oops.... I bought an Axe FX III.... but...

[millerguitar]

That would be awesome.  I'll see if I can find a Helix native demo.  Not having the hardware is no biggy. Thanks!

 

[phil_m]

25 minutes ago, millerguitar said:

 

I sold the AX8 to beat the AX8 mass sell off and picked up an Amplifire 6 to tide me over for the new FAS piece.  Part of my angst is knowing what I was able to accomplish with the AA6 at it's price point.  There is still a significant difference between the AA6 and FAS algorithms, but it's definitely a solid piece of gear.  So dropping $2K+ on the AFIII and another $400 on a controller is making me take pause.   Any suggestions on how to try a Helix out?  I don't know anyone who owns one and I really don't want to order one online with the intention of taking advantage of a generous return policy.

 

Some Guitar Centers stock the Helix Floor, and more stock the LT... Not sure if you're near any, but it's still possible to try it a brick and mortar store. You would need to be cognizant of what it's plugged into at those places. Most GCs don't do a good job at setting up good demo stations for modeling gear, unfortunately.

[millerguitar]

Just spent the last hour with Helix native...I'm impressed.  There is a strong possibility that I'll be a Helix Floor owner within the next week.

[glideman]

On 6/20/2019 at 11:51 AM, Digital_Igloo said:

There are a handful of sketchy and/or downright slimy companies in this business (clinically psychopathic or narcissistic founders, CEOs who've been fired multiple times for sexual harassment, stop paying their licensees or vendors, sue everybody for perceived slights, blatantly copy designs and even hack firmware), but Fractal's one of the good ones. Kemper and Atomic are cool too. Always nice to see people supporting them.

 

Hard to believe I just saw this!  I have been treated well by Kemper, Line 6 and Fractal.  Very nice words from DI here!   Also, any conflicts in the old parts of the thread

were not intended with the original post.  I just like multiple toys.  Finally got brave enough to sell my backup (Helix LT) to a buddy of mine in another band and

just use Helix floor and Axe 3.  I don't need triple redundancy ... (***Says a little quick prayer***)...   

 

Good to see the usual kind words for a competitor from the Line 6

guys!  I'd expect nothing less.  Helix value and my attachment to it are why I'll keep one (and use regularly).  I prefer Helix in my church gigs due to the all in one package

and I don't lose any tone quality in doing so.  I've always leaned toward one unit is a rack and external pedal and my other go to digital rig would be an all in one pedal

if both were pretty close in tone and horsepower. 

 

But kudos again to @Digital_Igloo and all the other Line 6 employees that frequent here and other boards!!!   Great products and excellent service with a smile (even

when a smile is not necessarily deserved by the customer)!!!  You guys rock!!!

[spikey]

Nothing- NOTHING wrong with multiple toys glideman. I wish I had an FX-III. But I love my Helix and my Kemper. I use them both all the time. And it was also mentioned (not by you) in this thread that ordering 3 items and knowing you are going to return 2 of them is somehow taking advantage of their return policy. I disagree. Why?

 

1. Because that is the policy that "THEY" made, not me. And I did not violate anything by trying out their product and then returning it after the choice was made. I followed "their" policy, be it one item returned, or TEN. 

2. It's much easier on me, (the customer) to try out all 3 ( or 10) items at once and decide by recent comparisons between them right then, versus weeks in between shipment.

3. And finally, there is no way in which to try out a Kemper, Helix, Boss, and esp. an Axe FX III at Guitar Center or anywhere else usually. They can not afford the inventory or it's not available but thru a certain company. And then they only stock what the bean counters tell them is selling like hot-cakes anyway, usually 3 to 4 times what they bought it for in bulk.

4. And finally, if the maker has made the "best" product to begin with, then they have no reason to worry about it being returned... ; )

 

As always, YMMV on this. I can see where some might think this idea is wrong, OTOH if you take very good "care" of what you return to the vendor then their mark-up is only reduced by a 3rd (or less) of the overall overblown cost of the item, and they (the middleman) won't lose anything, they just won't make as much as they wanted to on it. ; ) There are very few pluses in buying musical equipment these days, and this is one of them. Take advantage of it while it lasts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[glideman]

Yep.  Most of my posts with the major players is to share with others what I've had and what I've sold.

