Axe FX 3

DavusPG

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

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

DavusPG

Get both?!

paulmapp8306

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

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

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

guitarfishbay

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

Jonathanthomas83

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

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

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

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

Gadget

^ A bit underwhelmed by that, TBH.

guitarfishbay

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

Sounds very solid state power amp...

Jonathanthomas83

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

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

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

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

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