Comparing the Axe-Fx II, AX8 and FX8

General comparison

• The Axe-Fx II XL+ is the flagship Fractal Audio product. It provides effects in a 4x12 grid, including amp/cab modeling, and extensive routing options in a 19" rack device. It features multiple outputs, an effects loop and various digital I/O. The MFC-101 foot controller is connected through FASLINK. It has all Fractal Audio effect algorithms and supports Tone Matching and IR Capture.
• The AX8 is an all-in-one floor version of the Axe-Fx II, designed for the gigging musician. It provides Quantum amp modeling and UltraRes speaker cab sims, plus hundreds of effects and the familiar 4x12 grid, with the same quality as the Axe-Fx II. It differs from the Axe-Fx in that it offers only one instance per preset of amp, cab, and some effects blocks (e.g. Reverb, Flanger, etc.) Also, certain esoteric effects found on the Axe-Fx are not included in the AX8 (Vocoder, Megatap, etc.) It has multiple outputs offering Humbuster technology, S/PDIF out, and an effects loop.
• The differences are discussed in the AX8 Owner's Manual.

Hardware differences

• DSP:
  • Axe-FX II: two TigerSHARC DSPs.
  • AX8: two dual-core 450 MHz ADSP-21469s DSPs and two microcontrollers.
  • The devices use the same converters and op-amps.
• Housing:
  • Axe-Fx II: 19" rack device.
  • AX8: floor device.
• Expression pedals and switches:
  • Axe-Fx II XL+: two PEDAL inputs.
  • AX8: four connections for expression pedals and switches.
• Analog I/O:
  • Axe-Fx II: front and rear Input 1.
  • AX8: front Input 1 only.
  • More information about the AX8's I/O.
• Digital audio:
  • Axe-Fx II: support for USB audio, S/PDIF, AES.
  • AX8: only S/PDIF out.
• Hardware interface:
  • Axe-Fx II: for remote switching you need a separate foot controller such as the MFC-101. No dedicated physical amp controls (menu only).
  • AX8: 8 numbered assignable switches and 3 assignable F-switches. More information. Dedicated physical amp controls on top of the unit with LED-rings.
• Headphones:
  • Axe-Fx II: headphones output.
  • AX8: no headphones output.
• MIDI:
  • Axe-Fx II XL+: hardware-separated MIDI IN, OUT and THRU connections. MIDI can be used for editing.
  • AX8: MIDI IN and shared MIDI OUT/THRU connections. MIDI can't be used for editing.
• USB:
  • Axe-Fx II: no USB host, needs driver on computer for editing and data transfers.
  • AX8: USB host, no driver needed.

Effects and parameters

• Axe-Fx II:
  • Full set of all effect algorithms. Many of the effects are available in more than one instance (two Amp blocks etc.). Compared to the AX8 (and FX8) there are a few differences in X/Y switching.
  • Global Blocks.
  • Adjustable Input Impedance.
  • Tremolo in the Amp block.
  • Room ambience, De-Phase, mic modeling, Motor Drive and channel strip modeling in the Cab block.
  • Tone Matching.
  • IR Capture.
• AX8:
  • Selection of the effect algorithms (listed here.) Compared to the Axe-Fx II there are a few differences in blocks supporting X/Y switching. There is one instance available of each effect, for example a single Compressor block, Amp, Cab, Pitch etc, with some exceptions. All "types" within a specific effect (all amp models, all compressor types etc.) are included.
  • Less CPU power. It'll disable blocks automatically when the CPU usage (preset size) gets too high.
  • MORE Looper time than the Axe-Fx II.
  • No Global Blocks, no adjustable Input Impedance, no Tremolo in the Amp block, no Room ambience / De-Phase / mic modeling / Motoro Drive / channel strip modeling in the Cab block, no Tone Matching, no IR Capture.

User interface

• Axe-Fx II:
  • Boots to the RECALL screen.
  • Press LAYOUT to see the grid.
  • There are four NAV buttons, PAGE buttons, ENTER and EXIT and a dedicated VALUE knob to navigate.
  • Dedicated X/Y buttons.
• AX8:
  • Boots to the FS (Footswitch) Page.
  • Instead of a LAYOUT button, the grid is accessed as the second page of the main menu. When on the grid, press EXIT to return to the Footswitch page.
  • Instead of NAV buttons, you will primarily use the E/NAV knob to get around menu pages. Instead of a VALUE knob you’ll use A,B,C,D, and E knobs.
  • Instead of dedicated X/Y buttons, you’ll press and hold a footswitch to toggle X/Y for an effect, or if no footswitch is assigned, select or edit the effect and double-tap EDIT.
• Editing shortcuts are different because of the hardware design.

Grid, presets and scenes

• The AX8 and Axe-Fx II both support the 4x12 grid and scene switching. The AX8 lets you specify the default scene which is loaded after switching presets.
• The Axe-Fx II and AX8 cannot share presets. But you can transfer individual block settings from one product to another using the software editors. It's also possible to convert presets with 3rd party software: FracTool.
• The AX8 doesn't provide the Mixer block and Feedback Send/Return blocks.
• When using the FXL block to create an AUX output, the FXL block must be placed in parallel rather than series. (Unlike the Axe-Fx II, the AX8 does not detect when a plug has been inserted into INPUT 2.)

Fractal Audio quotes

• Comparing the AX8 to the Axe-Fx II.