Fractal Audio Axe-Fx

I couldn`t spent too much time with this unit, but what I`ve seen so far is enough to say that it stands worlds apart from any other software which reproduces guitar sounds. I`m looking forward to the PC editor as the display isn`t too big (well I wouldn`t expect a bigger display but a full screen is simply more comfortable).

Supperiour product !

must read the manual and spend sometime to understand the routing and effects placement.editing is fairly easy as long as you spend some time also. easier to tweak than the old multi effects processors.manual is quite extensive and covers the unit throughly.firmware isthe latest 7.04 released in march.

11 on this one.i sold my entire pedalboard with 3,000 worth of old analog pedals including, teese wah, 70's mistress, uber vibe, deep blue delay, analogman chorus, red reverberator, big muff,fulldrive, rat etc. no noise on any settings. pristine.effects are the best on par with eventide h-3000 and highend lexicon and tc units.using it with a custom marshall 1974x with mercury magnetics and matching cab with all nos tubes. all tones are possible, trower, hendrix, clapton, blues, metal, etc.this unit finally eliminates all analog pedals and custom tube amps forever. i ah an hk zentara i thought was good . garbaga compared to this.sell everyting you got and get this. i have bought and sold over 50.000 in the last 15 or 20 years searching for that tone in you head. this is the end of my search. you will be shocked once you plug into this unit. you will **** your pants, literally!

fractal responded to all my emails within hours and answered all my questions. built like a brick shithouse. inside unit is sweet. super clean wiring and soldering. i can gig without fear of let down.

see above.unit is constantly releasing new firmware and the tones are just getting better and better. all for free on midi.one year warr. cliff stands behind his product. company has benn around almosy 4 years now. unit sounds considerably better now due to upgrades.

i play blues, rock and metal. this can cover all the bases.been playing since 68.i own a 78 strat, 78 les paul cust and a 2005 telecaster.would most definately buy again.i love everything about the unit. no dislikes.tried all the amp sims. this thing is the real deal. what are you waiting for?sell all your **** and get your *** down to tone merchants in orange, ca and see noel and tell him art sent you. i promise you wont be sorry!!!!!!!!!!

Borrowed unit for evaluation as to wether to buy one.Easy as can be to
get any sound in the head, if you can work an amp you can work this.
Running latest version.

Bill? or whoever you are, surely when all the top studio players, road going guitar-pro's and the main industry gear guru's unanimously give the axe-fx top credit,it must get through to you that YOU ARE THE PROBLEM not the unit. I cannot find a bad sound in it and I have tried
all the latest,oldest,gear going in my time.A bad chef' will make crap out of the finest ingredients. AXE-FX rules.

This one has been fine.

All the reports say amazing service from an amazing company.Who can argue?

I am a gigging pro-gitar man of some 46yrs. Played just about all kinds
of music.This will do the same for me.No big amps and cabs to lug,just plug-in and play.Gotta have one a.s.a.p.

Remember readers of these revues,if a majority say it is good then
trust that it is ,ignore the BOZO' who tries to be the lone voice of
insanity and neg's all over the gear,bad kit and the ones who make it
soon get found out and dumped. Fractal are not in this box.

Once you get your head around the logic, it is pretty straightforward. The fact that you can alter the way that effects can be placed in a signal chain is probably unique and has a significant effect on the end result.

If you are prepared to work at it then you can get a lot of variety of real quality sounds with this animal. This is the first product that I have come across where realistic simulations and effects can be put together to provide new avenues for guitar based sounds-basically it is down to the individual to be creative.

The constant free upgrades and support from Fractal (who else in the industry upgrades their products and doesn't charge for them) mean that the end product stands a good chance of getting better all the time.

Very solid and no issues.

I had a freak accident an with electrical short which zapped my Axe FX (nothing to do with unit).

Emailed G66 (European distibutor)on a Sunday not expecting to get a response, but Jochen and Suzi Isser got back to me and by the end of the night, she had organised a collection.