The key here is that you and I know that we could live with any of the major players for a solution.  Most of the time, I tend to have one

of one brand and one of the other for a backup/change of pace and one for church and one for my secular rock band.

 

I usually keep them for beyond the return windows unless I get a dud or absolutely hate the product.  If I couldn't have 2 or 3 at a time, I'd probably

do what some others have done and cycle through them even if it meant a return of one or two.  You pretty much pointed out the massive markup for

retailers on guitars and music products.  It's not my regular practice, but I don't frown on someone else having to do it.

 

I do enough business with all of them to where they more than make up for the losses for returns anyway.  LoL!

I am a MusiCraKHo...... LoL!!!

[BigRalphN]

Way late to this thread. I live my Helix. It was released around the same time as AX8. I had a pre-order for Helix and was on the AX8 wait list. I got both. I played with both for a few months. At that time Helix was a bit behind. The AX8 presets were 10x better then (Still better but not as much). And modulation effects line reverbs and delays were much better..But AX8 was a pain to use live. I had to do multiple toe taos and use two expressions to do what I wanted because trying to edit in the fly was damned impossible. So I decided to sell the AX8. I am mostly happy I did. The Helux has just gotten better..so did fractal, but with the ease of use it's hard to beat. I will day from hearing and seeing an AXFX3 in person I don't know if I had to choose one which I would go with. The reverbs in the Helix are still just passable. I tend not even to use the new models. I tweak the old. Spring on the Helix is just bad. Sorry. I thought maybe with 3.0 we might get a new Spring model instead of the old two. They are ok if you want just a light verb behind things, but there is zero drip. I know that's tough to reproduce. Fractals is better but maybe not a ton. But in the other verbs and delays they just sound better to me. Shimmers better, decays better. But is it enough so to justify the price and will most even notice? Probably not. In some other areas I think the Helix is better. Some if the ODs and boosts top their counterparts in AXFx (head to head mideks, not quantity). So it's a tough call. I think if someone offered the right price for the right guitar I have I would sell it and the Helix for the AX3. But I am also afraid I might regret it from a ease if use standpoint. As someone sneaking up on 60 it amazes me how good both companies have gotten. 10 years ago I was still not giving up my Amos and effects.  The stuff was close but not there. Now, I can't imagine using my last two Amps for anything other than corner if the living room practice toys. Kudos to Line 6 and Fractal.

[CDHowe]

I don't know.....I had a Helix rack with foot controller, Variax guitar and Helix Native......a Headrush....a Mooer GE300....a SY1000......GP10......you get it....all great equipment, but for whatever reason, never hit the sweet spot for me, sold all of them.  BUT, I recently got the AXE fx3 Mk2 upgraded to the brand new Cygnus firmware.   HOLLY COW!  I could type for hours, but suffice to say, I am keeping it.

[Paulzx]

On 7/16/2018 at 5:45 PM, glideman said:

  I will say the high gain stuff is to die for.

 

Oh no you've given me a problem now haha.. this is what i've always wondered about the Fractal, Can you get easy high gain tones straight out of the box and are they better than the Helix?

Can you expand on that a bit because it does sound like it's easier to get great sounds out of it quite easily, the Helix in my experience does take a bit of tweaking. How much more expensive is the Fractal?

 

I think there's no doubt that the Helix must be the best the all round option, particularly for the price, and I have had some good results with mine, but I'm never 100% happy with the high gain stuff. Whenever I go back to a favourite patch, I'm always thinking it doesn't sound as good as it did before, it's just not easy to get great tones easily - don't get me wrong, there are far better people here at dialling in tones than me, and knowing how to get there quickly, but that's what makes the fractal interesting to me, are the tones just better out of the box?

 

What I do like in the Helix is the flexibility to add things that can help your tone, which i assume is all in the fractal too anyway.

[cruisinon2]

50 minutes ago, Paulzx said:

How much more expensive is the Fractal?

 

 

 

For the flagship device, by the time you buy a footswitch to go with it, it's pushing $3K...

[Paulzx]

6 hours ago, cruisinon2 said:

 

For the flagship device, by the time you buy a footswitch to go with it, it's pushing $3K...

 

So it's practically double the price, you would expect it to be a bit better at least wouldn't you for that