Fractal Audio Axe-Fx

This is not a toy, it is a serious piece of equipment. It is not for everybody. Neither is recording at home. Neither is swapping tubes in an amp for that matter. Some things require some smarts, and this unit definately is not for those who think everything should be plug and play. As far as the presets, they get better every release. I use a bunch of them stock. But you still need a basic understanding of sound equipment to use this unit, you must amplify its sound somehow, and for some reason this blows people's minds. But it was easy for me and hundreds of others, just go to the Fractal website and the forums there have multitudes of information and solutions.

Geez, no low end ... my house thumps when I play through my Verve 12ma. Sometimes it is user error, not the product. Becasue you can get as much low end or high end or midrange as any tube amp PLUS more. You can make a Fender Deluxe tone with extended low end, or a Marshall with those highs you always complain are not there. Complete control over the sound. My patches blow people away. For reference, I have owned all Bogners and about every other boutique amp that has gone around. My SLO patch just kills. My Plexi patch rips. And my effects sound phenominal. No question this sounds as good as a tube amp. IMHO there is little if any difference now, so make your choice and rip some tunes.

As good as any piece of high end equipment.

I have always been responded to within 24 hours. Cliff is on the forums all the time, he answers questions on there when he can. It is a community of users, not just tech support or a phone number. Nothing else out there like it.

The best unit money can buy. It sounds like a million bucks, I have patches setup for every amp I have ever wanted or owned, and my sound blows people away. What else is there? Tube amps kick butt, they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. And now the Axe-Fx is the greatest thing since tube amps. Some think that is a bad thing. I don't waste my time with such trivial BS, I make music, I suggest you worry about your sound and not whether there is a tube in the amplifier.

I just received the AXE-FX this week, and after a few days, I would say it is pretty easy to use. Running the amp thru my Mesa Boogie's effect loop didn't work well, but a simple hook-up thru a power amp and a couple of guitar cabs in stereo did the trick. Editing patches is fairly straight-foward, I've rarely had to use the manual so far, but I'm not doing deep editing yet. The manual could be better, but it does the basic job. On-line manuals are better I think. I have the latest firmware, for Aug 2009.

The sound is incredible. I've been playing 40yrs on guitar, and nothing in a rack has EVER sounded this good. Pods are toys, childs play, compared to this unit, not even close in quality.

The effects are world class, especially in stereo where they shine. The unit is so quiet, unlike my old-school rig, where some patches have high gain, and feedback easily. The noise gate is excellent. The S/N ratio is like 105dB I think, and this unit couldn't be much quieter.

Guitar-wise, I play an '88 PRS custom and I am using the AXE-FX thusfar with a QSC stereo power-amp thru a couple of Celestion loaded guitar cabs, 4x12 and 2x12 in stereo, using the power amp and cab simulations. Suprisingly, the cab simulations work well even going thru guitar cabs. I have yet to run it thru normal monitors or house PA, but suspect it will sound as good or better. I recommend using the poweramp and cab simulations, they are that good.

The Mesa Boogie amp models in the AXE-FX are fantastic, just as good as my real tube Mesa amp, and more responsive typically. Santana sounds can be "exactly" created, and did not require any patch tweaking, for example. All in all, sound quality would be very hard to beat unless you had a closet full of tube amps and effects, and they would still be noisy.

Thusfar, seems to be built like a tank. Time will tell.

Have not needed much customer support early on, other than during pre-sale questions. They were very responsive via email to my questions, when asking about stock and delivery.

This is an expensive unit. I thought long and hard before buying it, and even found a guy who had one locally to hear it first. It has exceeded my expectations so far. This unit is excellent for any style, our band plays progressive and classic rock. I will be able to replace every pedal I own, and my stereo bi-amp rig with this rig. I think it should be able to replace my very expensive boutique distortion pedal, "Mighty Red Dist" and it has awesome sound too.

After 40yrs of playing, I think I have the last gear I'll ever need, unless they modify this again!

If it was ever lost or stolen, I would definitely buy again to replace it.

Compared with a Line6 Pod unit, there is no comparison, period. Effects and tone aren't even in the same league or galaxy. End of story.