The unit was collected on Tuesday in the UK and was in Germany by Thursday, turned around on Friday and on it's way back. Came back on Tuesday and Suzi couldn't be more apologetic that the item wasn't back with me sooner (carrier problem).

There was no charge, even though the item did not fail.

My experience of customer support was amazing.

This is a very versatile product that can only get better as it is developed further.

The designer is very hands on with the development of the product.

It suits many different styles of music that I dabble with, Blues, Rock, Fusion etc.

This is the most complete product that I have ever come across and I believe that the very few negative reviews that have been posted on this forum have been put on by people who have vested interests in competitor companies and choose to denigrate this product.

With a bit of effort you can get some very solid sounds without much fuss. The preset patches may or may not work for you as the unit is very sensitive to the individual guitar and you set the front end up. It responds to pick attack like a valve amp does.

The noise floor is lower than a valve amp.

There is tremendous amount of user support and patch development that you can pick upon and run with.

Not too complicated to get around, pretty typical for a prcocessor.

With out question, this thing sounds like a $200.00 multi effects prcocessor made in the 90,s. Do not belive the hype, right out of the box, following the instructions it sounds like a BUZZ BOMB. The amp simulations arn't even in the Ball Park! Unless I recieved a bad unit from the factory (and that is possible) this thing is a huge waste of money. There are no tube amp sounds in this box, all of the patches are loaded with lots of effects............that should tell you they are trying to cover up their tube amp emulation with delays etc...

Who cares, it's going back to wince it came.

There are no phone numbers to call, all you can do is email...........what does that tell you?

This thing is supposed to be the Ferrai of multi effectors. If you were to get in to a Ferrai with average driving skills it should act like a super powerfull sports car. Plugging the Ultra in to my Bogner XTC - both the front end and effects loop and then directly in to my digital recording consel rendered the same terrible results.
Regardless of where the Global parameters were set.
Here is the biggest disspointment, they tell you to take a couple of weeks to get used to programming the Ultra, but if this thing is so good, where are the patches to prove it? Why are they not installed at the factory, are they not the experts? The factory presets are a bad joke! and tweaking them yields more crappy tones!

I am following up on my review from July, 2008. After having this unit for over 6 months, I have not changed my mind about this unit. The more you use it the more familiar you get with it, the easier it is to use. One of the great features is, it allows you to keep it as simple or as deep as you want. Six months ago when I got the unit, the software version was 5.19. Today Fractal released 7.0.

I an very happy with the sounds I get. I am hard pressed to try to think of a sound that this unit can't get.

So far, the unit has been bullet proof. I gig without a back up.

I have never dealt with a company with better customer service. Cliff Chase is an amazing man.

I play modern country music. The Axe-Fx has some of the best clean sounds I've ever heard. I have been playing for over 40 years. I was tube snob. I had tried the POD, PODxt, ToneLab SE, GT-6, GT-10. I had never found a modeler that I liked. The Axe-Fx is a whole different animal. Right now, I own a Deluxe Reverb, a Carr Rambler, a Gibson Paul Jackson Jr, a Fender 52 Tele RI, a Shure Classic Tele, a Shure Classic Chambered Strat and a Talemine NP-18.I have owned Musicman amps, Many different Fender amps, Peavey amps ... I even owned a Vox Super Beatle in the 60's. I do wish I would have stepped up and went for the Ultra version of the Axe-Fx.

Is fairly easy if you have been using deep menu, interfaces in the past. It can be a little daunting if you are an old schooler knob guy...but it is pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it.

The sound quality is amazing!
It sounds good through almost anything.
Models sound and respond very close to the gear they represent... and the effects stellar.
The routing and hook-up capabilities are off the chain!!! none better!!!

I have only had my unit (standard) a few months...but they have actually been around a few years now...
Never had any trouble with mine.

Top notch!!

