Audio Axe-FX
work. Some of the patches transformed the
guitar into a completely different instrument
that you’d be hard pressed to guess that a
guitar was even involved. Most of the sounds
were very usable and switching from Les Paul
to Strat, I was able to use the input control to
get the right amount of gain into the Axe-FX
to really make the guitar sing. Dialing up the
“Hell’s Bells” preset, I immediately noticed
how much clearer and defined the sounds
were coming right out of the box. There was
no digital hash and no blanket over the tone
of my guitar. It also felt a lot like the response
of one of my old Superleads. You can dig in
for more gain and bite, or roll off the volume
and the tone cleans up very nice. It felt like I
had my amp in the control room and a mic’d
up 4x12 in the live room.
To create my own patches I used both the
onboard GUI as well as the PC editor. Sure,
it’s nice to use the large screen and a mouse
but it was easy to build sounds up right
there on the unit. By taking an empty preset
I started by choosing an amp type (Plexi),
then selected a cab (4x12 Cali) and chose a
reverb (med room). As simple as that sounds
there are a million options to create from just
that basic of a setup. I spent hours tweaking
the sound by changing out the amp and cab
as well as the mic choice (Royer 121!). The
available parameters for each model went
very deep. For instance, the Plexi1 amp has
the standard controls you’d see on a Marshall
Superlead. However, beyond that it offered
control over depth, damping and sag as well
as a master volume and level control. The
next page allowed complete tweaking of
the tone stack frequencies and where it was
placed in the amp itself, which significantly
alters the tone.
After I had enough basic tone-shaping I
opened the floodgates to the effects por-
tion of the tone. Fractal offers everything
from compressors to flangers to vocoders
and everything in between. It was refresh-
ing to see that the effects were not specifi-
cally modeled after classic units but made
to be what the original effects strove to be.
Without the coloration of resistors, caps
and layout you get the option of clear and
focused sounds. I immediately enjoyed the
ability to have infinite control over the flang-
ing type as well as using a studio quality com-
pressor before hitting the amp.
Speaking of FX, the Axe-FX really shines in
the reverb department. Not only do all of the
rooms sound convincingly smooth and arti-fact-less, they have incredible flexibility to be
tweaked into just about any sound you would
want. I liked the reverb so much I ended up
using the Axe-FX as a reverb unit for a mix of
a recent song. It totally stood up against my
best plug-in ’verbs as well as a few hardware
units we have at the studio. Nice!
The final test for me came from something
I’ve been doing for a while now. It involves
using a real amp head loaded down with a
THD Hotplate, then routing the line-out of
the Hotplate into the modeler just to use the
cabinet simulator. It’s a great way to use my
favorite amp when I can’t get into the studio
(my neighbors don’t like my 4x12’s!). The
Axe-FX was hands-down the best solution
I’ve heard to date. Plugging the Hotplate
line-out directly into the instrument input of
the Axe-FX, I created a patch that consisted
of a 4x12 greenback cab mic’d up with an
SM57 and running into a medium room. All
of the articulation of my amp came through
and it provided me with a totally usable tone
that was just slightly different from the real
configuration I’d use in the studio. Not better, not worse -- just slightly different. We all
know that the slightest variation in mic position, room sound, etc. will change the tone
so I didn’t expect a perfect comparison. Let’s
just say I might have found my new favorite
way to record guitars, and I can think of
another project I’m getting into that would
definitely make the Axe-FX a welcome addition to my studio.
Final Mojo
I can’t say enough good things about this
box. Top to bottom, the box itself is extremely tough. Electronics-wise, it has headroom
and processing power to spare. The models
of the amps, speakers, mics and all the FX are
top-notch. Listen to the audio examples on
the fractal audio website and you’ll see what
I mean. (I’m told the company is going to
revamp their website and add a slew of new
clips September 1st)
The user interface is clean and easy to read
and the PC editor, even in beta, is super easy
to use. You can use it in the studio as well as
in any live situation (try using a laptop and
plug-in modeler sometime). It also doubles
as a killer studio FX processor on its own.
One thing I had an issue with was the fan
noise coming from the unit. After speaking
with Tom King from Fractal, he mentioned
that they are planning to offer a silent fan
upgrade at a nominal charge.
you are looking for a road-worthy
all-in-one guitar preamp/effects
processor
Buy If...
Skip If...
you are cool with plug-in amp
modelers
Rating... 4. 5
Fractal Audio Axe-FX
MSRP 2299.95
Fractal Audio Systems
fractalaudio.com
