kleydj13
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Came home from work yesterday to be greeted by this:
Pretty excited about trying the AX8 out, so I wanted to share some first impressions. Probably won't be anything particularly new or enlightening for most, but here are my thoughts anyways.
Background
For the sake of context let's start with where I am coming from. I've been using modelers heavily for a while now. HD500, 11R, Zoom G3, etc... I used an Axe-Fx II mk. I for a few years. Most recently I ran a pedalboard built around an Atomic Amplifire. I also have a number of tube amps that I built myself and use mostly for fun in my basement. But for most practicing, recording, and live playing I use modelers.
Impressions
- The unit was smaller than I expected. I really loved this. Not including an attached expression pedal is awesome IMO. Gives me the option to buy one if I want it, or not if I don't.
- The tones REALLY impressed me straight away. I probably spent 20 minutes noodling on the first stock Twin preset. I was mostly trying to get used to the footswitches, but ended up loving the tones too. I spent a lot of time comparing the Amplifire to the Axe-Fx II I had a while back. I'm sure there is some element of confirmation bias or wallet bias or whatever. But the AX8 sounded awesome. So did the Amplifire.
- Firmware updates really add up over time. When I owned the II and was updating firmware immediately upon release, I don't know if I noticed all of the improvements being made. Many are subtle. But having missed a year's worth of firmware updates I definitely noticed a number of things that were 'better' than my memory. The feel of the pick attack. Having some new drive models or delay models. Updated IRs.
- Returning to the grid layout is AWESOME in the AX8. I am completely over the moon with how this thing does switching and control over effects, scenes, x / y, and presets. Coming from individual stomp boxes and the Amplifire, and before that with the II, I used a FCB1010 midi controller - the control you have with those 11 switches on a relatively compact board is really impressive. The amount of ground you can cover in one preset is incredible.
- The amp block as a whole is incredible. Having 200+ amp models is one thing - but to have each of them sound great and be very accurate to the original is impressive. And in the last year my time spent building my own tube amps, learning about circuits, and digging into the inner workings of my favorite amps - it gives me a whole new appreciation for the depth of the AX8's amp block. For example, I built a 5E3 and experimented with putting a blackface tone stack into the amp. Took me about a week. On the Axe you can do that in a few button presses. And in the real amp there is usually tradeoffs with potentially added noise or having more potential failure points.
One thing I will add is that some of the parameters are a little 'safe'. Meaning in a real amp if you crank up the B+ or something like that, at some point it explodes. Or if you set the bias really far off it completely ruins the amp. In the Axe some of these changes are more subtle and safe compared to the real world. Not necessarily a criticism. It probably doesn't really make much sense to be capable of tweaking a digital amp to the point of not functioning. Just that the 'realism' is checked to some extent.
- Some thoughts comparing the Axe-Fx II to the AX8. The physical form factor the AX8 is so much better for me. I LOVE not having to haul the rack and pedalboard around. Some tradeoffs though. The biggest is only a single reverb block. Stacking multiple reverbs together in an ambient context is a trick I use pretty frequently. The single amp block will also be a limitation in some instances. I hit the CPU cap and have resorted to only using normal res reverbs. I have to dial it back just a little with my desire to get EVERY TOAN POSSIBLE on one preset.
- The on board UI is a miss with me. The location of some buttons is kind of non-intuitive. The way the different knobs work to scroll around through stuff is kinda wonky IMO. I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet. I pretty much threw in the towel for learning and just used the PC editor - which works wonderfully. I think I will simply have to spend some time learning how it works. Probably true for lots of things related to Fractal. But the payoff is there...
Pretty excited about trying the AX8 out, so I wanted to share some first impressions. Probably won't be anything particularly new or enlightening for most, but here are my thoughts anyways.
Background
For the sake of context let's start with where I am coming from. I've been using modelers heavily for a while now. HD500, 11R, Zoom G3, etc... I used an Axe-Fx II mk. I for a few years. Most recently I ran a pedalboard built around an Atomic Amplifire. I also have a number of tube amps that I built myself and use mostly for fun in my basement. But for most practicing, recording, and live playing I use modelers.
Impressions
- The unit was smaller than I expected. I really loved this. Not including an attached expression pedal is awesome IMO. Gives me the option to buy one if I want it, or not if I don't.
- The tones REALLY impressed me straight away. I probably spent 20 minutes noodling on the first stock Twin preset. I was mostly trying to get used to the footswitches, but ended up loving the tones too. I spent a lot of time comparing the Amplifire to the Axe-Fx II I had a while back. I'm sure there is some element of confirmation bias or wallet bias or whatever. But the AX8 sounded awesome. So did the Amplifire.
- Firmware updates really add up over time. When I owned the II and was updating firmware immediately upon release, I don't know if I noticed all of the improvements being made. Many are subtle. But having missed a year's worth of firmware updates I definitely noticed a number of things that were 'better' than my memory. The feel of the pick attack. Having some new drive models or delay models. Updated IRs.
- Returning to the grid layout is AWESOME in the AX8. I am completely over the moon with how this thing does switching and control over effects, scenes, x / y, and presets. Coming from individual stomp boxes and the Amplifire, and before that with the II, I used a FCB1010 midi controller - the control you have with those 11 switches on a relatively compact board is really impressive. The amount of ground you can cover in one preset is incredible.
- The amp block as a whole is incredible. Having 200+ amp models is one thing - but to have each of them sound great and be very accurate to the original is impressive. And in the last year my time spent building my own tube amps, learning about circuits, and digging into the inner workings of my favorite amps - it gives me a whole new appreciation for the depth of the AX8's amp block. For example, I built a 5E3 and experimented with putting a blackface tone stack into the amp. Took me about a week. On the Axe you can do that in a few button presses. And in the real amp there is usually tradeoffs with potentially added noise or having more potential failure points.
One thing I will add is that some of the parameters are a little 'safe'. Meaning in a real amp if you crank up the B+ or something like that, at some point it explodes. Or if you set the bias really far off it completely ruins the amp. In the Axe some of these changes are more subtle and safe compared to the real world. Not necessarily a criticism. It probably doesn't really make much sense to be capable of tweaking a digital amp to the point of not functioning. Just that the 'realism' is checked to some extent.
- Some thoughts comparing the Axe-Fx II to the AX8. The physical form factor the AX8 is so much better for me. I LOVE not having to haul the rack and pedalboard around. Some tradeoffs though. The biggest is only a single reverb block. Stacking multiple reverbs together in an ambient context is a trick I use pretty frequently. The single amp block will also be a limitation in some instances. I hit the CPU cap and have resorted to only using normal res reverbs. I have to dial it back just a little with my desire to get EVERY TOAN POSSIBLE on one preset.
- The on board UI is a miss with me. The location of some buttons is kind of non-intuitive. The way the different knobs work to scroll around through stuff is kinda wonky IMO. I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet. I pretty much threw in the towel for learning and just used the PC editor - which works wonderfully. I think I will simply have to spend some time learning how it works. Probably true for lots of things related to Fractal. But the payoff is there...
and the minimal visual feed back ultimately drove me away from the AX8. But it always sounded great.
