What made you decide to go Axe FX?

A friend told me about the Axe. I listened a few clips and was amazed - "finally, this is what I've waited since Pod 1!" It was very expensive, but when the Axe2 was announced I just couldn't wait any more. I've recorded normal amps, so the transition was easy, I was already used to hearing the miced amp.

At first I used a power amp and an open 2x12. The clean sounds were great, but I wasn't happy because I had already tasted the versatility through studio monitors, and a guitar cab takes all that away. So again, my Mastercard cried a bit and I got the CLR. This summer I added a tube power amp and a 4x12... Kind of a full circle now.
 
After I quit playing in bands where I had a Marshall rig, I have used pod 1, pod 2, XT and x3. Then i bought a used Eleven Rack and the improvement in tone was pretty big.
Seeing this Kjetil guy playing a standard Axe Fx planted some thoughts in my mind. But it wasn't until a couple of years after when i got a pretty big bonus on my salary I thought: What the hell, I'll get me one of those Axe things. Got an Axe Fx II from G66 and couldn't be happier.
I only play at home nowadays so some people probably think my gear is overkill, but it's my money, right? :)
In February this year I bought myself a Vigier Shawn Lane and yesterday i ordered some Bareknuckle pickups. I must say, GAS rearly shows its ugly face nowadays. I'm in tonal heaven...
 
I had been researching in my never ending quest to quench my GAS, and I started reading about the Fractal. Chris's videos and Steve Vai's endorsement were the final inspiration. I got on the waiting list, finally bought an AxeFXII and an MFC-101 and I haven't looked back. Woot!
 
I saw the ad on HugeRacksInc in 2007

Thought, "maybe this is an all-in-one modeler/effects unit that doesn't suck."

Tried a friends and thought, "it doesn't suck and it's more versatile and portable than my head/cab/pedals TC Gforce rig."

I immediately went looking for a used standard, and the rest is history.
 
I just wanted it for recording, and I got mine for a crazy good price used off of a friend of mine.
If I didn't score the deal I did, you probably never would've seen me here, as I still use my tube amps for everything but recording.
 
Solo-act brought his standard over to my studio in 2007. I had my Ultra the next year.

Gordon Gekko soon began selling off parts from my "refrigerators."

Fast forward: AxeFxII, a couple of CLR's and a powered sub. My show has gone from filling a cube van to a small pickup truck and I've got all the tones I've chased for 30plus years.
 
BrainalLeakage said:
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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Similar story - had the Line 6 "dream rig", which was the JT Variax -> Pod HD -> Dt50 amp. Had 3 Pods brick on me & two mainboards stop working in the Variax. DT50 power switch sometimes didn't power on. Funny thing is everything ran through a Furman conditioner. Line 6 bought back the Pod & amp. Sold the JTV on EvilBay.

I decided at first to get a high-end amp, then discovered Fractal. Figured "why get 1 amp / 1 sound" when there's the Axe. Got it, the MFC, and powered speaker and never looked back.
 
I moved away from a tube amp in the late 90's. I was tired of lugging that heavy thing around and also tired of the occasional problems that you have with tube amps. I went through the pod, VG-88, GT-6, and GT-8. They were good enough and versatile enough to keep me from going back to real amps. But I heard the buzz about Fractal and started researching, you-tubing, and visiting the forum pretty regularly. I decided it would be worth it to own the best amp simulator and fx unit that I had ever heard. So for my 45th birthday I gave myself an Ultra. It was and still is a wonderful piece of gear. I didn't care if it had perfect amp sims. I just wanted it to sound great. As the AxeFx II evolved I decided that I wanted to jump on that train too. So now I have both. These last 5 years have been the most fun I've had playing guitar since I started.
 
jyflorida said:
Similar story - had the Line 6 "dream rig", which was the JT Variax -> Pod HD -> Dt50 amp. Had 3 Pods brick on me & two mainboards stop working in the Variax. DT50 power switch sometimes didn't power on. Funny thing is everything ran through a Furman conditioner. Line 6 bought back the Pod & amp. Sold the JTV on EvilBay.

I decided at first to get a high-end amp, then discovered Fractal. Figured "why get 1 amp / 1 sound" when there's the Axe. Got it, the MFC, and powered speaker and never looked back.
Click to expand...

Same story and disappointment ..., DT50, HD500, Variax JTV59 and on and on. Ideas and suggestions were useless because no one was listening on the company level as far as you knew. In fact Biting nails in half was easier than getting any information from Line-6 on anything, so you just went with their forum "experts" advice because thats all you had to go on for months on end. And their motto always was, we can't confirm or deny anything... So what a breath of fresh air to now own a Fractal Axe FX and actually have a conversation with its maker, right here, just by asking him questions.
 
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I was a Line 6 user from POD version 2, modelling works for me as I'm a home player and want control, lots of effects and tonal variations that I can route into Logic for recording but also play loud in the room when I want to. I was never happy with the final version of the POD, the PODHD500X. I just couldn't get a convincing clean tone from it, it just sounded thin and unconvincing, almost DI like. It sounded OK through the DT25 but that amp needs to loud to get the best tones from it so it rarely got used.

I had the cash and after giving much thought to the Kemper and Axe, I pulled the trigger on AxeIIXL+ and active CLR a few months ago. The first 1/2hour with the Axe saw me dial in the Twin Reverb model and at last I heard and felt a convincing clean tone. Have struggled a little with a few things, and find my drive tones sound a little too squishy and compressed but I am still learning to tweak different parameters getting there and have no regrets.

As long as I want to keep using modelling I can't see any reason to change from the Axe.
 
I had quit playing guitar for almost 10 years and i was getting the itch to play again for fun and i bought back my old ibanez from my brother in law. After playing that thru a crate practice amp for a month or 2 I wanted to try one of those new modelers that "does it all". I tried the line 6 pod x3 live and I liked it a lot it was a lot of fun and i could run it thru a power mp and into a 412 which led me to get into a band and i thought it would work for a cover band doing a lot of different tones and effects. It did do those thing until I was listening to my rhythm players marshall tube amp. It was just way more ballsy then what i was playing. I almost went out and bought a marshall DSL. but then i started watching Mary Day and Pete thorn videos and this new axe fx ultra seemed like a solution to getting more amp like tones and having all the effects and routing of a modeler. So after a year of saving up i bought it and loved it and learned to tweak and customize my tones. My tone sounded great now and I joined another band and the guitarsit was using a 5153 50watt head and 212. After playing beside him i realized my tone was as good or better and i had way more routing and effect options. He used the 5153 with a pod hd500 in the 4 cable meth. His effects just sounded cheap compared to the axe. then i bought the ev zlx 12p and that opened up the door to frfr and cab IRs which im having a lot of fun with now.
 
Problem solving:
Basically that’s what made me go with the Axe Fx.

It was a slow progression, it started with (standard btw) allowing me to play at low volumes through my monitor speakers whenever I wanted. It allowed me to track for the same reasons and also not be susceptible to background noise or just the sound of a room not designed for sound in mind.

It became all my time based effects in the loop of my Mark IV. Quickly after that started running 4 cable method so ditched all pedals and switching system.

The above is what I had in mind but more followed.

While running the 4 cable method started bypassing the Mesa’s preamp all together, at first was using a combination of both. But in the end the Mesa sims sounded good and it was just much easier to use them (easier in sense of setting volume levels and maybe some minor eq-ing)

Then came the Axe Fx II

Without going into much detail next came AF > (poweramp) > (real guitar cab). With a few different power amps along the way. After that FRFR speakers with a few different types along the way.

John
 
Mine is a little different. I have a lot of gear, have known about the axe-fx since the beginning, have followed
all along. My problem is I live in an area where there aren't many musicians, and NO gear market. I'm talking
Gibson Les Paul Studio's and Gio's, Market, hardly any amps, no rack gear etc.. I am disabled due to work accident
and cannot afford one, unless I sell my gear, But having a HELL of a time doing it, with kids and limited income, the
money I do get goes to them. I have the chops, have the know how, just don't have the axe yet! I am determined
and hopefully will pay off soon. Be happy you have one and know you made the right decision. The gear I have, sits because
I cannot tolerate, physically, where it is, to use it, and having a hard time selling it, physically more than anything.
For some, like myself, it is just a matter of inaccessibility. Hopefully that will change soon, until then I wait.
 
Hi,

First time I saw the words "axe" and "fx" together, was I think back in 2011.
The axeman of one of my fav. bands (Circus Maximus - Prog. Metal from Norway) named Mats Haugen posted a facebook status saying "working on the new album, axe-fx is the next big thing"
A little research showed indications of a device that can do anything soundwise.. And seeing that it was preferred over real amps in professional recordings made a place for it in my mind..
Back then I think it was the AFX Standard or maybe Ultra..
With Axe-Fx II, things got better and better..

I made my purchase in July 2014, but by that time I was already following the forums and the web site on a near-to-regular basis.
I think the forum is the most effective advertisement for Fractal, because it's like a bunch of crazy guitarists who can't stop talking about a miracle device..
So that was it.. I had to have it! But should I spend all my money on it?

Well I live in Turkey and it's like 1.5 times the US price here..
But last year I visited the US, and while there, I happened to coincide with the 4th of July discount.
Only $100 less than the regular price but that $100 was what made me pull the trigger. Suddenly I thought, well if I don't like it I can sell it in Turkey for a very good price..

Now it's been more than a year and hey! I'm working on my debut album..
The "album" which would most probably stay at #1 on my bucket list until the end of my life, is now happening..
I'm playing for hours and recording new ideas everyday and actually creating music, all in my home studio and none of this would happen if I had not pulled the trigger.

So I feel very similar to the OP. It brought guitar back into my life..

Last thing; I wish I had it 15-16 years ago when I gigged every weekend with one band and recorded with another band. :)

P.S. I own a Pod HD500, like many forum members. I say, let's not trash Line6 so easily. I mean, yes, they're nowhere close to Fractal but we all bought those pods thinking they could do it at a lower price. At the end, they made us understand that unless we got that "more expensive" device, we wouldn't be satisfied. So thank you Line6 for being a step for all of us and many future AFX owners..
... And they are also great foot controllers for the AFX :)
 
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I've always loved the convenience and portability of having a device that had lots of sounds so I've been using modelers for many years - at first each was very satisfying but then I'd want more - either better tone/feel, or more options as far as controlling fx. So I'd upgrade and go thru the same process again.

I was gigging a few years ago w/ the GT-8 in an 80's band and was ready to upgrade... so I tried the HD500. I liked the potential of it, but it just didn't sound very good. I went back to the GT8 - sounded better to my ears, and was way more configurable. Meanwhile, the guy who sold me the HD500 at Guitar Center happened to say "if I had the coin I'd get an AxeFX." To which I said, "what's that?" ;-) I did some research and voila!

... so never say that GC is all bad... they turned me on to the Axe!
 
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