What's the single thing you like most about the Axe FX?

Sixstring

Sixstring

Legend!
I was talking to a music store owner a few weeks ago and we were talking about all the gear that we had gone through. He still had all of the stuff he had bought over the years and told me that he had a full storage room full of old amps, pedals, guitar cabs and guitars. I showed him pictures of most of the gear I had bought and sold before I found the Axe and he asked me if I still had any of it. When I told him I had sold everything but one guitar he asked me what I was playing through. I told him that I have been using the Axe FX for the past 4 years.

This intrigue him, he told me that I have never played through one. So I told him the next time I was in town that I would bring my rig over and let him play through it. This hasn't happened as of yet but it did make me wonder what I really liked about using the Axe as opposed to running a traditional rig.

There are so many things that I like about it that it was quite hard to single out one thing that I liked the most. So in a nut shell "Versatility" is the thing I like the most about the Axe. I love to be able to cop tones of guitar players that I used to listen to when I was a younger and the Axe let's me do this in spades. I'm never bored with the Axe I know that I can turn it on and it will let me go to where I want to go every single time.
 
Same here :)

I think the word for me would be 'convenience'.
Gigging as I do, I need something easy to gig with - light, small, portable, and sounds great...also easy/painless to setup. Sometimes, I have to sit in with bands (for eg thursday I have to play 2 shows with a band that I have never heard about, and only practiced with once last week). We're only going to play about 5 songs, and the set is tight - we have to be in and out for both gigs that day in a matter of minutes. The axe gives me a LOT of convenience there.
I do studio and session work too, and sometimes I don't have a lot of time to set up and play - it has to be done, done right, done well, and done quickly. I can just stroll in with the axe, if I know what the producer is going for, and start playing. If he wants something similar, or wants a little more of this or that, or an effect, I can do that in a couple minutes..I don't have to take another 15-30 minutes setting up another set of gear and getting it to sound right....I can just turn that big ole' knob and play away! ;)
Living where I do, I have to order and ship stuff, which is often very inconvenient (and very costly). Sometimes it's not cost-effective to send things back either. The axe allows me the convenience of trying stuff I might not have had the opportunity to try (like the tape drive! :D ) and just change with the flick of a button to another great sound or fx.
I'm also very lazy, and hate moving stuff around! hahaha The axe allows me that too - just go wherever I want to, and record however I want to, all with relative ease. I'd personally would have loved the axe to have a little less rack 'depth' (I have several reasons) but I still get by pretty good.
I also don't have a lot of time. My day job takes up all the time I have :( So when I have the chance, I can just plug in and record a track quickly, and it will sound great. I can also record bits and pieces when I have the time, and it will have CONSISTENCY. I don't have to break down and set up gear for every session. Just plug in and GO! I love it!

So many great things about the axe....it's so hard to narrow it to just one word! lol
 
I love all the tweaking options it has, so I can get all caught up in that 'rabit hole' and not have to actually confront the fact that my guitar playing leaves a lot to be desired!! lol
 
willowdale said:
I love all the tweaking obtions it has, so I can get all caught up in that 'rabit hole' and not have to actually confront the fact that my guitar playing leaves a lot to be desired!! lol
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LOL! Well that's the drawback for me! I dislike things that take my attention off my guitar playing. I like to spend quality time on my fretboard. Dinking around with parameters is not my idea of heaven, but I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more than before.
 
Capability; that would be my word.

I wouldn't have traded off any of my gear, would have continued dealing with the weight and space issues, and would never have considered abandoning a formula that produced proven and reliably great guitar tones for decades if the Axe Fx wasn't capable of doing all I already had, and more. It had to be a step up, and what I had in hand was already an awesome sounding rig. The Axe Fx matched, then surpassed it. It's all I use live now... my axe, to the Axe Fx, to the speakers. Nothing between, and it's working amazingly well.
 
