Fractal Audio Systems FX8 Mark II Multi-FX Pedalboard

FRACTAL AUDIO FIRST MADE A SPLASH in 2006 with its Axe-Fx preamp/signal processors, which made good on the company’s mission to reclaim the promise and potential of digital effects in a landscape dominated by analog pedals. The company released its first pedalboard effects-only processor, the FX8, in April 2015; our review unit, a Mark II released in September 2016, boasts an all-black aircraft-aluminum bezel and end panels, improved top-panel silkscreen design, an 18dB instrument-input pad option, and an even lower noise floor.

 

- E. E. Bradman

The FX8 overflows with possibilities: Each of its 128 presets is a self-contained “pedalboard” with up to eight effects, each called a “block.” You can choose an X or Y version of each block, which means twice as many sound settings from the same eight blocks. Each preset/pedalboard also contains eight easily accessible variations, called “scenes,” which makes it easy to turn multiple effects on or off with a single tap. There are so many effects and so many ways to tweak and arrange them that I decided to focus on five basic questions: How does it sound? How easy it is to use? How easy is it to tweak? How much can I do without bending over? And is it worth $1,250?

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The 11.5-pound FX8’s switches feel solid, and the screen is just big enough and offers adjustable contrast. A protective bar helped keep my boots from hitting knobs or messing with the screen. The moment I plugged in my Elrick Gold-series 6, the pristine quality of the audio coming out of my Jule Monique preamp and powered Bergantino IP112 with HT112ER 1x12 cabs shocked me. (The FX8 features true bypass with analog relays to switch all processing completely out of the signal path.) Like a lot of bass players into multieffects popular with guitarists, I wondered whether I should try setting a global, bass-friendly EQ curve, but I realized quickly that the sound quality was so clean and each effect so flexible that I could dial in individual EQ curves depending on my intended tone. Loading, changing, and saving presets was easy, as was kicking on and offX and Y options for every effect and stomping through the eight scenes of each preset/pedalboard. The 92-page manual did a pretty good job of explaining the unit’s options, but I decided that the best way to understand the FX8 was to recreate my analog pedalboard.