Fractal Audio Axe-FX

I am going to get into the bad things about this unit which have absolutely nothing to do with the sound quality. Fractal Audio is IMHO light years ahead of their competitors in the sound category. Yes LINE6 that means you! However, what they make up for in sound, they loose in two areas. #1. Trying to get the Editor, Midi, Firmware Updates,etc. to work properly has been a nightmare for me.
#2. There is no Fractal Audio Midi foot controller specifically made for this unit yet.

Besides having to buy a bunch of other equipment ie. midi interfaces, cables, other programs to make it work, and foot controllers, I find the instructions for installing and using all of these things are horrible. There is a forum where everyone is trying to work out the "bugs" of the beta Editor but if you are not a computer savvy person, a lot of it is Greek. This doesn't mean that they are not trying but I sincerely believe that these accessories such as a computer Editor and a dedicated midi foot switch should not be after thoughts with a processor that has a price tag of approximately $2000. The "industry standard" is to include these things or at least have them easily available with very little computer skill required to be up and running. I know the argument is going to be that the processor stands on its own and we never promised you any accessories. Well that is right, but it drops your rating in the ease of use category accordingly then and that is what we are doing here. If you don't believe me, go to the Fractal Audio site and read through the Editor/Midi threads and put yourself in the place of the poor guy who is trying to work his way through these problems. This is a real shame because the sounds of this unit are truly some of the best I have ever heard from a digital processor.

The sound quality is in a class by itself with respect to digital processors. I hate giving anything a 10 but damn, this thing really sounds great! If anything deserves a 10 in sound quality, it is this thing. I use it with a stereo tube power amp and a pair of speaker cabs with one 12" speaker in each one. You can nail just about any artist tone out there but you have to tweak it to your playing style because the unit responds like a tube amp. It is not noisy.

I probably would not gig without a backup but that doesn't mean that the unit is not built very well. The unit itself seems very dependable. It is the Editor and the support for it that doesn't make the grade.

If you include the Editor software in this section, then the support is terrible! I think the company would stand behind the processor itself if it were to break/malfunction.

Well let me first say that I would buy this again. I love the tones! I hate the frustration associated with using the Editor. I don't know what Line6 uses for their Editor format but this seems like 10 steps backwards. With Line6, you pretty much just stick the USB cable into your computer and everything syncs right up but then you have crappy digital fizz tone. With this unit and several hundred more dollars worth of accessory gear, I am still waiting for everything to sync up but when I use the unit by itself, it sounds great. For now, I will take the great tone with the extra trouble and headaches but in our present state of technology and the price of this unit, why should someone have to make that compromise?

Any unit that goes as deep as this one (the deepest) will take some work to get the hang of. But, as deep as this is, it's easy to work with. Good sounds are easy to find, excellent sounds take a bit more effort. This unit is as sensitive to the guitar and speaker system as you'd expect a high quality item to be. In response to below review: there's no way an inexperienced user could get the best out of it in 3 days. In those cases, a GT10 is indeed a much better choice. If you care to invest, get the best: currently that is the Axe-FX.

If there's anything I'd like it would be that it came in a footpedal-form. Also some direct-access tone potmeters like the Vetta has would be nice, but not required.

All of it sounds great and much better than anything I've used before. It's the unit I've been waiting for all of my life. Really wish I had more than

Any guitar I own sounds different through it. where one guitar sounds stellar, another one on the same preset sounds even bad and needs a bit of tweaking before it sounds stellar again. If you want something that sounds good with everything, get a GT10. ;)
The Axe-FX gets a 10 because it has pristine sound quality as Harmony Central calls the "10"-rating, but it appears the designer still comes up with improvements all the time. And each time when we think it can't get any better, it does. I'm really wondering what's in store for the 6.0 firmware.

It appears there were some problems with some units, but nothing I'd consider as unreliable. Any electronics manufacturer will have some faulty units that get sent out, or there would be no need for service centers or warranty forms. Mine works fine and I'm not worried.

Nothing less to be made of it. Bugs get solved sometimes within hours of getting mentioned on the user forum. Nothing like it in the world that I know of.

I've been playing for 26 years now. Different kinds of music, I like many kinds of music. Where anything I've owned previously always left me wanting, this thing gets me everywhere I want to go. I got the Ultra model, just because it's the best one. I wanted to be sure it would go the furthest it could go, also in upgradability. But it's really overkill for what I usually use. If I lost this one, I'd probably get a standard, depending on the state of affairs at that time. Will there never be any better? Sure there will. But for now, this is the best.

The Axe-FX is a rack mount computer capable of reproducing the sounds of a huge warehouse full of tube amps, stomp boxes, rack effects, and outboard gear, all hooked up with a pro level switching system. We've heard that promise before from other companies, but the Axe-FX is the first product that actually delivers. It is considerably easier to use than said warehouse full of gear. All the same, to get the maximum benefit from this tool, the user is required to learn about the gear being emulated. Luckily, in addition to the supplied documentation, there is a growing repository of information at the user supported Wiki site http://axefxwiki.guitarlogic.org and there's always the wonderful community at the Axe-FX forum. http://www.setbb.com/axefx . Thanks to these resources, you can get nearly instant answers to most Axe-FX questions. Since I've been using rack gear since 1989, I took to the Axe-FX pretty quickly. Technophobes may have a rougher ride, but it's worth the effort.

When I bought my Axe-FX Standard, it shipped with version 3.06 of the Axe-FX software. At that time, about a year ago, the Axe-FX was the best sounding amp modeler available. The amp modeling responded to touch and dynamics like a good tube amp, the effects were on par with the best rack mount multi-effects processors available at any price, and the effects routing was extremely powerful and flexible. Within a month of buying, the Axe-FX had rendered nearly all of my other guitar gear (including my tube amps--and I have some nice ones) obsolete. The Axe-FX did an outstanding job in all situations: recording direct, running though a PA, and using a power amp and 4x12s. Based on version 3.06, I had already gotten my money???s worth. Like most computers, the Axe-FX can be upgraded. Now at version 5.18, the software has advanced immensely since my purchase. For some time now, a wish list of desired features has been maintained on the Axe-FX forum. It is great sport watching it shrink as the Axe-FX improves. The best updates, however, haven???t been feature additions. The quality and realism of amp modeling has been improved several times. After each improvement I???ve told myself that it can???t possibly get any better, but it does!

My Axe-FX has worked flawlessly through long hours of daily use for as long as I've had it.

Fractal Audio provides the best customer service of any company (music related or not) I have ever seen. Cliff Chase, the genius behind the Axe-FX, has proven his generosity, integrity, and responsiveness with a consistency that borders on superhuman.