I wish it had a larger display, and had a nice midi controller pedal readily available. Currently, using a FCB1010 pedal and it is doing a decent job so far. Also wish it had knobs on the front for basic controls, like bass, treble, presence, etc, but menu is okay.

I'm mostly responding to Nemo who must is foolish. The Axe is easy to use if you want to use presets. It's got a good programming interface, but it's an incredibly deep device. If you're a tweaker, it's for you. If not, I'd say stay away.

If you strip all effects off and just use amp/cabinet, you can get a great basic sound in any genre you want more or less the same way you would with an amp. If you don't know how to get good sounds already, you might be very frustrated.

I'm really looking forward to them getting the computer editor done as it's a deep device and the editor will make unlocking the potential a lot easier and quicker than it is now. Still, it has a good and well thought out interface for a device of such complexity...very like
TC Electronic stuff in some ways.

This thing is absolutely the bomb and it just gets better and better. Cliff, the designer, just completely redid the drive models and they're just stunning. I'm typically a clean amp plus pedals person who doesn't play all that loud at gigs. This rig has allowed me to run "amp plus pedals" with a midi pedal and I'm getting the best drive sounds of my life.

How it sounds depends a lot on what you run it through, but with the right gear, you can get sounds that will rival anything I've ever run through. The amp simulations are as or more touch sensitive than my real amps (58 Fender Tweed Deluxe, 64 Deluxe Reverb, Music Man 50/65, Ampeg Super Echo Twin, Gemini II).

The effects are awesome, but I feel like I've only scratched the surface in 6 months of use. I think within another 6 months I'll be on a completely new plane in terms of ability to get a world of sounds I'd only dreamed about. The quality and depth of effects is just ridiculous.

Seems very reliable. I've used it with no backup and have had no functional issues at gigs.

Outstanding customer support. The unit has improved massively in sound quality in the six months I've owned it and it was excellent to start with.

I've played a long time and have tons of gear, probably 15 overdrive pedals among them and I'm not using any of them any more.

This is the best gear purchase I've ever made. I feel like it's Christmas every time I turn it on and there's so much to be explored in there that I feel like I've barely started.

Again, if you're not ready to dig in and tweak, I don't think you'll get what you're looking for.
The sound is light years beyond PODs, Tonelabs, Guitar Rig, etc. I've had most of the emulators out there and while there are certainly uses for them and good sounds can be had, I would never have gigged with any of them. I also don't think any of them sounds anywhere near as good as the Axe.

I've already sold gear worth more than the Axe cost me as a result of its' purchase and plan to sell a bunch more.

One thing to note is that you'll likely want to accessorize the Axe with a good midi controller and possibly the best powered monitor or 2 you can afford. You can run it into a cabinet/power amp and some people do, but I like to use the Axe's power amp and cab sims.

its easy enough, but the parameters are very deep and the time and patience it takes to understand them is not worth it for the difference they actually make in the sound.

the manual is very basic and lacks thouough explanations of how to edit the parameters

i have the latest firmware. and i just sold this unit

ive used it with power amp and cab, into effects loop of tube amps , and direct to full range qsc 122i speakers in stereo. the effects sound good, but they dont blow you away like alot of people say, there no better than th eindividual effects pedals you will buy, like boss. as a matter of fact some of the effectsi actually prefer the analog pedals, the boss chorus pedal has a much warmer, sound and the axefx chorus lacks that sound of depth, you get from an actual pedal. the effects are extremely clean, but a bit sterile.

the amp sims are fun if your recording direct, but if your playing live, they dont compare to the real thing. no matter which way i used this thing, it lacked in one major area overall: bottom end. th esag of a tube amp was there, as a matter of fact, too much so. it didnt punch through th way my dual rectifier does. put this thing in the room with an actual amp(which ever setup you decide to run the axefx through) and the real amp will simply blow it away. particularly noticeable was the harsh icepick sound of the distortion sounds, when playing with pick ahnd muting style. no matter what i couldnt dial it out.

it is better than all other hardware amp sims out there though. for recording i preferred guitar rig over this unit

never had any problems

there are no phone numbers to call???

