It's on the way! Axe-FX 2!!!!!!!!!!!

[Evol]

If it sounded good coming out of the speakers, it makes no sense why he would want to run direct.

If he was running through a real amp and cab and it sounds good as you say, he most likely should not have been running the power amp and cab sims, which would make his direct sound terrible. If that's the case then it makes sense that it sounds like ass.
Barring that, if he were running direct with the amp and cab sims on, it should sound fine, at least through the front and the monitors. Unless he was doing that and trying to monitor his tone through the amp, then once again it would sound like ass.

Having said that, these sound guys that bitch are going to have to suck it up and learn, the future is rapidly moving towards more silent stage setups.

[chrisolson]

Sound guys always want to run these direct. Takes all the guesswork away.

[kmanick]

updated to 8.01a last night, the new Atomica Hi really nails the early Van Halen/cranked marshall type of tones
I love this thing for jamming and recording.
I don't know if I'd use it to gig in an Original band. A cover band for sure, the flexibility would really come in handy
but for Originals(for me) It would be over kill, give me a Mesa mark IV or a V and I think I'd be good to go.
All I 've ever used for efffects live were a delay and a flanger...that's it.
I'd have to try it live to make any kind of "informed" decision.

[Evol]

Same here, updated to 8.01a last night. That new Atomica model is freakin awesome.

Tried the guitar with piezos, it's a Yamaha with maple body/mahogany neck. It sounds ok, but I did 0 tweaking. Some patches it sounds *almost* like a regular acoustic, others I noticed no difference in response to the guitar at all. Once again more tweaking to get some nice acoustic patches will be in order.

I may never sleep again.

[coloradoman25]

I have 0 idea what firmware was used man; when it comes to these type of units especially when I dont own them I spend little to no time paying attention other than letting someone else set up what they liked on it. Im sure with time and patience i could dial it all in. But I know I can dial in what I like with a good set of effects and a nice tube too. There is versatility that I DO NOT HAVE with what im doing; but im comfortable with what I have and it works. Sometime down the road im sure ill make the move; right now im just getting myself back with the shoulder issues, let alone worrying about how technology surpassed me.

BTW I had a GNX3k at one point...that thing pretty much always sounded like canned ass

[Evol]

Most FW pre v6 I wasn't so impressed with, 7 was a huge leap forward and now 8.01a sounds freaking great to my ears. There is simply no way other than to sit down with it and tweak until you get your sound. I cannot believe there is anyone, who plays any style of music whatsoever that cannot get an amazing sound out of this thing, it's just that damn good.

Normally with gear I have a romance with it, then settle in and that's that. This thing keeps me excited every day, and I'm finding out so many new things, and creating such wonderful sounds. That's total inspiration for me, and nothing else gear-wise in my 32 years of playing guitar can compare.

I never played the GNX3, but my 4 was meh, ok for it's time. It took a LONG time to find a very few sounds that were passable enough for me to deal with, and that took adding things in front and on the back end as well. I don't miss it

[markD]

i still greatly enjoy my POD Pro, so i am SURE i would love having an AxeFx - especially for recording. but, since i am still happy and satisfied with the POD i can't see spending the money on the fractal - especially since i would not use it live. it does indeed seem like a killer piece of gear, but until they are like $500, i won't even hedge the thought of buying one, hahaha.

[coloradoman25]

i still greatly enjoy my POD Pro, so i am SURE i would love having an AxeFx - especially for recording. but, since i am still happy and satisfied with the POD i can't see spending the money on the fractal - especially since i would not use it live. it does indeed seem like a killer piece of gear, but until they are like $500, i won't even hedge the thought of buying one, hahaha.

500 im in right now lol

[Evol]

Doubt they will ever be $500 But they are worth every penny now. You would punt that POD out the window in a comparison

[coloradoman25]

I dont own a pod but if i did id be far to cheap to punt it lol

[markD]

Doubt they will ever be $500 But they are worth every penny now. You would punt that POD out the window in a comparison

hahaha, maybe, but i will never know because i just won't spend the money to find out!!!! between the pod and the sansamp plug-ins, digidesign 11 and amplitube - not to mention real amps, i am ok in the guitar recording dept.

[CHARVEL_strat_81]

Dont own one(yet!) but can say that i have NOT heard one bad sound come out of the AXE FX II.
Truely astonishing how they did what they did. I sometimes forget i am hearing a simulator:think: