Vicarious GAS

After playing it for years in the AxeFx II I had to go out and buy a Swart AST. Such a beautiful amp! The only (amp) GAS I had in the +/- 8 Fractal years. All that's left from a quite big collection are a Soldano Astroverb, the Swart and a Bogner Duende. :)
 
No GAS for Amps with the AXE FX iii, two line6 DT-50 2x12s, 3 Mesa Boogie amps and a Joyo Dual Klonz (don't laugh, it's awesome!).
Guitars are a different story...
 
A few times over the years I’ve bought a piece of gear because I loved the Fractal version so much, and every single time it gets sold after a little while of use. I find I miss nothing about analog rigs when using the Axe, but I miss so many things about the Axe rig when using analog.

There’s one or two amps I’d still love to have (big Revv fan), but that said I’d be much happier and get more practical usage out of them being added as models than I would the physical heads.

So as others have said, it pretty effectively eradicated my amp and FX GAS. Between that and Aristides wiping out my guitar GAS, I’ve actually been saving some money lately, haha. I’ll upgrade from II to III when possible and that’s my only plan for near-future gear acquisition currently.
 
Am I the only one who who explores an amp on the Axe FX III and starts thinking “I should buy this actual amp?”

Then I realize I already have it by virtue of the Axe but I still consider buying the dang thing. Funny thing is I am fairly certain it won’t sound quite as good. My current example is the Marshall JVM410H and JVM410HJS models. I adore the crunch and lead tones.

Either costs more than the Axe... DOH!
I own the JVM 410H - Only turned it on a handful of times since I got my first Axe in 2013. I enjoy listening to my guitar with stereo fx too much to go back. Just not the same satisfaction for me.
 
I’ve always learned that a lot of amps sound pretty similar from playing Axe models

I previously thought owning a ton of Fender amps would be awesome, but, after trying like 30 different ones in the Axe, you can start to realize that many sound pretty close, and while you can have a favorite preference, you really don’t need all of them.

I could probably have 3 or 4 real world amps and cover everything I need, though it’s cool having lots of models.
Was it the tweed Princetons that have a fairly specific sound which isn't always useful, but when you need it nothing else is quite the same? I can't remember... I'm sure there are several examples, but the one I'm thinking of is whatever Mick's playing at the beginning of this video:

Anyway, getting those tones in an amp that can also play Twin-like cleans, Mesa-like distortion, or ______ can be tricky. Plus a lot of those older amps (and therefore their clones/reissues) don't have FX loops which means that when you don't need "that sound" you can't use them for anything else either (such as the wet part of a wet/dry rig).

Same with pedals, used to own tons of them, but didn’t realize many were the same circuit and such.

And the worst part is that which amp they decide to use for demos varies by manufacturer, probably the player, day of the week, etc, so you can't even necessarily know if the reason some demo sounds great is the pedal by itself or if its the way that pedal and that amp interact.
 
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I have no GAS at all for these old-fashioned, big, heavy, hard to tame and uncontrollably loud devices.
I still have GAS for them, but they've moved far down on my list of things to get. Specifically, they're all somewhere after "A house way out in the country so I can make tons of noise at all hours without upsetting the neighbors". It'll take me a while to get there.

Now I only wish for V-Guitar modelling, like the Roland VG-99 but with Fractal Audio quality. Then my GAS for guitars would also disappear.
The AxeFX III has enough inputs to hook up one of those hex pickups. I don't think the AxeFX is really set up for processing things on a per-string basis, but you might be able to break your guitar's signal up into two or three groups, each consisting of whichever strings you wanted. Like maybe you want only the top two strings to go to a synth block, or you want to tune your low E down to a low D. I doubt an unprocessed hex pickup sounds anything like a normal pickup, though, and I don't know what it'd take to fix that.
 
I'd put a $1 on saying it hasn't cured your GAS entirely. Sure, its destroyed my interest in amps, cabs, and pedals, but no Axe device or genius emulation can replace the needful lust for a new guitar that catches your eye. Those roasted maple necks on the current Ernie Balls have me dangerously infatuated.
Holy smokes, I want one of those St. Vincents with the dark necks. Beautiful guitars. There are a few amps I'd nab if I had the cash- the AC-20, or a Tucana- but I've had absolutely zero desire to pick up any more pedals. I'm done with that business.
 
I'm a home studio/non-gigging player and I was on the amp, cabinet, speaker, pedal chase game for years. Constantly checking out Youtube reviews, hunting through eBay, Gumtree, Facebook marketplace - you name it and I was in there either buying or selling. I bought an Axe 2 XL+ last January and I have not bought one more cab, amp, pedal, speaker and sold everyone I had! The only related piece of gear I've bought since? An Axe Fx3 last week - and I am jumping out of my skin for it to arrive!

Re demos. So many times I would check out all of the reviews for an amp or pedal or whatever, buy it and then end up disappointed it didn't sound quite as good as I expected. It comes down to all the trickery (bit harsh) that goes on in the making of the videos - how they record it, what mic, mic placement, post eq etc etc. Wherever there is a commercial element (which is 90%+ of all content) of course they are going to tweak the result to get the best possible chance of selling the product. The demo guys have to - it's the nature of the game and their income relies on getting a good result and showing the product in the best possible light. A pedal demo for example relies on the amp it's running through and which channel and amp setting - the cab it's sent to and which speaker(s) - the mics used to record it and on it goes. There is no chance that it will sound like that when I get it home!

