Did you pre-order the Helix Stadium?

[wharf rat]

GC / MF will get my business moving forward.

1) Return policy is superior
2) Rewards associated with gear purchases
3) Financing options are usually better
4) Military discount (I’m in the Navy)
5) Deep discounts when I call into GC / MF

I’ve had to change my SW rep three times for one reason or another. Returns are always a hassle for me. As other people mentioned, I used to get 10-15% reliably from SW but now they refuse to touch prices no matter how adamant I am.

 

[sashimi]

Sweetwater sucks for returns. But they never sent me a floor model guitar loose in a box with no padding, as ‘new’, like guitar center did. The thing arrived with the single piece of tape peeling off so I could stick my hand right inside and grab the guitar without opening the box. The neck was cracked. There was literally one single piece of brown paper inside that was doing nothing to protect the guitar. The box was big enough for a dreadnaught case so the electric guitar was just bouncing around in there the whole way. I hope whoever packed that got fired.

So I like to order guitars from sweetwater if possible. Everything else from musicians friend for the 8% back.

 

[paisleywookiee]

GC / MF will get my business moving forward.

1) Return policy is superior
2) Rewards associated with gear purchases
3) Financing options are usually better
4) Military discount (I’m in the Navy)
5) Deep discounts when I call into GC / MF

I’ve had to change my SW rep three times for one reason or another. Returns are always a hassle for me. As other people mentioned, I used to get 10-15% reliably from SW but now they refuse to touch prices no matter how adamant I am.

GC/MF also ships shop worn, used shit as new, which sucks.

 

[timbuck3]

It's not just about having a touchscreen. You can try the Fractal Axe-edit UI with a touchscreen using a 3rd party tool called FracPad. Now Axe-Edit is one of the better computer editors but just translating it to a tablet, it doesn't work that much better. It's still a reverse-engineered version that lacks polish, and works with the existing paradigms of Axe-Edit. I hope Fractal have at least hired its developer to work on mobile editors for next gen.

Touchscreen + knobs is the way to go so you have tactile control over parameters like Stadium does. Line6 also has the controls in a consistent location at the bottom of the screen, whereas on Fractal each view can be different on the front panel UI, which means you have to reorient yourself all the time with a little "ok now where was that param I want?" mental exercise.

Helix has had a similar issue where the parameter order is inconsistent. If you are looking for a Mix knob in several effects, it might be the Nth param in effect 1, and the N+1 param in effect 2, and N-2 in effect 3. I hope for HX Stadium they would fix that so you can expect common parameters to be found under the same knob for consistency.

Fractal's challenge is to simplify their user interfaces so that they fit on a larger touchscreen while allowing for fast movement between blocks. That's currently the difference between Axe-Edit vs their onboard UI, you can just click any block to open it up for editing.

The onboard UI requires you to painstakingly move a cursor over it, hit Edit, find the right page because it defaults to model list etc. Or alternatively spam Edit until the right block is on screen. The cycling order with multiple rows is always column -> row so you go e.g Amp1 -> Amp2 -> Cab1 -> Cab2 if you have dual amps/cabs in parallel, when a more sensible order would be via connection (Amp1 -> Cab1).

So even if fractal had the ability to use your smart phone wirelessly to control it you’d probably still run out of space on your phone as far as the screen size correct? From what I’ve seen axe edit is a nicer program the the helix edit to me looks wise

 

[laxu]

So even if fractal had the ability to use your smart phone wirelessly to control it you’d probably still run out of space on your phone as far as the screen size correct? From what I’ve seen axe edit is a nicer program the the helix edit to me looks wise

Very much so. Using something as complex as Fractal on a phone would be a pretty awful experience, and the lack of physical knobs is only part of it.

 

[mbenigni]

Haaahaaahaaa!

<deep breath>

HAAAHAHAAHAAAAHAAAAAA!

<cries>

 

[wharf rat]

GC/MF also ships shop worn, used shit as new, which sucks.

I would not buy a guitar from them, for sure. But for stuff like pedals, cables, string, whatever, I’m all in with GC / MF. Much easier to deal with.

 

[ChordInversion]

I took a career break at the end of January. I'm pre-ordering the Stadium as soon as I've chosen my next job.

