What's up with this, is it for real? :(

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FractalAudio said:
I've got some time so let me address these "facts":

- The power supply: The power supply is an off-the-shelf Cincon 40W, triple-output supply. Cincon is a good manufacturer and makes an excellent product. They've been around for a long time. They are carried by Mouser and DigiKey. Those distributors do not sell inferior products.

- The "Keystone" DSP is the most powerful DSP currently available (not was, IS). It was COPYRIGHTED in 2012. Production quantities were't readily available until 2014 which just so happens to be when the Axe-Fx III development started. Tony, despite being a self-proclaimed expert, doesn't understand that the development cycle on a product like the Axe-Fx III takes years.

- The power switch has some glue around it to prevent it from sliding around in the opening. It's an additional step that's unnecessary but improves the perceived quality of the product.

- "Cheap" Aluminum can capacitors. Those capacitors aren't cheap. We use Panasonic FK series which are high-temperature, long-life series. For many applications aluminum electrolytic capacitors are the capacitor-of-choice. For power supply filtering they are unequaled in voltage-capacitance product for a given volume. Yes, MLCCs now offer competing capacitance per volume but don't offer the voltage rating. Also MLCCs are more expensive. You don't simply use something more expensive if that doesn't offer any tangible benefit. For audio coupling applications it's hard to beat aluminum caps. MLCCs have a far worse voltage coefficient for those high-capacitance dielectrics.

- MC7805CT regulator obsolete. No it is not. We use the MC7805CTG which is the RoHS version ('G' for green). The package says MC7805CT. The ordering code is MC7805CTG. Anyone with even a smattering of electronic component knowledge is aware of this. This is just ignorance on parade.

- You can apply the above to the rest of the video. It's all basically lies. Open up a Helix and I'm sure you'll find aluminum capacitors and MC7805CT voltage regulators.


Tony has a grudge against Fractal Audio and this is nothing but a hit-piece. He tried to blackmail us for the rights to www.fractalaudio.uk and I told him to pound sand. He's an angry, evil little man with an inflated ego and little real knowledge of electronics.
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This made me smile so big. Facts. They're the best.
 
Nathan M. said:
Yes, we certainly can and will ignore, but so many will view that and believe its accurate
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trust me, no one will believe this is accurate.

If the worth of a thing is the combined worth of its components then by his own logic he is worth about 1.50.

Smile and wave, smile and wave...
 
yeky83 said:
Got me wondering, what was the dig and rebuttal?
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Pete Thorn wrote:

"Yeah I’m not sure what his problem is with me, that guy. “I certainly didn’t buy it because of Pete Thorn, I remember when he was telling me the Axe Fx was the greatest thing, I guess not..” I’ve never met this guy, to my knowledge. So I never told him anything of the sort. And I do think the Axe FX is a pretty amazing piece of gear, I don’t think anybody disputes that? Except I can walk and chew gum at the same time and I’ve always loved tube amplifiers. Literally, this amplifier was my idea, marrying my love of tube amps with what I like about the digital world too- it would’ve been an intelligent observation to maybe include THAT obvious takeaway in his video? Anyway while appreciating him getting the amp, I don’t like his tone. And I don’t mean his guitar tone.

As John stated already, he has no knowledge of laws, CE etc- Or electronics. He even states in the comments below the video that “he has his suspicions“ as to where it’s built. What the hell does that mean? And you’ve got comments on his video about things like tube sockets mounted to PC boards, no one taking into account that the boards are military spec super thick compared to what most amps use etc. I mean I can take apart a car and look at it and offer an opinion on what I see and it would be f-in useless, Because I’m not a mechanic and I don’t know what the hell I’m looking at. And the amp doesn’t cost $3300. And I could go on but that’s enough. Well I appreciate his nine out of 10, I can sum it up in one word- I came away – annoyed"

John Suhr:

"I don't know what is confusing about the warranty, we have people in Europe to handle any possible issues and a rep in England. Bottom line is if you purchase from a Suhr dealer you will have no issue with any warranty support. If you purchase from across the pond to save a few dollars we loose our opportunities and relationships to support you. No dealer is going to want to support the product when you didn't buy it from them. So if you have purchased from a US dealer and you are in England we will cover shipping back to your dealer, seems fair no? We will fix it either way.
I heard my post on tube was deleted but seems to still be there, this was my response and the only other thing I'd add is the insinuation that he has a "suspicion" of where it is made seems to cast a nefarious tone on something. We make and build them in Lake Elsinore, state law limits what we can not say built in or made in, this is a new law and is silly.

Just in case my response does get deleted:

Hey thanks for the review! I'd love to clarify some things for you if I may, off the top of my head. The tubes are a JJ in V1 and Chinese 12AX7 in the other preamp slots. ARS is just a distributor and we retest and rematch all our tubes. These are carefully chosen for tone and performance and are tested and hand selected on an Audio Precision test station, I wouldn't change them. The effects loop send level is the channel level and the return level is the global Master, it is a fully buffered tube loop. The PCB is hand soldered double sided plated thru holes not wave soldered, one component at a time. Sorry about the washers! Good catch, we had that issue on a few and I guess missed one, the hole diameter in the washer was the issue but the head is tight, that is there to protect the cup from cutting the vinyl. The Pots, yes the smaller sized Alpha is superior to the larger diameter and FYI CTS is no longer American but are made in China anyway and frankly they have been problematic in guitar land. Everything we can do in the USA we do, including Iron A "suspicion" of where it is made seems to cast a nefarious on the origin, I'll clear that up, it is made in Lake Elsinore CA in our factory, even the transformers are American made CA state law dictates really almost nobody can say "made in" unless virtually EVERYTHING comes from the USA The biggest gripe you seem to have is the CE and lack of ROHS. We do not self certify but have a lab do all our testing. CE includes ROHS, ROHS does not need to be listed separately. You can't be CE without being ROHS anymore. We also test for FCC. I'll be happy to send you proof on the reports if you send me an email or contact CS, it's 82 pages long. Also the price I'm sorry is a bit less in the USA for sure. Not much I can do about that import duties, county specific taxes, shipping costs etc. So shoot me a message so I can get you the proof of CE and you can change it to a 10 ;-) thanks again and if you have any questions please feel free to reach out and maybe I could clarify my reasoning and design intent before any incorrect conclusions! Cheers."
 
Seems like a dude who wants to play the grumpy old out of touch yelling at clouds role, and then when someone blasts him in comments for being a grumpy old man, “get off my lawn” etc he will claim ageism and discrimination no doubt.....
 
lqdsnddist said:
Seems like a dude who wants to play the grumpy old out of touch yelling at clouds role, and then when someone blasts him in comments for being a grumpy old man, “get off my lawn” etc he will claim ageism and discrimination no doubt.....
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Somebody should throw a dead fish in the backseat of his car...
 
I watched the video and see how he tried to pick apart this unit. That said, The sum of the unit is not of the physical parts. 90% of the cost is to cover the expansive and expensive R&D that goes into this type of unit. (Percentage may vary) While he may have looked up some part numbers and guessed at the overall cost to manufacture, that was not considered. Oh, And I do have an electronics degree and work with computer gear weekdays too. That does not make me an expert in this type of unit. ;)
 
[Tony has a grudge against Fractal Audio and this is nothing but a hit-piece. He tried to blackmail us for the rights to www.fractalaudio.uk and I told him to pound sand. He's an angry, evil little man with an inflated ego and little real knowledge of electronics. ]

As I recall, in 2014, - while researching my next "amp" purchase - it was Tony's more than obvious bias AGAINST Fractal than convinced me to buy my AFX2 XL. Thanks, Tony???
 
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