A previous reviewer suggested that positive reviews may be "hype from the people that build these products". Having watched Cliff Chase in action over the past year, I have to say that the suggestion is preposterous. If you have any doubts, head over the Axe-FX forum and talk to the working musician's who use this box every day. Still skeptical? Find one and try it. This is the best gear purchase I've made in 23 years of playing guitar. The once familiar affliction of Gear Acquisition Syndrome is a vague memory for me. I spend that previously wasted time and energy on my playing.

Given the spate of idiotic reviews here, (including obviously fake ones by people using fake names), I'm not sure why I'm wasting my time...but maybe someone will give this a bit of thought when they make their buying decision.

I'm a 50 year old guy, been playing for 35 years. I don't "shred", but I know how to play. I've bought and sold too many "classic" tube amps to even count, same with guitars...and I adopted (well, at least tried to adopt) digital technology going all the way back to my purchase of the Line6 AX212 when it was first released. Been through Pods, etc. also. Those never stuck, always back to an old fashioned amplifier and analog stomp boxes. I just offer that up as a basis for my opinion. I know my gear better than I can play, but I'm OK with that.

Ease of use? Probably pretty difficult if you've never used a rack device or a computer, or if you are dyslexic, or if your abilities are limited to twisting knobs.

But...if you've got half a brain and are willing to spend an hour with the manual and the unit (before proclaiming it "way too difficult for you")...you'll find everything very intuitive, extremely well thought out pretty simple actually. After an hour, you should be able to create a killer sound in about 60 seconds. It's as easy as you want to make it. On the flipside, it's also as deep as you want to make it. Easy as pie for the novice, deeply challenging for those who migrate to these things and want to spend the time. What more could you ask for?

LP's, strats, 12 string Ric, tele....straight into the AFX, then straight into a QSC HPR122i powered monitor. Rip your head off loud, and more thump than anybody could possibly want.

Here's the first thing to realize: a patch that sounds utterly fantastic with the LP most likely will sound like butt with the strat. Oh, you say, your GT-10 sounds good with everything? That's because it's making everything sound THE SAME! The AFX respects the differences of your guitar. You bought all those guitars because they sound different right? Well then do them a favor and create a set of patches that take advantage of the sonic signature of that particular guitar.

The amp sims in this box are fantastic. There is a connection between your fingers and the sounds coming out of your system (if you don't know what that means, you've been playing your Pod too long). Do I *love* them all? Nope. Are there more than enough great ones in here to keep me busy for the rest of my life? No doubt.

The effects are stellar, even though I don't use them a bunch....if I need to, I can recreate almost any stompbox known to man, put them in any order (pre/post/serial/parallel, etc.). Way more than any human being needs.

I could go on and on, but if you think your Pod sounds as good as this...I'd suggest you pay more attention to your high school classes because you are never going to make it as a recording engineer.

One disclaimer here...if you plug this thing into the input of a Crate guitar amp (or any other guitar amp for the most part) it's gonna sound less than stellar. You are getting about 20% of the goodness out of the unit. If that's what you want to do, go buy one of the consumer level units and wail away. You'll be happier.

It sounds good. It sounds like an amp. The effects can replace anything you currently have. Most importantly, it *feels* and *plays* like a classic tube amplifier.

Had mine 6 months, trouble free. I don't know too many people who take back up amplifiers to gigs, and I can almost guaranty you that you'll see less problems from this than a typical tube amp (even discounting routine tube replacements).

Fantastic company - direct contact with the inventor/software genius via the web forum - even though I've never had problems, I've seen others fixed, even if they are 2nd owners and the unit is out of warranty.

FREE firmware upgrades (yes upgrades! new amps, new effects, etc.) come on a routine basis.

15 day full return policy after you purchase.

All companies should be this customer friendly. I wish to heaven the employees of the company that I run were this good.

The first "modeling" device worthy of actually keeping after you buy it.

Honestly, if you play your Vox or Korg or Line6 device and you are really happy....this may not be the box for you. It's a lot of money, and you probably won't/can't tell the difference.

This box is for the guy who currently has a Twin, a Marshall, an AC30, maybe an old Tweed in the corner...because he likes the different sounds of all those amps. The guy who always *wanted* to like the Pod because it seemed so easy and convenient...but unplugged it in disgust after about 5 minutes of playing because it really wasn't anything like playing through one of your amps.

This thing sounds and most importantly (to me at least) feels like you are playing through one of those amps. I'm not gonna blow smoke up your rear and tell you that it's a perfect recreation of all those amps. But it's good enough for this old fart....and leaps and bonds ahead of anything that has come before it.

A friend of mine bought this unit and couldn't figure it out so I helped him out. I have had tons of these units (amp modelers) so I could figure it out but it's too deep for your average guitarist.

I took my newly purchased Boss GT-10 over and we did a shoot out and guess what? I could get my GT-10 to sound as good and even better than that $1800 unit he had. I showed him how much easier it is to get killer sounds out of the GT-10-next day he sent the Axe-FX back and picked up a GT-10! I'd have to give it an 8 for sounds-there are some great sounds in there but you could buy 3 Boss GT-10's for what this overpriced unit costs!

Worked fine for the 3 days he had it

Do you ever get the feeling that some of these reviews are just hype from the people that build these products? I know for a fact some of them are. And that idiot a couple posts down wouldn't know a Dumble from a Fumble. I would think that if Fractal Audio would lower the price of this piece where it's competitive with the Boss GT-10 then there would be some real reviews on this product-and they might even sell a few! My advice-Buy the Boss and save $1300 bucks!