The owner of the company, who is also the developer of the technology, who is also the site administrator, who is also the new release and firmware developer...you get the picture...
He is there always...fixing bugs...solving issues, even lending suggestions on hooking up and personal setting preferences...
Very, very involved and hands on...
...are there bug...occasionally...but they get addressed and fixed promptly by the owner/developer himself!!!
Lets face it when was the last time you talked to the owner of Marshall, Vox, Digitech or TC Electronics...
I know for me it was....ummm NEVER!!
but it is this kind of dedication that has earned Cliff a very loyal(sometimes defensive) and well deserved admiration from his customer base!!

Over-all 10

After reading all the reviews, forum pages & Wiki as well as and spending a lot of time watching Youtube videos, I finally decided last week to pick up an Ultra. By coincidence, an Ultra came on the used market in my area so I jumped at the chance and grabbed it the same day (Friday). On Saturday, I stopped by a local music store to pick up a midi pedal board and grabbed a used FCB1010 (still didn't get a chance to plug in anything).

I finally had a chance to plug it in and test things out on Sunday (yesterday) so this is just my initial impressions. First I installed the editor, MIDIOX and downloaded the latest frimware & patch banks (wanted to start clean since this was a used unit).

I updated the firmware using MIDIOX without a hitch and proceded to update the patches with the latest presets using the editor. I did experience some quirkiness trying to get patch banks from the AXE-FX but loading presets from a sysex file and uploading to the unit was trouble free. Finally, I plugged in my Lado Elite, powered everything up and began my journey through preset land.

Editing patches is straight forward using both the unit's front pannel and the editor. Settign up routing is a breeze but you do need to understand the paradigm so a quick scan of the manual is advisable before trying to dig too deep. There are tutorials on Youtube for the Editor which helps a lot.

Version 6.10 firmware, 1.34 Editor, Latest Manual & Factory Patches

My home setup consists of a Mackie 1604VLZ out to a Bryston 3B power amp to a pair of Tannoy C10 midfield studio monitors. I have a number of hardware and software amp modelers/FX units plugged into the Mackie in which to compare the Axe-FX Ultra (Boss GT-6, M-Audio Black Box Reloaded, Tonelab, Vamp 2, Pandora PX5D, Revalver MKIII (demo mode), ... Too many to list {yes I'm a junkie when it comes to digital amp/cab modeling and effects} )

2 words describe this device:

UNBELIEVABLY REALISTIC!!!

As a complete package, I thing is in a class all its own although there are other effects processors that can provide comparable quality in specific areas. The quality of the effects will stand up to pretty much anything in the studio or in a stomp. In terms of Amp simulations, I believe that this is where the unit really shines beyond anything else (both hard and software based) on the market today. The quality of the tones that come out from the Amp block is astoundingly realistic and seems to capture the behaviour of a real tube preamp - amp better than any other digital simulation available to date (of course time will tell if this holds up since the competition isn't about to sit still). I was especially impressed at how the unit reacted to playing dynamics and changes to tone & volume from the guitar.

I've been a digital gear junkie for a while now but my search is over. I started listing my other gear on Craigslist this morning. No reason to keep it since I'm sure the other stuff will never get used again.

I purchsed the unit used (has obviously been in a rack and spent time on the road) but doesn't seem to have any issues. I don't gig (home studio use only) but it appears to be made to take a beating.

There is a VERY active online forum/support community as well as an online WIKI to get you started.

Now here is the kicker - The firmware is CONSTANTLY being updated with bug fixes, new features and enhancements. While there has been some revisions of some of my other gear, it was highly unlikely that new features would be added. The guys at Fractal are amazing in that they understand that people don't want to have to buy a new version of the processor just to get additional software enhancements and features.

Finding this unit is kind of bitter sweet. Over the years I've enjoyed the journey of buying and trying all kinds of gear but now that I have the Axe-FX Ultra, I think I'm done.

Give this unit a try. You'll not be disappointed (unless you like having things to complain about)

No chance for it to get lost but if it was stolen, I'd order another the next day.