This unit is not for the novice tweeker. A decent or high level understanding of tone shaping would be of great benefit for the user. Having said that, I now know this thing like the back of my hand, so I see it as very easy.

I have an army of HIGH END boutique amps, and I have exceptionally good ears (I work in a studio every day fulltime) I have heading close to $10,000 worth of pedals alone, so I wanted the amp to be what the last reviewer said.. hype.. It would justify for me personally a lot of gear that has taken years to pick and choose and sculpt my sound.

The Axe-Fx has replaced ALL the gear, and I couldn't be happier. I never thought there would be an all in one solution world class tone, fx, tone shaping, routing value for money, appeal... this thing just kills it.

I honestly think the people that are not salivating have not spent the time you NEED to invest in it to 'get it' I say that because I have owned 2 of these, The first one I took home and tried it our during the trial period. Uh huh... hype, exactly, and I sent it back, almost proud that my ears were not deceiving me like many others. But I kept hearing stellar recordings, and thought, these are really really good recordings, especially running through my hi end studio monitors worth much more than the Axe-Fx.

I bit the bullet and bought it again. This time I ordered a pair of HTPR122I QSC monitors to partner with it, instead of my studio monitors and my botique D13, and Bluesbreaker amps etc. I followed the manual closely this time, and within 30 mins I 'got it' and I have not stopped loving it ever since. Sometimes I will do a shoot out between this and my tube amps, like a calibration for my ears, and each time it's the same result, a slightly different flavor, but it is a simply stunning aural experience.. every time.

I wish I could fault it, but this is hands down the greatest musical instrument technology I've discovered in 20 years. End of story.

Not an issue here.

I sent the Cliff 2 emails and never heard back... they have no number to call, so I would actually dock them points here because some of these smaller high end companies have legendary customer service. Having said that, they are always releasing new updates free of charge and Cliff listens to his customers, and seems like a very pleasant man. The Axe-Fx army of supporters are helpful on the forums, and fiercely loyal to the product and to Cliff, just my own personal experiences did not mirror what others have spoken.

This is about as close to perfection as I can get. I can honestly say this is the cure for GAS for me. I know a lot of people boast how they have owned this or that, yet this thing is the best (insert your fx unit/amp/guitar etc here) but I have to say I have been in a position to by 4 boutique amps at a time, and entire ranges of pedals for example like the enpress gear, Cusack, TC Nova, cmatmods, Divided by 13, Bad Cat etc etc, and this single 2 rack psace unit just kills. I never ever thought the day would come when I would swap all these treasured pieces of gear for a 'rack unit' yet that is the conclusion.

To answer previous reviewer,I also just got one out of the box,ran through presets, initially disappointed ? thin and tinny . Then saw how I had hooked up, did it properly and played with the now amazing sounds
a while and found why EVERYBODY who knows about sound is giving it the
thumbs up. I am a pro' and so every time I play I want the BEST sound
from my gear, not a bad-night/good-night tube reaction.Not acceptable
from any amp, so here is the answer.If your super-car tried to kill you
at random on odd day's you would off'it pronto.Get into 21st century
and stop whining about old tech'best.
Manual needs a bit of a tweak'as lacks some basic info for novices.
Easy to work-out if you sit and try.

When properly linked to out-board gear there is nothing to challenge
the Fx .The harmony/pitch sounds are incredible, cannot fault any of it.
Just into small desk and Truth p/mon's I love it to death.

From all the facts I have read they seem as reliable as day/night following .Always keep small fall-back unit

The very best there is

I play for pay , anything, anytime so must have the best, now I have got it. If any misguided cretin tried to relieve me of it,they would regret it for all time, I would have a thousand demons on their case in a flash.
Love everything about it, wish it had a floor-board inc. with pedals.
Do not read any of the put-down trash a few poor sods have entered on this forum, Majority rules,as does Axe-fx.

Tried one out recently, typical as all rack processors, you go through the presets, etc. Haven't tried editing too much, just surfing it out, etc.

I agree that this is hype. No, this will not replace your tube guitar rig. Effects are very good, why they don't make a seperate unit just for effects I have no idea, some companies always try to go too far (ya hear me Eventide?) and throw in the kitchen sink. The idea of an 'everything' processor was never good.