First a little about myself....I am 30 years old and play in a cover band that plays Van Halen, Creed, Tool, Chris Issak, Billy Idol, Gavin DeGraw, ZZ Top, Pearl Jam, 80's & 90's pop, country....everything! I have played guitar for 12 years and play both Lean and Rhythm equally well as the sole guitarist in my band. I use a Mark Tremonti single cut PRS guitar with 2 stock Tremonti humbuckers. I have a home-made EVH Ernie Ball/Wolfgang with a floyd rose and 1 Tremonti PRS bridge pickup...Finally I have a home made strat with 3 Lace chrome dome single coil pickups. My current rig(until the AXE-FX came) was a Mesa Boogie Triaxis, ISP Decimator Pro Rack G, TC G Major, Mesa Boogie Power 2:90 poweramp, and a Mashall 1960 straight cab with Celestion GT-75's. This rig was fantastic except the ISP Decimator was a must have because the Triaxis was so squeally and hissy on high gain, I couldnt get great low volume cleans, the mid gain was not the best, and the effects while decent were not mind blowing.
I have owned a Vetta I combo, a Vetta II head, a Flextone III combo, a Cybertwin combo, a Pod XT Live, a Pod XT, an atomic amp, a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier(modded by VooDoo Amps), and a Marshall TSL100 head. All of these also had things I liked but ultimately gave up because of what was missing and the search continued. I also worked through college at a couple music stores that carried every kind of top dollar boutique or vintage amp you could name. While I always prefered tubes...it was really just a means to an end.....I was and have always been up to the challenge for a non tube amp that could satisfy my tone quest. Basically...I wanted one amp that could do it all and do it all well with no reservations or compromises. Enter---AXE-FX.
I got the standard and hooked it 1st up to my buddies Carver 950 watt solid state power amp....I built a patch from scratch 1st without even listening to the presets because that is the one thing with gear...presets usually suck! Started dry with cab sims off, power sims on, and was going for that EVH Van Halen II Beautiful Girls tone...after learning how to program it by just fiddling around 30 minutes...bam....got it! I added delay and reverb and instantly saw that the effects were far beter than my TC G Major. I then went on to build several other presets for 3 .5 hours. I did a lot of noodling in between and had fun...left that day with my cleans not being what I had envisioned.
Came back next morning and thought I'd try the Axe-FX with my Mesa Power 2:90 poweramp...HOLY HELL it was amazing....everything came to life...the cleans were the best I'd ever heard and all the other patches that I'd made also sounded perfect. Pristine yet warm clean, gritty shimmer, mid gain, Marshall, Mesa, boutique....anything is now possible...there are no compromises because you can tweak in or out anything because their are so many parameters! Yet it is very easy to program...very logical! I'm fine with still having one foot in the door with a tube power amp....guess it just gave me the clean head room I needed. Maybe the solid state poweramp I had used the day before wasnt good or rated as high as I thougt(borrowed that from a buddies PA and it was a Carver(not Carvin) 950???
I am able to get everything I want from this preamp, the feel of tube amps, the ease of digital, an all in 1 package, effects that all steller, and tweakability that is endless. I just sold all my gear and my new rig is the AXE-FX, Mesa Power 2:90, Mashall 1960 straight cab, GCP midi footboard, and a Ernie ball expression and Dunlop wah(which after I mess with the Axe's wah I may sell too). I told my wife my 5 year search os over...I have no need for another amp(EVER). Maybe a wireless unit and a 2/12 cab...that's it....and this chair and this remote control(sorry...had to quote some Jerk lines). If anyone has any question they can email me...I love this thing...Told my wife in explaining

I have the Standard. It takes some time to figure out, but given what it does, it's exceedinly easy to dial in the tone you like. The controls are logically laid out, so once you get a gist of it, you won't be needing the manual.

This is the finest sounding piece of gear I've ever had, and I've gone through tens of thousands of dollars worth of gear over the years. Axe-FX plugged directly into a powered PA cabinet replaces them all. I know it's hard to believe, but some of the models in this unit sound better than the real thing. You can, for example, get a cranked JCM800 tone without the fizz, at bedroom volume, with adjustable presence, density, sag and master volume (output volume remains the same - "master volume" just changes by how much the "power tubes" are overdriven). You can get the buttery tone of a cranked Fender Twin without shattering the windows. The clean tones are very lively and dynamic. High gain chording sounds great (try that on any other modeler!). Amp models react to the volume knob better than real amps they model. The dynamics are there while you play. You can upload your own impulse responses for cabinets. Modeling in this unit is really "deep" and possibilities are truly endless.

Notice that so far I was just talking about amp/cab modeling. The effects are equally impressive, easily on par with the best units from TC Electronic, Lexicon and Eventide. It's all there, down to the very Vai-esque sounding vocoder (See "Yai Yai" from Real Illusions album).

I haven't had it long enough, but it gets a 10 for initial build quality. Looks like it will last a lifetime. Thick, solid steel, built in the USA.

It's not often that you can actually talk with the chief designer of a unit on a forum and suggest features. Granted, not all suggestions get implemented (free firmware updates, too!), but Fractal Audio has a history of listening to the customers and I appreciate that a lot.

If it were stolen or lost, I would buy a new one immediately. It's a game changing device for me. I was a tube snob for decades and I had my doubts before buying Axe-FX. A week after receiving it I listed all my tube amps on eBay. Quite frankly, they don't do anything Axe-Fx can't do, except you can use them as free weights, for exercise. My only gripe is a somewhat noisy internal fan, but given how the rest of the unit performs, I won't take off any points for that.

As far as whether it helps me when I make music... Let me put it this way. It's liberating and inspiring. Say, you're learning an instrumental piece by your favorite guitar god. Wouldn't it be liberating and inspiring if you could dial in THE EXACT TONE you hear on the record? Well, now you can! Or, say, you don't want to sound like anyone else. You can do that too!

I admit the price seemed a bit high before I bought the device, but now that I have it, I can say it's the best value on the market, by a really wide margin.

Super awesome! This quality product is so easy to use, I can't believe how I managed without one!

The Fractal Audio AxeFx sounds amazing! I have played Dumbles, Trainwrecks, and even Dumbles, but this sounds better than all 3 combined! I havent used an eventide, but I can tell for sure that the effects in this are much better! Awesome!

This is the most reliable piece of equipment ive ever bought! In the 3 days ive had it, its worked flawlessly. I don't actually gig, since im more of a bedroom player, but I think that's who this product is aimed at anyway. It will definitely stand up to my bedroom use, thats for sure! Awesome!

The Fractal guys are awesome, friendly, cool guys. Probably the coolest and smartest guys in the industry. Simple awesome!

This is the best $2000 modeller on the market, its awesome! The manufacters like very much to describe it as a 'Pod on steroids' and they're right, that's exactly what it is. I waited 9 months for this, and it was worth every minute.

I'm not going to comment too much on this unit, we all know what it does.

I'm just going to say , I owned , Shiva, Suhr OD-100,THD-Flexi,JCM 800 1982(vertical),1983 JCM 800 Canadian, 1972 SL(Marshall),1959 Plexi RI,TC G-Force and finally Bogner XTC 101B WHITE CHASSIS(still have it, but it's going too...), besides other like Mesa, 5150, JSX, etc. that are not worth mention,comparing everyday to friends Tone King and Fargen,..Don't let me start with pedals,Original TS 808,exotic etc..
If you give me all above for this unit, I wouldn't do it.. end of my review here!!!

Getting a good sound is as easy as plugging it in. Most of my previous pre-amps were narrowed down to a dozen preset favs. The Axe was 'narrowed' down to 53 out of 128. The ones I eliminated were no slouches I just needed to cull because of my pedals. I gave up when Fractal gave us 128 more presets.

