📊Opinions on the AXE-fx III in 2024?

[Tone Monster]

One thing that does annoy me is the attitude that only gigs and recording matter. Who cares unless it is used "in the real world"

I would argue there are far more people who play in thier bedrooms for fun, and in the room feel and tone is extremely important for a huge percentage of players in general. Many people don't care about gigs and recording.

+1. Thanks for adding logic to this thread.

 

[japetus]

plz give me trash I am amp poor

 

[VESmedic]

I'm new to modeling with the AXE III being my first Fractal (had it 3 years now), I have no idea how significant a leap it made over the previous models but after extensive use I just find it difficult to believe the axe 4 (if that's even really happening) would be that big of a leap forward, the 3 already sounds like the real deal in a full mix setting.

I actually plan on doing a few devious little experiments when/if a new model launches and share some tracks recorded with the III but claiming it's the 4 LOL and see how folks react! I could see it now: "Duuuude! Sounds killer, I need one!"

Exactly. If/when the 4 ever comes out, I’m not sure what the aim of it will be or what features will be “game changing” ( YouTube’s favorite clickbait phrase), but I would bet it wouldn’t be as focused on better tones/modeling like the previous incarnations were with every new generation of modeler ( axe 1 to axe 2, axe 2 to 3 etc) because it truly is “ there”, I mean it just is. I’m as critical as it gets, and listen in all types of ways and situations; to me it’s there, I’ve got no reason to be against modeling in the least.

 

[Greazygeo]

Never tried one. It might be cool but can’t bring myself to cough up 2-3k for a digital piece of gear. They probanly sound ok for high gain and clean, but I live in the mid gain world and all modelers suck at it. Same thing for rolling back on the volume and changing picking.
Convenience would be nice.

 

[VESmedic]

Never tried one. It might be cool but can’t bring myself to cough up 2-3k for a digital piece of gear. They probanly sound ok for high gain and clean, but I live in the mid gain world and all modelers suck at it. Same thing for rolling back on the volume and changing picking.
Convenience would be nice.

So you’ve never tried one….yet, you know “all modelers suck at it”….




you people kill me greazy I know you’ve been around a long time but come on man….surely you see why that comment looks ridiculous.

Look people can hate on whatever they want, I hate on the most over rated amp of all time, mostly because it hurts a lot of those fanboys feelings, but that’s a different story. But atleast bring some “logic” into why you feel this way. This applies to anything we discuss here: be it amps, guitars, modelers, whatever.

 

[kmanick]

Had a II XL for about 8 years. Loved it at home for practicing and recording.
Ran it into an Atomic CLR Neo, sounded killer.
joined a band where the other guitarist was using a Bogner. got squashed
ran it into a Fryette 2502 and then a Mesa 50/50
all the models sounded the same through a tube power amp.
tried through the Matrix and the Duncan Power stage, sounded great , felt "tiny"
sold it all and bought my Splawn, haven't looked back, I may buy a III when I finally stop gigging but sticking with the tubes for now.
I think if you're in a band with 2 guitarists they both need to use modeling for it to work.

 

[glpg80]

What is “ lots of testing”?

It’s when someone plays guitar enough to come to the clear conclusion a piece of gear doesn’t live up their standards, needs, wants, etc. especially for the price of admission.

 

[VESmedic]

Had a II XL for about 8 years. Loved it at home for practicing and recording.
Ran it into an Atomic CLR Neo, sounded killer.
joined a band where the other guitarist was using a Bogner. got squashed
ran it into a Fryette 2502 and then a Mesa 50/50
all the models sounded the same through a tube power amp.
tried through the Matrix and the Duncan Power stage, sounded great , felt "tiny"
sold it all and bought my Splawn, haven't looked back, I may buy a III when I finally stop gigging but sticking with the tubes for now.
I think if you're in a band with 2 guitarists they both need to use modeling for it to work.

Wow…would you look at that, someone who makes sense and gives all of his thoughts with sound reason of why he feels a certain way. What a concept. To each their own, but this is an opinion I can respect, although I feel differently.

I feel the same way about the Diezel Herbert. I love that amp to death in the room ( gasp), and recording. It sounds insane under a mic. But live? It got buried everytime, no matter what I did. This was a 2 guitar band though , I think with a one guitar band it would “probably” be fine. But even still, there’s many people who make it work and sound great live, but many of those have way more resources than I do as well.

 

[glpg80]

Yea homie, you’re right. You’re always so polite, I’m just singling you out, it’s all everyone else’s fault…”boo hoo he started it daddy, see?!”…..


Whose the liberal requiring pronouns now????

I’m not the one identifying my safe space as the AXEFX forum

 

[VESmedic]

i'm just a hobbyist at home so i dont need anything fancy...its a nice to have, not a need to have

how did you fare with the kemper? reliability wise?

I played probably, I dunno, 600+ shows with the kemper probably? Never had one single hiccup or issue. Not once. No turning off and turning back on, freezing, nothing. Not one problem with the footswitch either. 10/10 in that department for sure.

 

[Nashville Riff Co]

I played probably, I dunno, 600+ shows with the kemper probably? Never had one single hiccup or issue. Not once. No turning off and turning back on, freezing, nothing. Not one problem with the footswitch either. 10/10 in that department for sure.

you think the axe 3 sounds better though?

 

[VESmedic]

I’m not the one identifying my safe space as the AXEFX forum

Cool, I live in Florida, your logic is about as sound as newsomes, please stay there .

 

[Ben Waylin]

That five year old smart phone you have sitting in a drawer is more powerful.

I was really surprised that thing didn't appreciate in value.

 

[VESmedic]

you think the axe 3 sounds better though?

