My story is somewhat different from the usual Axe owner. With two careers (Aerospace IT, Wheelchair Basketball) I never had the time to learn to play the guitar though it had always been a lifelong goal of mine. I had bought a Taylor acoustic in 95 and pretty much did the learning the same 3 or 4 chords and a couple songs thing every 6 months or so for the next 10 years. Pathetic!
I both ended my sports career and moved to a condo in late 2007. I decided then that I was going to chase that lifelong dream and wanted to do so in the electric realm. I had an original 65 Deluxe Reverb given to me in 66 from a neighbor who worked for Fender so I had it cleaned up. I purchased a Strat and plugged in and realized the Deluxe didn’t have a headphone jack. In addition, to get it to sound like I wanted I had to crank the little beast. Not good being a total beginner and living in a condo. Not good at all!
So in May of 2008 I was off to GC to pick up a kidney bean. The local GC did not have any in stock. Back home I got online to check out where I could find one and came across a couple of threads talking about this Axe FX Ultra box that was getting a lot of press. I did some research and read a lot of posts by the earlier adopters such as Enzo, Lars, Sean, Solo, Scott P etc. The only thing I could not justify (being a total newbie) was the $1,600 price increase over the Pod. I went to the Line 6 forum and asked what they thought about this Axe Fx thing. As you can imagine, I was torched and vilified. I knew right then that I had to be a part of the (R)evolution.
I called FAS that very day and this guy answers with this New England accent and asks how he can help me. I told him my story and he said he would be glad to take an order if I was interested. As we were hanging up I asked who I was speaking with and he says “my name is Cliff”. I remember saying something stupid like “oh God of the Axe himself”. We chuckled over that. He took my info and I was on the list!
So about an hour later I get a call and Cliff tells me there is an issue with my credit card info so I might have to wait a week or so as Danielle was on the road due to a family emergency and she was the one who handled such things. Now get this… I get a call 20 minutes later from Danielle asking how she can help out. I can hear she is in the car driving and told her the circumstance (turns out I had a limit of 1K on the card and the bank needed me to approve anything above it). I told her not to worry about it and to call me the following week when she returned from her emergency. I was called the very next day with my conformation number and estimate of late June or early July delivery. Are you kidding me? Who goes to those lengths during a very critical family emergency for a customer? My loyalty was forged right then and there.
I received my Axe in July and have never looked back! The best 2K I ever spent was on that Ultra. I was told by so many that I was a fool to spend so much on a modeler since I was so relatively new to playing guitar in the first place. As it turns out they couldn’t have been more wrong! I don’t think there is a better unit to learn on. I was able play at volume and learn all the other aspects of the entire signal chain along the way. I don’t think many of you can say you got your knowledge of and/or experience with all the amps and the numerous effects for fewer than 2K.
I always treated the FW upgrades much like the next chapter in my learning experience and I have loved taking this Journey with FAS and all the forum members who helped me along the way. I have made quite a few friends on this path and am so grateful for that fateful day in May 2008.
Thank you GC for being out of stock on the kidney beans!!!!!
