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Fractal AXE-EFX Guitar Simulator/Processor

santellavision

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santellavision Veteran HFCer

santellavision

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Anyone here have or heard one of these? I'm curious. The clips on the site are really good. I'm kinda' a Kurtstuff of amp simulator/processors. I've owned them all (POD's, Tech 21 PSA1, Sansamps, Behringer, Digitech, Vox, Art, Linn Adrenalin, Native GuitarRig etc.) My Vox Tonelab and (old, but still kickbutt) Digitech 2101 as still around. I love my pile of amps, but at home, I use a simulator to practice and record quickly.

This one really intrigues me. It's not cheap, so, I'd rather get some feedback before I blow $1,500. on a piece of gear that I would have a heck of time re-selling. (They do have a 15 day return policy though)

Fractal Axe-FX Link

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Scooter Veteran HFCer

Scooter

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The lead player in my 80's band uses one. It's unreal! Seriously, this thing does it all! And well.

SteveB Veteran HFCer

SteveB

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I have an Ultra. Its way better than any of the POD's I've used ( still have an XT/Live). Currently for "live" sound I'm using it through a power amp into my Mesa Guitar cab. Using it this way gives me that immediacy and feel you get from plugging into a guitar amp, as compared to for example the sound you get of a mic'd amp into a monitor, which is basiclaly what you get if you plug the AxeFX ( or any modeller for that matter) into a PA speaker for playback.

that said, many are using the axe through full range systems. One cool thing is that the cab sims are user replaceable through industry standard response files. So, while the standard cabsims are all close mic'd through standard mic's, users have started producing some good quality distant mic'd cabs through reference mics. Using those IR's, you can get MUCH closer to the feel of a standard guitar amp/cab through a full range flat response (FRFR) monitoring system. I've played around with that to a point through my Mackie SRM450's, and while it was MUCH better I still liked the sound better into a poweramp and guitar cabs. If you do that you can't really use the cab sims in the axefx so I turn those off, but I still use the AxeFx poweramp modelling. If you are already used to not having an amp behind you but just playing to a monitor feed, then the built in cab sims will work great.

The Axe is very responsive. Its not actually trying to be a direct copy of particular amps. This is an advantage, as in many ways the Axe can be setup to respond better than the "real" thing. For example, the axe tends to clean up better with vol control than alot of the real world high gain amps do. You can also change the tone stack between various options, play with the power amp damping and sag factors, etc. So, if you are willing to tweak, you can make for example a pushed fender amp that doesn't get as flubby as a real one. There is alot of power in this thing.

The routing capabilities are amazing. My plan is to hook it up one of my Mesa heads so that I can use the heads preamp or a preamp from the AxeFx as desired, and feed back to the heads poweramp. You have full control over where effects appear in the chain, can run parallel virtual cabs, parallel amps, etc etc. I'm not an expert on effects quality, but nearly everyone says the effects are at the same quality level as TC, etc, that have units in the same or higher price ranges.

So far I like it alot. I mostly got it for recording purposes, but I like to play around with different tones too. For a cover band person who likes to cop the original tones, this thing is a great option. If you are a guitar/cable/amp guy who just wants one great tone, or don't like tweaking electronics, then probably not the right thing. I find the user interface pretty easy to deal with, but some find it complicated.

I don't htink you'd really have a hard time reselling it. For a while they were reselling for the original selling price or higher because there was a backlog, but production has caught up now so not sure how that will effect resale value going forward.

The AxeFx forums ( www.setbb.com/axefx ) are currently down at the moment, looks like SetBB might be undergoing a DOS attack since all their sites are down.

atquinn Veteran HFCer

atquinn

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I've read rumours of an AxeFx amp? That's what's I'm kind of holding out for.

-Austin

santellavision Veteran HFCer

santellavision

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Thanks guys, those recommendations are enough for me. I've been gigging with my Vox Tonelab LE into a Mesa 20-20 amp in to a stereo 2-12 cab. It's been a great sounding rig for my cover band. If I dig this, I may just use this.

Question, what about floor controllers? What's available? I like my Vox 'cause I can name all the tunes for easy recall.

SteveB Veteran HFCer

SteveB

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Question, what about floor controllers? What's available? I like my Vox 'cause I can name all the tunes for easy recall.

Any MIDI controller will work, the AxeFX uses program change for patch changes, or CC's for effects parameters. Ground Control is popular, Midi Mate, Axxess, etc. Nearly any effect parameter can be mapped to a CC, which is cool. Fractal is working on a dedicated controller which should be cool, but no word on delivery timeframe. LiquidFoot has a very cool looking controller with personality modules for AxeFx which is just starting to ship in quantity. Both the Fractal and Liquid foot look to have two way communication with the Axe so you don't really have to program them if you don't want, they just automatically understand the Axe and it's patches and stuff. Search on YouTube for Liquidfoot to see demos.

Stike Veteran HFCer

Stike

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How is it to tweek on the fly? I've heard nothing but good about this device but the lack of actual knobs is kind of a turnoff.

SteveB Veteran HFCer

SteveB

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I've read rumours of an AxeFx amp? That's what's I'm kind of holding out for.