N/A

N/A

Here is the deal: You cannot replicate tube amps with this stuff. Why? Because a "tube" is like a human, not perfect. A tube is fussy, it changes with temperature, it has good days and bad days, in other words, it has real "Character" and you can feel this everytime you play. That is why people keep going back to the tube, it is moody just like they are. Now enter these digital clones or emulators or whatver... To find out the TRUTH of its amp character, you absolutely must turn off all the effects, all the crap, and listen the the raw sound alone. This is what usualy kills these type of processors, because they are digital robots, and their character never changes, it is designed to act one way, and it will do that. You won't notice this right away, you have to own one of these things for a bit till your ear finally gets dialed in to the sound and character. That is when you keep going back in trying to "tweek" everything over and over, wondering what it is that you are missing. Well, that is the cog in the wheel for digital and emulators/etc, they are not flawed and imperfect or moody, they will perform EXACTLY as they have the 1000 times you've played it, you will get no new emotion out of it. Think of driving a Vette down a curvy road really fast, exciting and dangerous! -Until you've learned the road and drove down it 1000 times, you wonder where the thrill went. That is the best analogy I can give. This thing would be great if it were TWO seperate items, a dedictated effects processor in one, which would be most excellent, and then if you want these amp models or whatever, you can get that unit. That way you get WHAT YOU NEED, no overkill, no serious $$$$ to drop down if you only want the effects. So in the end, as it is said, nothing new under the sun. The mistakes companies made in the 80's was trying to cram too much )$&W)&$)W# into everything and it got really old, guitarists just want what they need! You don't need all this crap! If you do, then you are a tech nut or studio nerd, haha. I say that affectionately, haha.. But just like Eventide, many many parameters of stuff not really useful to a major degree. Make a stand alone effects unit of these effects in a one rack space with a USB out to connect to your computer for a nice prog that is as big as your 19" monitor to make on the fly changes like you use your digital camera? You will have perfection.

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!

The first time I unpacked this little rack and connected it to an old amplifier I was really disappointed. I'm not a presets guy, but after sliding myself by 30 o 40 I remember I started to tweak and see what the menu offered. I turned off the unit very very scared and Axe Fx let me down. I didn't turn it on again since two or three days after. Well. I decided to connect the rack to a power amp and a Marshall 4x12 and something changed...the sound was better. Two pre-amps in serial mode are not the best way to connect it. Now, three months later, I have to recognize that the unit is amazing and very very very easy to operate, but it's not so easy to get a pro sound. You have to tweak and know what are you doing at every moment. a little and subtle change by a knob could be a radically different sound. So, you'll need many many hours of working in it to learn to build a tone, but once you know how to do it, once yo know the unit deeply, when you have a sound in your head it will be much easier to bring it out from the case. Everything you need is here,
The manual is similar to other gear, particularly Vox Tonelab, it shows the amps, cabs, effects and it tells little secrets that specially in my case didn't help me. Other secrets and tricks are very very useful and good!
I've got the last firmware and I love the warmth of the PA section working together to SAG , lately I discovered that this unit works better when you think about moving the knobs in "familiar", for example if you tweak DRIVE and MASTER togheter is better than one of them alone, or if you move in the REV block TIME and PREDELAY is better than moving one alone, for example...
Tweak tweak and tweak 'till your sound start to come!!!!

I use a POWER AMP SS very cheap Omnitronic P250 and a 4x12 Marshall Cab. Very very cheap and low class gear and the sound is great.
The unit is not very much noisy, except in some drive sounds, as a normal amp, it becomes noisy the louder you get.
The effects are very good in general. I am a guy of stompoxes and I miss some of the analogue features there, but no problem at all. The unit is very analogue and warm.
I have had a lot of amplifiers, tube amps, VOX AC30 (still with me), MARSHALL JCM900, Fender Blues Deluxe, Vox Valvetronix, Vox BM1, and hundreds of multi-effects and stompboxes and this unit is better than all that stuff, but I have to recognize that I cannot get the same sound of my old brittish VOXAC30 still miss some features in the effects part...fI use a lot E-bows and with some pristine effects in the AXE is incredible.
The drive bloc is the worst part for me, but the amp section covers all my sounds. My favourite amps in Axe Fx are Vox AC30 TB, Trainwreck, Blackface, Blues, Plexi and Hipower 1. I love the sound of this unit. I never had such a variety of real souunds at one foot's strike.
I use midi functions and is very easy to program.
AMPS and EFFECTS together in the same box. Amazing. And the sound is TRUE.
I am a tone snob, believe me.