This unit is what guitarists have been waiting for for a long time! Just like any fx processor, it takes a lil tweaking to get Your sound. The manual is good. Editing is real user friendly,from the panel or with the editor. Mine came with v 6.07, upgraded to 6.10. Easy. The layout and design is easy to understand. YOU DON'T NEED A DEGREE TO EDIT THIS UNIT. Prior experience is helpful, but there is a learning curve for any processor you buy.

This potentially could be a end all solution to GAS for any guitarist. It is designed for guitarists. It sounds phenomenal!!! Imagine an Eventide with spectacular amp simulations. This thing can track full chords with no glitching. NONE. Effects in this thing are nothing but quality. Like I said, You don't need a degree to edit this. It gives you the flexibility to rout the effects just about any way you like. The price alone for this unit is worthy for the effects alone but they also give you the best modeling for amps and cabs (Bar None). Go buy an H8000 and try to edit it and see how for you get for the typical guitarist. Also, you can put your own ir's in 10 user slots for the cabs. Flexibility! If you don't like theirs, you can use your own. Can you say FLAWLESS PRESET SWITCHING! No need for a switching system(unless you just can't part with any of your gear). Remember those heartbreaking moments where you bought a fx unit before and found out there was no delay, rev, spillover or you wish someone would make a processor where the presets would change instantly w/o lag or the processor having to play catch up. Fractal has done it and they didn't cut the cost of any of the parts to profit. Not greedy. Finally after years of wanting this, someone has got it right from a guitarists point of view. By the way - it can sound good either way you want to run it. Run it through the loop of your own amp. use your own cabs, use frfr speakers. It doesn't matter. Just adjust it to what you using it with and once you've got your sound your good to go.

Best support ever. Just search the forums and you'll see what I mean.

I'm not affiliated with Fractal. Just a very satisfied customer. If you cant afford this unit, that is OK. Just get out there and play your guitar and know that this unit can save you potentially thousands of dollars of heavy, complicated, and overwhelming gear in the long run. It has everything you need to get the sound you wanting(or close enough to it no one will notice anyway). Besides just pluggin a guitar into a amp and jammin and nothing else mattered. Remember those days? If you need or want more, look into getting this. Learn how to use it in and out and get back to doing what you love to do the most. JAMMING!!!!!!!

This is more than an effects unit. Until there is a "modeling" category, I recommend it be placed in the amps section as well.
I will apologize in advance for the long review, but a product jammed with so much stuff is hard to condense into a few paragraphs.

EASY TO GET A GOOD SOUND? - 9 -
What is the definition of a good sound? Is it the sound of a naked amp, unmiced and on stage, or in a room with you?....Or is it the sound of your amp blasting through a PA system at a gig? Or is it both?
The Axe-Fx can do both, but out of the box, it sounds like a miced up amp, ready to blast out of a PA. The problem is inexperienced players don't know the difference between the two sounds and expect it to sound like a naked/unmiced amp in the room with them.
It can do that, but setting up for that is beyond the scope of this review.
Unless your audience sits in your bedroom with you, they judge your sound by what comes out of the PA, as does the soundman. This is how I define a good sound, and the Axe-Fx is simply outstanding at getting a great sound to the PA. In the first 15 minutes with it, I dialed a great fender deluxe sound, and a fun AC30 sound. Better than what I was getting using a single tube amp.

EASY TO EDIT? -8-
If you've messed with a TC electronic Gmajor, or Gforce, this is a very similar interface and probably the best method for editing on a small screen, and you can get pretty fast once you know your way around. The software editor gives you more screen real estate and has some fantastic editing options. In the end though, both methods fail to provide an interface that puts all amp parameters into one window, or all parameters of an effects block into one window. I blame the software editor (NOT a Fractal product) for this short-sighted implementation. Having said that, the Axe-Fx could use a bigger screen someday.

