Timbuck is still using Edge Browser, will be interesting to see what they bring to the table?

[gearJunkie]

 

[sashimi]

Hey, all the other threads are going fine from what I can see. Thanks for asking.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Gear focused inside baseball/market speculation is truly one of the most interesting subtopics to engage in.

 

[mbenigni]

Gear focused inside baseball/market speculation is truly one of the most interesting subtopics to engage in.

Oh wait, was that sarcasm?

#funatparties

 

[timbuck3]

 

[synthpenguin]

With Line 6, you’re investing in a certain set of priorities and a specific track record, and with Fractal you’re investing in a different set and different track record. Their products reflect that, even as / if the Line 6 amp modeling catches up with Fractal’s own.

Both have great longterm support, with the only caveat being that Stadium will probably be supported for longer than current gen Fractal (even if current gen Fractal still has years of support left), so I don’t think you can lose there vs some other companies that are more unproven there.

I think that if someone is approaching the Stadium with the perspective of “why wouldn’t I just get the Fractal at that price?”, then they see the Fractal units as better, and the Stadium as a compromise, because Fractal’s set of priorities probably aligns more with their own, and then they should just go with that. And in that case, if anything the higher Stadium prices just makes that decision easier for them.

If I was going for a modeler to use as an all(or most)-in-one, I don’t know which way I’d go, but I’d maybe lean Stadium because of the fun factor, future capture capabilities, and because I don’t really enjoy making patches on the computer outside of some specific cases—and it seems to me that the amp modeling gaps have been closed enough for my tastes too. The Fractal stuff really appeals to other parts of me though, and I actually like the rack format quite a bit for my uses.

In reality though, if anything I’ll wait for the Stadium Stomp or an amp version of the VP4, so I’m not really the market lol

 

[paisleywookiee]

This thread is still going? Doesn’t seem like bed wetter Glenn is coming back.

 

[Sleezy E]

 

[texhex]

The Fractal Axe Fx III Mark II Turbo has a list price of $2499.99

The new Line 6 Helix Stadium XL has a list price of $2199.99

About three hundred dollars less than a Axe Fx III.

It seems like line 6 is aiming for more professionals and people that use fractal products, but the question is....will the new line 6 stadium XL gear bring something that is a serious contender to Fractal?

I guess time will tell....the Line 6 product is not yet out, so we will have to wait and see.

But it is interesting to say the least. I will be watching this dog and pony show for sure!

Axe-Fx IV retail price, October 2026 $3,199.99

Launch Edition includes option to turn off Tap Tempo LED. Waitlist maxes out in 5 minutes. Deliveries start in February 2027.

gg

 

[DanRad]

No SysEx commands in Stadium; that's generally too esoteric for your average guitarist. If enough people request it—say they need to control deeper Roland/BOSS functions—we know how to get there.

We filter out both SysEx and active sensing to ensure Helix responds as fast as possible. There's a lot of data going through our boxes, and IIRC, we landed on that decision based on testing. If it's super important I can ask the team what the deal was.

Yeah. I have a single need for it — send a sys-ex command to my Boss GM-800 to make it switch the note source from GK to MIDI or vice versa.

I guess I’ll just have to keep bending over and menu diving until Boss lets that change via patch or Helix gets some good synth sounds.

 

[synthpenguin]

Yeah. I have a single need for it — send a sys-ex command to my Boss GM-800 to make it switch the note source from GK to MIDI or vice versa.

I guess I’ll just have to keep bending over and menu diving until Boss lets that change via patch or Helix gets some good synth sounds.

You could use something like the MIDI Solutions Event Processor. Expensive (though cheaper used), but very flexible and it's powered by MIDI, so no external power supplies required. You would basically just set it up to trigger a MIDI event of your choice when it receives another MIDI event of your choice, so e.g. you could have it send a Sysex message when it receives a certain CC message with a value in a certain range. It can also do more complex things like step through a sequence of events when receiving a certain trigger, or storing certain received values in variables for reference later.

