Fractal AX8

kennedydream1980

Anyone thinking of moving their AX8 on? Cash waiting.

Let me know ASAP before I go and buy a new one 

kennedydream1980

Potentially still looking for one of these, so if you are thinking about selling or know of one for sale then let me know via PM.

meltedbuzzbox

I think g66 are about to get stock if it helps?
It seems used prices are 200 quid off new

kennedydream1980

I’ve actually just managed to agree a sale on one which I’m picking up today. Looking forward to comparing it to my Helix over the weekend :-)

meltedbuzzbox

kennedydream1980 said:

I’ve actually just managed to agree a sale on one which I’m picking up today. Looking forward to comparing it to my Helix over the weekend :-)

@kennedydream1980 let us know how you get on.
I much prefer the fx8 effects Iver the helix but I am yet to get hands on with the amps

sweepy

The Ax8 is the same as the Fx2 which I had, personally I preferred the Fx2 Ax8 in every department to the Helix apart from ease of use and routing flexibility,  If you are going to Gig it and  not necessarily go through the Desk then don’t skimp on the amp/ monitor setup or you could make a costly mistake

kennedydream1980

sweepy said:

The Ax8 is the same as the Fx2 which I had, personally I preferred the Fx2 Ax8 in every department to the Helix apart from ease of use and routing flexibility,  If you are going to Gig it and  not necessarily go through the Desk then don’t skimp on the amp/ monitor setup or you could make a costly mistake

I’ll be going direct to desk and monitoring via IEM’s as I’ve done with my Helix over the last 9 months. From what I’ve heard over extensive listening the Fractal amps sound more real, and by all accounts feel more real.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve been extremely happy with my Helix LT and it’s never let me down, but I always had one eye on the Fractal stuff.

I just never had enough cash to buy. However after selling a couple of things recently I finally have the funds in place to buy an AX8. Looking forward to getting my hands on it.

sweepy

kennedydream1980 said:

sweepy said:

The Ax8 is the same as the Fx2 which I had, personally I preferred the Fx2 Ax8 in every department to the Helix apart from ease of use and routing flexibility,  If you are going to Gig it and  not necessarily go through the Desk then don’t skimp on the amp/ monitor setup or you could make a costly mistake

I’ll be going direct to desk and monitoring via IEM’s as I’ve done with my Helix over the last 9 months. From what I’ve heard over extensive listening the Fractal amps sound more real, and by all accounts feel more real.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve been extremely happy with my Helix LT and it’s never let me down, but I always had one eye on the Fractal stuff.

I just never had enough cash to buy. However after selling a couple of things recently I finally have the funds in place to buy an AX8. Looking forward to getting my hands on it.

I know what you mean, I know i'll end up getting an AX8 next year when they hit £500

mrkb

kennedydream1980 said:

sweepy said:

The Ax8 is the same as the Fx2 which I had, personally I preferred the Fx2 Ax8 in every department to the Helix apart from ease of use and routing flexibility,  If you are going to Gig it and  not necessarily go through the Desk then don’t skimp on the amp/ monitor setup or you could make a costly mistake

I’ll be going direct to desk and monitoring via IEM’s as I’ve done with my Helix over the last 9 months. From what I’ve heard over extensive listening the Fractal amps sound more real, and by all accounts feel more real.

Don’t get me wrong I’ve been extremely happy with my Helix LT and it’s never let me down, but I always had one eye on the Fractal stuff.

I just never had enough cash to buy. However after selling a couple of things recently I finally have the funds in place to buy an AX8. Looking forward to getting my hands on it.

I love my AX8, but wish it had the AXEFXs room parameters in the amp block as that improves the headphone sound a lot to make of feel like your playing in a real room. Suspect careful reverb block settings can get close, but it’s what makes the AxeFXII and III superb for headphone based playing. I’ll be interested in how you set the patches up for IEMs.

kennedydream1980

I always have a dual delay setup on my Helix, which takes the dry sound of the guitar from the centre space in the earphones and widens it slightly in the stereo field, placing it slightly left and right. It also appears to set the sound back slightly in the mix so it sits much nicer.

It sounds lovely in the IEM’s. Pete Thorn talks about a similar thing on one of his pedalboard build videos. He uses one of his H9’s for the same effect.

Basically you set delay 1 to 35ms and delay 2 to 45ms. Feedback at 0% and set the mix so the effect just becomes noticeable. On my Helix that was around 30%.

I’m guessing I can use the multidelay for the same effect on the AX8.

kennedydream1980

Okay so yesterday afternoon/night I got to work with dialling in the AX8. This was done primarily using headphones as my 3 year old was sleeping for the most part. I’m used to dialling stuff in this way and I’m very familiar with the sound of my headphones and what will translate well.

First impressions are it does sound more real, but more importantly it feels more real. Compared to my Helix LT the AX8 just has more weight behind the notes. I read in another comparison of the two units someone describe the Helix as ‘plasticky’. I would have to agree with that, there is a slight brittleness to single notes and an artificial undercurrent to the sound on the Helix. It’s very subtle but it’s there.

Not that the Helix sounds bad by any means, the AX8 just sounds better to me. I was using the same Celestion IR with the same amp and settings for this comparison (Plexi 2204)

I tried a few presets but with all modellers I prefer to dial in my own sounds with my preferred IR’s (Celestion)

I ended up using the Shiva clean, and the Satriani JVM amp on the Red crunch mode for my drives and lead. I just stuck an OD808 in front for my leads. Classic settings of gain at 0, level at max. I figured out scene controllers to vary the amps gain control per scene.

I tried to setup the delay trick I use primarily for IEM’s that I mentioned earlier in the thread, but I was struggling to get the effect I wanted using the dual delay. I spent a good few hours on this, then I stumbled across the Enhancer block, which basically did the exact thing I needed!! Doh!!

