Well you got one less person getting the axe fx II

Yup, each to their own! One mans nirvana is another's hell, and some folks just prefer tubes over anything they try. No issues with that. Glad to see you foudn what works for you.
Me? I don't miss tube amps much. Sold all mine.
I'm not trying to make a name for myself in music (too old). I gig 'cus I love to play out. Still !!
Truth is, 98% of folks could care less whether you using a tube amp or a little black box to "get that tone". As long as they hear good music, have a drink in their hand and friends around, they're happy. Sure, some notice, but it's about what works for you while playing.

What I don't miss with tubes is - the weight; the sensitivity to travel; microphonic tubes; tubes crapping out mid-gig (both pre and power); constant tweaking; 15 TONS of pedal-board to cart around; a gazillion stomp boxes that constantly need to be checked for moved knobs/changed settings, partially disconnected cables; ground loops; and more.... Don't have any of that with the AxeFx.

Yes, I use a Fractomic FRFR cab for stage monitoring and its tube driven. One of our roadies was loading out after a recent gig, and had sat it on the back of the dolly in a normally safe position. The person holding the venues rear door open let it close a little soon and it clipped the back of the Atomic, knocking it off the dolly. It only fell about two feet. No marks on cab, no visible external damage (not even a scratch) but the fall damaged one of the power tubes. BOTH had to be replaced and the unit re-biased at MY expense!! No getting that $$ out of the venue.
 
IMO, if you are not happy with the Ultra / Standard (in terms of amp/cab sims), I would doubt you would be happy with the Axe II. I have yet to see any review that said something to the affect of "I couldn't stand frfr with the Ultra, but the Axe II is great." Every positive review has been a new owner or someone who had a Gen 1 unit who upgraded (that I have seen, at least).
 
kickatch said:
Well you got one less person getting the axe fx II to make the wait shorter....i got a axe fx ultra and though it works great for studio recording it never could make me happy playing live and I tried everything .....frfr with atomic wedges and tried qsc k10 also cab with tube power amp and solid state amp ...tube was better....stereo rig, mono rig, wdw rig and all i did for the last year is tweak, tweak and tweak and it just seemed something was missing live.....so the axe fx II comes out and i'm gonna buy one thinking it might do it better and i could maybe stop tweaking and really enjoy playing it ....well the mess with all the stuff going on far as the list and stock really started to turn me off ....first off if there is a list to me you sell to the people on the list first and there is no jumping in line for a higher price....you make a list and you go by that list ...second the way cliff posted some comments on here was way out of line far as customer service ....well to make it a short story i started to think maybe what i'm missing is real tubes.....so i took a chance and decided to buy a egnater M4 and just use the axe fx for effects .....one word WOW!!! played my first gig and it kicked ...everything that was missing was there ...did'nt feel i needed to tweak anything and i also thought the effects in axe fx sound way better with real tube amp ....before there was effects that i did'nt care for but with the tube amp they sounded the way i thought they should .....i really think the axe fx is a great box ....the best at doing a lot of things really good and recording hard to beat but in the end for amps the amp sims just don't sound near as good or have the feel of a real tube amp ....even the cleans sounded better on the tube amp ....i really have my doubts they improved the axe fx II enough to get it to feel and sound as good as real tube amp live ...so some of you guys that are on the fence might just need a real good tube amp with axe fx just for effects.....all i know is the egnater M4 blew away the amp sims and i'm so glad not to be tweaking all the time and just playing .....i know fractal got all these artist using the axe fx but if you notices most of them use it for effects not amp sims ....the amp sims are the best on the market but in the end to me a tube amp is always gonna be king when you're playing out live .....that being said i love the axe fx for most of the effects and i'm not trying to cut it down ...i'm just giving my my honest opinion about this whole axe fx II craze and why i'm not gonna buy into it ......peace out and rock on tubes forever
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That's cool ... I sold an Egnater MOD 50 when I got my Ultra, never looked back. For me the tube thing is one trick pony, and after many years of playing I don't like those tricks anymore. I liked the SL2+ a lot ... and the Deluxe/Twin combo. But I would tweak thenm to death, and could not make them sound like I wanted. For me, at least I get what I want now.
 
to the o.p.- if you like the effects in the ultra then you'll love the effects in the axe II. the drive blocks are much closer to what the actual pedals sound like and all of the other effects have been greatly improved. i've been using the ultra for the last year for effects only and upgraded to the axe II last month and couldn't be happier
 
kickatch said:
Well you got one less person getting the axe fx II to make the wait shorter....i got a axe fx ultra and though it works great for studio recording it never could make me happy playing live and I tried everything .....frfr with atomic wedges and tried qsc k10 also cab with tube power amp and solid state amp ...tube was better....stereo rig, mono rig, wdw rig and all i did for the last year is tweak, tweak and tweak and it just seemed something was missing live.....so the axe fx II comes out and i'm gonna buy one thinking it might do it better and i could maybe stop tweaking and really enjoy playing it ....well the mess with all the stuff going on far as the list and stock really started to turn me off ....first off if there is a list to me you sell to the people on the list first and there is no jumping in line for a higher price....you make a list and you go by that list ...second the way cliff posted some comments on here was way out of line far as customer service ....well to make it a short story i started to think maybe what i'm missing is real tubes.....so i took a chance and decided to buy a egnater M4 and just use the axe fx for effects .....one word WOW!!! played my first gig and it kicked ...everything that was missing was there ...did'nt feel i needed to tweak anything and i also thought the effects in axe fx sound way better with real tube amp ....before there was effects that i did'nt care for but with the tube amp they sounded the way i thought they should .....i really think the axe fx is a great box ....the best at doing a lot of things really good and recording hard to beat but in the end for amps the amp sims just don't sound near as good or have the feel of a real tube amp ....even the cleans sounded better on the tube amp ....i really have my doubts they improved the axe fx II enough to get it to feel and sound as good as real tube amp live ...so some of you guys that are on the fence might just need a real good tube amp with axe fx just for effects.....all i know is the egnater M4 blew away the amp sims and i'm so glad not to be tweaking all the time and just playing .....i know fractal got all these artist using the axe fx but if you notices most of them use it for effects not amp sims ....the amp sims are the best on the market but in the end to me a tube amp is always gonna be king when you're playing out live .....that being said i love the axe fx for most of the effects and i'm not trying to cut it down ...i'm just giving my my honest opinion about this whole axe fx II craze and why i'm not gonna buy into it ......peace out and rock on tubes forever
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When you can't find the return button on the keyboard to make your post legible, its quite easy for me to imagine that you can't make the Axe, or anything else with options sound good in certain settings either.
To quote you, "...Peace out and rock on - carriage return forever." : )
 
kickatch said:
I put it in the waiting list thread first and then i decided that it might be best if it had it's own thread and I did'nt say the axe fx was'nt for me just the amp sims just don't hold up for live vs tube amp for me .....i'm using the effects and i'm not sure upgrading to a axe fx II would make the effects any better and i still doubt that amp sims would be better than a tube amp live ....i tried my hardest to get what i had with a tube amp but in the end i had to go back to a tube amp to get what was missing but i also replaced about 8 effects pedals and two switchers in my rack plus a rack harmonizer ...so in the end my rack is still lighter and i got a lot less patch cables to deal with
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Good for you ;) like I said I'm glad you found something that works for you.

Cheers.
 
I find it funny how people get upset and post some of the comments they do just because i think a tube amp sound better then the sims live ....i never said the axe fx sucks and i'm still using it far as effects ....my rig is not a one trick pony i have many sounds and eganter did all the sounds that i was already doing with the axe fx just sounds better to me ....as tweaking goes i never tweaked so much in my life with the axe fx and i did'nt stop tweaking until i went back to the tube amp .....the only reason i went with a axe fx was because i thought i could make my rig lighter ....i really loved my rig before i got it just was tired of hauling it around ....in the end i had to go back to the tubes to get that sound but my rig is still a lot lighter because i got rid of 3 racks and effects pedals so i love the axe fx for that
 
Points to ponder kikatch:

I don't know why folks come onto this site and post a negative thread and then wonder why the responses are negative.