The CME C2MIDI Pro, which is much cheaper (30USD) and smaller (essentially just a MIDI cable with a USB cable coming off of it), should also do it, but I'm not 100% sure that it deals with Sysex (I bet it does). It does require separate power though (via USB)

 

[Tefun]

Hi everybody,
few weeks ago i send that to Fractal ... thought it might be interesting for you guys.
"I'm a longtime HX Stomp user, i switched from tube amps to digital few years ago. Now i'm thinking of buying a most complete unit like the FM9 or the new Helix or the Quad Cortex. I love what i can hear from the FM9 but there's a huge problem ! Here in France the cost of the FM9 MkII Turbo is 2299 euros. When i simulate a buy from New Jersey Morristown where my parents in law are living the cost of the FM9 is 1921 dollars wich correspond to 1641,87 euros after conversion .... at this price i'll buy it in a heartbeat !
The difference is huge and impossible to accept for us (at least me) buyers in Europe ... 650 euros difference !!!! And even if i calculate with a 20% tax, the difference will be something like 400 euros.
You're losing a ton of customers here in Europe because of that. Is there something i'm missing here ?"

Their response was, "We sell thousands unit per year in Europe".

I hope it's not gonna be the same story with the Stadium regarding price, taxes and change rate.

 

[ian_dissonance]

There were quite a few times were I remember seeing Thomann pricing below Sweetwater/MF for regular Helix stuff. I think with Yamaha distribution they can go right from production to retailers.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Add to all this that in case you have, say, a Helix, QC, Kemper, whatever - in case something breaks you'd have a replacement the next day.

 

[ChordInversion]

Nah. I think Neural, Kemper and Boss should be panicking.

BOSS doesn't need to panic. They position themselves lower than the other big names in price, never quite deliver the same kinds of features, do something uniquely BOSS (usually something that some players absolutely hate), and still manage to find buyers who like their approach and trust their name.

I think people make a mistake when they take the approach of trying to crown a modeler the "best," rank the rest 2nd-last, and conclude that's how the market is going to go. People buy things for all manner of reasons. Moreover, one thing I really like about modelers is when they clearly don't all just try to fulfill the same list of check boxes, but instead take their own approach.

I think of the modeler market as being a list of options from which people choose based on requirements, preferences, biases, budget, and aesthetics. There will never be One To Rule Them All, and that's fine.

 

[Sedaxel]

Their response was, "We sell thousands unit per year in Europe".

To me, that doesn´t look like a very ethic reply... but hey, I´ll shut up, just in case.

 

[spawnofthesith]

To me, that doesn´t look like a very ethic reply... but hey, I´ll sut up, just in case.

Sounds like the type of reply I'd expect from fractal

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Their response was, "We sell thousands unit per year in Europe".

What did you think they were going to say? They were hardly going to agree with you and ship a discounted unit to you were they?

 

[Sascha Franck]

They were hardly going to agree with you and ship a discounted unit to you were they?

Why not? They could ship one my way in that case, too.

 

[Chocol8]

To me, that doesn´t look like a very ethic reply... but hey, I´ll sut up, just in case.

Ethic? They are not doing anything unethical. They decide how many units they want to make, what price to charge and what distribution channels they want to work with. If consumers don't like it, they don't need to buy. There are no ethical needs to sell anyone affordable guitar modelers.

News flash, for a small business in the US, there are over 300 million potential customers in 50 states that are easier to sell to than anyone else located in other countries. Many chose not to sell overseas if they have enough domestic demand. If they want to sell internationally, they need to deal with all sorts of laws and regulations that vary by country, or they can deal with a distributor who will handle all the logistics in exchange for a slice of revenue. In this case, Fractal is offering their products through a channel that is adding 400 euros to the price in order to make the arrangement worthwhile for everyone involved. If you don't like the price increase, buy something else or setup your own import business and see how cheap and easy it is...or isn't.