Now I depend on it.
I still use my old VOX AC30 TB and some effects (digital and analogue) but I'm getting my tones in Axe Fx in order to use it and get rid of 50kg. of useless amp.
I still have to work more in the VOX ac30 sound.
SOUND is a very subtle and subjective thing. This machine makes my guitar SING but I'm still
scratching the surface. Don't wanna sound like any amp, I just wanna SOUND.
And if two same amps (for example two old Bassmans) never won't sound the same you cannot expect this box to sound like the two amps together...the rack sounds killer. Simple!

Great stuff and great idea, good philosophy, I fell in love of this mysterious hype of AXE FX and now I'm a lucky man. Users in forums and WIKI are helping (me too to make this thing bigger and bigger. Democratization of Sound.
It costs a lot of money, but it's worth.

I play rock, blues, modern and vintage sound. I love Gilmour, Brian May, The Edge, Tom Verlaine, Frusciante...etc etc etc.
I can get my own sound for the first time, I won't try to imitate never again the sound of another guy with the same gear.

Response to Matt. This is a discussion forum for musicians to evaluate equipment based on other musician's experiences. People are looking for answers here and they are capable of choosing what to believe after they read these reviews without the all knowing Matt telling them who is right and who is wrong. Having said that here is a post copied directly from the Fractal Audio forum:
"I purchased my Standard two months ago, Firmware version 5.19. Yesterday I updated to 5.24 and followed the directions closely. I used a MidiSport 2x2 and although the download to the Axe took approx 25mins, I believe everything went well since there were no errors on completion & the F/ware page now states "version 5.24".
My concern is that I am now experiencing the following symptoms, which I hadn't until the f/ware update:
-get a "excess cpu usage, reduce load" error on few of the presests, a couple of the factory presets and a couple of those I downloaded from the exchange site.
-get this error on factory preset #24, "Dual Clean" which uses two amps, but don't get it on #10 Backline which also uses two amps. Both are factory & haven't been modified
-when I power up the Axe, I hear two small chirps right away but then everything is fine."

Now Matt old buddy, this isn't my post but the same thing happened to me and apparently the owner had to go back and fix the presets that didn't work after upgrading to the newest firmware and here is a copy of his post:
"If you are using the factory presets I recommend downloading the latest from the website. The ones that cause a CPU overload have been reworked to prevent that."

Now I really like the spin that was put on that! Notice the work "reworked." By the way Matt, this ease of use category includes questions on "editing patches", "firmware revisions", "upgrading the unit" etc. Did you even read any of the parameters here before you started writing? Let's move to the next section and further explore what "reworked" means.

Here is another quote from good old Matt:
"Again, you can revert back to an old firmware if you need the extra CPU resources, so this should be a non-issue."
Well Matt, here is the problem. The firmware updates are provided to do 2 things. 1. Fix problems and 2. Enhance performance. Now if I can't do that without going back and taking out parts of the signal chain layout, I am sorry but that is a little more than a "non-issue." However, when we use the word "reworked" it doesn't seem as bad. The only way to look at this logically is that the Standard is now at the point where you have to compromise fixing and/or enhancing this processor for the sake of not having to delete part of your preset layout. Now I don't want someone else to buy one of these without knowing that but apparently you must think that you need to run interference for Fractal Audio and refer to this as a "non-issue."

Here are some more good ones from Matt:
"OK, the comments about customer service is complete and utter B.S. If you didn't get an e-mail response you either 1) typed in the address wrong or 2) Fractal's response went into your SPAM folder."
Wrong you are again Mr. Matt. When you go to the Fractal website there is a place for you to click for customer support. When you click it, a blank email is automatically generated with the Fractal address on it. My email system does not put email into a spam folder and I had to write to them before and received a response without any problems.

