Why so little talk about 11?

electronpirate

electronpirate

Axe-Master
All joking aside...

I've been putting Firmware 11 through it's paces, and I'm pretty impressed. From the release notes, I see that it implements some of the 'new stuff' that went into the Axe II.

Don't know if it's just the furor over the new rollout, but Cliff has not gone out with a whimper on this. Just saying.

I'll do a full review here soon, but my first impressions are that the power amp sims are significantly more responsive. This can be both good and bad, as I feel like I have more control over how much 'squish' is there without adding undue distortion, but also that it's much more 'present' in your playing. Thus, the lesson is: 'Get it right, guitar player, 'cause everyone's gonna hear it good OR bad'.

Ron
 
My 2 Cents: Even though I did hear it tighten up the low end on my patches a bit, the difference was VERY subtle. However, I never had a problem with flubby low-end in the first place, and I'm not doing any extensive EQing; just Drive-Amp-Cab-{Delay}. So others may have noticed a pronounced improvement. In any case, I don't think any firmware release that doesn't include new amps and/or effects will ever get much attention. We're all just greedy bastards like that. :) And the fact that the Axe-II does bit reduction in the delay block has me absolutely salivating!
 
Firmware 11 actually made me second-guess buying an Axe-Fx II. My Ultra sounds better than ever. I'm still getting an AFXII, but the Ultra is the best choice for a backup...unless I had a second AFXII...
 
Firmware 11 is awesome. The difference is most noticeable at gig volumes for me. So much tighter in the low end.

I think Firmware 11 recognition has been usurped by Axe-FX II which is a shame.
 
v11- i had allot of time with it over the past few days.
Outstanding.
I said it once before- for me this is the most significant update ever. I got on at v3.xx, only one other update was as sonically significant. But this one is different.it is clear that it is not working within the old algorithms, tweaking to make changes. This is a new approach (as far as I know- but what do I know). The MV amps are alive....this is the update I have been waiting for.
Cleaner amps, no tweaking- just dialing in, no more tricks to force it....v11 is sweet.
I am sure the AXEfx II will be a monster- but v11 makes the G1 units a top notch processor.
 
I spent some time with v11 this weekend and it is a tremendous improvement. The amps just respond better to the controls. I don''t have to make sweeping EQ changes now. The tone/sound whatever you want to call it is the same. Its just defined better. Tightening of the low end really makes a difference.
 


Look at the # of users browsing the forums. The Axe2 averages about 4x-5x the traffic of any other group.

In ADHD consumer culture if it's not new, it's irrelevant.
 
shasha said:
v11 does have a major bug in it that I discovered this weekend. It can cause ringing in the ears and extreme pain in the left hand; primarily finger tips.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'm getting the left hand fingertip pain, but not the ringing ears. Maybe it's just you ;)
 
I played an outdoor gig this weekend that required me to turn up to levels I don't get to play at all that often. The difference in this firmware was noticeable at lower levels, but the tighter low end and the feel of mid-gain amps was pretty dramatic when I turned up.
 
As with most updates, 11 will change the tone of your patches. Unfortunately, if you have patches that you love, they won't sound the same :( A little tweaking and I'll be back in business though.
 
Have any of you guys reverted back to the next recent version for comparison? When I updated to V11, I heard some difference, but to me, it wasn't as dramatic as most make it sound. I thought maybe there was a problem with my update, so I reverted back to the previous version. I immediately noticed there was more bass, which the most obvious difference. When I reloaded V11, there was less bass, but when I turn off my PEQ, and set the low cut to the default, it still has flubb in the low end, just like before. I still need to increase the low cut (PA Sim On) and use my PEQ to get as good a tone as before the update. What else could I be missing (seriously, jokes asside)?
 
It could be that we're talking less about v.11 simply because so many of us are happy with it. I haven't had to do any tweaking of my patches--they all sounded better immediately. Essentially, they were more of what I was already looking for in those patches.

Also, there aren't any new features added, so there may just not be that much to talk about.
 
I'm of the belief that the release of the new product just kicked everyone in the nuggets and that's what the rage has been all about. The new FW was definitely an afterthought for most of us and now that things have settled down we're starting to dig into it and recognize it more.

OR it could be that there are only like 4 of us who didn't sell our AxeFX's last week....it's a toss up.

On a serious note I made a JCM800 patch this weekend (never really even tried that amp to be honest) that just slays. To be honest though I just took some of Yek's suggestions and in about 10 minutes I was overcome with awesomeness.
 
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axel said:
Have any of you guys reverted back to the next recent version for comparison? When I updated to V11, I heard some difference, but to me, it wasn't as dramatic as most make it sound.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of the difference could be said to be subtle. One thing that wasn't subtle in my case was the relative volume levels of various patches. Patches that had previously been uniform in relative volume were all over the place after the upgrade. I suppose this has to do with different responses from the power amp sims, but I can't go so far as to say I know what may have been better about the patches I needed to reset the volume level for.

As an aside, that always ends up being one of the more time consuming aspects of setting up resets for me; getting relative volumes sorted out.
 
V11.0, using was no small improvement IMO. I'll definitely upgrade to an Axe-FX II in the future but the Ultra with F/W v11.0 will keep my happy for a quite a while.
 
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