Axe FX 3

guitarfishbay · February 2018

Looks like Vai has one.

https://www.facebook.com/fractalaudio/videos/10157227206814517/

paulmapp8306 · February 2018

Well, not for me yet and Ive used an AFX since a standard in 2007.

Money is not as flush as it once way, and Ive just spent £2k on a keyboard.

Ultimately re the AXE 2, The modelling is going to be the same (at least initially) so the actual sounds wont be any different. Theres lots more power for bigger patches, and more options with the channels (I like that) and routing - but unless you need better real time control (I dont as I have a Rac12) or run out of processing power building patches I cant justify changing.

That may well change. Im still running an AFX 2 mk 1, and switched to that from my standard when it was on FW 5 I think (might have been 4). Ill start saving, if its a couple of years till I get one then thats juts fine.

I DONT like that the MFC isnt fully compatable - that is you cant run it in AFX mode, so its just a midi controller. I like lots of physical buttons and dont like having to switch seams to get to the ones I use.; An 18 button controller would have been a great option for me. So, if yuou want the full flexibility of the AFX 3 plaus controller you have to get both - serious money.

G66 are hoping to sell the AFX3 for 2499 Euro, so around £2300, but the controller will be something like £500 and 800 for the 6/12 respective. Thats a £3k outlay....and I dont gig any more (as I swim coach - but that might change down the line).

So - as I said, Ill live in the dark ages with my Mk 1 AFX2 for a2-3 years yet and fight the monster in me that says I have to have the best available - despite my less than best talent and useage.

guitarfishbay · February 2018

Yeah honestly the way I use the 2 I don’t run out of power, and I ike the sounds.

IIRC some established bands continued to run ultras even when the 2 had been out for a while - I seem to remember a rig rundown from Coheed and Cambria to that effect.

Clarky · February 2018

been thinking on this..
in addition to the 'more of everything' in the Axe-III, channel switching is the killer new feature..
that is the feature that would be the revolutionary additional piece in my preset building

I'm thinking that my live requirements may well sit within just 1 or 2 presets

this is the thing that will make me buy the Axe-III when some spare dosh becomes available

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

So tempting isn't it! I'm like a kid at Christmas, I'll be honest. The GAS is real.

Clarky · February 2018

Jonathanthomas83 said:

So tempting isn't it! I'm like a kid at Christmas, I'll be honest. The GAS is real.

it is for me too...
however... right now I have other priorities..
none if which are music related..

booooooo ! ! ! !

DavusPG · February 2018

Reading through the comments in the new AxeIII thread at Fractal it certainly sounds like they've addressed a lot of the things users were asking for.

Channels and the sheer amount you can pack into presets are the biggest draw. No more compromises or work around with presets - not that I particularly mind that.

I also am very tempted indeed..... and couldnt see myself wanting or needing to upgrade again for years.

That's my justification anyway. I just hope we don't get too hammered with the EU pricing.

peteri · February 2018

DavusPG said:

Reading through the comments in the new AxeIII thread at Fractal it certainly sounds like they've addressed a lot of the things users were asking for.

Channels and the sheer amount you can pack into presets are the biggest draw. No more compromises or work around with presets - not that I particularly mind that.

I also am very tempted indeed..... and couldnt see myself wanting or needing to upgrade again for years.

That's my justification anyway. I just hope we don't get too hammered with the EU pricing.

Completely the same for me, I'm coming from a different place (AX8), but pricing up what I'd pay for, along the lines of:

1. £100 not to need an external headphone amp
2. £150-200 USB audio interface
3. £250 faster switching
4. £250 using two amps at once
5. £200 more DSP

etc.

It's almost a bargain!

Plus although there might be some niggles on early adoption - it means the product has the maximum shelf-life.

