Axe Fx3

sherpa_man

Anybody running one? Great price direct from fractal if you can find a middle man.

sweepy

The latest batch are arriving in the UK as we speak, nearly £2.7k for the Fx3 without foot controller is a fair old wedge though tbh

Wazmeister

@Jonathanthomas83 ;

peteri

Had mine since the first UK delivery. 

Absolutely love it

sweepy

Might get mine end of Sept mid October, I was disciplined enough, (unlike me) to put the money I got for selling my complete Axe Fx2 Rig and some old guitar parts in a pot and to have just enough money for the AxeFx3

Jonathanthomas83

Gotta try it to see if it's for you. From what I've seen you've steamed through a shed load of gear, mate, some REALLY good stuff, so I'll be interested to hear your thoughts tbh.

I had mine last week and enjoyed the flexibility and the sheer power of the thing. When all was said and done though, I've been spoilt by the Kemper, I'm just totally enamoured by the thing and nothing was swaying me away from it, not even the almighty Axe FX III.

sweepy

Lol @Jonathanthomas83 ; when are you selling the Fx3

Jonathanthomas83

sweepy said:

Lol @Jonathanthomas83 ; when are you selling the Fx3

Ha, unfortunately it was sent back to G66 yesterday. It was like having a dirty weekend away! Coming home was nice though!

ToneControl

Got mine last month
Definitely sounds better than AF2
Fan still stupidly noisy though, had to fix that myself

sweepy

ToneControl said:

Got mine last month
Definitely sounds better than AF2
Fan still stupidly noisy though, had to fix that myself

What fan did you fit, I got ripped to shreds on the Fractal Forum for asking about fan noise

Jonathanthomas83

I went back there for a few days last week, when my interest piqued, but the whole place just does my head in. As soon as you mention something against the grain, you get jumped on. That said, there's some really helpful people on there sometimes, too.

ToneControl

sweepy said:

ToneControl said:

Got mine last month
Definitely sounds better than AF2
Fan still stupidly noisy though, had to fix that myself

What fan did you fit, I got ripped to shreds on the Fractal Forum for asking about fan noise

There's a lot of people on there who hero-worship Cliff the inventor (As well as the "is it made in USA" crowd)

I got a similar reaction with the AF2, even though G66 had fitted a "quieter" fan, it was still unacceptable. I replaced it with a quieter one, with lots of rubber mountings.
In the end I did some research and found that:

1. the DSP in the AF2 is usually passively cooled 
2. The AF2 design (sealed metal case, with a cheap small fan blowing down onto the DSP heatsink) was clearly not fine-tuned or calculated, it just heats up the case and makes a noise doing it. Of course, in a full rack this might be a poor way of dissipating heat
3. Running the AF2 with the lid removed, and no fan caused no problems. I kept measuring the temperature of the heatsink, it did not go up more than was OK
4. I decided that (based on replies on the threads) that the design was intended for road-use on stage, airtight to stop dust and debris entering, and that the fan was over-specced as a belt-and-braces solution, rather than as the result of careful calculations. Therefore, I stopped worrying about what the worshippers thought.
5. I eventually replaced the fan with the quietest, slowest one I could find (a bit larger too), and mounted it on rubber shock absorbers, with a speed reducer. It worked fine after that for many years.

With the AF3, since it's new I am wary of saying on the forum what I would do - in case I ever need to reverse it to get it fixed for any faults.
Note that the AF3 is now vented, so that "design decision" seems to have been reconsidered.

Here's what one person did with a bigger fan: see post 187 here: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/how-loud-should-the-fan-be.137617/page-10

What I did was to take that aluminum plate, remove the fan-mount grommets, and fit this lot:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KF7T9MI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KG3KUK6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I then slowed it a little with one of these: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KHU1OW6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and also used the grommets to slightly insulate the plate from the bolts attaching it to the PCB

It's now quiet enough. Ideally I'd try to find a less rigid way to mount that plate to the PCB, since it transmits vibrations

Clarky

want one but right now cannot justify the spend

Fiftyshadesofjay

Happy Kemper user but I'd love to try an Axe Fx 3. I always thought the 2 sounded great, just not a fan of the workflow.

£2700 + power amp + foot controller is utterly mental money though. That's going to be pushing 4k.

Wazmeister

I must say, Id be a tad non-plussed if I spent £2700 and then had to replace the fan...

