What Prompted You To Buy A Fractal?

The Axe became the dominant tool to use for U2 tribute bands around the world at around 2012. And years later The Edge started to play it (Axe II) himself. After I baught my Axe Ultra I soon sold my two AC-30ties from the 60ties and a huge rack with 70ties Korg rackeffects and a midi switcher system (prostage). And I got even better and more reliable sounds out of the Axe alone. Today I am on the Axe III and FM9 with Matrix FRFR.
 
I was in the market for a DR-103 and started working through the elaborate machinations necessary to operate it at a tolerable volume. I'd never tried a modeler before and figured it was worth a shot. It solved my Hiwatt itch and then some.
 
I was using a dual rectifier w/ 4x12 and it was cool but very one dimensional. I saw Fluff on YouTube doing a demo of a JP2C that I was locked and loaded to buy, then I saw his Axe FX 3 demo and couldn't decide, so I asked him.
 
For me, it was a couple of guys from the MyLesPaul forum back in 2015. I was struggling with versatility from amps, and using a lot of pedals switched by a TheGigRig Midi 14. It was great setup, but I just couldn't find a channel switching amp that had the sort of crunchy sounds I wanted, and could drive harder with pedals, as well as a clean channel with a lot of headroom and brightness. A 65Amps Whiskey and an Orange Rockerverb 50 both failed to please me quite close together, the Orange for being unable to provide the bite I wanted in the mix on the crunchy channel, and the Whiskey for lack of headroom on the clean channel. (I thought the Orange was going to be the one, but first gig, used the interval between sets to dash home and get my Marshall 2203. We were a few minutes late starting the second set, but it just sounded so much better for it.)

So it was a choice of either getting a good Fender Twin, or maybe Vox AC30, to lug around with a heavy pedalboard, Marshall JMP 2203, 4x12 cab as well as guitars, or seeing if there was a more grown up way of solving the problem. As a long term MLP forum member I'd been following threads about the latest modelling amps. I'm a design engineer by trade, physicist by education, and most of the competing solutions smelt a little too much of BS in their descriptions of where the magic came from, so I went for the one that seemed least like "snake oil".

Huge thanks to @Pwrmac7600, @KenG, @NeubyWanKaneuby, and the late, great and extremely passionate frankv of https://www.mylespaul.com/forum/amp-modeling.39/ for pointing me in the right direction a few years back. From the very first gig with an Axe FX II and MFC-101 I knew this was a better direction. Still got those, but the Axe FX III and FC-12 that followed were kind of inevitable. Still loving where I landed, and it just keeps getting better.

Liam
 
I was one of those early gadget nerd\guitar players. Had a GX700 first-circa 1996 or so. Graduated thru the Boss Gt stuff and at GT8 I ran into a conversation about this thing called Fractal Audio. Huh?
Purchased a Standard (early 2009). Had an issue and emailed support. Next day I get a call from, yes, Cliff Chase. He was great and took care of my issue (did a swap return) since then I never looked back-How could I do better with quality and customer service. Presently have an FM3 and FM9.
 
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Simplification. Had a rack of effect units collecting dust during the 10 yrs I stopped playing. Had heard about Fractal on a Yahoo Group at least 10-12 years ago (pre-Ultra). So I bought it around 2018 and sold all my pedals and rack units.
 
I no longer play out or in bands, etc, but I still love my main 100w tube amps, even consider them collectable (SLO and Ecstasy) and have been using them in my home studio often as I have a sound treated iso room (but they're still loud mofo's lol). That said, a couple years ago my retired father moved in with us and even though he's a life long guitarist/singer himself, it became a hassle trying to play and record guitars when he's home (nearly all the time), I simply hated thinking the noise is bothering him. Enter the AxeFx III running into my recording PC and using ref monitors! I can track killer guitar (and BASS!) tones at sub tv/whisper volumes. Life is great!

As for why I went with Fractal over other modelers (and there are some other really fine devices out there, I honestly don't think there's a bad one of the most popular options avail today), I had sampled tons of clips online for several weeks, done lots of homework/research and I just kept arriving at the same thought: the mid to high gain tones from the Axe just sounded better to me, even if only by a small margin - but that's enough when you're spending that kind of $$!
 
Ketil Strand's videos back around 2009 were my main reason to look into Fractal, then Mark Days videos from his Limelight studio were the clincher.
 
The frustration of trying to mic a 100w tubehead with a 4x12 cab, and feeling a lack of control over the PA sound or the recorded sound.

I was actually looking for a Helix, when by coincidence I stumbled over a second hand AX8. A couple of years later I got the Axe3. Been very happy with Fractal all the way.
 
The AF Standard was a problem solver for me, that’s the way I viewed it before it was in my hands. Those 2:00AM record/practice sessions. Recording was the big thing, not the greatest room for sound. Too much outside noise. And high-quality effects in the loop of my Mesa Mark IV. Win -win! But went through different stages.
As for the gigging rig. (Mesa Mark IV)
As expected, AF in the loop doing time-based effects.
Then --- after some time.
Went to using the AF 4 cable method and replacing the pedal board I had up front (The pedal board, all midi switching BTW) Still using the Mesa preamp at this time.
Then --- after some time.
Went to using some of the AF models along with the Mesa preamp. When using the AF amp model, bypassed the Mesa preamp, did not go through it.
Then --- after some time.
Started pretty much using nothing but AF models and using the Mesa as a power amp only. Reasons were simplicity, less cabling and programming.
Then --- after some time.
Went to my first FRFR system.

Bottom line it exceeded all expectations
 
I had watched 20-30 "modeler vs real amp" videos from multiple sources and actively trying to close my eyes and listen. No golden ears but as I recall somewhere around 60% of the time I could guess the analog amp, and when I was wrong, the amp that was most consistently fooling me was the axe fx. this was back in the axe fx ii days. This experience planted a seed in my mind that someday I'd buy an axe fx. had gotten into the pod hd at the time and it just did not work well with my triaxis... and was pretty fed up w it... so took the plunge and has been tonal bliss ever since.
 
I had been chasing the perfect chug tone for years and I found a video of Misha Mansoor on the Axe II with an Uberschall preset. It was the sound I had in my head for years so I got one and after 2 IIs, an AX8, FM3, and an Axe III, I haven't looked back.
 
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