Practically, I love the AX8 more than any other unit I've had, and could make what passes for music with it for the rest of my life - but if the total package including FC12 isn't punitive, I'm in

DavusPG · February 2018

@Peteri ;

I'm also an AX8 user, so we are coming from the same place....I'd like to think it's going to satisfy my amp & effects wants and then some - and to be fair the AX8 has already pretty much, it's just those extra features that will eliminate the need to get creative with attaching parameters to scene controllers and be more selective with reverb choices etc that will be so good

I also agree that being able to just plug in the front with headphones is a real bonus. I bought a Focsurite purely for that reason with the AX8

It's a bit frustrating that the foot controllers are likely to be several months behind as I'll need to keep my AX8 as a controller until the FC12 becomes available, hopefully I'll be able to get a decent price for the AX8 when it's time to sell.

FarleyUK · February 2018

See, I'm also an AX8 user, and I'm now thinking that the AXIII and the FC12 would solve a lot of my concerns about a drunk punter spilling his drink / standing on my precious modeller.....

DavusPG · February 2018

FarleyUK said:

See, I'm also an AX8 user, and I'm now thinking that the AXIII and the FC12 would solve a lot of my concerns about a drunk punter spilling his drink / standing on my precious modeller.....

That had crossed my mind too

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

That FC-6 would be nice and compact for tight gigs too

DavusPG · February 2018

Get both?!

paulmapp8306 · February 2018

Clarky said:

been thinking on this..
in addition to the 'more of everything' in the Axe-III, channel switching is the killer new feature..
that is the feature that would be the revolutionary additional piece in my preset building

I'm thinking that my live requirements may well sit within just 1 or 2 presets

this is the thing that will make me buy the Axe-III when some spare dosh becomes available

I like Channels for sure.
The way I work is quite old school. I have patches that hold a single amp block, with switchblade x/y gain/eq settings - like a twin channel amp. My FX routing is simple and identical per patch.

So instead of having banks of 5 presents on the MFC, with a bank up and down buttons - I could run 4 channels and a patch up and down button. Each patch would be a separate 4 channel amp (but would no necessarily be the same amp - think clean fender, pushed fender, marshal crunch marshal lead for one patch - same layout for others but different flavours).

Thing is - Id need the 4 channels on FS buttons, plus a bank up and a bank down - then dedicated buttons for drive, reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, rotory, trem and compression.

With a 12 button controller, Id need a scene toggle - so thats the channels, patches and toggle taking up 7 of the 12 already. I could run drive 1, reverb, delay and phaser along with a solo volume lift on the last 5 switches (as there the most used), then put drive 2, compression, chorus, flanger, rotory/trem (and only have one in a patch) the 5 effect buttons (top row) leaving the others the same as scene 1. It could work, but means two button presses for some FX not one - and Im not a fan of that way of working really.

peteri · February 2018

DavusPG said:

@Peteri ;

I'm also an AX8 user, so we are coming from the same place....I'd like to think it's going to satisfy my amp & effects wants and then some - and to be fair the AX8 has already pretty much, it's just those extra features that will eliminate the need to get creative with attaching parameters to scene controllers and be more selective with reverb choices etc that will be so good

I also agree that being able to just plug in the front with headphones is a real bonus. I bought a Focsurite purely for that reason with the AX8

It's a bit frustrating that the foot controllers are likely to be several months behind as I'll need to keep my AX8 as a controller until the FC12 becomes available, hopefully I'll be able to get a decent price for the AX8 when it's time to sell.

And just to add - been experimenting today with using the internal looper instead of my external TC one, really like it actually - but that pushes me over on DSP

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

The purge has begun, eeek! I'm all in on the Axe FX III and can't wait for April/May (fingers crossed!)

guitarfishbay · February 2018

Excited for you guys who are Pre-ordering. Hope it isn’t too much of a wait!

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

Hope you cave and get one soon too! :-)

Price for a foot controller is “Tree Fiddy” according to Cliff. Which seems reasonable, to be fair. I’m guessing it’ll be the price of the smaller one though.

