Hold the Damn Phone – Fractal Audio Announces AXE-FX II XL

Just when you thought you’d gone out and bought the ultimate in guitar amp/cab/effect modeling, it turns out you were just being trolled because the next Axe-Fx is HERE! Introducing the Axe-Fx II XL, featuring more I/O and more memory for presets (up to 512 and 512 user cabs) so you can have 512 iterations of your 5150 equivalent with a Tube Screamer clone but each with slightly different gate parameters because that’s all this damn thing is good for.

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Really though, the presets do get eaten up on mine faster than you would think, especially if you’re playing in some kind of cover/tribute band where you have a totally different tone for each song, or if you just like to get wacky with different sounds, and this new model also adds I/O options such as separate MIDI Out and Through where they were formerly shared as well as 2 onboard pedal jacks instead of the previous 1.

The list price has been revealed as $2,999.95, with the direct price coming soon.

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As Editor-in-Chief of Gear Gods, I've been feeding your sick instrument fetishism and trying unsuccessfully to hide my own since 2013. I studied music on both coasts (Berklee and SSU) and now I'm just trying to put my degree to some use. That's a music degree, not an English one. I'm sure you noticed.

Latest comments
  • Hmmmm…wonder if there’s any difference in processing power/sound, or if this is just a memory and i/o upgrade

    • I’m guessing it has to be a hardware thing, purely based on how much fractal was able to do for the Axe fx 2 via firmware updates.

      • Well it’s XL. Maybe it’s just bigger. You know, back in the ’50s our magazines weren’t full of pictures of these airbrushed, waifish amp modellers. A real processor has curves.

        • Function over form?

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