Glad it showed up and that your initial feelings are so positive. I have a hunch that if more people tried these, their experiences would track similarly to yours. If you don't mind, I'll go section by section through your post and give my thoughts as well.
On the compressors - each uses a different algorithm! Make sure to play with them all. I like using Studio, but when I need the CPU, I'll switch to Pedal 2. I'm not a fan of Pedal 1, but it certainly has its uses. Cliff and his dev team do stick to more standards such as RT-60, instead of more common systems. It can lead to a learning curve, but for me, just makes way more sense.
Also, keep in mind that the Amp block has a simple compressor available on output - "OUT COMP" is the name, if I recall correctly.
. You can use the OUTPUT LEVEL knob to control this, which is independent of the input and volume levels (and has no impact on tone or processing of that Amp block). On my blends, I tend to have an EQ block or a drive block on the non-Amp'd channel, which helps me balance things. You can also use the filter block, too. Like you said, there are a lot of options available. Experiment and find which you like and works best for you.
. Having that good understanding of how "our" pedals work, definitely helps.
With that said, I haven't found an FX block that is unusable on bass other than the Synth block (which has a hard time tracking under the 12th fret). Everything else works fine, but does take more time to tweak for bass use than guitar.
Yup, only one input jack. Though, like a real amp, you could plug into the FX Loop, insert the FX loop block at the beginning of a chain and use that. I can't remember the last time I've had a jack fail on any piece of equipment though, so I'm not worried over it. Also, my AX8 is mounted on a pedal board where the insert/remove of plugs is pretty rare, as the cabling is mostly static.
SeeD, a user on the FAS forum, shot a couple of bass cab IRs at one point, I think of a G-K cab. There's also a cab pack of an Ampeg 4x10 with various mics. Once I get a lot of free time, I'm going to go to the studio and shoot IRs of a few bass cabs and release my own cab pack.
Yeah - either zero out some of the factory ones, or use the higher banks which are empty. I'm a little anal about my set, so I zeroed out the first two banks and am using those slots for my sounds. Those were guitar presets anyway, and if I want the factory ones, it's SUPER easy to restore them. AX8-Edit follows Axe-Edit (which is for the flagship Axe-Fx II). Coming from Axe-Fx's (Which I still own), I was instantly familiar with it. It's gone through a ton of iterations over the years, and I agree, that it is very simple to get going with it. It can also be easy to get deep in the advanced parameters and tweak things.
I agree that the cab IRs are good, and I'd say over about the past year or so they have really come alive. More people are starting to throw their hat in on how to get IRs, and Fractal has learned a lot by doing and working with 3rd parties as well. Cab Pack 1 is free - go audition it and compare it to the ones that are in the unit from factory. You'll hear some of the progression.
On the compressors - each uses a different algorithm! Make sure to play with them all. I like using Studio, but when I need the CPU, I'll switch to Pedal 2. I'm not a fan of Pedal 1, but it certainly has its uses. Cliff and his dev team do stick to more standards such as RT-60, instead of more common systems. It can lead to a learning curve, but for me, just makes way more sense.
Also, keep in mind that the Amp block has a simple compressor available on output - "OUT COMP" is the name, if I recall correctly.
I believe that is true. You can also use the PEQ and EQ blocks post amp to do further EQ changes. A number of my presets have a PEQ at the end of the chain that I can toggle on/off. All three of my signal paths merge into that PEQ block and then go to OUT 1.
The Amp acts like a real amplifier
. You can use the OUTPUT LEVEL knob to control this, which is independent of the input and volume levels (and has no impact on tone or processing of that Amp block). On my blends, I tend to have an EQ block or a drive block on the non-Amp'd channel, which helps me balance things. You can also use the filter block, too. Like you said, there are a lot of options available. Experiment and find which you like and works best for you.Yeah, the "weird" and exotic effects aren't there. It's likely the bass specific ones won't be, at least not for a long time. I'm hoping that as more bass players come on board and voice our opinion on the lack of these options (on the Fractal forum, so Cliff and the other devs see it), that we can maybe someday get these in there. I like how you think, though - it is similar to me. You can do things here that aren't easy or practical to do with traditional setups. Play, tweak and have funHaven't really had time to play with the effects yet--they seem great but the more weird-o bass player pedals seem to be missing. But then I'll bet I can build some strange stuff with the LFO, envelopes, overdrives and filters modular style. I didn't realize I was also getting a primitive modular synth in the deal... if it also had CV out you could do some crazy things with the FX loop. A bassballs is just a fuzz with an envelope following bandpass filter blended with clean, right?
. Having that good understanding of how "our" pedals work, definitely helps.With that said, I haven't found an FX block that is unusable on bass other than the Synth block (which has a hard time tracking under the 12th fret). Everything else works fine, but does take more time to tweak for bass use than guitar.
Absolutely can. While expensive to use just as that setup, it gives you so many options even if you just line up 4 presets with different amps and cabs. Add in a couple of FX for flavor and you're well beyond anything you can easily do otherwise, and for less money.
I absolutely agree - we need more bass content on here. If I had to venture a guess, bass players are less than 1% of the users of Axe-Fx stuff. It's funny - there seems to be a lot of push back for reasons I can't comprehend. I think part of it is the history of companies like Line6 overselling modeling, so some people don't think these can sound as good as they truly do. Of course, just normal bias, "what I have is good enough" and it just plain not being a good fit for some players all adds up.
Yup, only one input jack. Though, like a real amp, you could plug into the FX Loop, insert the FX loop block at the beginning of a chain and use that. I can't remember the last time I've had a jack fail on any piece of equipment though, so I'm not worried over it. Also, my AX8 is mounted on a pedal board where the insert/remove of plugs is pretty rare, as the cabling is mostly static.
SeeD, a user on the FAS forum, shot a couple of bass cab IRs at one point, I think of a G-K cab. There's also a cab pack of an Ampeg 4x10 with various mics. Once I get a lot of free time, I'm going to go to the studio and shoot IRs of a few bass cabs and release my own cab pack.
. I'd say I easily have 30-40 hours on just my normal compressor block, plus the time I wasted trying to get the multiband to work how I wanted (tip: it won't in its current form for bass, don't waste your time).