Hard to say, it seems more than likely that it might be a partnership between Fractal and somebody like Atomic... ie, an "amp host" that you'd put an AxeFX in. I haven't seen anything that would lead me to believe that a completely new form factor AxeFx is being developed, but who knows.

How is it to tweek on the fly? I've heard nothing but good about this device but the lack of actual knobs is kind of a turnoff.

Not very easy. It does have a global EQ section so if you just want to do EQ its not so bad. I've played around with using Joe Meek EQ after Pod Pro's or the Axe as a quick EQ for live use. I suppose it's also possible you could program a midi control pad to change eqs or amp parameters, but thats probably not what you are looking for. B)

Stike Veteran HFCer

Stike

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Not very easy. It does have a global EQ section so if you just want to do EQ its not so bad. I've played around with using Joe Meek EQ after Pod Pro's or the Axe as a quick EQ for live use. I suppose it's also possible you could program a midi control pad to change eqs or amp parameters, but thats probably not what you are looking for. B)

I've had some of the Yamaha DG series and Line 6 stuff. I loved the flexability, everything in one box, and the ease of use (esp. the DG stuff) but when it came down to it I couldn't get any happening tones live. Bummer because I REALLY wanted to make that stuff work. I've heard the AXE/FX shuts up most modeling naysayers, I really wish they made a "dumbed down" version.

SteveB Veteran HFCer

SteveB

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I've had some of the Yamaha DG series and Line 6 stuff. I loved the flexability, everything in one box, and the ease of use (esp. the DG stuff) but when it came down to it I couldn't get any happening tones live. Bummer because I REALLY wanted to make that stuff work. I've heard the AXE/FX shuts up most modeling naysayers, I really wish they made a "dumbed down" version.

I was playing mine tonight, putting it into the effects return of one of my Mesa Marks and a Mesa 3/4 back 1x12 with EVM-12L. Turned on the Axe's power amp modelling but off the cab sims. Set up a simple patch with basically just an amp model and started trying the various models and it was killer. Clean sounded great, plexi's sounded great, mesa models sounded great, and the heavy ass german metal amps ( Das Metal!) were killin. The EVM is a flat enough sounding speaker to let the amp characters come though.

The nice thing about that setup was that the Mesa's Graphic EQ is after the efx return, so I could still use that for global tone shaping, and the master volume worked too. I think that would be a very workable rig for a cover band gig and still fairly compact. The disadvantage is not taking advantage of the cab sims, but that doesn't bother me much.

Stike Veteran HFCer

Stike

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Yeah I'm not really concerned with cab sims, I like air moving behind me. The rack rig presentlly is an old Peavey Rockmaster/TC G System/ Peavey Classic 60/60. The RM into the Classic 60 sounds awesome. I'm having a bitch of a time getting the G System happening with the rest of the rig though. The FX/routing alone of the AXE/FX have me intrigued. I'm seriouslly thinking of dumping the G and getting the Fractal but damn it's spendy.

silentman Veteran HFCer

silentman

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It's on my short list. I too was a little scared to drop $2K on one without getting my hands on it first. I contacted Cliff (fractal designer) and found he's in NH. He said I could come on by and try one out directly and that's what I plan to do shortly.

SteveB Veteran HFCer

SteveB

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I like that they come with a 2-week trial/return period. I'm sure I'll like it. I think I will wait until their controller comes out before I buy one.

The presets arn't likely to blow you away, so make sure you spend some time learning to setup patches for your own system as well. Most of the presets are so overeffected its hard to hear what is actually going on, so I recommend just finding a patch with the least amount of "stuff in it", bypassing everything except the amp and cab, and playing with those for a while. If you are going into a guitar cab, you will probably want to turn off the global cab sim switch, and may or may not want to turn off the global power amp switch as well. I leave the global power amp switch on so that I can crank the "master" on the Plexi models, etc.

  • 1 month later...
SouthernShred Outer Circle

SouthernShred

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I'm using an AxeFX Standard running direct now and I love it...I have no desire for a tube amp any more...my sound and tone are so...complete and full

  • 3 weeks later...
AdmiralB Inner Circle

AdmiralB

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I've had one for three weeks. It's pretty...amazing.

I've wanted to use a DMA for a long time. I've used all the Line 6 products, the Yamaha DGs, and the Vox Tonelabs. They've all worked great as recording devices, or as headphone amps, but until now, nothing has worked well as a live setup. The L6 stuff has this...well, I call it the Line 6 sound...on everything. OK on recordings, SUQ live. The Vox stuff seems to lose its dynamics. The DG Stomp actually works really well into a power amp and guitar cabs, until you get to band volume. Then it sounds synthetic (I do use this setup for living room practice, though).

The Fractal really gets it. The presets (as always) are totally geared to recording - lots of delay and reverb on most all of them - but if you take that away, and just run an amp sim, it really works. Touch, feel...it's all there. And the effects are pretty much as good as it gets, too.

I haven't tried it into a PA yet, but into a QSC PLX and guitar cabs (with cab sims turned off), you promptly forget you're playing a computer.

silentman Veteran HFCer

silentman

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Out for delivery. Yeah, effects are cool, but I hear ya on stripping it back and dialing in the sounds you like, then adding the effects back on to taste.

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