"I know for a fact that the owner of Fractal reads each and every e-mail himself. " I will just let the viewers evaluate this statement for truth.

"A phone number is not listed on their website but they will give it to you if asked."
That is great Matt!!! Why don't you get it for the rest of us and post it right here on HC because some of us need it.

"you seem like the type of person to jump to conclusions."
Matt, please read your own posts if you want to see the type of person that seems to jump to conclusions. I AM in the process of reaching a conclusion based on the information that I have and it isn't good.

I didn't ask Fractal Audio to give me one of these for free. I paid a lot of money for it. They didn't do me a favor by making it and selling it to me. I don't like the fact that you can't call in and get an answer to a problem or a walk through. Besides Fractal Audio, who does this benefit? Certainly not the user!!

Well, here are probably the best quotes and the biggest jump to a conclusion by Matt yet:

"There are so many resources out there for this unit that anyone how claims to have "trouble associated with using it" probably shouldn't be using one anyway."
Thanks Matt, that will probably help a few people make the decision not to keep it after the 15 day trial period.

"apparently, this user is a bit short on imagination."
Yeah Matt, I can't imagine that I would ever have bought the Standard knowing that there was a trade off between upgrading firmware to fix problems and taking parts of my presets out.

Now, as I said before, I would not buy one of these again. However, if you have to have one and you don't want any tonal compromise with your unit, my advice is to get the Ultra because I think the Standard is just about overloaded.

In closing, I am obviously not one of the people mesmerized by the genius of the designer of this product or his company. I wrote this to help other people make an intelligent decision based on real facts and I wish that someone had let me know what I was going to run into before I bought the Standard. If I said it was all good, I would probably make Matt really happy but it is not what HC is here for. You decide what is truth and what is BS here, not Matt.

The sound is amazing....but it don't come for free. Just as you would on a amp, you have to dial in you're preferred settings and sound.If you don't know what you want, this box won't act as a magic tool that's saves you. I own the ultra version and I have read the manual!!
I made 6 basic sounds via the editor and it took me 15 minutes to get sounds that are more than "ok". These are sounds that will replace my current setup, just adding in more effects. People giving this a "1" in ease of use haven't read or understood the consept. You can make quite simple or complex setups and sounds in minutes.And comparing the sound of these against Boss-gt series or simular cheap gear is meaningless. I own a lot of stuff and nothing sounds like this.

My axe-fx are going to replace a marshall jmp-1,a 12 channel mixer,g-system,lexicon mpx-1,roland sde delay, boss gt-6 and a roland chours + some other pedals.The only thing I will keep is the marshall poweramp and a Mesa wegded 2x12 cab and a marshall 2x12. You a endless array of means to create the sounds you want. But you have to spend time whith the unit. I use sounds that are spanning from very heavy to ambient stuff and the axe can do all that. From very good clean sounds to dirty. The noise level on the unit is very low compared to tubeamps. There is of course a little "hiss" but......The effects of very good quality. I almost bought a eventide eclipse, glad i did't. I use mostly delays, wah, chours and reverb and these sounds very good and I also have to point out that switching from one preset to another is painless...you can also make the delay continue on the preset and fade out. One feature I like very much.

Since I'm not finished doing my sounds and the unit haven't been used in a real live situation. I have no opinion on this, but the unit seems to be well constructed.

Customer support is more than good. I have to comment one the very negative message on this page. Poor bastard. There are tons off information on a dedicated forum, a wiki whith links to all the info you need and downloads.If you in worst case have to speak to "real" fractal people, then you're unit has to be dead or you have to be plain stupid. The firmware updating is to make the unit better and why is that a problem. I you don't like keep the old one.
I have upgraded my Ultra 4 times whithout any problems, adding new features to the unit. The support for the g-system for instance, that's a real bad one.

If you sould buy something simular in real amps and effects. You have to be a rich man. For the price, this is my best buy in gear. But you have to understand that this unit has to be tweaked to get the sound you want. If you're not into this, then you don't need one. Buy a cheap korg unit instead.