I'm on firmware 5.06 on the Ultra. Updates are a breeze and they are frequently introduced. The manufacturer is always improving things based on customer request. The manual is fine. The device is as easy as you want it. From no-tweak to geek-tweak and everywhere in between. I say it is easy to use because it requires flipping on the power and plugging in your guitar to sound great.

I use a handmade Marler ($$$) strat style guitar. There is no noise. This unit is a studio dream. I am direct to board only at this time thru a Mackie mix into Sennheiser HD-650 phones. Honestly I can't think of an artist sound you can't nail as well as the ability to create your own unique soundprint.

I don't gig anymore but I never gigged without backup. I doubt that I would do so now but the unit is too new to tell about long term reliability. I will say it is built like a tank whereas I see no area of weakness. I don't want to give an opinion here because 10 is premature and anything less would be unfair.

Outrageously fantastic. I have never been involved with a company that will hear a series of customer request and release firmware to reflect those request within a short time period. Cliff Chase makes his customers feel like they are part of his product... not just an owner of a box. It just doesn't get any better.

I'm an old rocker but have played country, jazz and pop and covers as well. This device is the Swiss Army Knife of studio pre-amps. I've been playing for 37 years and surprisingly the 'other' gear I own is thinning down dramatically because of this device.

It's helps me make music and it helps me be a better musician. Sorry but there are no products to compare it to. It is a unique product and to compare it to other effects, amps or pre-amps would be apples to oranges. Like comparing a mandolin to a Les Paul and asking which you like better... they're both stringed instruments.

Trying to explain it to someone that hasn't played it is near impossible. When you own it you then understand. The beginning of this review stated 'nothing is perfect''glowing reviews may not be published'... so be it but I'm thinking that being honest is the most important. This product is not perfect but for my purposes it is real close to it. The knick or knack that I would change or do differently aren't even worth mentioning. Especially when looking at the whole package.

I actually have the Ultra version (4.05 firmware... I believe current as of this review is 4.08). However, I have not made much use of the extra Ultra features yet (beyond using extra FX instances that are available... for example the Ultra has 4 parametric EQs and the Standard has 2). Anyway, to continue, I should be up front and tell you that the rating I give reflects my ability to use the product after spending some time with it. It had its challenges when I first received it, but many computers do... and this is indeed a computer. Menu navigation is fairly intuitive as is placing, linking, and moving effects. The largest learning curve has to do with its deep editing capabilities. However, they aren't difficult to use. The difficulty comes from your ability to understand what they mean and how they alter the sound (which has no bearing how now easy it is to tweak them within the unit). The manual does an excellent job of describing each parameter. My only complaint would be that the manual is not updated as new features/parameters are introduced. But, I understand a manual revision is in the works and the firmware release notes that you receive when doing an update can easily act as a manual supplement as they do a fairly good job of describing anything new.

Absolutely fantastic. It is by far the best digital sound generator I have tried. The effects are, at the very least, on par with those produced by Eventide/Lexicon/TC Electronic and in many cases exceed it. Its use of impulse responses for features such as reverb and the cabinet simulator gives it a realism that is unmatched by any others because it uses actual room and cabinet responses in the algorithms. The use of a grid matrix to place your effects blocks anywhere you choose gives you nearly unlimited routing possibilities. The generous helping of EQ blocks (both parametric and graphical) as well as several filter instances allow you to shape your tone any way you please... and that's above and beyond any EQ functionality that exists within the other blocks as well.

The amp simulations are incredibly accurate. I don't know the exact number of amp sims, but I think it's somewhere in the 45-50 neighborhood. You are able to tweak way beyond the 'gain, treble, bass, mid, etc' settings and have access to parameters that alter the characteristics of your not only the preamp but the power amp as well such as tube sag and output impedance. Advanced parameters include tone stack location and output transformer settings. The cabinet/mic simulator is equally impressive. You can choose 2 cabs and 2 mics per block and adjust parameters such as the mix between the 2 cabs as well as the speaker drive of each cabinet. All of this tweakability gives you the power to create just about any sound you like. The great thing about this unit is that if something doesn't sound quite right then you have the power to make any number of minor (or major) adjustments to create what you hear in your head. Some of my favorite simulations include the Brownface and Blackface (Fender Vibrotone and Fender Twin respectively), the Marshall JCM800 and JTM45, the OD Spec 1 & 2 (clean and dirty dumble), Buttery (Budda), and Wrecker (Trainwreck).

So... the question everybody seems to want to know is: "how does it sound compared to a tube amp". First, my main beef with some of the reviews I've read (not too much here, although there is some, but mainly on some message boards) is that the big mistake that most people make when comparing a unit like this to a real amp is that they severely handicap the digital unit in terms of the output amplification device. A digital unit run through studio monitors or headphones will lose out to a tube amp every time. A tube amp with 10" or 12" speakers (especially multiple ones) moves a great deal of air when compared to your average studio monitor. That is a huge part of getting that "lovin' feeling" from an amp. You as a player react to that feeling of moving air which is one reason real amps are so desirable to many. You can't get that same feeling from headphones or small speakers. Run your tube amp through 5" speakers and your opinion of it will likely drop faster then you can say "yuck". So, when doing a comparison of this nature you have 1 of 2 options. First, do yourself a favor and get a neutral (or as neutral as you can) output system with 10" or 12" speakers to play your AxeFX through. Play it at the same level as you would your tube amp (so make sure you output system as enough overhead and doesn't distort). I guarantee that you will hear and feel a huge difference over playing it through headphones or small studio monitors. The second option is to record your tube amp and the AxeFX and play both back over the same headphones/monitors. I prefer option #1 and use a dB Technologies Opera Live 402 (biamped, 250W 12" woofer, 50W 1" tweeter). Now, I'm not implying that the AxeFX is better then a tube amp. If you have a tube amp that gives you 'your sound' then you probably should stick with it. But it is, IMO, close enough through the right output device (or recorded) and the versatility allows you to do so much more with it then you can with the average amp.

I have personally, in the 6 months or so that I have owned it, encountered zero issues in terms of reliability. It spends most of its time at home, but does get out of the house twice a week. I keep it in a Gator rolling rack bag which doesn't offer much in the way of shock protection. It has taken a couple of minor spills with no adverse effect. The casing is very strong and I have no doubt that it could take some abuse. I cannot speak as to how the circuit boards are mounted in the interior because I have not opened up the unit to look. I have heard of a handful of issues, but since this is a review of my experience I will rate it as such and not presume to rate it based on someone else's.

Cliff (the creator of the AxeFX and owner of Fractal Audio) provides support that puts many other companies to shame. He actively participates on the AxeFX message board where he not only offers technical advice, answers to difficult questions, and solutions to problems user have been having... but he also regularly polls the user-base for their opinion on new ideas and desired features. Firmware updates for bug fixes and new features are offered regularly. E-mails are answered promptly in most cases and within a day at the most. Fractal is concerned about solving any problems, not sticking it to the consumer and that is a refreshing change.