HOW IS THE MANUAL? -8-
The Axe-Fx can do so many things it's impossible to get them into a manual. The manual explains how everything works and the basic principles. It gives you a launching pad so you can choose your tonal destination. What it doesn't do is provide the destination for you. It doesn't show you how to duplicate your favorite pedals, or duplicate your favorite amp rig. This is where the presets pick up the slack, but the manual could use an appendix that walks the user through a dozen or so presets (that have well known 'famous artist' rigs). This would help for those too lazy to read the manual.

FIRMWARE -10-
I'd give this an 11 if I could. I started with firmware 3.05 and am about to upgrade to 6.09. I gigged professionally with 3.05 out of the box and paid my bills with it, so it was a "finished" product for me right from the start. I've done 20 firmware upgrades since then. Almost every one has a small tweak or a small fix...but that's not why I upgrade. I upgrade because many times upgrades have new amps, new pedals, new cabinets, new parameters, and new features....and the upgrades have all been FREE.

WHAT IS MY SETUP?
I use two guitars. Electric is a Tyler Landau Classic currently loaded with a Tom Holmes bucker, and Budz Purebred singles. Acoustic is a Collings D2H. I run electric direct to the front input and acoustic direct into the effects return in the back. Long story short, the routing and programming options in the Axe-Fx allows me to switch guitars on the fly without needing an a/b switch.
The Axe-Fx has the ability to be controlled remotely or fully automated.
I control Axe-Fx with a midi footswitch AND a laptop. Midi footswitch is for manual control, and laptop is for full automation -- I perform with backing tracks and the backing tracks can send midi -- Long story short, I can be anywhere in the venue and when the solo comes, the laptop "steps on" all my pedals and effects for me, so I don't even need to be on the stage at all during a song. The women love that. Here--see for yourself: youtube.com/watch?v=vjtIqKTmSTI The clip is with 2006 firmware - sounds even better now.

IS IT NOISY?
No and yes. No because it's designed to be dead silent thanks to the genius of the designer. Yes because just like a real amp, when you've dialed higher gain with single coils, you get the same phenomenon, but the on board noise gate takes care of that AND it can be set per-patch.

EFFECTS QUALITY?
Top shelf. There's plenty of reviews about them.

WHAT AMP DO I USE?
I go direct to PA. It's simpler, easier and gives me a chance to hear my tone the same way the crowd does. This is a big hurdle for some players addicted to that amp-on-stage sound. But if you do your own sound, going direct makes life way easier. I go direct to FBT and RCF powered speakers.

CAN I GET THE SOUND OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS?
Yes, Yes and a resounding Yes.
I can duplicate, or nearly duplicate the rigs of cover tunes from the 50's to the 90's, and there's an armada of high gain amps in the Axe-Fx, and routing options that go far beyond anything I do in my gig. I could never do these duplications of covers with a single tube amp. I can play the style and feel with my hands, but the tonal foundation would be wrong (your hands can't make a fender tweed sound like a hot-rodded marshall).

ANY WEAK EFFECTS?
I'm not a big fan of the treble boost drive pedal. The matchless amp sounds thin to me. A few cabinets are overloaded with mids and lows. But every player is different and these might be exactly what someone else is looking for.

CAN I DEPEND ON IT?
Yes -- the sound is identical gig to gig. For the first few gigs it was weird because I'd gotten so used to my tube amp sounding different gig to gig. But I got hooked fast, and for me, this is the only way to go.

USE WITHOUT OUT BACKUP?
Because I'm a solo act, I can finish a gig with acoustic and voice if it went down. I could easily drag my tube rig to gigs until it was fixed...but I wouldn't be happy about it. I'd have a backup if I could afford one, but for now, my tube rig is a backup. Would I sell the tube rig to have a backup? Good question. I've been considering that, but I like tube amps and I think I'll keep my Suhr Badger. It's serial #013 :-)

HOW HELPFUL & FRIENDLY IS FRACTAL?
Cliff hangs out on the fractal audio forum, posting, making jokes, and collecting feedback for future firmware upgrades. He often fixes bugs the same day or next day, and posts firmware asap, sometimes even beta runs of firmware. He is accessible through PM, but refers to support for any hardware problems so they can troubleshoot with the user.