Size/Convenience + Sounds amazing is the ONLY reason I own an axe fx. Tweakability is a not so close second. I purposely try not to use the advanced parameters at all and I can't wait until I can afford to upgrade to the Axe FX II for the newer models. Convenience is top for me, since I'm currently in 2 bands. I can't imagine hauling a stack to practice wed/thur, to gigs fri/sat, then to the other band practice on Sun every week.
 
As a cover band musician, and a long-time convert to modeling having been thru most of them. Still have VG99 and GT10 and a few BOss pedals, but tube amps (other than my Atomic FRFR) are all long gone. Getting the "best modeler" was a logical next step for me. Since then, my rig has not changed much in size, but convenience and *BEST* sounds is why I owned and Ultra and now the Axe-II.

I'm NOT a tweak-head at all. In fact, I have been using the Factory Presets exclusively for some time now. All I need is in there, so why spend time "creating my own". I'm never going to be a famous guitarist, so I don't buy into the "make my own sound" mantra (discussed at length in other threads).It far EXCEEDS my needs.. it's that simple.

PS: Another "conversion" story:
The NEW guitar player in my Country Band (I play bass. 'cus I can't chicken pick if my life depended on it LOL) who has toured professionally is intrigued by the sounds he could get from the Axe-II - when he got the chance to "demo" it at a recent rehearsal. Now he's gotta have one. When I told him how much $$ he took a step back (like many do). I started adding up the gear in his rig (Vox AC30 re-issue, pedals, etc). It came to more than the price of the Axe-II. Needless to say , he saw the light and will order as soon as he gets the $$ together. :)
 
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I love the fact that my Axe-Fx is practically without limits: due to the routing, the plethora of tweakable parameters and realtime control the phrase "I wish I could do..." most often turns into "I can do... right now".

But if I have to break it down to a single aspect, it's: high quality in an "all in one"-box. For EVERY task in EVERY situation.

I've no means/nerves/money/logistics to own and use several amps, cabs and FX. It would not be possible and settling for one would be a big compromise.
Give me my Axe II, my Gordius midi controller and, if possible, my personal monitor, and I can play in any location, with any band and any genre, independently.
Low stage volume? Tiny stage? 5 min for setup and line check? Traveling by train or airplane? - I don't break a sweat and can focus on playing because I have MY rig with me, everytime, everywhere.
This is what makes me love my Axe-Fx (Ultra for years, now the II) the most.
 
The ability to use the same rig with my neo soul band, a few different metal projects, recording blues with my dad, and anything else that pops up is priceless.
Much more I could rave about, but the above has changed the way I write, cover, and play music. Thank you FAS and the FAS community for everything.
Best musical purchase since I bought my first guitar! Period!
 
I love it because, like Steve Vai said: "You have the feeling that everyday is Christmas"...and for me nothing on this World is like Christmas!!!!
 
The feel.

I'm not in a situation where an amp is practical and I've owned or tried just about every modeller/sim out there and the AxeFX stuff is by far the best at feeling like a real amp in the way that it responds to my playing. Heck it may even be a bit more sensitive than an amp in some regards.

Yes all the effects and models are great, but with any device you can usually find at least one thing that sounds good and use it. I think that the AxeFXII sounds better than everything out there right now, but even with that said it wouldn't matter if it didn't react how I wanted it to. I could actually sacrifice a bit in terms of sound and go with something else if it didn't feel so amazing to play.
 
The price ....... I'm thinking of buying a couple more as backups :twisted

No - in seriousness, the versatility of it is just outstanding and of course sound quality.

It can sound great through desk monitors, amp/cab or FRFR because you have such depth of control at all stages.

Can I have my popsicle now?
 
willowdale said:
I love all the tweaking options it has, so I can get all caught up in that 'rabit hole' and not have to actually confront the fact that my guitar playing leaves a lot to be desired!! lol
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hahaha yes, the great sounds in there also distract from my awful playing too! hahah :D

This is an awesome thread, I'm sure FAS must be pretty proud right about now ;)
 
I like seeing if I can redo all my patches after a major FW upgrade before the next major FW upgrade drops...

I have almost all of one bank's worth updated to version 5.07... Some are still gathering virtual dust on V3

Back to it...
 
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