Of all the gear I've owned (and it has been, embarrassingly, a great deal) this is my favorite. I have owned some really nice tube amps (notably a Diezel Einstein, Mesa Mark IV, and Hughes and Kettner Duotone) as well as just about every modeler ever made and a ton of pedals and I am finding that I don't miss them all that much. It's not that the AxeFX has better tone then those amps, but I don't think it's worse either. It certainly has better tone then the low-end modelers (but that's not a fair comparison at all). It sounds fantastic no matter which guitar I use (Fender American Dlx 'Fat' Strat, PRS CE24, Ibanez Artcore ASF75T, and Takamine EF341SC acoustic). The appeal to me is the flexibility it gives you to create just about any sound you can imagine. For someone such as me who is a techie at heart and who likes to tweak as much as they like to play, it has been the funnest piece of gear I've owned. A simple plug-and-play guitarist might not appreciate it as much, and that's perfectly ok, but for those of us wanting the ultimate in versatility this, so far, is the solution.

If you have experience with high end effects (rack gear) or good modelers, you can get a good sound pretty quickly. With that said, I am not very experienced with high end rack gear, so there is a bit of a frustrating learning curve. But with some patience and experimentation, I have been able to find what I am looking for.

I am not rating this category because I really think it depends on your past experience.

This is where this unit REALLY shines. The tones I am getting from the Axe Fx Standard are superb. I am not much of an effects guy (maye a little verb and chorus on cleans and some OD and EQ on high gain tones), so I bought this intending to use it as my main tone generator.

The amp modeling is excellent. I have owned just about every high gain channel switch ing amp on the market, including quite a few boutique models and I don't feel lik eI am missing anything using the Axe FX.

I was expecting it to sound good based on the information I read prior to getting my mitts on it. I was also hoping the feel would be there but wasn't really countin gon it. IT IS THERE. I don't miss the feeling of playing a good tube amp one bit.

I run it through a VHT 2/50/2 power amp and a Diezel 4x12 and Voodoo Amps 4x12 in stereo. I do, however use the power amp sims in the Axe and have decided to go all the way and bought a Carvin DCM 600 power amp. If I can get away without any tubes, I am all for it. More consistent tone and no worries about the tubes are a good thing in my book.

I rarely rate anything a 10, but this thing deserves it.

Thank you Cliff!!!!

No opinion...haven't had it long enough

EXCELLENT...ongoing firmware updates and actually listens to his customers!

Best all in one unit I have ever used. As good as any tube amp I have played and can be used in just about ANY configuration you want.

There is often hype abou tthis or that product and usually the products don't live up to it.

When it comes to the Axe Fx, BELIEVE THE HYPE!!

I rated this category a 7 feeling it is fairly simple to get a good sound from this device. The sample patches are overdone to demo the effects and need to be tweaked. Patch tweaking is easy IMO. If you've never worked with a programmable effects processor it might seem like a 4 to you. If you have a lot of experience it may seem like a 9. The manual could use a re-write as it was a bit needy originally and the firmware has changed several times. My unit has been upgraded and is running 4.05 (Standard). The manual is a free download and I suggest you get it and study it to get a better idea regarding ease of use (or not).

This device can emulate or create preamp and power amp patches as well as effects. It can be used as a preamp, running into a tube or solid state amp, as a preamp and power amp running into a guitar cab, or as a preamp, power amp and cab simulation driving a full range PA. It can also be used as a simple effects processor. You can cop a wide range of sounds with this device, but despite the claims made by some of the more outspoken advocates, it will not satisfy everyone as a replacement for their tube amps. For direct input recordings, you can get some pretty good sounds, especially if you use some of the speaker impulse responses being made available for users. I've used it with my Gibson and a borrowed Strat and the uniqueness of each comes through better than other modelers I've owned. The effects are on-par with TC or Eventide effects processors based on my experience, but don't dump all of your pedals...The Vibe (Univibe) is no where near as good as the boutique makers are putting out, no matter how much you tweak. I've basically run this direct, into full range tube and solid state amps, and into a guitar amp power section (effects return). I've run it into guitar cabs and full range speakers. IMO it sounds best direct but does a respectable job into a power amp and guitar cab. Some users evangelize using flat response full range PA monitors and I'm sure they really think they are the best. The best advice is to try one (trial period offered) and spend a lot of time tweaking it in various configurations to see what You like. Don't fall for the hype of a few articulate enthusiasts.

There have been a fair number of product malfunctions reported on the Axe-Fx web page. Go there, search and determine for yourself if you care or not. You always need a backup, and given the unreliability of vacuum tubes, I'd say it seems to be fairly robust.

The owner and his wife seem to do a fine job at customer support, although they are suffering growing pains.

I play mainly classic rock and covers with some jazz. Been playing about 35 years. After using this device for several months, I've mainly moved back to my tube amps. It's not that the Axe-Fx sounds bad, it's simply that my amps and cabs sound better *to me*. I currently use the Axe-Fx primarily as a replacement for my old Line 6 TonePort, using headphones and practicing new material from CDs and so forth. This unit is clearly a step up from my previous Boss and Line 6 modelers, but for me it's not a replacement for my amps. If it were lost or stolen I'd probably not replace it, but never say never. Finally, watch out for the over-hype. Some influential posters on the Axe-Fx web page and other big gear sites would have you believe this is The New Paradigm and can replace any of your equipment. They claim they are objective and acknowledge tone is subjective, then they turn around and condescend or feint pity if someone disagrees with their conclusions. As I said before, get your hands on one and spend a lot of time with it; decide for yourself and disregard the self-proclaimed experts. Oh, and don't sell your tube amps until you're sure you won't come back to them; I think you might ;-)

Finally time for a review. I've had the AFX for almost a year now, so feel I'm qualified to comment.

AFX Standard. Ease of use? Not easy, but not hard either. The interface is a bit of a learning curve...not much, and hour or 2 and you find out where all the stuff is that you need. You use a spin wheel and page menus to get where you need. I still had to refer to the manual a few times over the first month. This is an EXTREMELY advanced piece of equipment, so there's no practical way to have a knob for all that *stuff*.

