Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

[Red_Label]

... Missing-out on an age-old discussion that rivals religion and politics in terms of the bickering, ill-will, devotion, gear-worship, etc. Honestly, in all of my years of owning, playing, and being into all sorts of guitar-related gear, I've NEVER before seen a piece of gear generate such a guaranteed war at the mere mention of it. Many of those who own them seem ready to go to battle at the slightest possibility that someone dared to disrespected their gear. I've never before seen such defensiveness. I mean, if someone makes some comment like "Marshalls suck" or "Fenders suck", most of us just chuckle to ourselves and move along. Why? Because those amps flat-out speak for themsevles. Even the dreaded "Gibson battle threads" don't take on the level of emotion that Fractal-related threads do. But you point such facts out to the Fractal owners, and they just come unglued. Most Gibson owners and devotees hardly take notice when someone's taking pot-shots at the Gibson company.

It's just weird. There's another tired Axe-FX thread going-on at TGP and my sole post [up to that point] was "it's more like a religion to some people here". And I got called a "hater" and such. Just for that. I swear -- for having enough money to buy these things, some of these guys seem like 12-year old geeks in school who's entire universe comes crashing-down when someone else dare not drink the same koolaid.

BTW... me thinks they doth protest too much and it honestly makes me question why (no doubt spending that much money on a modeler has something to do with it for some).

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

hater!

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Dont worry, red...all those devotees will move on to the next thing soon. I think tho...you now owe it to TGP to wind them up a bit more and really get the zealots fired up

ps. i still have not gone for the eleven yet until i get to try one out for real.

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

you want some of this!

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Dont worry, red...all those devotees will move on to the next thing soon. I think tho...you now owe it to TGP to wind them up a bit more and really get the zealots fired up

ps. i still have not gone for the eleven yet until i get to try one out for real.

What's wacky is that I'm not even trying to fire them up. I mean, it IS funny to wind-up people who take themselves too seriously. Most of that place seems to be that way (excepting the tech forums). What's ironic, is that a lot of the big names that many of us know of (Don Grosh, Scumback Speakers, etc) post over there. And most of those guys are TOTALLY cool and don't even got too wound-up when someone criticises their gear. Now you'd think that the guys who actually CREATED the gear would be defensive, but most of them are laid-back and do their best to educate people about their gear in a professional, patient, kind manner. It's the koolaid drinking disciples who are the nutty people who go-off the deep end. Honestly, it's a LOT like religion in that manner (not trying to bring-up religion -- just pointing-out that some of the people take things too far).

Still digging my 11R, but right now I'm definitely a bigger fan of it running into a power amp and then to a guitar cab. I haven't yet found the settings with it through my mixing board and PA speakers that sound near as good as running it through my Rocktron Velocity solid state power amp and 4X12. Used like a guitar rig it sounds and feels a LOT like a tube rig. Still kind of freaks me out sometimes how tube-like it is. And I'm sure that the Fractal does as well. But I paid $620 for my 11R and the Fractals go for 2X, 3X, and 4X that. Plus, 11R owners just aren't wound-up like Fractal owners are. You'd think that after spending all of that dough, they would just kind of hang-out with the swagger of knowing how great their gear is, instead of childishly defending their gear like it was their kid sister. They dump on 11R owners all the time and the 11R guys just sort of shrug it off. Many of those 11R owners have owned both and prefered it over the Fractal. I swear... I've never seen such thin skins...

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

you want some of this!

You want a piece of me?!?!?!


:sword:

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Tag knows tone.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

A friend of mine has an Ultra, and it rocks. I really don't see what the debate is, other than people wanting to start crap.

They sound great, have an almost infinite number of tweaks, and is quite affordable for what it does, and the free updates.

 

[UCSDBoy]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Please don't start with Axe-Fx. =)

The processor that they have in that is like the cadillac of the SHARC series - it's still fundamentally (well that might be a stretch) the same processor that's in the PODs and PODHDs though. I hear people are really loving the new PODHDs - that might be a worthy discussion - even the guy who did the Axe-FX said PODHD500 should compare roughly to the Axe-FX standard.