These are tools and tool boxes. Not everyone can use the same tools. I don't need to convince you no more than you need to convince me about which box to use/not use.

The one thing I'll point out is that I would never imagine to dismiss a box that I had not tried first or deemed another 'better' without at least trying it first. I'd just go use my tools and not try to lead some sort of online campaign on my choice on the company fan forum for the choice I didn't make... and didn't try.

If your box works and you are out making music happily; then have fun and don't sweat what others think or what folks on the Fractal Forum think of it.
 
Use what suits your needs and please's your ears. This is the Axe forum so people will always get defensive here about anything they take as negative weather it really is or not, it gets twisted. The Axe does work great as just a effects processor.
 
cannot lose with the axe-fx

The AxeFx products, expecially the Ultra and the II, present a win/win for just about everybody IMO. If you have the amp(s) you like and want to do away with all of the pedalboard & rack clutter, just the effects portion of the AxeFx is worth the $2k+. If you're looking to do away with your (expensive) vintage/boutique tube amp problems and have found great amp tone(s) with the AxeFx, then that alone is worth the $$ with the added bonus of a bunch of pedal and effects algorithms to choose from. For those who are thrilled with BOTH the amp/cab sims and the effects, it's like hitting the lottery, and IMO the AxeFx price is a STEAL for what it does.

I will say, though, in defense of the new AxeFxII G2 modeling - as so many others have stated - it is a big step forward compared to the Ultra, which needed to be tweaked and coaxed to get comparable sounds. On the AxeII, these sounds come much easier, the new IR library is superior, and the overall sonic experience seems to "feel" better. Now, this may not sway someone like kickatch who couldn't really ever get to his "happy place" with the Ultra - and there's nothing wrong with that. However, I would hope that somewhere, at some point in time, kickatch might have the occasion to spend an hour with the AxeFxII, just to close the loop and either confirm what he believes...or...you never know...maybe not. This would be a good follow-up somewhere down the road.
 
this is not a negative thread ...i just stated my honest opinion about the amp sims not doing it live for me and i'm sure there's other people feel the same way ....it's true what i've seen some other people say on other forums about this forum....if you think the axe fx does'nt do everything the greatest then your being negative....you would think your piece of gear was god and someone was disrespecting your religion
 
kickatch said:
this is not a negative thread ...i just stated my honest opinion about the amp sims not doing it live for me and i'm sure there's other people feel the same way ....it's true what i've seen some other people say on other forums about this forum....if you think the axe fx does'nt do everything the greatest then your being negative....you would think your piece of gear was god and someone was disrespecting your religion
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It's not that at all... as Scott stated above.. if you post your "honest opinion" about a product on ANY forum that is product specific, you should expect some negative responses. While I didn't [personally] take your post as being negative, when you ONLY have 8 posts on a forum (of which 6 are in this thread), what kind of reaction would you expect from most here? IDK, but your approach would be considered trolling by many - given that low post count. Words like "I just stated my honest opinion about..." tend to get folks upset when you have no "street cred" on the forum.

The AxeFx does not work for you like it does for many others. Great. Move on... enjoy. Spend more time playing. Best wishes!
 
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kickatch said:
this is not a negative thread ...i just stated my honest opinion about the amp sims not doing it live for me and i'm sure there's other people feel the same way ....it's true what i've seen some other people say on other forums about this forum....if you think the axe fx does'nt do everything the greatest then your being negative....you would think your piece of gear was god and someone was disrespecting your religion
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OK, I'll bite. Which of the responses in this thread do you put in the category above? Seems to me that you've got a bunch of people either saying that the Axe Fx is not for everybody or agreeing with tubes are better.

BTW, if I had lots of money...I'd have an M4 too. :) Love Egnater stuff. Played through a TOL100 for over 10 years.
 