Clarky · February 2018

paulmapp8306 said:

Clarky said:

been thinking on this..
in addition to the 'more of everything' in the Axe-III, channel switching is the killer new feature..
that is the feature that would be the revolutionary additional piece in my preset building

I'm thinking that my live requirements may well sit within just 1 or 2 presets

this is the thing that will make me buy the Axe-III when some spare dosh becomes available

I like Channels for sure.
The way I work is quite old school. I have patches that hold a single amp block, with switchblade x/y gain/eq settings - like a twin channel amp. My FX routing is simple and identical per patch.

So instead of having banks of 5 presents on the MFC, with a bank up and down buttons - I could run 4 channels and a patch up and down button. Each patch would be a separate 4 channel amp (but would no necessarily be the same amp - think clean fender, pushed fender, marshal crunch marshal lead for one patch - same layout for others but different flavours).

Thing is - Id need the 4 channels on FS buttons, plus a bank up and a bank down - then dedicated buttons for drive, reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, flanger, rotory, trem and compression.

With a 12 button controller, Id need a scene toggle - so thats the channels, patches and toggle taking up 7 of the 12 already. I could run drive 1, reverb, delay and phaser along with a solo volume lift on the last 5 switches (as there the most used), then put drive 2, compression, chorus, flanger, rotory/trem (and only have one in a patch) the 5 effect buttons (top row) leaving the others the same as scene 1. It could work, but means two button presses for some FX not one - and Im not a fan of that way of working really.

I think you just need to switch scene and the scene would switch the channel and everything else for you
so it'd be one switch per scene

DavusPG · February 2018

Latest from Cliff on FC pricing:

I have no idea what the prices are going to be yet however something around $350 for the FC-6 might be possible. Those little LCDs aren't cheap.

sunshinewelly · February 2018

I have not put name down yet but i am wavering I wonder what chocolates they will send this time I loved the ones that came with my axe fx 2

guitarfishbay · February 2018

Gadget · February 2018

^ A bit underwhelmed by that, TBH.

guitarfishbay · February 2018

Yeah. He's a good player, but to be honest it doesn't sound like anything I can't already get from a 2 so far. However that's to be expected - to begin with it's essentially a port of the algos of the 2, plus a significant amount of CPU headroom and the improved interface - neither of which were shown off in the video. But I guess all that to come, and the modelling improvements will surely happen in time, as they always do with Fractal.

It looks pretty sweet though with all the lights

gearaddict · February 2018

Sounds very solid state power amp...

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2018

gearaddict said:

Sounds very solid state power amp...

Why do you say that then?

Yeah, it’s not going to sound much different at all for the moment.

gearaddict · February 2018

Jonathanthomas83 said:

gearaddict said:

Sounds very solid state power amp...

Why do you say that then?

Yeah, it’s not going to sound much different at all for the moment.

Just a kind of hard, aggressive sound - it's the thing I struggle to get rid of with solid state power amps. Weirdly, the EHX Magnum 44 was one of the warmer ones I tried.

Clarky · February 2018

guitarfishbay said:

Yeah. He's a good player, but to be honest it doesn't sound like anything I can't already get from a 2 so far. However that's to be expected - to begin with it's essentially a port of the algos of the 2, plus a significant amount of CPU headroom and the improved interface - neither of which were shown off in the video. But I guess all that to come, and the modelling improvements will surely happen in time, as they always do with Fractal.

It looks pretty sweet though with all the lights

tone wise I'm guessing that modelling improvements would give gains that are marginal because the Axe-II has set the bar so high already..
I doubt my fkd up ears would perceive much or any difference at all..
the major gain though is the channels feature, the bigger grid and all that extra horse power
it means you'll be able to get it to jump through even more hoops than the Axe-II can jump through [which is not exactly insignificant at all]..
to someone like me, it'll manifest itself in bigger, smarter presets that make the on stage performance experience even more capable and flexible than it is already..
so for me that's quite a thing

John_A · February 2018

Agree. It's hard to imagine anything sounding or feeling much better than the Axe 2, or indeed some of the other high-end modellers out there, but as you say extra power/flexibility and a new UI all make a big difference

sunshinewelly · February 2018

that axe fx 3 clip sounds awful. surprised by that.

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