Thinking about buying an axe-fx...would you do it again?

F

ForeverDawn

Member
Hey so right now I'm constructing my dream guitar rig and currently I have a line 6 pod x3 pro rack unit as the effects unit/clean tone of the amp. (the amp is currently a 6505+ but I also have an engl powerball...still haven't decided on the final winner.)

All in all I'm pretty dissatisfied with line 6 tones. All in all they just sound kinda hollow and weak. I initially thought their clean tones were good, but after being blown away by a cheap peavey transtube fx amp I just recorded....I decided that my clean tones just did not cut it.

Killer (rhythm) distortion would be nice in an amp modeler but at least I have a great distortion from the amps.

All of the ax-fx preset demos are basically very cool guitar and synth pad sounds. It seems like it does the ultra effecty thing great.

How are just the raw clean and distortion sounds? I do not want to go on wild tone goosechace that never gets there. Did that for years with line 6. I want a variety of super solid clean, crunch, and high gain tones that sound great raw or with just a hint of reverb....just like an amp!

Does axe fx do this? What is your experience with this? The ever tweaking ever evolving tone is a bunch of garbage in my opinion. I worked for years with using 2 vetta heads and my tone was always "getting better". I plug into a 6505+, put the eq on flat, turn the gain up to taste and its amazing right away (distortion).

As a bit of background of myself I play a mixture of Industrial and Black Metal. The effecty pady stuff is good for electronic and ambiant music which I like...but I have synths to do that too. So when the guitar needs to be a guitar it needs to do that fantastically as well.

Would youall buy this unit again if they gave you your money back?

Thanks! I look forward to hearing your responses
 
ForeverDawn said:
Hey so right now I'm constructing my dream guitar rig and currently I have a line 6 pod x3 pro rack unit as the effects unit/clean tone of the amp. (the amp is currently a 6505+ but I also have an engl powerball...still haven't decided on the final winner.)

All in all I'm pretty dissatisfied with line 6 tones. All in all they just sound kinda hollow and weak. I initially thought their clean tones were good, but after being blown away by a cheap peavey transtube fx amp I just recorded....I decided that my clean tones just did not cut it.

Killer (rhythm) distortion would be nice in an amp modeler but at least I have a great distortion from the amps.

All of the ax-fx preset demos are basically very cool guitar and synth pad sounds. It seems like it does the ultra effecty thing great.

How are just the raw clean and distortion sounds? I do not want to go on wild tone goosechace that never gets there. Did that for years with line 6. I want a variety of super solid clean, crunch, and high gain tones that sound great raw or with just a hint of reverb....just like an amp!

Does axe fx do this? What is your experience with this? The ever tweaking ever evolving tone is a bunch of garbage in my opinion. I worked for years with using 2 vetta heads and my tone was always "getting better". I plug into a 6505+, put the eq on flat, turn the gain up to taste and its amazing right away (distortion).

As a bit of background of myself I play a mixture of Industrial and Black Metal. The effecty pady stuff is good for electronic and ambiant music which I like...but I have synths to do that too. So when the guitar needs to be a guitar it needs to do that fantastically as well.

Would youall buy this unit again if they gave you your money back?

Thanks! I look forward to hearing your responses
Click to expand...

Absolutely, I would do it again.

Actually, you ask us if we would buy it again if they gave us our money back? I could actually sell my Ultra on E-bay right now and join the other people who are selling them there for a profit (for more than what a new one costs). And, I'm choosing NOT to do that because I use it, love it, and want to keep it.

It's the single best musical purchase that I've ever made. I have never regretted it and haven't looked back. I never go try out new gear to see if I like it better because I never feel like I need better. The only time I try other gear is when I'm killing time if I'm near a music store. Every single time, I find myself thinking that I like my rig much more.
 
I agree that the sound samples on the Fractal site are really more to showcase the special effects and synthy type sounds. Some of the songs will give you a glimpse of the capabilities in the straight forward category, but there aren't really any sound samples of just guitar to showcase the basic amp tones this thing has. Cruise the forum a bit and you will find some outstanding examples of some great amp tones. Some of the stock presets are excellent, and with a little tweaking, there are some absolutely KILLER sounds. For what it's worth, I have had mine for about a month.....still digging into the nuts and bolts and cusomizing to my style....but having owned a good number of "must have" guitar amps and processors over the years, the Axe-Fx is just in a different class in my opinion. Would definitely buy it again!
 
ForeverDawn said:
Would youall buy this unit again if they gave you your money back?
Click to expand...

With the AXE-FX resale values you can have your money back at any time.
Hey, I even know people who got more then what they paid originally.

:D
 
Thanks for the replys, keep em coming actually. Especially if you have sound clips or can point to sound clips of awesome rhythm clean and distorted (crunch and high gain) tones. Anyone can make a good lead tone with pretty much anything so I'm much more impressed with fantastic rhythm tones.

How is it that you can get more on ebay for them? are they discontinued? Would wouldn't someone just buy one new from this site?
 
While I do like the proper use of effects, most of my sounds are dry, and I'm very happy with them.
I'd buy my Ultra again in a hearbeat!
I've had mine for over two and a half years (would be even longer, but I was on the waiting list more than 10 months...),
and this unit still feels new and I learn something everytime I sit down and play with it.
And it's just funny that I could sell it now for more than what I paid new :lol:
 
There are those who have sold them and gone back to a tube amp, but they are a very small minority in my experience (otherwise used ones wouldn't be through the roof in price). If you only need one or two or three sounds, and you can get them from a Bogner or whatever, you might not need an axe. But IMO if you can't find a sound you love in this thing you're not trying hard enough. Obviously, tone chameleons especially like it because it does so many things well.

I do some very raw tones with only a touch of reverb and/or delay, for very period correct classic rock tones. I also do some effects-laden art rock that requires all kinds of swirly things and pitch-shifted delays that spill over between patchs. The axe excels at both. I get all kinds of commentary on my tone from musicians in the audience and at least two players in my town have bought an axe because of hearing mine.

The major issue for live work if you intend to use a guitar cab is don't skimp on the power amp. You need to push some air for it to feel like the real thing.
 
Would I buy again..? Absolutely!

I have more gear than I could list on one page. If it was all stolen tomorrow, I would buy an Axe Ultra, a early 70's Les Paul Custom and two FBT Verve 12ma's. I could live with that gear for the rest of my career. Outstanding tone, and more options than I can find time to explore.

The Axe does dark metal rhythm really well....but as you will read about all the different ways to amplify the Axe (power amps, guitar cabs, FRFR cabs, tube, solid state, etc.)....you will learn that the Axe sounds amazing when it's amplified properly. You can't expect the Axe to sounds like a full stack when you're playing through a $50 monitor. But when you run it through a quality amp/speaker...it's absolutely outstanding.

You can ask the question another way as well....would I ever sell my Axe?
Nope...never.
 
xpenno said:
I'd buy it again, in fact, if I had the cash right now I'd buy a second ultra as a backup.
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Ditto. I am finally contemplating selling my Randall Halfstack and never looking back. My Lynchbox cab will be in an IR very soon. Once I have those files I am not sure I need the Randall anymore. I like it but the Axefx is so much more. I figure I'll buy the next generation of the AxeFx, whenever that happens to be, and use my standard as the backup. In the meantime the Randall just collects dust.
 
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