Now being that advanced, you can get as simple or as complex as you have imagination for. Very simple (going direct) to set up an amp, cab, and output, however, if you want to pan 2 amps, run a few FX in parallel, and be able to pedal pan from all of it, it's complex. Keep in mind here that I personally HATE tweaking, but finding out that you can make massive improvements in tone by doing so has sent me to the dark side. The presets are extremely usable, but I noticed that they are designed to go primarily direct, and can be very guitar dependent (i.e. playing a Pink Floyd patch with hot 'buckers sounds overly distorted...use your Strat!) They can be easily tweaked to be used in your live or studio applications. Mostly I suggest using them as examples of how to dial in things...especially FX.

The manual is very good, but it is not enough. There are now a few online resources that can help with the learning curve. Tips and tweaks are now readily available at the AFX chat board or established wiki. This helps us who don't hold a recording engineer degree (and DON'T WANT TO) but want great tone quickly.

Others have reported problems with MIDI and upgrading firmware, (bad checksum's, etc), but I use a MacBook Pro, and I've upgraded several times with absolutely no issues.

Going to have to give this a 'No opinion' as when I started it was very easy, but as I learn more, its' getting harder as I want to do more things!

Here we go: the presets are remarkably accurate to get you 'close' to the tone of your favorite artists. Granted they need to be tweaked for your guitar, speakers, whatever, but nailing a few of my favorite tones (Eric Johnson, Santana, Marshall crunch) was a snap.

I've used a variety of setups:
Dean Caddy, Gibby LP, Amer Strat
AFX - Mesa 20/20 - Mesa 2x12
AFX - Clean PA poweramp - Mesa 2x12
AFX - Powered monitor
Controlled by MIDI Mate in controller mode, so I can toggle off/on whatever FX or drives I'm using.

The progression is because I trusted the unit more and more as time went on. I had dialed out the cab sims in the first 2 options there, and used the poweramp lightly with the 20/20, and extensively with the clean poweramp. Speaker choice of the 2x12 was limiting (V30's), so the last one is where I found this thing to be as deep as you can get. It runs everything Soup to Nuts, and offers the most versatility. Now I can go from brutal Recto to Chime AC30 to shimmer Fender with a touch. I recommend full range speakers wholeheartedly.

The rest of this is based on going direct to my powered monitor with the AFX doing everything:
The amp sims are so good that you really believe that you are playing them. Another reviewer nailed it when they said 'embarassingly better than the competition', and that's understating. I have no beef with the other products (have had a few of them), but this is head and shoulders over those. This also lets the character of your guitar shine through, which is a good and bad thing. If you have a weak spot, this WON'T hide it. Strats sound excellent, LP's have that thick roar. My fav tones are Marshall, and I have so many options from the JTM45, to JCM800, to the Plexi that I'm in heaven (also other flavors like hot rodded, and Brown sounds as well). The SLO is one of my favorites as well. The Matchless is incredible with a Strat. Right now it's like a roomfull of amps you would never buy, but wanted to try.

The FX are addicting, and encourage you to explore and change your tonal palette. I've explored things like a 'vibe, deep chorus', flanges that I would have never experienced without this unit. I was able (by cheating and using the presets) to dial in a 'Synth' type sound for a song we were doing, and it fit perfectly. The drive models (Tubescreamer's etc) are not great for me, as once I dial in a tone, I don't like too much of a change when I hit them for solos (I just hit a boost option that adds a bit of sustain, and it works great.) Drives work with low gain for me and the added volume boost (easily set up to kick these both in at the same time - one button.) They do sound good, but not all usable for me.

Performance wise, normally I get almost no noise. Some hiss from the powered monitor, but the noise gate works great on amp sims. It very well can get noisy on high gain models with all the trappings like deep switches, maxed gain, etc. YMMV, but it's a non issue for me.

The FX are just plain outstanding, but you DO have to work with them to get the proper mix in there... This is the most complex part of working with this unit. I don't understand FX as well as I would like, so playing with them is a joy, but don't know how to get the 'verb tone in my head. Doesn't seem to matter, since they sound great at any setting suprisingly.

I DO NOT LIKE giving 10's, but if anything deserves it, it's this thing. The 10 is mainly because of it's comparison to other modeling products out there. I'll say 9.5 because it's not perfect, but damn'd near close.

I've used this in very hot conditions, and very cold, and it's worked fine. I had an issue with the front panel, and sent it back, and it turns out that when it was shipped, UPS had bent one of the front knobs so that was almost undetectable.

Like anything, this is an electronic device, and they do break down, but so far, so good.

For the above issue, the front panel would be unresponsive. It only happened occasionally, and it didn't affect it's operation from the pedal board. I had a show that I had to do 3 days after speaking to the company, and they ONE DAY'D a loaner unit out. Absolutely stellar service. Looking on the AFX board, I am not alone in this sort of treatment.

The upgrades including additional amp models come out roughly twice a year, although there are SO many in there now, that will certainly slow. The bug fixes are damn'd near immediate, if there's a problem, then Fractal fixes it and posts new firmware the next day. I don't know of any amp company that is that responsive.

I've played for over 30 years (ouch.) I play in various projects, mostly covering Funk, Rock, Metal, Country. I cannot imagine a better tool than this for what I do. This is not a trivial expense as well, but all doubts vanished for me the first chord I hit. The bottom line is your getting a backline of amps and cabs, an ego rack of FX, and a huge pedalboard in a 2U box.

I've owned: AC15, HK Triamp, Egnater MOD50, Single Rect, Valvetronix, Zinky Superfly, oh, you get the idea...alot of stuff over the years. This fills the bill and I get the feel and response of the tubes, without the downfalls of them (constantly varying sound, replacements, expense.) There is no question that I would get another one in a heartbeat.

What do I love? Hmm. Pretty much everything about it. I love that I can get a consistent tone from bedroom to stadium. I have a new appreciation for FX. I understand why people have raved over the Lexicon's and Eventides now. The amp models are so much fun to have that each one is a month of playing in itself.

Complaints? The interface is good, but not great, but I just don't see another way to fix this unless you have a computer on stage with you (there's a 3rd party Editor that can do things in realtime.) So it's difficult to tweak quickly if you're on stage...too much stuff.

Another complaint might be that to get great tone is easy, but to really dial it in TAKES TIME. The presets help, but you are basically building a rig, you have to get the amp you want, the proper cab for that tone, and play with each until you get what's in your head. EVERYTHING IN THE CHAIN IS IMPORTANT. This is probably the downfall of some of the other reviewers. While they're opinion is valid, it's impossible to see the range of this thing in a few hours of tweaking. (Although I'll call out anyone who sais that they got the same quality tone out of thier other '$400' modeler...you just lost me on credibility if that's what you heard.) From that, the online community is now extremely helpful and knowledgable, but this is so flexible that you need time to work it with your setup. Bottom line is that you start with great tube tone, but to get it to sound perfect is going to take work.

Last notes: A common problem for me is finding a great tone, and I end up playing for 3 hours on that alone. It sounds THAT good. It almost demands that you play.

