Quote:
Originally Posted by
RavenVoice
I know it seems crazy that I'm having these second thoughts about the Axe-FX II simply down to the way the company conducts itself, but it's a lot of money to spend & when a company shows such blatant disregard & distain toward it's customers then it does make you think twice.
It's not crazy. I had been considering an Axe-Fx for several years. I was luckily able to get an
Axe-Fx II the first week it came out. I was trying to work out some input anomalies and Fractal's only advice to me was that the
product was not right for me, or my high-end studio reference monitors were the problem. Absolutely no tech support helping troubleshoot what I was hearing. I was not alone in hearing these anomalies:
axe 2 global eq? New axe 2 not amazing, yet?
Getting Buzzing Noise - Help and Suggestions Needed
Solo 99 Clean Cold Solder Joint?
my axe II dose not sound all that great ......
Cant get good sound-some amps/high gain/just not happening
Can't establish a long-term relationship with a manufacturer that has such a
"love it or leave it" attitude and is not receptive to critical feedback (extremely politely and deferentially delivered), especially for an almost $3k digital processor with two rapidly depreciating, decade-old, Analog Devices TigerSHARCs.
Now we are increasingly hearing about
hardware issues, eg bad encoders (turn the knob clockwise and the preset goes down or increases 3-4 at a time), headphone outputs (and inputs) wired opposite to the main outputs on the motherboard, random boot failures. There are obvious QC issues with the units yet Fractal wouldn't even consider that the unit may be the issue, in my case, and put all anomalies on user error or "hearing perception" (Fractal said I am experiencing the "Haas effect"):
One technical problem I'm having with new II
Headphones output left and right reversed?
Trouble powering on the Axe-FX II
my axe fx2 wont turn on anymore!!!!!!
II freezes repeatedly during startup
Furthermore, there was definitely
contradictory information given on technical aspects of the Axe-FX II. I didn't even post it on the FAS board because I knew Fractal, or a mod, would instantly delete it (major censorship on that forum). First Fractal suggested that there was nothing in the circuit between the input and A/D converter. Not satisfied with that answer, based on what I was hearing as well as technical knowledge about digital potentiometers, Fractal then admitted that there is a variable-gain amp between the input and the A/D converter, and re-characterized the definition of the word "input" to mean "input to the A/D converter" (post variable-gain amp), which are two totally different things. Other useful technical questions Fractal didn't answer at all (eg what the scale is for the input LEDs, as they are not labeled):
axe 2 global eq? New axe 2 not amazing, yet? - Page 4
This is what is so great about small companies like Metric Halo, Avedis, BAE and Bricasti. BJ Buchalter (MH), Avedis, Mark Loughman (BAE) and Casey (Bricasti) have been incredibly gracious and informative about their products to customers. So it is definitely possible for small companies to listen to their customers and have great customer service, unlike Fractal.
Here is my nutshell
review of the Axe-Fx II based on one week's use (sorry no sound samples or 6 month evaluation):
PROS:
-Very good high-gain digital models (Friedman, Fryette, Cameron etc).
-Very good effects (on par with some Lexicon & Eventide algorithms).
-Very good latency for live playing feel (due to dedicated Analog Devices TigerSHARC processor).
CONS:
-Mediocre clean models (thin-sounding).
-Mediocre light gain/light crunch models (no Divided By 13, Matchless, Two Rock type models etc; not convinced an actual Dumble was truly modeled).
-Difficult to edit on front-panel LCD.
-Quirky hardware issues (bad encoders, mis-wired headphone outs, random boot failures etc)
-Some amp models had background "digital artifacts" or "anomalies" (bugs, inaccurate bias settings etc)
-Clean and light-gain models only equal to, or marginally better than, other competitors (eg Line 6, IK Amplitube 3 etc) but at more than 10x the cost ($250 VST compared to $2,999 for Axe-Fx II).
-One man operation. If the owner is unavailable for technical repairs, or warranty work, it's unclear who else can service these units in a timely fashion.
-Detailed technical info about these units are not forthcoming (eg input LED scale etc)
-Unclear whether actual amps were modeled in all cases, or only circuit schematics were modeled.
SUMMARY:
-I would recommend the Axe-Fx II only for its effects, B-rack or live use convenience.
-Although it has very good "high-gain" digital models, other approximately similar, or marginally less quality "high-gain" models are available elsewhere at a fraction of the cost (eg Peavey ReValver etc).
-The U.S. dealer (Tone Merchants) sales rep advised me to only buy the Axe-Fx II for the effects, not the modeling. Their advice proved accurate.
-I sold my Axe-Fx II.