This is just one of the so many reasons I am a Fractal convert and I know there is no going back for me. Such an incredible device it blows my mind every time I run it. And then you get Firmware updates with a whole bunch of extras - it's just mad!!!
 
axe-fx iii Support for firmware 3.00 - I can not find it!

"
VERSION 1.00.13

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

JANUARY 29, 2019

RELEASE NOTES

  •  Mac version requires OS version 10.7 or newer

  •  Windows version requires Windows 7 or newer

  •  Minimum firmware version 3.00

    NEW IN THIS VERSION
 Support for firmware 3.00
o Added “EQ Off / On” control to the AMP block.
o Added layout for "Plex Verb" type to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread and Pre-Delay controls to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread control to the ROTARY block.
o Amended the Tempo page of the CONTROLLERS to include the "Input Source" of the PITCH FOLLOWER. The location

of this parameter is temporary until "FC Controllers" is complete.
 
axe-fx iii Support for firmware 3.00 - I can not find it!

"
VERSION 1.00.13

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

JANUARY 29, 2019

RELEASE NOTES

  •  Mac version requires OS version 10.7 or newer

  •  Windows version requires Windows 7 or newer

  •  Minimum firmware version 3.00

    NEW IN THIS VERSION
 Support for firmware 3.00
o Added “EQ Off / On” control to the AMP block.
o Added layout for "Plex Verb" type to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread and Pre-Delay controls to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread control to the ROTARY block.
o Amended the Tempo page of the CONTROLLERS to include the "Input Source" of the PITCH FOLLOWER. The location

of this parameter is temporary until "FC Controllers" is complete.
HUH?
 
[QUOTE = "bradlake, post: 1739303, tag: 25252"] HUH? [/ QUOTE]

https://www.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-iii-edit/

Axe-Edit III for Mac OS X
.dmg file – January 29, 2019 – Version 1.00.13
Requires OS X version 10.7 or newer.

"
VERSION 1.00.13

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

JANUARY 29, 2019

RELEASE NOTES

  •  Mac version requires OS version 10.7 or newer

  •  Windows version requires Windows 7 or newer

  •  Minimum firmware version 3.00

    NEW IN THIS VERSION
 Support for firmware 3.00
o Added “EQ Off / On” control to the AMP block.
o Added layout for "Plex Verb" type to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread and Pre-Delay controls to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread control to the ROTARY block.
o Amended the Tempo page of the CONTROLLERS to include the "Input Source" of the PITCH FOLLOWER. The location

of this parameter is temporary until "FC Controllers" is complete. ***

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00 - ????
 
[QUOTE = "bradlake, post: 1739303, tag: 25252"] HUH? [/ QUOTE]

https://www.fractalaudio.com/axe-fx-iii-edit/

Axe-Edit III for Mac OS X
.dmg file – January 29, 2019 – Version 1.00.13
Requires OS X version 10.7 or newer.

"
VERSION 1.00.13

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

JANUARY 29, 2019

RELEASE NOTES

  •  Mac version requires OS version 10.7 or newer

  •  Windows version requires Windows 7 or newer

  •  Minimum firmware version 3.00

    NEW IN THIS VERSION
 Support for firmware 3.00
o Added “EQ Off / On” control to the AMP block.
o Added layout for "Plex Verb" type to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread and Pre-Delay controls to the PLEX DELAY block.
o Added Spread control to the ROTARY block.
o Amended the Tempo page of the CONTROLLERS to include the "Input Source" of the PITCH FOLLOWER. The location

of this parameter is temporary until "FC Controllers" is complete. ***

Current Axe-Fx III Firmware Version: 3.00 - ????
He can not find it!
 
Huh. This thread took a weird turn just now...

Anyway, back on topic, I've found that despite having the Helix AND the Axe, my GAS for pedals still exists to a degree. Amps? Not so much. I now have about 4 tube amps and a Boss Katana 100w that sit unused. But there are a few pedals that either have no equals in the Axe/Helix or that are just so cool that I don't want to get rid of them. Specifically;

BJFD Honey Bee OD
Rimrock Mythical OD (I know, the Helix has the Minotaur, but it lacks the balls of the MO)
Chase Bliss Brothers
Analogman King of Tone

AFter playing guitar for 23 years and being seriously into gear for the last 7 (into pedals, amps, modeleing, etc.), these 4 drive pedals simply have no equal in the modeling world. Supposedly, the King of Tone will be in the new Helix update, but I'm not sure exactly how they're going to pull off a dual pedal with multiple modes and configurations. But I have faith in them :) Anyway, I haven't really even started considering my time-based stuff (for irreproducible in modelers) - but I'm sure there's a few there, too.

So this is what creates GAS for me; if there are SOME pedals that can't/won't/haven't been made in the modelers, then there could be MANY.
 
A few times over the years I’ve bought a piece of gear because I loved the Fractal version so much, and every single time it gets sold after a little while of use. I find I miss nothing about analog rigs when using the Axe, but I miss so many things about the Axe rig when using analog.

There’s one or two amps I’d still love to have (big Revv fan), but that said I’d be much happier and get more practical usage out of them being added as models than I would the physical heads.

So as others have said, it pretty effectively eradicated my amp and FX GAS. Between that and Aristides wiping out my guitar GAS, I’ve actually been saving some money lately, haha. I’ll upgrade from II to III when possible and that’s my only plan for near-future gear acquisition currently.
I have a Revv Generator 120 MK2 that I run into a Torpedo Studio and I absolutely love it. I can't every imagine getting rid of it, regardless of a model being developed for it. That being said, I'm looking forward to trying some tone matching with it when my AF3 comes, and I'm also excited to run it through the AF3 for the effects.
 
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