Nevertheless,  I still maintain that my old FX8 MK1 had some of the best verbs and delays Id heard... and def THE best looper

olafgarten

ToneControl said:

sweepy said:

ToneControl said:

Got mine last month
Definitely sounds better than AF2
Fan still stupidly noisy though, had to fix that myself

What fan did you fit, I got ripped to shreds on the Fractal Forum for asking about fan noise

There's a lot of people on there who hero-worship Cliff the inventor (As well as the "is it made in USA" crowd)

I got a similar reaction with the AF2, even though G66 had fitted a "quieter" fan, it was still unacceptable. I replaced it with a quieter one, with lots of rubber mountings.
In the end I did some research and found that:

1. the DSP in the AF2 is usually passively cooled 
2. The AF2 design (sealed metal case, with a cheap small fan blowing down onto the DSP heatsink) was clearly not fine-tuned or calculated, it just heats up the case and makes a noise doing it. Of course, in a full rack this might be a poor way of dissipating heat
3. Running the AF2 with the lid removed, and no fan caused no problems. I kept measuring the temperature of the heatsink, it did not go up more than was OK
4. I decided that (based on replies on the threads) that the design was intended for road-use on stage, airtight to stop dust and debris entering, and that the fan was over-specced as a belt-and-braces solution, rather than as the result of careful calculations. Therefore, I stopped worrying about what the worshippers thought.
5. I eventually replaced the fan with the quietest, slowest one I could find (a bit larger too), and mounted it on rubber shock absorbers, with a speed reducer. It worked fine after that for many years.

With the AF3, since it's new I am wary of saying on the forum what I would do - in case I ever need to reverse it to get it fixed for any faults.
Note that the AF3 is now vented, so that "design decision" seems to have been reconsidered.

Here's what one person did with a bigger fan: see post 187 here: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/how-loud-should-the-fan-be.137617/page-10

What I did was to take that aluminum plate, remove the fan-mount grommets, and fit this lot:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KF7T9MI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KG3KUK6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I then slowed it a little with one of these: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KHU1OW6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and also used the grommets to slightly insulate the plate from the bolts attaching it to the PCB

It's now quiet enough. Ideally I'd try to find a less rigid way to mount that plate to the PCB, since it transmits vibrations

Does the fan speed vary with temperature? 

ToneControl

olafgarten said:

ToneControl said:

It's now quiet enough. Ideally I'd try to find a less rigid way to mount that plate to the PCB, since it transmits vibrations

Does the fan speed vary with temperature? 

no
PCB has a 3 pin connector, not the clever 4 pin ones in some PCs, the AF3 is wired for constant fan speed
You can probably buy some thermistor set up to vary the speed, but that kit I bought just drops the voltage (and therefore speed) by a constant amount

olafgarten

ToneControl said:

olafgarten said:

ToneControl said:

It's now quiet enough. Ideally I'd try to find a less rigid way to mount that plate to the PCB, since it transmits vibrations

Does the fan speed vary with temperature? 

no
PCB has a 3 pin connector, not the clever 4 pin ones in some PCs, the AF3 is wired for constant fan speed
You can probably buy some thermistor set up to vary the speed, but that kit I bought just drops the voltage (and therefore speed) by a constant amount

Yeah, I was thinking a thermosistor setup would be useful, but you'd need to find one with the right activation temperature. 

Jonathanthomas83

@sherpa_man did you buy one? Thoughts?

ToneControl

olafgarten said:

ToneControl said:

olafgarten said:

ToneControl said:

It's now quiet enough. Ideally I'd try to find a less rigid way to mount that plate to the PCB, since it transmits vibrations

Does the fan speed vary with temperature? 

no
PCB has a 3 pin connector, not the clever 4 pin ones in some PCs, the AF3 is wired for constant fan speed
You can probably buy some thermistor set up to vary the speed, but that kit I bought just drops the voltage (and therefore speed) by a constant amount

Yeah, I was thinking a thermosistor setup would be useful, but you'd need to find one with the right activation temperature. 

not sure there would be an advantage to varying the fan speed for this
also some people commented that stock fans sometimes slightly varied in speed and that this annoyed them more than a constant drone at a fixed frequency

PolarityMan

What volume are you playing at that the fan noise is actually an issue or does it introduce noise into the signal path via induction or something?