that was availlable.
I was always more a Marshall guy of sound, so I had various Marshalls over the years, 800, 900, DSl, JVM etc. and the last and my favourite one was my custom Friedman BE 100 Deluxe, I just loved that amp!
But there is one amp that I really miss a lot and that is my Steavens Poundcake, modified from Bernhard Stephan (owner of Steavens Amps) himself. I did visit him very often in his shop, he was a one man show, he did everything alone.
He also build amps for Reb Beach, Queensryche etc.
Sadly sadly that amp is lost in the flooding last year that is really the only amp that I wish it were in AXE for that reason (Steavens Poundcake 50 or 100 would be awesome)
Steavens Amps didn’t exist Endnoten which very sad. Bernhard is a great guy and I loved to talk with him.
I'm Axe fX user since the Axe Standard came out, after that I went to the Axe II and FX8 and now the AXE III.
The Axe III is the one machine that replaced everything, I sold my Friedman (also for some other reason you can read below) and all my effects etc. it made my life easier.
And now here is the part where I have to be thankful again.
My doughter, my princess, I can't describe how much I love her and I'm down to tears full of joy while I'm writing this, is born december 2020 and 14 month old.
She is the most beautiful the greatest and adorable thing I have ever seen and I have archived in my life and I would do everything for her.
Now with the Axe I'm able to play my guitar, making music, what did keep me up for years, while my doughter is sleeping in the room next to me.
Some of you my heard about the flooding in germany last year and actually we are living together with my mother and father in law and even her, I'm able to play guitar and enjoy the axe every single day.
The Axe is truly the best piece of gear that I have ever bought in my entire life and it does make things so easy and simple for me, so simple that I can have and enjoy more time with my family which does make my happy.
Just my personal verdict, I think that everyone could be grateful in a way that we are able to have such an amazing product these days. We should think about that when we are starting moaning and complaning about small issues.
Thank you Cliff @FractalAudio and everyone else.
Thank you, everyone for reading
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