 

[UCSDBoy]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Personally I think people go gaga over the quantity of sounds that come out of modelers, and eventually many realize there's only a handful of tones that they really want and use. Then they go out and buy a decent amp and throw the modeler away. =)

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

The Axe still kills the PODHD, but they both still suck when it comes to cabinet modelling.

That said...

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/660210-axe-fx-vs-triple-rectifier-clip.html

The clip in that thread really impresses me; I may have to bite the bullet and get another one. The amount of GAS I have for a slew of different tones is ridiculous, and I can't afford/don't have the room for an AC30, JCM800, Plexi, Cornford, Rectifier, Blackface, etc...

 

[YHWH]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

... dunno about the "FX" in it but the amps in Axe-FX still don't impress me. *IMO* the overdrive in the amp models sounds grainy & artificial, "padded" & compressed... NOT "raw", biting, open & edgy like a real tube amp. Plus the $2K+ price for Ultra is waay out of my budget anyway... :banghead:

... sure... POD/POD Farm sux in general.... but their modeling tones can be vastly *improved* by using Impulse Response cabinet models found on the 'Net (many of which are FREE), instead of the stock POD cabinet models. Personally I use POD Farm as a VST w/ KefIR for the cabinet IRs & am also running the audio @ 96kz on a multi-CPU comp which is more powerful than the processor on the Axe-FX. So considering the low cost of the POD Farm "dongle" (TonePort) which I paid barely over $100 bucks for & the free IRs on the Net... I think I made out well... :friday:

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

So considering the low cost of the POD Farm "dongle" (TonePort) which I paid barely over $100 bucks for & the free IRs on the Net... I think I made out well... :friday:

Just FWIW, you're destroying the quality of your tones by using the TonePort as a DI. $100 bucks for a DI box + A/D conversion means quite a bit of corner-cutting.

 

[Binnerscot]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

I am have been keeping an eye for an Axe-FX Ultra...just for the FX...I don't really even want the "modeling" crap and would simply by-pass it.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

What's ironic, is that a lot of the big names that many of us know of (Don Grosh, Scumback Speakers, etc) post over there.

What's really ironic is that you praise Grosh in a thread bagging on TGP's fascination with the AxeFX: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=846902

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Damn thing sounds awful...

W/ Blackouts



DI into ProTools

 

[YHWH]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

Just FWIW, you're destroying the quality of your tones by using the TonePort as a DI. $100 bucks for a DI box + A/D conversion means quite a bit of corner-cutting.

... true. Anyway POD Farm won't work w/o the TonePort box... so I'm stuck... until I get a real amp, mic & mixer again...

 

[Virtual Kevorkian]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

... true. Anyway POD Farm won't work w/o the TonePort box... so I'm stuck... until I get a real amp, mic & mixer again...

They actually make an iLok-licensed version that runs on just the dongle, which I use all the time. I do the same thing; running it into external IR's, but I still find the preamps to be a bit lacking in the 'feel' department.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

What's really ironic is that you praise Grosh in a thread bagging on TGP's fascination with the AxeFX: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=846902

I'm a bit confused. Grosh posted the OP of that thread, praising the Axe. But all of the posts I've seen from him have been respectful, and well-stated. So I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say (did I miss some punctuation or something?).

 

[Despair]

Re: Not enough Axe-FX discussion around here. You guys are missing-out...

I'm glad Fractal Audio gave the modelling scene a much-needed kick in the pants, it seemed like it was pretty stagnant since Vox's early entries. Different models, more models at once, but no real progress in modelling techniques in the hardware-based modellers.

I haven't heard an 11R, but I've been impressed by most of the AxeFX clips I've heard, particularly Mark Day's.

Two of the same amp may not respond the same, no surprise given 10-20% component tolerances depending on era of amp. Vary the tubes and things get stranger. Of course a model doesn't sound/feel precisely like your particular specimen. I've heard pianists do the same thing over sampled pianos, yet a really good sample set is indistinguishable to the listener.

When they start making user-moddable modellers, things will really start to get wild. And the people scared of too many knobs will never come out from under their beds.