Without a doubt, 100 percent. The kemper at the time was the best to me, it was far and away the most realistic and it took a decade in my opinion to dethrone it from that. But the axe 3 IS that much better to me. Why? The feel number one. The kemper makes everything feel the same. It’s got this hyper compressed bottom end thing going on that makes everything feel the same, especially through a cabinet and using a power amp. The midrange gets super smeary on it, there’s like this sheen over the midrange that makes everything cloudy to me. It’s not something you notice right away, but it’ll annoy the shit out of you when you do realize it.

I always wanted a modeler that behaved like the real amp. The kemper never did that ( I guess until very recently) and I was always envious with how the axe used algorithms that made the EQ behave and function like the real amp. It’s even more insane now with how accurate that is with it. How the master volume interacts like the real amp, how the tone stack behaves exactly like, and I mean exactly like my real dual rectifier. I always loved that about the axe. I did not like how you were basically “stuck” with someone else’s idea of a good tone when using profiles not created by yourself. All of these things I did not like at all, but at the time it was still the most accurate emulation out there, hardly anyone would’ve disagreed during those times, even axe fx guys. Is the kemper still good sounding? Of course, no doubt. It’s still fantastic if you don’t put it in context with what else is out nowadays. But the game has definitely changed, and the bar has definitely been raised in the last few years.

 

[pipboy90]

What is “ lots of testing”?

Turning on/off every possible setting that could affect the sound on both the Axe III and the Fryette LXII and then comparing the setup with a real amp, in headphones, connected to a cabinet, at volume during band practice, etc.

I eventually came to the conclusion that the real amps felt better to play and had more detail to the sound. They just sounded better and inspired me to play more than the Axe models.

Trust me, I would have loved to own a magic box that sounded as good as most of the amps that currently exist. Would have saved me lots of money. But I didn’t find that to be the case.

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

I was really surprised that thing didn't appreciate in value.

It may still when it becomes more common knowledge that newer arm architectures are easily susceptible to malicious code injection via memory. Given it took twenty+ years for it to come to light with Intel (though known by the nerd communities since the late 90s), you'll probably have to wait until it's no longer useful for intelligence agencies. In the meantime soak up that 5g!

 

[kmanick]

Turning on/off every possible setting that could affect the sound on both the Axe III and the Fryette LXII and then comparing the setup with a real amp, in headphones, connected to a cabinet, at volume during band practice, etc.

I eventually came to the conclusion that the real amps felt better to play and had more detail to the sound. They just sounded better and inspired me to play more than the Axe models.

Trust me, I would have loved to own a magic box that sounded as good as most of the amps that currently exist. Would have saved me lots of money. But I didn’t find that to be the case.

How is the Fryette LXII? I was going to give that a try before I sold my Axe II but it was delayed and I never got my hands on one
I run my Splawn into a Captor X at every show (I made a blended IR that sounds killer) so the FRFR thing is not foreign to me , I just could not get "the feel" with the fractal that I do with my Splawn or my Mark IV

 

[Ben Waylin]

In the meantime soak up that 5g!

We don't get 5G where I live.

 

[NowYou'rePlayingWithPower]

We don't get 5G where I live.

 

[Shask]

These are some great responses. Its interesting seeing how individuals use this unit in their own situations.

And the quad cortex was another good suggestion for these type of endeavors.

I think in some way, it can also be seen as an option when you feel weird about moving a head you paid an exorbitant amount of money for in and out of local/semi local locations. And so you need to case it up. And at that point you start thinking hmm... how close can I get to this tone with a modeler that fits in a rack so I can just suit case it up and feel less picky about it.

I have noticed if a knob gets bumped on the Herbert, depending which one it is, barely bumping it changes the tone.

Recording.. it seems like a very useful tool.

To answer the actual question... I have had different Fractal units for over 15 years. I still have an Axe II, and an FM3.

I do think they have continued to get better over time in terms of tone and feel. They are pretty much the best digital thing you can get, and whether you prefer it into studio monitors for recording, FRFR for playing, or through a traditional poweramp and cab.

People also forget how powerful they are for effects and routing/switching. You can pretty much do anything you have ever wanted. If you want a switching system with 10 different "pedals" within a W/D/W rig, with 8 different amps.... you can easily do that in a preset. You dont need a room full of shit with 100 feet of cables.

That being said, if you listen critically for specific tones you prefer, you are probably going to find shortcomings compared to a tube rig. It is gonna feel different, or be more fizzy, or be blurrier, or something. A lot of it comes down to how much you are willing to sacrifice for everything you gain, and I also think type of music is a big deal. I think if you play smooth 80s leads, or clean with effects, it is hard to notice. The high gain chunka chunka stuff is harder to get.

For example, I have been loving my Synergy rack lately. I use my Axe II through a parallel mixer for effects. I dont run it straight through because I notice how it changes the dynamics and punch. Someone else might not care if having the routable effects, gate, EQ, etc... is more important, but to me, in Madison Square Bedroom, the smallest things bug me. You will find several posts out there from me talking about how it messes with the Dynamics of tubes. However, that doesn't mean I dont still love my Fractal gear. I have just found I prefer my tube gear to remain analog, and my digital modelers to not combine with tubes.

Overall, you do need to tweak it for your use though. What I do through a tube amp into cabs is very different than how I tweak through monitors. I switch back and forth between my tube stuff and using my FM3 as a complete unit. I do notice feel changes, but I am also neurotic about comparing them, lol. In the end, Fractals are great, but I dont think it is fair to always compare just with your favorite tube amps for one specific thing. The amp will probably win. However, if you compare it as an overall system, there are far more comparable points to consider.