AxeFX II Arrives!

[Cagey]

Happy days! My AxeFX II arrived yesterday.

Ain't she purty?

Naturally, since while I'm an old curmudgeon I still like to see things nekkid every once in a while, I had to take it's cover off.

Sounds good, too. Now all I gotta do is learn how to play guitar. Oh, and figure out how this thing works.

 

[TBurst Std]

Congrats! My coupon came yesterday, but alas the Goodall took out the gear budget. So I will be using my Ultra until summer.

If you have any Qs, feel free to PM me.

 

[Cagey]

Thanks!

I'm sure you don't resent the Goodall <grin>

I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions as time goes on, but it works fine out of the box so at this point I'm just trying to put some distance between me and Over Whelmed, and Over Whelmed's easily amused cousin Flabber Gasted.

 

[mayfly]

Very nice!  I notice there is no fan. That's an improvement right there!

 

[Cagey]

Actually, there is a fan, but it's mounted to the top cover on some conical rubber standoffs so it didn't show up in the shots I posted. It's just a little 60mm unit from Dynatron.

It was weird because I'd read a number of complaints online regarding fan noise, but I didn't hear any fan when I first powered it up, and in looking around the enclosure I couldn't find an intake or exhaust vent. But, it's in there. It just doesn't get any makeup air or get rid of any heat. I suspect it's there more for insurance than anything else, and if it's doing any good at all it's because of the relative volume of space in the enclosure. Whole lotta nothing in there.

I guess I lucked out with my fan, or perhaps this is a different part than they've been using. It's not a particularly tricky part, as fans go. If anyone got a bad unit or is otherwise that aggravated by it, it would be child's play to put in a Papst or Noctua fan that would make the thing essentially silent and would last forever.

 

[TBurst Std]

I don't know about people mentioning fan noise. Its much less than typical noise put out from a tube amp.

Still bonding with the Goodall. At times it is good, other times it is great. Still working on the amplification of it. Yanked the UST and relying on the SBT. (FYI its all passive). Thinking of getting an int cond mic as well and blend it with SBT. Right now I run into a Yamaha AG Stomp. (yeah I could easily run into the AXE, but I would like to not be reliant on it for acoustic). I may ditch that and go Avalon U5. Though I have heard some great things about Redeye pre/DI. Still all up in the air.

Here is a yt link to someone (a friend of mine) who has been using the AXE for a number of years. Just something short and simple about amp and cab. You may recognize him if you visit TGP as he is a mod there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mCO2j4lTfo

 

[winger]

Some fan's were noisier than others. People were mostly complaining about a sort of whining noise. No issue when playing live. But in a studio environment this could be considered disturbing by some. YMMV

I had a new one sent out to me by the European distributor. Exchanged it, and so far it's been a lot quieter.

Congrats on the AxeII. You'll be digging it for a long time to come. It isn't too hard a learning curve either. Start out with the basics. The advanced options might not even be of interest for a very long time.

 

[Cagey]

I'm having a blast just with the presets it came with. What a magical device!

 

[fdesalvo]

I'm having a blast just with the presets it came with. What a magical device!

That's what I didn't need to see.  In fact, that's all I see regarding this device. 

I've been down the ADA and Line6 road a few times, gigging with the XT Live running through a clean tube amp and it was nightmarish.  I'm really curious about these and the samples on YouTube are stunning.  I found myself doing more tweaking than playing and I'm concerned this would be the case if I went down this road again.  I could see it kicking all kinds of ass in a studio setting. 

 

[Cagey]

I've had a number of different modelers/emulators/SFX processors both internal and external to the amp, but nothing can touch this thing. They're not even in the same universe. I'm not sure what the guy did to get this kind of performance, but it's clearly a different approach than anyone else is using. Save your pennies and get one. You not only won't be sorry, you may end up with a lotta extra room in the house from selling off all your other gear.

 

[mayfly]

I've used the ADA back in the day. I sold it for a deluxe reverb and my sound improved dramatically. 

These days I use my axe fx for everything. Still have the deluxe mind you, but it never gets turned on.

Get one.

 

[winger]

Since it's still fairly new, the biggest treat is being on board the
firmware update ride. New amps, high resolution amp models, tape delay,
IR capture to name à few.... And the guys at Fractal don't seem to be taking
à break just yet.

 

[fdesalvo]

Haha as my Royal Atlantic 100 head arrives today!  I'll look into these for sure.

 

[Cagey]

Since it's still fairly new, the biggest treat is being on board the firmware update ride.

That is unusual, isn't it? Software development requires high-priced talent and is very time-consuming. That they continue to offer free upgrades, especially for something so desirable that people would line up to pay for it, is nothing short of amazing.

 

[TBurst Std]

Glad you are enjoying it Cagey. I love my Ultra. I got the coupon for the II, but no go as I spent the bankroll on a Goodall.
Honestly, this stuff is the real deal. I have never looked back since getting it. Honestly I feel blessed every week when I get to use it when playing for others. (On avg about 700 a set).

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Cagey, you need to head over to the Fractal Forum. I've heard of some very cool things the AXE-FX can do, like delay times and depth being pitch controlled. Meaning it can add more delay time and depth as note pitch goes up. Say you're chugging some cool lower register chords and rhythms with a tight focused sound, then as you start moving up the neck into solo note territory the delay times and depth automatically get longer and deeper to make your solo bigger, then cleans back up as you go back down the neck and start doing rhythm again. Things like that.

 

[Cagey]

I have been spending some time over there. I'm just not participating because I'm still too overwhelmed. So, I lurk and read, and the more I read the more incredible the thing gets, and the more intimidated I am.

I think what I need is a "project" that'll force me to wrangle the thing a bit. Something like "get Robin Trower's tone on 'The Fool and Me'", so I have a target to shoot at rather than just blindly poking at things and hoping I don't screw it up.

 

[MrValentine]

I'm thinking about saving for one of these for my studio, should i get the II or the ultra if i can find one? Live I'll still play my tube amps just because I love em for live playing...not so much at home

 

[bagman67]

Cagey:


Try this:


Go get Robin Trower's tone on "The Fool and Me."


Report back with your findings.  Let's make it a 3/3/2012 deadline.


You're welcome!


Bagman

 

[Cagey]

Thanks! I'll get right on that.