Fractal Audio Axe FX is a well know and beloved guitar preamp processor. It’s a fully-featured rack mount gear with amazing features.
Axe FX 3 is a newer addition that is more advanced and modern. You can use only this gear and create unlimited quality guitar tones.
Although it’s not a modeling amp, I had the pleasure to use it and decided to write a review of this cool guitar gear.
Design
Fractal Audio Axe FX 3 has a familiar design if you have used rack mount gear. It can be easily mounted on the rack next to your other analog gear.
The front of the device consists of all the controls and the main screen, there are input and output level meters. Also, the power button, instrument input, and headphones are out.
The layout is very comfortable and convenient. You have everything you need in front of you.
And all the inputs and outputs are on the backside. Here you have balanced I/O, line I/O, MIDI inputs, and all other necessary I/O.
The screen has very good size and you can see everything. It’s not like on small modeling amps where you have a small screen. This is very comfortable to use.
I love the design and layout of Axe FX 3. It’s compact, very intuitive, and easy to work with.
Amp Models
When it comes to amp models Axe FX 3 preamp is the winner. This guitar preamp processor comes with tons of different guitar amps.
I think that there are no amplifiers you can’t find here. It’s loaded with almost every guitar amp that ever existed.
Controlling and tweaking the amps is very easy with an amazing screen. You can see everything and you can dial in any guitar tone you want.
There is not much to say about amp models because the number is too big. If you want to know which guitar amps are included in Axe FX 3, check the list here.
Effects
Axe FX 3 is an effects processor and it should be filled with various guitar effects, right? I can say that it doesn’t disappoint because this device comes with a lot of effects.
You can use any effect you can imagine. There is no limitation. You have delays, reverbs, modulation, EQs, compressors, and many other types of effects.
When you have this device it means you have almost every amp and effect. It’s just amazing.
Also, I like how you can create a signal chain. It’s easy, simple, and very convenient. You can add an amp, cab, and effects to your signal like in the real world.
How Does Axe FX 3 Sound?
Amps and effects are good to have but let’s talk about Axe FX 3 sound because it’s the most important thing. What can I say, I love it.
The sound you get from Fractal Audio Axe FX is just amazing. Everything sounds great and very natural. It’s like you are using tube amps with effect pedals.
All the clean amps have very natural and rich tones as you hear in tube amps. And there are lots of clean amps you can choose from.
But I was blown away by the heavy tones because I was skeptical before playing it. And I can say that it might be the best tool for metal tones.
Also, I wanted to know if it was a good amp for recording, and recorded some guitar riffs with Axe FX 3 and the sound was superb.
Like amps, effects have a very organic and rich sound. Every effect is very high-quality and works perfectly with any amp sound.
And once you assemble your signal chain and play it you will be blown away by the sound like I was.
Although it’s an expensive gear I recommend everyone who can afford it to buy Axe FX 3.
Features
Before I start talking about the amazing features Fractal Audio offers, first let me tell you how powerful it is.
Axe FX 3 is powered by two 1.25GHz DSPs which makes it very powerful and fast. Includes 8GB of DDR3 RAM, hundreds of MBs of flash memory, etc.
Although the previous iteration of Axe FX was powerful, this one is almost three times more powerful which makes working with it a great experience.
Regarding features, first I want to talk about the screen where you choose your amps, effects, signal chain, and more.
It’s just amazing. It’s big, has great light, you can see everything clearly, and it’s fun to play with it. The colors are bright and the interface is very modern and intuitive.
I already talked about amps and sounds but I will still mention that the collection is amazing. You can choose from a vast collection of amps and effects.
And editing effects and other tools are just amazing. You can control almost everything of amps, effects, and tools like EQ, compressor, and so on.
Next, you can save 1024 presets in Axe FX 3 which is just unbelievable. Per preset you get eight scenes which give you unlimited abilities.
In simple words, you can create any number of various sounds and save them in one place. Not many music gears offer this kind of option.
But that’s not all because Fractal Audio offers much more. One of the best features is dedicated software for Windows and Mac which makes creating guitar tones even better.
Also, it has an FC-12 and FC-6 foot controller which is great if you play live. It has great features, it’s easy to use, and makes everything much easier.
There are so much more features in Axe FX3 that it’s hard to list them here. All I can say is it’s amazing.
Final Thoughts
Fractal Audio Axe FX 3 is an amazing gear for any guitar player whether you play clean tones, blues, rock, or metal. This device offers amazing and fast performance, features, sound, huge amps and effects collection, and much more. Yeah, it’s expensive but worth every cent you pay. Great for recording or live playing.