I found the menu fairly easy to navigate through...I must admit I was a little scard at first after reading some comments, but it was actually pretty easy. I have used a lot of menu based gear though...so perhaps that has helped. I admit theres tons I still don't know how to do...But setting up basic patches is pretty easy.

The unit sounds great, plus it feels great under your fingers...so to speak...when you play soft or dig in it really has a dynamic response. Plus it is an all-in-one solution to your sound. Albeit it can be a little daunting with so many editalble parameters. The urge is there to over do it sometimes...you kinda get the mindset of "if a little bit sounds good...a lot more will sound a lot better" so be careful of that, because there is plenty there to pile on...

And the effect are super good!! They are the best part of the whole package.
They just blend and sound so much like part of the signal and not just added to it...
They really are high quality!
I do wish they had put a usb connection on it though.

don't know...mine is still quite new...but no problems so far.

don't know...haven't tried to contact them directly...
there seems to be a good response on the user forum though...
I dont think it will be problem...
but if i understand rightly the users are able to make change requests and if the engeneers like it it will get put into a firmware update. Thats pretty unheard of...

I think it's a great sounding, well thought out unit.

Not the easiest device on this planet, if you are still "analog" (I mean you prefer rotary knobs) you could have some troubles in the beginning since you have so many settings.

Anyway I consider it a very good "digital" interface as everything is easily reachable.
Presets are valuable, and you can copy the setting of each effect/amp between the presets.
The editor (that's not a Fractal product) is far from perfect but you don't have to pay for it. LarsB made a very good job, but a product of this class deserves a professional product.
Anyway even if I've no midi pedalboard (I'm waiting for the Fractal one) I've had no problem in editing patches directly on the Axe.
The manual is good and the wiki and the forum are a gold mine of informations.
Firmware revisions comes for free and it's easy to upgrade the unit (just avoid midi interfaces that use the standard USB driver).
I do not rate 10 for some of the reason I've tried to explain, anyway I wonder if its possible to have a better "ease of use" with a product of this class.

I use the Axe-Fx with a 57 Commemorative Strat and a Custom Elite LX Ovation.
It sounds great with both.
I have two SR Technology Club 60A FRFR speakers so I can play stereo. I thought the 6" speakers was a comprimise since most users plug the Axe-Fx into powerful 12" speakers.
The pleasant surprise is that sound is great and it still sounds great at low (and very) volumes so it's the best I can have for home usage.
Speakers are just above my JBL HI-FI stereo speakers, I play a Pink Floyd DVD or a CD and I feel myself in the mix.
Effects are pristine quality, and you can even tweak anything you can think of.
The sound is really dynamic, it follows your struck and amazingly follows the volume of the guitar (it changes with it as it does on a real tube amp). I still don't understand why they don't want to call it a modeler.
Fantastic.

I have it from few months, so the unit it's just after the burn-in period. Never had a problem. Never had a spontaneous reset. Never had to reset it.
You can see the designer is a real engineer, the components are really the best you can find, if you deal with electronic components you can verify it.
The only thing I found strange is the front input jack that is a little bit slack (not as hard as the one I have on the Strat and the one I expected), anyway it could just be my feeling.

Simply perfect.
I've never seen a company taking user's opinion and suggestions into account as Fractal does.
They (I mean both Fractal and G66, that's the EU distributor) always reply within 1-2 days. Very kind.
As I said firmware upgrades comes for free. Most of the times you get enhancements and new features.

I mainly play rock/blues, but I also love some metal tones (John Petrucci).
I played when I was a kid, then I've left the guitar in its case for many years and recently started playing again.
If it were stolen or lost I would buy it again, no doubt.
Favourite feature ? The huge arsenal of sounds at your disposal.
Why I choose this one ? It's the only one that doesn't sound "digital" and cold, you know what I mean.
Wishes ? I'd like to have its companion pedalboard (hope it comes out soon). Oh, may be I would buy a 1-2U rack mountable midi unit full of pots and small (programmable) displays showing "rate" "depth" "master" and anything you want...

I Give it a 10. All you have to do is open your eyes its all right there in a little green window.If i can do it anyone can and if you cant buy a amp.

Very Very good.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All Amps and effects are over the top or close enough to not care. I fave the marshall tones. But all other amps sweet also.

