Spent an evening with it. Some observations and comparisons to the Vox tonelab
1 - the out of the box settings in the AxeFX are better than the out of the box settings in the tonelab, but that's not saying much.
2 - the out of the box settings in the AxeFX are worse than my hand tweaked settings in the tonelab - but I've been tweaking the tonelab for over a year.
3 - the AxeFX is one very complex unit. There are so many knobs in the amp model alone it's really hard to know which knob to turn to get a desired effect. For example, I put together a patch for my 'clean' sound - an AC15 into a 1x12 into a delay. I was getting some mud on the low notes, and it took me forever to find the source - it was the LF Resonance in the 'amp geek' section of the amp model. I gotta say - that's pretty esoteric. The tonelab is about 10x simpler - which of course is a double edged sword. Simpler is easier to understand, but when you want to make an adjustment and the knob you need is not there, you are pretty much stuck.
4 - the user interface appears complex when you first start, but when you get into it it becomes easier. I imagine that I'll eventually just use the editor on my Mac.
5 - the delay used in my little patch is astounding. An incredible sounding delay. I nearly cried.
6 - the groovy pedalboard is pretty cool. Once the AxeFX is setup, it's pretty much plug and play - no need to tweak it. And it's smaller than the tonelab with 4x as many buttons. Yes, I already have plans for these buttons.
7 - the various models are pretty close to the tonelab in overall tone. For example, the various speaker / Cab models sound like their counterparts in the tonelab. But - the AxeFX lets you model the microphone as well - something that the tonelab cannot do. Actually, in case it's not obvious, the overall flexibility of the unit is pretty incredible. However, you really need to understand what sounds you are going after or you will be lost.
8 - feel - jury is still out. Not instantly in love with the touch response. We'll see after a week of fiddling.
and
9 - Hey! There was a loose screw inside there! While playing with it I wanted to get a better look at the display so I tilted the unit up - and I heard the screw rattle of death. Well, gave me an excuse to take it apart. The loose screw was a capture nut of the type used to attach the mains supply jack to the chassis. It appears to have been dropped in accidentally during final assembly. pulled it out and no harm done. The unit itself is pretty good quality, but there are areas of improvement: Not all of the cables are locking for example, and the dressing on the leads for the cooling fan leaves much to be desired. It's ok, but it's not astounding. And although there is a cooling fan, there is no ductwork in the unit to pull in ambient air. I question the utility of the fan in this case. Having said all that, the overall circuitry quality is the best that I've seen in a guitar amp type application.
The final analysis is still TBD. Seems like it's got some pretty nice sounds, but it will take me some time to get my usual patches into it. I also need to work on the feel of the unit. With what I've got it doing now, it does not have the touch response that I'm used to.
I'll 'touch' base again in a week.
ccasion14: