Where can I try?

L

lowbuz

New Member
I feel this unit may work for me, but hard to say without actually playing through it.
Seems to be a tall order I have no idea who would have one of these.
Is it even an option to find this somewhere, or do you just have to pull the trigger and buy it and hope I like it?
 
Ole said:
If you write where you live, I am sure someone will help you.
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I've had people ask me at gigs about my rig, so I just tell them to bring their guitar to one of my soundchecks and play through the AxeFX once the band is finished checking. I usually have some unstructured time before I need to do something official, and I'm willing to give people a chance to check out my setup and give it a quick test drive.

I have a friend in Seattle who was interested in the AxeFX, and I invited him to my house for dinner and an extended test drive (paired with a lovely bottle of wine). That's obviously something that I would reserve for people I know pretty well. By the way, he bought one and is very happy with it. You'll be seeing him added to the artist page :)

The simple truth is, that if you're curious about the AxeFX, all you really have to do is look at the Fractal Artist Page. It's reasonable to assume that Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, John Petrucci, and Dweezil Zappa can have pretty much any guitar rig they desire, regardless of price / size / scarcity. They are all AxeFX users, playing a very wide variety of musical styles, and every one of them offers superlative praise about the AxeFX.

Fractal Audio has a return policy if you're unhappy. The system probably isn't ideal for everyone. If you just want a simple plug-and-play guitar processor with a handful of preset tones, you might find it to be overkill. It's pretty easy to understand and to get fantastic results (especially with the Axe-Edit sofware), but I know musicians who would rather just have a Line6 POD or even separate pedals. No problem. I still have a Line6 M9 on my "grab and go" small pedalboard, along with my favorite compressor. However, the AxeFX has completely changed my approach to tone building. I am selling my Boogie Lonestar, a big pedalboard with boutique (Keeley, Empress, Strymon, Wampler, etc) pedals, and my TC Electronic G Force processor. My touring / recording rig is just the AxeFXII XL into a pair of FRFR cabs. I'm a believer.
 
I'm in D.C. - 2.5 hours away. You can come down and spend a few hours with it, if you want, but I would take advantage of the return policy and spend a whole week with one.
 
Sleestak said:
The simple truth is, that if you're curious about the AxeFX, all you really have to do is look at the Fractal Artist Page. It's reasonable to assume that Alex Lifeson, Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, John Petrucci, and Dweezil Zappa can have pretty much any guitar rig they desire, regardless of price / size / scarcity. They are all AxeFX users, playing a very wide variety of musical styles, and every one of them offers superlative praise about the AxeFX.
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Add to this the fact that while these guys may get help setting up rigs, there is no free rides from Fractal and every artist mentioned had to buy their own unit (from a previous thread some months back). Looking at the praise that these guys give the Axe when they don't have a sponsorship deal to lose means their praise is very honest and not said to maintain a sponsorship contract.

It's a hell of a thing.
 
BigD1977 said:
Add to this the fact that while these guys may get help setting up rigs, there is no free rides from Fractal and every artist mentioned had to buy their own unit (from a previous thread some months back). Looking at the praise that these guys give the Axe when they don't have a sponsorship deal to lose means their praise is very honest and not said to maintain a sponsorship contract.

It's a hell of a thing.
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Damned straight! Fractal artists buy their units. I've been endorsed by companies over the course of my career, and it usually comes with the requirement that I do demos / master classes, and that I say quotable flattering things about the product. With Fractal, I paid the same price as everybody else for my AxeFX rig, and I have no special arrangement with the company. I have nothing to gain by saying it, and I say it because it's true: I'm delighted with the products, the company, and the community. I've been a professional guitarist for 35 years. I could be using any rig I want. And I am :)
 
lowbuz said:
I feel this unit may work for me, but hard to say without actually playing through it.
Seems to be a tall order I have no idea who would have one of these.
Is it even an option to find this somewhere, or do you just have to pull the trigger and buy it and hope I like it?
Click to expand...

I felt the same way and the 15 day money back guarantee helped ease some thoughts... It ended up that they would have had to pry that black box out of my dead hands before I returned it hahaha... You'll end up playing a lot more and I'm sure everyone here will say the same thing.
 
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