I've owned my AxeFX since May 2007. I've been a "tube snob" for over 20 years (although dabbling in modellers here an there with some satisfaction) I found the AxeFX easy to use, easy to edit patches and tweak to get the sounds I wanted - and I consider myself a novice programming any of these type of devices. I had my 3 main patches setup within 15 minutes sounding great through my rig.

The manual is good, there are some other examples for newbies that could be helpful to get the full potential out of the unit, but that's where the AxeFX Forum comes in. A great resource and good bunch of folks including the owner of Fractal Audio. I have my original firmware I thinks it's 3.09 several items have been tweaked/fixed/added since. I just haven't got around to it yet

I don't use a bunch of effects for most of the stuff I play, but I wanted the option to experiment and find new sounds and this unit has it all in Spades! High Quality effects, great amp, speaker, mic and cabinet sims. My primary styles are Blues, Jazz, Funk with some progressive and heavier stuff thrown in when I feel like chugging along. I can get various SRV tones, EVH Tones, Petrucci tones, Metallica, Police, U2, ZZtop, George Benson, Mike Stern, Scofield, Ford, EJ etc...etc...etc. It just takes a little tweaking depending upon your guitar, pickups and other equipment.

Current Setup: VHT 2/50/2 running 6L6's going into a Port City Wave Cab 1x12 with an Eminence Swamp Thang speaker. It sounds fan freakin' tastic. I primarily use this as a preamp and effects processor. I've tested it with my Mesa F30 and Fender Super Reverb as an effects unit and it sounds great. No noise for my uses, but like everything if you keep gain stacking you're going to introduce some noisee - but the built in Gate works very well.

I've never had a problem with the unit and I trust Cliff Chase the owner of Fractal Audio. This thing is built to last!

I have gigged with it without a backup without any problems, but if I gigged regularly I might buy another one just to play it safe - which is not an inexpensive undertaking, but well worth the money IMHO!

Cliff and Danielle are Awesome! Very friendly and VERY busy! Right now this is like a boutique preamp/effects processor but they are ramping up facilities and growing. Cliff is regularly on the forums answering questions, taking suggestions from users and potential users. He makes those changes which will work well with the design, very quickly I might add! I swear he must not sleep.

I haven't upgraded my firmware yet, although I'm a few versions behind, I'll get to it eventually.

As mentioned above I play mostly Blues, Funk, Rock and some Jazz for the most part. I also have my moments of playing heavier, progressive and metal type of music. I have an Buddy Guy Sig American Strat (Tobacco Burst) with Fat50 pick ups, a Heritage H150 (Les Paul) with Duncan Seth Lover's, Gibson ES 137 Custom and too many others to mention. I play these regularly through my AxeFX rig. I still have two tube amps (collecting dust) Mesa F30 and a Fender Deville and 2 or 3 Keeley pedals and my Barber Direct Drive that I'll keep just because I still have to horde something. I've owned and sold many of my other pedals and rack gear, mostly boutique from Fulltone, Hermida Audio, Xotic, Egnater M4 Pre, JMP1 etc etc. They were and are all good gear, but redundant and I can't keep everything.

Lost is not an option. If stolen the SOB that stole it would pay dearly. And then I'd buy another. Honestly there's nothing I don't like about the unit, it does everything I need and does it very well.

I had an Egnater M4 Preamp with the TWIN/Vox, SL, COD and MHG modules it kicks serious butt! Within a week of receiving the Axe FX I sold it and most of my other gear because this unit is that good IMO, and I don't have a road crew to haul around thousands of pounds of gear. I wanted to simplify my rig and focus more on playing and making music, and the AxeFX fills that role for me and many others.

If you have any questions stop by the AxeFx forums and read up, post and get answers to your questions.

I am rating this an 8. I can tweak easily on it but for someone who is a straight plug and play person they may be a little intimidated by the menus. If you already work with LCD and computers this thing is easy to program. There is an editor but it is a user addition. They seem to have done a nice job with it but I have yet to get my Ultra and editor working on my intel Mac.

For a direct box, which is how I am using it, it is the bomb. Best direct guitar box I have ever played and being a full time composer I have been through a lot of direct boxes.
Pod,Pod pro,Pod XT,GR8,VG-8exp,A red Box, JMP,A couple of hughes and Kettner things,Sans Amp,GR2 and probably a host more I can't remember. I liked most of that stuff but they were not perfect. This thing can be perfect times a lot of options.

I cannot comment on reliability as I have had it a short time. Also I do not plan on banging it around as it will live in my studio.

Customer support is fast and efficent. I have had an issue and it was dealt with swiftly and in a satisfactory manner.

I am a full time composer and part time studio guitar player in L.A. and trying to get a pro sound quickly and through one box...well this is currently the state of the art IMO. I need a wide variety of authentic and sometimes not authentic sounds and the Axe-FX passes this test with flying colors. I have been playing professionaly for almost 30 yrs and I have traded equipment as most have, over and over again. I am wondering if this box will be with me for as long as I play guitar, it's that good.

After about 20 minutes with the manual i easily navigated the page & edit menus. Once you get the layout down it ly easyis sooo easy to create your own patches. Editing existing patches and saving them into usable banks of presets is mindblowing

The factory presets are all very usable. All the sounds in this thing is awesome. I am running it into a Mesa 2:90 into 2 -4x12 recto cabs and was blown away... then I took the XLR outs to my protools digi 002 and was even more supreised when the direct recording sounded better than the live sound. This does not mean that the live sound was bad it was just as good if not better than my triaxis & JMP1 preamps that the AXE FX Ultra replaced. I have had Marshalls, Mesa, fenders, Line6 and Splawn, Framus Cobra, and I can get my tone out of this box.

So far everytime it gets turn on it sounds the same. I haven't had it long enough to have any problems with it but it seams like it is built like a tank

I went to Fractal Audio and picked it up with the inventor/Owners word that any issues he would tak care of personally. Cliff Chase seams like an honest person who just happens to build an incredible product.

I play everything from Blues Rock Country metal Jazz pop so far there is nothing that this thing can't do. the effects are stellar and the preamps are dead on. Direct recording is where this thing really shows it's worth. Dial up any tone that you can create in moments. THis is what Line 6 has been striving for, Fractal Audio just leaped ahead in the Simulator game. I have line6 gear and a friend used to be a product rep for them and the sound and design of this thing is better than anything they can come up with. I thought i'd miss playing my tube amps but the overall quality is amazing and crystal clear so I was pretty happy and sold my Triaxis and JMP1 preamps... I still have the 2:90 & recto cabs.