Had it a year now NEVER had one issue yet don`t see any either. Unless you drop it 10 stories off a roof.

The Best I`ve ever had to deal with.. I`ve seen peeps get them used and had a issue and he still fixed them free. That`s service.Always gets back to your emails VERY FAST not sure what >>>>Fractal User<<<<< Is even talking about..Think hes just a flamer for bad reviews.Anyway cliff and his wife do one hell of a job.. TY CC

Overall if it got ripped off id get another ASP..

This is in response to the guy who blasted the product below. First off, if firmware updates use a little more CPU power and you don't like them, you can *always* revert back to the old firmware. 2nd, his rating of '1' is based on a lot of assumptions, his thoughts on the Standard vs the Ultra, and *not* anything remotely related to actually programming the unit (which he says at one point is "one of the better sounding digital processors out there"). Third, Boss, Line 6, TC Elec, etc will not release something on this quality because they won't be able to give you something of this high quality at this price and still maintain the profit margins large companies need to make it a viable product. For what you get this is not that expensive of a device. Eventide gear is more expensive, offer only effects (i.e. less versatile), for no real improvements over the AxeFX. If they (Eventide, TC Elec, Lexicon, etc) has released the AxeFX I guarantee that it would be far more expensive then what Fractal is charging.

"I am losing tone for the sake of CPU usage"

Again, you can revert back to an old firmware if you need the extra CPU resources, so this should be a non-issue.

No problems here, but with any piece of gear time is the only tell.

OK, the comments about customer service is complete and utter B.S. If you didn't get an e-mail response you either 1) typed in the address wrong or 2) Fractal's response went into your SPAM folder. I know for a fact that the owner of Fractal reads each and every e-mail himself. I have contacted him on several occasions and have never had to wait more then a day for a response. A phone number is not listed on their website but they will give it to you if asked.

As for going to the AxeFX forum, what's wrong with that? I regularly see tech support problems being asked there and the owner will always respond.

Given his history of addressing user-reported bugs, responses on the message boards, and the fact that you are the first person who I've seen that has criticized his e-mail support, I have to believe that the e-mails were lost. Did you write a 2nd time to make sure the message was received? No, probably not... you seem like the type of person to jump to conclusions.

There are so many resources out there for this unit that anyone how claims to have "trouble associated with using it" probably shouldn't be using one anyway. It's not a plug-and-play device and never claims to be one. It's whatever the user makes of it and, apparently, this user is a bit short on imagination.

I have an Ultra. I'm not much for reading manuals even though I know I should, but this unit was VERY easy to get a good tone out of right out of the box by simply using my knowledge of amps. As I started actually reading the manual, I realized that this thing is an endless journey for tone...I mean you can get pretty much ANY guitar tone you want out of it if done right.

This is the top dog right here. I have never heard my guitar sound so crystal clear, clean and still get brutal sounding before the Axe. I don't know how they did it but they did it. It has the feel of a tube amp and also "breathes" like a tube amp. I've been playing Marshalls for years and I have no intention to even turn my JVM on at this point. The effects are world class...right up there with Eventide and TC. Godly sounding really. The amp sims can be tweaked to get utterly close to the originals or take you in a totally new direction to create your own sound.

I've only done 2 gigs with it so far but both gigs gave me the best tone I've ever had. It's funny because I was using my marshall for power and I had 2 people tell me that the marshall sounded great tonight. They couldn't understand when I told them this little box was giving me my tone. I just got a QSC FRFR speaker that I can't wait to start gigging with.

I haven't had to deal with customer support directly as of yet but just by using the Fractal forum has given me all the help I've needed so far. Even Cliff has been kind enough to frequent some forums to answer questions. 2 big thumbs up.

I play guitar for a Bon Jovi tribute band called Jovi (www.jovitributeband.com). I really wanted something that could help me achieve Richie's tone from each era of the band but also not having to lug around a complex guitar rig. With the Axe-FX I'll be able to carry a rack case, my fcb1010 midiboard and a QSC as a personal on stage monitor, run direct out to FOH and be able to enjoy the best guitar sound I've ever gotten.