UPGRADES/REPAIRS?
I actually did have something "break" on the unit. I had a very early-build Ultra and the graphics chip went out. No one's had that happen but mine went out and the screen went blank. The Axe-Fx still worked perfect & I kept gigging (my patch names are programmed into my rocktron midimate footswitch) Support immediately sent a new screen. It was easy to install, and proved the graphics controller was offline. I could have installed a new mother board myself, but Cliff had an entirely new unit shipped out 2nd day while I gigged with mine. I had to talk him into letting me pay for shipping. I don't know if Fractal does this for everyone, but as a working professional it was extremely helpful to keep gigging until the replacement arrived.

STYLE OF MUSIC
Covered in a previous area

YEARS PLAYING & OTHER GEAR
I toured for 3 years in bands, no home, no car, just 6 days a week in bars and drive to the next town on day 7. I've performed solo since 1997 paying bills with music. As the music scene and economy have tanked I've picked up some seasonal work but I still gig full-time as much as possible.
I owned a Gallien Kruger, then a marshall JMP-1, then Egnater IE-4 before I went to tube amps. I gigged with a Fuchs ODS30 combo then switched to a Suhr Badger. I discovered the Axe-Fx in 2006.

WOULD I BUY AGAIN? Yes

LOVES/HATES/
Love-Favorite features:
-- First, the dynamic feel of a tube amp rig
--Being able to run a fender 10 different ways with 10 different custom pedal and effects setups, and having those custom fender setups just a click away.
-- Being able to "virtually" have an amp running like it's cranked and about to blow up, and to have that tone/feel at any volume.
-- The massive library of amps/cabs/mics/pedals/effects and all the routing options makes it possible to duplicate or get damn close to any rig I need for doing covers.
Hates?:
-- I don't have any, but the button layout could be improved. The recall and enter buttons are really far apart.
-- The effects bypass button needs a light (like global bypass has) for instant visual feedback of the bypass state of a block when editing that block.
-- The cabinets could be improved. The micing options are limited and getting top notch pros to make impulses might help improve some of the cabinet models.

COMPARISONS TO OTHER PRODUCTS?
I compared to Fuchs and Suhr Badger. For covering multiple artists tones, getting great sound to PA, having great tone/feel at any volume, and having all this with minimal setup/teardown.....there is no comparison. And that is why I chose this over anything I've ever used.

WISH LIST
-- Global parametric EQ. I need this BADLY for gigging with acoustic at loud gigs.
-- Minor improvements listed above.
-- For the yet-to-be released plugin and audio interface, I wish the audio interface would have more inputs so a live act with a small number inputs could route ALL audio into a laptop and do ALL soundman duties (mixing, effects, routing, eq) in the DAW without needing an additional A/D/A interface or mixing board/outboard effects.

DOES IT HELP OR GET IN THE WAY?
For the first time in my career, the "gear" has disappeared. I can leave the stage and sing/play anywhere during a song while patches are changed and pedals are stomped on. I'd say that qualifies as "out of the way".

FINAL THOUGHTS?
The Axe-Fx has transformed how I pay the bills, enabled me to dial the tones of any artist I cover at any volume, and the quality and consistency of my guitar-rig-to-PA tone is far beyond any gear I've ever used.

Some players only want one amp, one tone, and they're hooked on that amp-in-room, amp-on-stage sound. The Axe-Fx may not be the best tool if that's what you want. Even so, some one-amp/one-tone players have moved to the Axe-Fx for simplicity, convenience, and ease of recording.

I'd recommend everyone learn how to get good sound to PA or CD using real tube amps and pedals and other effects units. That experience is perfect preparation for owning an Axe-Fx, not required, but very useful when it comes to understanding the Axe-Fx and harnessing the tools inside. There's a universe of tone in there!