To anyone else who also just received their Axe-Fx II ... how is your fan noise?

dscribellito

dscribellito

Inspired
The fan noise is much more noticeable than my previous Axe-Fx Ultra. Whereas the Ultra fan noise never bothered me (I could forget it was there), this one does bother me for a couple of reasons:

1. It seems louder.
2. It is not consistent - the noise fluctuates. This is best demonstrated by the example below (recorded with an Audio Technica AT2020 mic in front of Axe II which is in a 2U case):



And it is really the second reason that the noise is most distracting. A constant noise blends into the background. With the fluctuating fan noise, you are constantly reminded the fan is there.

I also have to admit the recording may not do the noise justice - it seems much more prominent in person.

If this is how it is supposed to be, that's fine ... except more of us are probably going to want to think about fan replacement.

So, please, chime-in with your feedback current Axe-Fx II owners. I would love to know if you are experiencing the same thing.

Thanks,
Dave
 
I hear it, but don't find it objectionable or 'loud' by any measure.

If it bugs you, then swap it out for a quieter fan and get on with life.
 
Scott Peterson said:
I hear it, but don't find it objectionable or 'loud' by any measure.

If it bugs you, then swap it out for a quieter fan and get on with life.
Click to expand...

Scott, just to confirm, you hear the fluctuation? If so, and this is considered normal, I'll deal with it - either by acclimating or swapping out the fan. Just kind of wanted to make sure this wasn't a one off.
 
johna156 said:
And while you're at it, post some clips and a short review if you can!
Click to expand...

Real short review: sounds PHENOMENAL. And this is coming from an Ultra.

I don't think I will be able to make it past "000 59 Bassguy" for a while it sounds so damn good.

The preset Dir tab and +/-10 buttons make navigation a breeze. Don't know how we lived without this before. Love it.

Also, the A-Z alphabetical listing is great. Don't know how many times on the Ultra I couldn't find a preset but knew the name.
 
dscribellito said:
Real short review: sounds PHENOMENAL. And this is coming from an Ultra.

I don't think I will be able to make it past "000 59 Bassguy" for a while it sounds so damn good.

The preset Dir tab and +/-10 buttons make navigation a breeze. Don't know how we lived without this before. Love it.

Also, the A-Z alphabetical listing is great. Don't know how many times on the Ultra I couldn't find a preset but knew the name.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that! Maybe if there ever is a III release they will finally get the fan "right".
 
I never had an issue with my Ultra fan noise. Was it a problem? When was it a problem. Of course if there is no sound going through anything, there is fan noise. My poweramp was always louder than my Ultra in the fan noise category.
Does the noise affect your sound coming out of your prefered amplification method? Like it travels on your guitar and speaker cables to the amp and the speakers? Or is it just a noise when you wish it were silent?
 
Why have people always been so cranky about whether they hear the fan noise or not, and whether it's objectionable or not?

There are just 3 variables in the equation (leaving out any psychological considerations...):

1. The actual fan sound level, and the frequencies in that sound (including any created by fan speed variations.)

2. The room response of the environment where the fan is running.

3. The hearing response of the listener.


I'm reminded of a product from some years ago, intended for recording studio personnel, which allowed someone to check their own hearing response at any time, to enable them to be aware of, and adjust their mixes for their own hearing response variations (which can change from day to day), to insure the mixes weren't being modified due to their own hearing variations.

The product failed miserably. My understanding is that was because no one wanted to use it because they didn't want anyone else (i.e., their employers?) to know if they had hearing variations, or worse yet, hearing deterioration.

So if the fan noise is OK to you, perhaps your fan is quieter than others, or perhap you have a hearing loss at that fan's freqency.

If the fan noise is objectionable to you, perhaps you have a noiser fan, or its noise frequency is different than other fans, or you have a peak in your hearing response at that fan's frequency. Others might be fine with that same fan nosie.

I'd say you can take Scott's suggestion, and just change out the fan, or, if you want to be more analytical, you can test your fan with a sound level meter and a spectrum analyzer in the room location where you're using it, test your own hearing, and then overlay the two to determine if the issue is fan noise level, fan noise frequency, room response, or your hearing response variations.

If anyone does any testing, please post your findings, including hearing responses. Otherwise, it's primarily subjective, just like the amp settings you think sound best. Come to think of it, perhaps everyone should post their own hearing response curves along with any clips they think sound good, so we can see how you're hearing tool is working, too...

Perhaps Cliff just likes the durability of ball bearing fans (even though noisier), or perhaps his hearing response is different than others'.
 
dscribellito said:
Scott, just to confirm, you hear the fluctuation? If so, and this is considered normal, I'll deal with it - either by acclimating or swapping out the fan. Just kind of wanted to make sure this wasn't a one off.
Click to expand...

No fluctuation on mine, no.

Just to be clear too, I have run my Axe-FX 2 for up to 12 hours+ at a time and have done so repeatedly over weeks at a time on a daily basis.
 
Guys, let's calm down and let's not bash the poor guy who addressed the valid point of the noisy fan.

I did have an Ultra, read a lot about fan noises and, as far as I am concerned, the unit was constantly humming. I did replace the fan, which made a huge difference (became completely noiseless). Maybe the noise varied from one unit to the next, but mine was quite noisy.

I am all for telling whining people to get on the waiting list and shut up, but here the point is valid and thus worth raising, even if the replacement of the fan is easy.
 
I don't want to make this a bigger issue than it is. Perhaps I overreacted a little bit by posting right away before seeing if I got used to it. But I really wanted to get an idea sooner than later by soliciting feedback before I put everything back together in my little studio just in case this needed to go to support. So that was my primary motivation.

Expectations play a role here: I was expecting the fan to sound like my Ultra, and perhaps even less noticeable, based on advanced information posted here. So since the fan noise is the first thing you hear, it was a bit unexpected.

But it is really the fluctuations in the fan sound that bother me. Maybe I'm sensitive to it, but I never heard it my Ultra.

At the end of the day, does this really matter all that much? No, because I can either get used to it or replace it.

And to be clear because someone asked this question: this does NOT affect the sound quality of what is coming out of the Axe and through the speakers. It has nothing to with that (we don't need to start that rumour :)).
 
Sounds digital... maybe the G2 Modeling isn't as good as advertised? ;) :D

P.S. You didn't read the manual correctly... you have the Fractal Fan... it applies the same "fractal algorithm" to give you the random fan noise goodness to make the sound "bloom".
 
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