Which firmware made you say WOW the most?

You're still not contributing to the conversation.
Apart from championing the OP, you are?

In totality, everything everyone (including me) has said in this 'conversation' makes perfect sense and in my humble opinion answers the OP's question.

The question asked by the OP is not dissimilar to asking who is the best guitarist in the world, it's a subjective question.
 
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Unless you are actively in the middle of a tour cycle (which I can't imagine anyone is right now given...well...the world) then always stay current on the firmware. I can't see any other reason not to.
 
Not every improvement made to the modeling affects all types of amps and all kinds of settings and all kinds of players with the same impact.
You get the point. Whatever conclusion you might come to, it will be from your own unique perpektive.
 
For what the OP is after, the best approach is to apply an analytic structure to collect data. The question is difficult, because there are so many updates (and so many opinions). To the nearest 100, we can safely guesstimate that there have been 100 updates. Using public opinion will be problematic.

As changes and updates are cumulative and progressive, there’s actually a good reason to opt for the latest change.

Finally, go back at all releases and plot them on a timeline. The releases that last the longest could be considered to be the best and most stable at the time. Compare those in that data set to each other.

Pertaining to sound quality, features, and stability, the most recent and longest in use have proven to be the best.
 
What experiment?
If I downgrade to 13 I don't Hear difference. I use my ears (I listen the sound) and not my eyes (for this test I don't read the release-notes).
I hear the difference when downgrade from 14 to 10. So (ONLY FOR SOUND QUALITY) Firmware 11, 12, 13 are necessary?!?!
This is my experiment.
No YouTube video.
 
Good lord, people. Roby is an expert and a vendor here. He also doesn’t speak English natively.
His question is:

Consider all the following
When you upgraded from 1.x to 2.x
When you upgraded from 2.x to 3.x
When you upgraded from 3.x to 4.x
.
.
.
When you upgraded from 13.x to 14.x
Etc

Which one of these made you say WOW the most?
Which of those upgrades really blew your socks off?
Obviously 14.x is the best. But was going from 13.x to 14.x the biggest single upgrade or did it pale in comparison to the upgrade from y.x to z.x?

That’s what he’s asking.

he’s sparking conversation, not asking if he should stay on fw9

Thanks.

EDIT: to avoid misunderstandings I've changed the Thread title.
 
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If I downgrade to 13 I don't Hear difference. I use my ears (I listen the sound) and not my eyes (for this test I don't read the release-notes).
I hear the difference when downgrade from 14 to 10. So (ONLY FOR SOUND QUALITY) Firmware 11, 12, 13 are necessary?!?!
This is my experiment.
No YouTube video.
You only need to install the latest firmware. None other are necessary.
 
Good lord, people. Roby is an expert and a vendor here. He also doesn’t speak English natively.
His question is:

Consider all the following
When you upgraded from 1.x to 2.x
When you upgraded from 2.x to 3.x
When you upgraded from 3.x to 4.x
.
.
.
When you upgraded from 13.x to 14.x
Etc

Which one of these made you say WOW the most?
Which of those upgrades really blew your socks off?
Obviously 14.x is the best. But was going from 13.x to 14.x the biggest single upgrade or did it pale in comparison to the upgrade from y.x to z.x?

That’s what he’s asking.

he’s sparking conversation, not asking if he should stay on fw9
I'm loving 14 (of course) but if I had to go back, the presets I originally tweaked on version 10.1 (or 10.2?) is where they became the best for me. And I'm referring mainly to the amps, I rarely go backwards for effects unless there's one in particular that stands out in my mind. I still go back and load some of them from time to time as they still sound great with the current FW.

There was another version, can't remember exactly, when Cliff made some amp improvements and the high's became incredibly sweet. I'll have to search for that post.
 
My favorite was when they added the Triple Crown amps, just because I'm a big mesa guy and never had.gotten to plug into a real one so adding those amps was a huge bonus to me
 
Guys, imagine he wanted to do an "Evolution of the Axe FX modelling" video, where he showed how the sounds improved over different versions. It'd be nice to know which updates made noticeable sonic improvements. "The latest is the best" is nice and all but doesn't help show the evolution.
 
Guys, imagine he wanted to do an "Evolution of the Axe FX modelling" video, where he showed how the sounds improved over different versions. It'd be nice to know which updates made noticeable sonic improvements. "The latest is the best" is nice and all but doesn't help show the evolution.

I've never thought about a video. mine was just curiosity. however it is a great idea. I'll think about it (unfortunately I have no time or desire to downgrade). 👍
 
The one with the impedance curves and the one with the gain enhancer thing were big for me. But I have been largely happy since the Axe II days, so I do not get blown away every time an updated FW is pushed. Always love new models and FX but not gonna be 'WOW' over them.

Always appreciate the effort and continued support, though, some good things happen incrementally.

Guys, imagine he wanted to do an "Evolution of the Axe FX modelling" video, where he showed how the sounds improved over different versions. It'd be nice to know which updates made noticeable sonic improvements. "The latest is the best" is nice and all but doesn't help show the evolution.
You'd have to reset/redial models when you cross a major FW boundary, so the question would always be did you actually recover from that properly via a redial... there's no really good way to do that experiment, I don't think.

Honestly some of the best modeled tones I've ever heard were Mark Day's AxeFx Ultra tones on FW 9.x for example. Jst because he was getting great results to my ear... A one FW to another comparison with no point of reference is probably just not useful.

The only really valid way to measure progress of a simulation is to somehow do a data based comparison/measurement of the behavior of the physical hardware and your simulation; almost anything else is just wanking. I'm sure that Cliff uses his ears and judgement as part of the process but I am also sure he is constantly experimenting and advancing things using objective measurements. Otherwise you'd end up in the weeds.

Again, love FAS, and the updates, but the vast majority of FW updates are just 'different' rather than better for me on first blush. It has been like this for most updates for me, for a long time since FW12+ on the II. IMHO.
 
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