What made you decide to go Axe FX?

Just thought I'd start a thread about why we went to the Axe Fx instead of our tube amps. Also, if you still use a tube amp and the axe just for FX it would be cool to hear your story as well.

For me, I came to a point with my playing where I was bored. Really bored. Not in a band for a few years, losing the desire to be in one or play for that matter. I have been playing for 20 years and felt bad that I'm just giving up so I needed some inspiration. So I went to the music store and told my friend that worked there that I want to buy an entire new rig, something inspirational. He asked what kind of sound I want. I told him that's the problem, I want no limitations. I want to be able to hear something in my head and be able to create that. My problem with being bored is that I couldn't achieve what I'm hearing in my head, and there was so much diversity going on up there that I really felt limited.

This is when he mentioned Fractal. I knew about Fractal for years but was always discouraged by other amp modellers, mainly Line 6. He told me that Fractal is completely different. I told him I will research it and hold off on the buying for now. So after watching every single YouTube videos on the Axe FX possible, all of Chris's tutorials, and reading all over this forum.... I was honestly a bit blown away. Many great players are on this forum and loved it. Many bigger bands are also switching to the Axe FX. I was sold. I made the decision to buy the Axe FX and MFC 101 and Ev1 pedals.

It's been 6 months with the Axe now. The feeling of being limited has completely disappeared. Everything I hear in my head I am able to re-create, and the Axe has also taught me so much about order of pedals, amp types, how amps react etc. It's awesome to learn all over again. The sounds I'm getting are purely amazing. Before the Axe I had an Orange Rockerverb 50. I made a preset with the Citrus 50 and did a side by side comparison. The Axe cost just a little more than the Orange head did, and I'm getting the same tones. Now I have a couple hundred other amps to choose from too.

Fractal has rejuvenated my desire and passion to play. I will be once again be pursuing a band in the near future. I've already begun looking. Thanks Fractal!

-Dan
 
The general hype of the Ultra as it got mentioned more and more in the media along with me being off the road band-wise and bored at the time..... that's how I got into the AxeFX Ultra first and now, the AxeFXII.

Fiddly foutery fecker of a thing at times - but it does a really good job for both live and man cave environments :)
 
I have a great friend who is a former instructor at Full Sail, brilliant audio engineer, virtuoso guitarist and EXTREME tone snob who told me that he bought one and couldn't believe how great it was. I bought one right away. I have since sold all of my amps, cabs, rack effects and pedals.
Best musical investment I've ever made.
Thanks Mark!!!!
 
I've known about the fractal units for a while now (I'm a big periphery fan) but I always felt it was out of my price bracket and frankly I wasn't a good enough player to warrant it. Saw one pop up on ebay for the right price, had the money laying around too so I pulled the trigger on it knowing if I wasnt happy I could at the very least flip it for a profit. Couple weeks in and I honestly couldn't be happier with this thing, its pushing me to play better and use it better and the versatility is always something I've sought so :)
 
The main reason I bought was convenience, wanting to get a good sounding compact rig that was powerful and fairly light weight. Second, once I plugged my guitar in the quality of the modeling was surprisingly good, Even when it first came out the Axe sounded a lot better than anything I had tried with respect to clean and mid gain amps. From there it was just learning curve, once I was up to speed it was all over for tube amps for me.

I bought a used standard off eBay based on a review that Scott Peterson gave when it first came out.
 
I was struggling with mic placement etc at my praise and worship gig while constantly making compromises with my tone because of not wanting to lug around a large pedal board. After some brief research I took the plunge and never looked back! Now I play at 2 campuses and have rigs (AFII and MFC) installed in both and just bring my guitar and a laptop to load in the presets I build on my home/travel rig.

I did 2 sets today across a very diverse spectrum of music requiring 5 different patches each with 2-3 presets!! Direct to FOH with in ears and an Aviom at one campus and a CLR as my monitor with a feed from FOH in addition to my output 2 from the Axe at the other. I never remember having anywhere near this type of experience performing in the past - consistent tones dialed in to perfection!!
 
I wanted the flexibility and control that it seemed to offer. The thing I liked about modelers from the git go is that you can dial the amp models into their sweet spot without having to worry about the freakin' volume level! I've always had to fight tube amps to get them sounding the way I want them to at SPL's I can tolerate.

I had a Pod from about the time they were first introduced, upgraded it to 2.0, and was pretty happy with what it was for the time (mind you this was all for play-at-home stuff). When I heard the original Axe-FX and Ultra in person, I was pretty blown away. It took me a while to feel like I could plunk down the money for the modeler and the FRFRs, and when I finally did it was on the eve of the Axe-FX II release.

So I waited and couldn't have been happier that I did. In the meantime I was learning form a THD Univalve and Flexi what power amp distortion and controlling tone from the guitar was all about. And I was thrilled that the Axe-II amp models really responded to touch and the guitar's volume knob the way the real thing did without having to endure SPL's that would kill small mammals. I immediately loved the Cameron, Friedman, and Plexi patches, and it's astounding how good the SuperTweed sounds through a nice 4x12 IR. For a while I deliberately cultivated a layer of dust on my Pod X3, then got bored with that and finally reclaimed the desk space.

Bonus that the Axe has all manner of effects inside, including the goodies like the synth blocks, filters, and sequencers! Chef's "On the Run" patch and Simeon's pile of synth patches (among other things) showed me how much potential mayhem is inside this box!
 