I...might be going back on this statement. We'll see. I will at least try one out in a store, but I am not sure I'll be ordering, for a range of reasons. Fortunately, the Stadium won't be out for a while yet, so I have time to cogitate.

 

[mbenigni]

It's not just about having a touchscreen. You can try the Fractal Axe-edit UI with a touchscreen using a 3rd party tool called FracPad. Now Axe-Edit is one of the better computer editors but just translating it to a tablet, it doesn't work that much better. It's still a reverse-engineered version that lacks polish, and works with the existing paradigms of Axe-Edit. I hope Fractal have at least hired its developer to work on mobile editors for next gen.

Touchscreen + knobs is the way to go so you have tactile control over parameters like Stadium does. Line6 also has the controls in a consistent location at the bottom of the screen, whereas on Fractal each view can be different on the front panel UI, which means you have to reorient yourself all the time with a little "ok now where was that param I want?" mental exercise.

Helix has had a similar issue where the parameter order is inconsistent. If you are looking for a Mix knob in several effects, it might be the Nth param in effect 1, and the N+1 param in effect 2, and N-2 in effect 3. I hope for HX Stadium they would fix that so you can expect common parameters to be found under the same knob for consistency.

Fractal's challenge is to simplify their user interfaces so that they fit on a larger touchscreen while allowing for fast movement between blocks. That's currently the difference between Axe-Edit vs their onboard UI, you can just click any block to open it up for editing.

The onboard UI requires you to painstakingly move a cursor over it, hit Edit, find the right page because it defaults to model list etc. Or alternatively spam Edit until the right block is on screen. The cycling order with multiple rows is always column -> row so you go e.g Amp1 -> Amp2 -> Cab1 -> Cab2 if you have dual amps/cabs in parallel, when a more sensible order would be via connection (Amp1 -> Cab1).

 

[mbenigni]

thats not true for all cases, for my needs a TS is absolutely useless.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and assume you came to this conclusion by using a modeler without a touchscreen.

 

[ChordInversion]

I'm going to go out on a limb, and assume you came to this conclusion by using a modeler without a touchscreen.

Not to be contrary, but I own a modeler with a touchscreen (Tone Master Pro), and I use it as little as I can possibly get away with - with ends up being very little indeed. I do not think it's fair to say it is completely useless, but I also don't thin it's anywhere remotely near essential.

It's fair to say that some people really like (and have become accustomed to) touchscreens. I'm not convinced they're the right interface choice for far more cases than people tend to acknowledge.

 

[Mongillo19]

I'm going to go out on a limb, and assume you came to this conclusion by using a modeler without a touchscreen.

I thought he meant Tube Screamer this entire time

 

[mbenigni]

I thought he meant Tube Screamer this entire time

At first glance, me too. :)

 

[mbenigni]

Not to be contrary, but I own a modeler with a touchscreen (Tone Master Pro), and I use it as little as I can possibly get away with - with ends up being very little indeed. I do not think it's fair to say it is completely useless, but I also don't thin it's anywhere remotely near essential.

It's fair to say that some people really like (and have become accustomed to) touchscreens. I'm not convinced they're the right interface choice for far more cases than people tend to acknowledge.

Lots of daylight between inessential and useless, and of course it goes without saying that a touchscreen has to be part of a well-designed UI/UX in order to add value.

All I'm saying is that it's conspicuous to make broad judgements (e.g. touchscreens are useless), when you haven't amassed any relevant experience.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I would not buy a guitar from them, for sure. But for stuff like pedals, cables, string, whatever, I’m all in with GC / MF. Much easier to deal with.

I choose not to support that business model at all, but to each their own.

 

[timbuck3]

I would not buy a guitar from them, for sure. But for stuff like pedals, cables, string, whatever, I’m all in with GC / MF. Much easier to deal with.

I have bought guitars from there but only at the store where I can play them and look them over but wait I did actually order an acoustic from them that said it was excellent and it came in. It was not so I had it shipped right to the store. I just had to go in and look at it played for like 30 seconds and say no and they just returned it immediately so I like the idea that local you can just return it if you need to or if it’s not, would you expect?

 

[wharf rat]

I choose not to support that business model at all, but to each their own.

What do you mean?

 

[Fireproof]

Update: MF rep called me to thank me for my order and let me know it’s expected to ship on November 23.

I’ll take it!!