I Just Got my Axe-fx Ultra. Right out of the box I plugged it into my Mesa 2:90 power amp into 2 Mesa recto cabs and I was imediately very pleased. Although all the presets have a long reverb tail on them all the Sounds are spot on. I Have marshalls, mesa, Splawn & fender amps that I normally run through in different configs and I set up just the AXE-FX to see how it held up at rehersal with in 20 minutes I mapped 10 usable presets onto one bank of my Midi Foot controller toned down the verb and went at it.

Once you get used to the menu system. The menu system is very easy to navigate and real simple to create your own presets. With a few buttons you can change effect type, change routings and algorithim arrangements. The manual is very infomative and easy to use. Cliff put alot of thought into the development of the Product & Literature. Creating your own tones takes minutes and all of the amp sims & effect come with a optimum value sound, so once you select an amp or effect it already sounds great, sort of an sweet spot starting point. very very easy to get great tone out of this box in any signal path.

I have been playing for about 30 years amd have a lot of guitar gear so using the AXE-FX with out my usual tone generating rig was a leap of faith (Don't worry I didn't sell anything yet)To my and my bands amazement I didn't miss my old rig... Wow one box replaced a Triaxis, JMP-1 & Digitech GSP 2101 & a Splawn quick rod with the AXE-FX. It sounds amazing but I am sure that if you A/B'd it with the real amp you would hear some difference but if you were to record the real amp and record the AXE-FX you wouldn't, The Noise level is extremely low, the amp on high gain settings palm muted had no audible sound ( Amazing)The Tube Dynamic feel & response was so real i didn't even think about the amp and Just kept playing. The Effects are all crisp & clear with plenty of tweak to them. Tones are endless with this box. Now it is a matter of what you want to hear.. Line6 better work real hard to catch up to this unit, there stuff if low fi compared to this Hi FI.

Only had it for 5 days but this is extremely well built. So we will have to see....Built like a tank.

Cliff Chase lives about 30 minutes from my house and I actually helped him box my unit. (Small company Builds them in his house) Told me to email him or call and he would take care of anything.
I dont think there will be any.

I heard of this from a mutual friend about a year ago and wished I had jumped on it then, but then I wouldn't have the Ultra Version.
So far this thing is kicking my A#$ I can tweak any thing I want out of it. Sounds amazing direct, through a PA or into a power amp & Guitar cab. I would Definately buy it again it was worth every penny.
Line6 stuff is cheaper but you get what you pay for. This thing doesn't have any Audio artifacts that plague most amp Modelers. This is really a High End Amp Simulator. That allows you to tweak beyond the originals capabilities

Having so much at your disposal with only a handful of buttons to operate is a recipe for disaster. There is a steep learning curve but then you face the challenge of getting a MIDI foot controller programmed to work with it.

The effects are where it's at with the Axe-FX. The amp modelling while good doesn't particularly live up to what I was led to expect from all the hype that's been thrown around.

If the reality equalled the hype it would have easily achieved a 10. Make sure you spend a lot of time listening with your brain and not other user's hearts when making the decision to buy.

Will wait and see.

The support is great but there has been no need to really put it to the test yet.

I play just about all styles except for country and western.

I've been playing for almost 30 years and own a whole bunch of guitars and amps - too many to type here but I tend to gravitate toward Strats through Fender amps and I dig my Vox AC30.

If the Axe-FX were stolen I would use the insurance money to get to get two or three of something else that could almost do the same job.

The value for money factor has to be considered here. It does more than competing products but not enough to warrant the expense. Remembering that to use it live you have to consider the cost of a MIDI foot controller and amplification system.

I have gone through all the modelling gear and the Axe-FX does raise the standard in some respects but when you break it down to what the listener hears on a disk or hears during a performance, you can make the audience equally as thrilled with a $400 piece of equipment that doesn't need to have a foot controller added to the price.

This is a great piece of equipment for those who want excellent multi-effects (think Eventide, etc.) for their favourite amp. If you are into all sorts of "pristine" effects then you'll probably dig this unit. If you are not an effects fanatic then, like me, you won't really get as much value for money from it.

Considering a 10 on this category is titled "Fantastic Value" I can only give it a 4.

I have programmed the TC Electronics G-Major and G-Force, Lexicon MPX-1 (Ugh!), Eventide Eclipse, Pod XT, Boss GT-Pro and various others. Compared to these, this thing is a breeze to program. Considering the power and sophistication of this unit, the interface is very easy. When I first received it, I created a couple of fairly complex presets even before I opened the manual. Some may find it more difficult than others, but if you have any experience programing multieffect/modeler units this one should be easy. You will have to open the manual to understand a few of the deeper functions. However, it is relatively easy to get good sounds by just tweaking the presets which are generally excellent.
I have upgraded the firmware twice since I received the unit and did not have any problems. Others have had problems but they usually get the job done after getting some help on the Axe-Fx forum.
I have used the editor and it generally worked OK for me, but I find myself just tweaking the unit itself since I find it easy and quick to do.

I will not give it a 10 just because it is not perfect. That said, this is the best amp emulation out there. Period. You can coax out of it just about any amp sound you want. Depending on how you use it, you can tweak the power amp section and cabinets to make it sound good through a PA or full range amp (both of which I have used). Or you can turn off the cabs and power amp and plug into any power amp and cabinets you want (I have used it through a Carvin TS-100 tube power amp with a Marshall 4X12 cab). You can have combinations of these for each preset. You can then plug in direct to a recording console and it will sound just as good.
However, more important is the response of the amps to your guitar and playing dynamics. This unit responds like the amps it emulates. This is one area where the run of modelers today fail miserably. The Axe-Fx "feels" like a real amp (tube or solid state).
As far as the effects, they are excellent and a step above any modeling unit I have used. My only small critique would be that the delays are not quite a "airy" as those of an Eventide and the pitch shifting is not as responsive as the Eventide, but this is nitpicking because the delays are very good and the pitch shifting/harmonizing is good enough for 95% of applications (and light years ahead of anything that you get with Boss or Digitech. Line 6 doesn't have it). Other than that, the filters, the chorus, compression, reverbs, Eqs, distortions, etc. are great. I especially like the emulation of the Proco-Rat distortion that allowed me to easily nail some hard to get Jeff Beck tones.

I have had the unit only for three months so I cannot say how it will hold up over the long haul. However, it is built like a tank. I have hauled it around quite a bit, left it in the trunk of the car in 95 degree weather and switched it on and off countless times. It has never failed to work flawlessly.

This is another area where this unit shines. Fractal Audio is a very small company but they do have an excellent web site, forum and even a Wiki which is more than you can say for most larger manufacturers. Furthermore, Cliff, the principal creator and programmer of the Axe-Fx is very active in the forum.