My other guitarist was using one and I wanted to replace my tc gforce in my rack. Figured I'd get the AxeFx for effects only and recording. I was already familiar with line 6 stuff and damn near every other effect pedal/unit out there. Got the AxeFx, fell in love with it, and now it's the only processor/preamp/effects unit I use! Strictly Mesa and Fractal here!
 
Late night practice sessions mostly. Axe Edit and creating patches made it impossible to resist.
 
I might be wrong, but I think most of us on here went from Tube amps to the Axe. I don't think there're many that went from solid state amps to the Axe. I was on the border looking in for about 3 years before pulling the trigger on the Axe. The tone is exact as the real tube amps. The only thing that people sometimes bitch about is the feel of playing the real tube amp Vs playing the Axe. To me, I think that's asking way too much.... But, guess what, the Fractal team continue to provide us with that feel as well....

My other guitar player plays a Bogner Shiva and Mic to FOH. My Shiva tone out of the Axe and his listen from the FOH is identical....

With that being said, the Axe provide so much more flexibility, versatility, consistency, and +++++++++. It's fun and you will probably not getting bored with it anytime soon... The Fractal team will continue to feed you with new release firmware and keep you on your toes the whole time.....LOL....

Again, it's not for everyone... It is certainly for me though......
 
That's actually a pretty long story, but to sum it up...

I owned a Vetta II, and I was getting more an more unsatisfied with Line 6's lack of attention to bugs, and the feature set for its flagship product, at the time. Then Shredi-Knight shared a link to Fractal Audio, and I discovered the Axe-Standard. After some intensive research, a lot of cash hoarding, and a few life hiccups I finally bought an Axe-FX II. It took a while, but it was well worth it.


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That's actually a pretty long story, but to sum it up...

I owned a Vetta II, and I was getting more an more unsatisfied with Line 6's lack of attention to bugs, and the feature set for its flagship product, at the time. Then Shredi-Knight shared a link to Fractal Audio, and I discovered the Axe-Standard. After some intensive research, a lot of cash hoarding, and a few life hiccups I finally bought an Axe-FX II. It took a while, but it was well worth it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very similar story. Owned a Roland GP-8, Art SGX-2000, Rocktron Chameleon, Digitech GSP-2101, Line 6 AXSYS-212, then a Line 6 Vetta ll. Heard about the Axe FX Ultra on the Line 6 forum when they announced that they were abandoning the product line. Did some poking around the internet, downloaded the manual and saw what it could do and I was hooked. By the time I had saved up the money, the Axe FX ll was announced. Got on the waiting list, downloaded the manual and read it at least a dozen times, and lurked around in this this forum soaking up what I could until it came.

And loving every minute of it!
 
short version

I live in a 2 bedroom flat . and always had the spare room as my music room. Our walls are pretty thick so I could happily play my dual recto in there

that's till our baby came along and stole my room and my music space is relegated to the small sun room .Of course I told the wife I need the axe fx as I cant fit my amp in that small space, which it doesn't . I play in a band and never planned for the axe fx to be used with the band as I love my amp but then I realized that my rig doesn't fit in our small car with the baby seat , so I started taking it to rehearsal instead of the amp and haven't looked back

still own the amp cause I do still love it but i cant see the fractal being usurped now
 
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I was struggling with mic placement etc

Likewise, but I actually always struggled with tube amps live. Especially with stage volume constraints, I d get dirty or clean I d like but then hate the vice versa due to the room etc. I tweak my AXE in rehearsal, then refine at a gig with a laptop. Then I save a few versions of same preset for different band situations and rooms, kind of similar to the way people use digital mixing consoles these days. TBH whether its the Axefx or something else I m just much more comfortable in the digital world.
 
There are a lot of reasons for me. I had never heard of the axe fx until I ran sound for a buddy one night. His guitar player who I am friends with had a MK II that he had just bought a few months prior to that gig. As it turned out this guitarist was only using factory presets he didn't even bother to tweak them. I was blown away at what I was hearing and from stock presets. Let's be honest we all know stock present most of the time sound terrible.

So that set me on my path to find out more which then lead me to Chris website with all his how to videos as well as Mark Days videos and Coppers and once I found out how easy it was to set up and then getting to listen to Cooper and Mark play I was sold. All that great tone, all that flexibility and I don't have to drag around two amps to gigs anymore and no more monster pedal board!!!

The only thing I wish my XL had was a block to make me play as good as Cooper and Mark. How about that Talent block Cliff????
 
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I had the money, I was about to buy a Mesa Boogie Mark V.
A friend said "wait, at least try out this Axe Fx thing before you make your decision."
I decided to give it a chance.
The rest is history XD
 
I have a Carvin Legacy with some stuff in the effects loop, and I love it. But my band was working a lot—3 sets, twice a weekend, every weekend, all over the area—and the head was just getting jostled too much in the van.
After my 3rd 12AX7 died on stage (and one EL34 in the studio), I lost my temper and paid the $$$ for the Axe-Fx II/MFC/CLR out of sheer rage.
Now, things are great! Now, <'80s metal voice> the only raaaaage... ... ...is on the staaaage! </>
Later, I offered the Legacy to Fractal for dissection/cloning, but they didn't say anything... now I'm getting closer to selling it.
 
That's actually a pretty long story, but to sum it up...

I owned a Vetta II, and I was getting more an more unsatisfied with Line 6's lack of attention to bugs, and the feature set for its flagship product, at the time. Then Shredi-Knight shared a link to Fractal Audio, and I discovered the Axe-Standard. After some intensive research, a lot of cash hoarding, and a few life hiccups I finally bought an Axe-FX II. It took a while, but it was well worth it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Exactly the same story!
 
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