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kickatch, I sincerely did not mean for the tone of my response to be negative or aimed at you as a snipe. It genuinely wasn't.
Now, this may not sway someone like kickatch who couldn't really ever get to his "happy place" with the Ultra - and there's nothing wrong with that.
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It would be nice, though, if you ever DO get your hands on an AxeII, for you to give us your thoughts on the amp modeling. I'm sure a lot of people would take your opinion seriously.
 
I guess i couldnt disagree more. i have been struggling with finding my sound with a tube amp for the past 7 years. the axe ultra has blown them all away, especially in a live setting. and ill tell you another thing, my live sound sticks out in the mix much more than the other guitar player with a tube half stack. i guess thats why noone can ever hear him during the shows.

i was also, never happy with any effects loop on any tube amp. talk about sucking your tone dry. i went through a marshall 2000 and 800, egnater, mesa road king dual rec and mark v. then finally an evh 5150 III. as far as running effects and overall amp sounds....the ultra blew them all away..
Not to mention you always have to deal with the fact that everywhere you play you have a different mic in front of the amp, or a different engineer screwing with your eq. the axe fixes all that.


But then i got my axe two and i learned what real tone was. Thanks Cliff.. YOU THE MANNN!!!

the only other rig i love is my badcat 3oR with some boutique pedals straight in. but nowhere near the tone and versatility of my axe

Respectfully,

kickatch said:
Well you got one less person getting the axe fx II to make the wait shorter....i got a axe fx ultra and though it works great for studio recording it never could make me happy playing live and I tried everything .....frfr with atomic wedges and tried qsc k10 also cab with tube power amp and solid state amp ...tube was better....stereo rig, mono rig, wdw rig and all i did for the last year is tweak, tweak and tweak and it just seemed something was missing live.....so the axe fx II comes out and i'm gonna buy one thinking it might do it better and i could maybe stop tweaking and really enjoy playing it ....well the mess with all the stuff going on far as the list and stock really started to turn me off ....first off if there is a list to me you sell to the people on the list first and there is no jumping in line for a higher price....you make a list and you go by that list ...second the way cliff posted some comments on here was way out of line far as customer service ....well to make it a short story i started to think maybe what i'm missing is real tubes.....so i took a chance and decided to buy a egnater M4 and just use the axe fx for effects .....one word WOW!!! played my first gig and it kicked ...everything that was missing was there ...did'nt feel i needed to tweak anything and i also thought the effects in axe fx sound way better with real tube amp ....before there was effects that i did'nt care for but with the tube amp they sounded the way i thought they should .....i really think the axe fx is a great box ....the best at doing a lot of things really good and recording hard to beat but in the end for amps the amp sims just don't sound near as good or have the feel of a real tube amp ....even the cleans sounded better on the tube amp ....i really have my doubts they improved the axe fx II enough to get it to feel and sound as good as real tube amp live ...so some of you guys that are on the fence might just need a real good tube amp with axe fx just for effects.....all i know is the egnater M4 blew away the amp sims and i'm so glad not to be tweaking all the time and just playing .....i know fractal got all these artist using the axe fx but if you notices most of them use it for effects not amp sims ....the amp sims are the best on the market but in the end to me a tube amp is always gonna be king when you're playing out live .....that being said i love the axe fx for most of the effects and i'm not trying to cut it down ...i'm just giving my my honest opinion about this whole axe fx II craze and why i'm not gonna buy into it ......peace out and rock on tubes forever
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kickatch said:
this is not a negative thread ...i just stated my honest opinion about the amp sims not doing it live for me and i'm sure there's other people feel the same way ....it's true what i've seen some other people say on other forums about this forum....if you think the axe fx does'nt do everything the greatest then your being negative....you would think your piece of gear was god and someone was disrespecting your religion
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Gear isn't religion but read your own posts and words about tubes. Reads like religion to me. Read the subject line of this thread. That is indeed negative.

Passive-aggressive posturing here does not help buttress your subjective opinion, but instead makes even casual readers suspect your motives.
 
not a religion but if you think about it the amp sims are trying to copy a tube amp so that would make the tube amp god and maybe the the axe fx satan lol .....and I don't think the title of my thread is negative
 
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