I just rolled back the mix to 35% and rolled back to low cut to minimum and the high cut to maximum.

So I’m getting ready to tweak a few things this morning and I’m already contemplating taking it out to my gig tonight. 

meltedbuzzbox

I agree with your assessment of the helix amp sounds.

I've read so many reviews where people prefer the axefx to the helix now. 

I think I'm going to make the jump

octatonic

meltedbuzzbox said:

I agree with your assessment of the helix amp sounds.

I've read so many reviews where people prefer the axefx to the helix now. 

I think I'm going to make the jump

Kemper has the best modelling.

meltedbuzzbox

octatonic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

I agree with your assessment of the helix amp sounds.

I've read so many reviews where people prefer the axefx to the helix now. 

I think I'm going to make the jump

Kemper has the best modelling.

But how easy is it to use?
I know the Kemper gets strong praise but it always sounds bass heavy and a bit flubby when I've heard it.
But I have only ever heard it in a metal context really...

octatonic

meltedbuzzbox said:

octatonic said:

meltedbuzzbox said:

I agree with your assessment of the helix amp sounds.

I've read so many reviews where people prefer the axefx to the helix now. 

I think I'm going to make the jump

Kemper has the best modelling.

But how easy is it to use?
I know the Kemper gets strong praise but it always sounds bass heavy and a bit flubby when I've heard it.
But I have only ever heard it in a metal context really...

Kemper is a bit of a different process to the Helix but they all work roughly the same, up to a point.
If you can learn one you can learn all of them- it isn't rocket surgery.

I don't find the Kemper bass heavy or flubby- quite the opposite- it is the closest to the hardware amp of any of the current crop of modellers.

The criticism I have with the Kemper is its effects architecture isn't as flexible as the Fractal stuff, or the Helix- but if you mostly want guitar tones that you can achieve with a typical pedalboard + amp scenario then it shouldn't be an issue.

Plus you can profile your own amps/cabs which is nice.

mrkb

I assume the Kemper is only as good as the profile and can’t be as good as soon as you move any settings (drive, BMT, master col etc) away from the profiles one? It’s creating its simulation by analysing the frequency response of real amp and cab isn’t it?

so if the original profile is good and matched the sound you want it should be perfect, but if you can’t find the profile you want it will be a frustrating tweak session.

ive only used Fractal products, so am not sure where the profiling vs modelling gets defined with the Kemper. Can anyone fill in my knowledge gap?

octatonic

Herr Kemper will not reveal his process but he did respond to some misinformation spread by Cliff @ Fractal here:

https://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.php?thread/8982-kpa-irs-and-math-mumbojumbo/&pageNo=2

What we know is Kemper is a snapshot of an amp at a particular setting.
If you want to EQ it after the fact then you can- Kemper has EQ controls in the amp and again at the output stage.
It isn't quite like turning the knobs of the amp- it is more direct than that and has a greater impact- more like what you would do with outboard EQ, but not quite.
I find it very powerful and not an impediment to getting a good sound.
It is nice to have dedicated knobs you can reach out and turn, rather than menus to dive.

I'd strongly suggesting spending time with the Kemper if you want the best modelling available, rather than just jumping into the Fractal thing.
FWIW If I had to give up any of the devices it would be the Helix.

Jonathanthomas83

Kemper is the best of the bunch and not flubby or loose at all (can be if you want it to be). I always want tight, defined, but saturated...and Kemper wouldn't have stayed so long in my house if it was anything but any of those. 

Fractal is awesome though, and I agree, it sounds better than the Helix.

kennedydream1980

kennedydream1980 said:

Okay so yesterday afternoon/night I got to work with dialling in the AX8. This was done primarily using headphones as my 3 year old was sleeping for the most part. I’m used to dialling stuff in this way and I’m very familiar with the sound of my headphones and what will translate well.

First impressions are it does sound more real, but more importantly it feels more real. Compared to my Helix LT the AX8 just has more weight behind the notes. I read in another comparison of the two units someone describe the Helix as ‘plasticky’. I would have to agree with that, there is a slight brittleness to single notes and an artificial undercurrent to the sound on the Helix. It’s very subtle but it’s there.

Not that the Helix sounds bad by any means, the AX8 just sounds better to me. I was using the same Celestion IR with the same amp and settings for this comparison (Plexi 2204)

I tried a few presets but with all modellers I prefer to dial in my own sounds with my preferred IR’s (Celestion)

I ended up using the Shiva clean, and the Satriani JVM amp on the Red crunch mode for my drives and lead. I just stuck an OD808 in front for my leads. Classic settings of gain at 0, level at max. I figured out scene controllers to vary the amps gain control per scene.

I tried to setup the delay trick I use primarily for IEM’s that I mentioned earlier in the thread, but I was struggling to get the effect I wanted using the dual delay. I spent a good few hours on this, then I stumbled across the Enhancer block, which basically did the exact thing I needed!! Doh!!

I just rolled back the mix to 35% and rolled back to low cut to minimum and the high cut to maximum.

So I’m getting ready to tweak a few things this morning and I’m already contemplating taking it out to my gig tonight. 

Forgot to mention with regards the AX8, the effects are stellar. Very classy sounding.

firepaulmusic

The whole IR thing is still a mystery to me. I’d love to get into 3rd party stuff but can’t seem to find any clear guidance on line about how to load them into my patches...

kennedydream1980

firepaulmusic said:

The whole IR thing is still a mystery to me. I’d love to get into 3rd party stuff but can’t seem to find any clear guidance on line about how to load them into my patches...

With the celestion stuff it’s a bit convoluted, you have to convert the IR to a .sys file. Then you can load it into the AX8 via the edit software.