Torn between Ax8 and Helix

rich2k4 said:
...I want the best tone possible...
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I got my hands on a Helix for a week (a friend was traveling and he loaned me his) and this led me to get onto the AX8 waiting list. :) It's not that I didn't like the Helix, I did, it's just that if I'm going the modeling route, I'm convinced, perhaps irrationally, that Fractal is the best of the bunch.

While the Helix interface is great AND I'd argue it's far and away the best sounding piece of gear Line 6 has ever made (I think Yamaha must have done the amp sims), the tone still left me wanting. While I couldn't compare Helix directly to a FAS product, I did run it up against my current computer rig...UAD Apollo Twin Duo hardware and software. When I compared the two, the UAD won. I tested both recording into Logic 10 and driving a Mission Engineering Gemini 1 cabinet. In both cases, the Helix sounded good but the UAD felt more like a real amp and sounded better. Tone is a subjective thing and I don't have a large number of UAD amp sims but I tried really hard to match the quality of the sounds from my Chandler GAV19T UAD plugin and I couldn't quite get there, try as I might, with the Helix.

I believe that the AX8 will match the UAD's sonic quality but will afford me many more amps & effects with which to play. While I haven't been able to put my beliefs to the test, when I've carefully listened to demos from various online sources, the Fractal amp sims always sound extremely realistic, detailed and better than competing products. Hence, I've convinced myself that, if I want the best quality tone I can get in a floorboard unit, I can't beat the AX8. Am I right or am I deluding myself? I don't know BUT I know in whose hands my money will eventually land. :)
 
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atquinn said:
Umm, no.
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Austin
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This was a guess on my part. I owned a POD HD500X and was not impressed with the amp sims at all. The Helix sounds so much better that I wondered if Yamaha hadn't stepped in and extended their amp models to their new subsidiary company. I have no direct experience with Yamaha's amp modeling products but I know they're a player in this space.
 
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I've heard people from both camps that are super happy with what they have and, though I haven't tried the Helix, I'm sure I'd be pretty pleased with it if I didn't have anything Fractal to compare it to. For me Fractal is king for one reason: Service. I've owned an original POD, A Pod XT Live and used my church's HD500. The thing about these units that was great was they were cutting edge... when they were released. The longer I owned them the more outdated they got and the more their tonal defects became apparent. When I first got that XT Live I couldn't have been happier with the tones I was getting out of a box that was so convenient. I cringe when I hear recordings of it now. Fractal has a long history of supporting their hardware with free firmware upgrades. You don't have to purchase packs of effects or amps, they just give them to you. In the 2 years that I was running an XL I had received 8 major firmware updates and each one came with new amp models as well as general algorithm tweaks that improved the tones that were already there. I think buying the Helix is like buying a car, it's lost half it's value once you drive it off the lot because no one will want to buy it when Line6 decides to replace it. They have a history of selling something for a while and then making it obsolete by releasing more hardware. The newest firmware released for the Axe Fx II XL+ also tuns on the Axe Fx II which was released in May of 2011. Even the original Axe Fx Standard had 5 years of free firmware upgrades. Every time a new firmware version comes out there are new toys to play with. It's like getting a new piece of gear for free every 3 months. On top of that you have a team of employees (including the owner) who spend a lot of time on this forum answering questions and offering advise. When there are issues (these things are computers after all) they're super on top of it and they listen to the requests of their products users. Fractal FTW!
 
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