Bias FX 2

[JesperX]

Bias is a fucking Greek tragedy.

Such great ideas and concepts, but the tone seems at least a generation behind.

The cold hard truth right here. I was really excited when I first discovered it, which then slowly faded as all of the cool functionality resulted in the sounds of ass over and over.

I’ll give 2 a shot just because I use Bias/JamUp as a quiet practice option from time to time. Almost every other sim I’ve tried sounds better though, and for recording I’ll take amp + load box every time.

 

[ChugThisBoy]

I've had JamUp on my iPhone back then when it was more popular and I was very surprised how good it sounds. Then I've tried Bias and all the joy dissapeared

 

[Metropolis]

I really don't hear what everyone is talking about. I watched that Stevie T guy on a YouTube video titled BIAS vs AXE FX 2, so it's the older Bias and it sounds really good, and from what I heard the Axe2 doesn't sound $2,000 better for that tone. Is that video a lie or something then cause it says in the video there was no post processing etc. I don't see what is so shitty about the tone and for a couple hundred bucks certainly sounds better than stuff. What am I missing here?

Axe II fits in a mix much better and doesn't sound nearly as artificial or compressed, Bias just doesn't even feel good when playing. But of of course DI and hardware has it's affection in that matter, still you can't compare a mediocre software to high end hardware unit. Is it really a 2K$ difference, for some it is and some not.

 

[c7spheres]

Axe II fits in a mix much better and doesn't sound nearly as artificial or compressed, Bias just doesn't even feel good when playing. But of of course DI and hardware has it's affection in that matter, still you can't compare a mediocre software to high end hardware unit. Is it really a 2K$ difference, for some it is and some not.

Thank for the input. That's what I'm tryong to figure out, becuase in the mix in that Video I was talking about that sound almost identical. I doubt in a blind test anyone could hear the difference at all. So what I'm sayng is that video like a false representation or something? I understand that the feel could vary greatly based n the interface and system used and the AXE would probably feel better because of it being a dedicated hardware unit, but ultimately the Axe is just a weak computer (what like a 2gb processor or something?) with software inside. This is something almost any normal computer could do, but the value in the Axe I'm sure comes from the selected hardware interface and converters etc chosen for this application, which would possibly be rivaled, I would think with higher end third party components. I'm just trying to figure out if the Video I was watching is bullSh!t, because it seems like it is based on what I'm reading here and other users experiences, but based on that video I can't see people bias bashing or whatever for such a small difference. My guess is that the video is bs and in reality the differences between Bias and and AxeFx are far greater.

 

[trem licking]

The thing with bias is it does not react as you would expect a real amp to react when you dial it in. Weird shit happens... As you turn up/down gain, bass, mids and treble, there is some crazy artifacting that happens. All the high gain amps are loose n farty too, they HAVE to be boosted if you want a useable tight metal sound... Not that that matters much but its something to note. Also the attack is a bit weird and plasticy compared to other sims/a real amp. I spent a few days with bias 2 and while i do think it improved a bit (especially some of the effects and cabs), the amp behavior is still strange. That being said, i think now you can dial in a useable sound where as before it was much more difficult to do so. After they implement midi it will be a cool piece of software, especially for an ipadder.

But fire up TH-U or amplitube after messin with this for awhile, and the blanket still feels like it gets lifted off your monitors a bit. Anyone thinking about buying bias fx needs to try TH-U first. Comparable features, better sound and interface and already has a simple midi setup

 

[Catalyst Collide]

Anyone thinking about buying bias fx needs to try TH-U first. Comparable features, better sound and interface and already has a simple midi setup

Couldn't agree with you more. I'd add - when TH3 or THU goes on sale it's a much better bang for the buck (I paid $135 for the max TH3 version).

That said - let me follow up to my previous post - I finally got Bias FX 2 demo to run on my computer (it was an Mac OS thing that was easily fixed) and... I'm bummed about the demo. Not the tone per say, but how much they kneecap the demo. I could deal with the "plays annoying loud sound every 5 minutes" thing - as absolutely stupid as that is, but the fact that it's not full featured (don't get all the amps, cabs or pedals) just kills it for me. One of the things I was most interested in trying was the fuzz and ambient pedals, but they're locked. Fuzz is my dirt of choice, so not being able to give that a test run makes the whole thing pointless from an evaluation purpose. Overloud gives you a full 30 day trial with all the features. Neural DSP gives you 14 days with all the features. Bias gives you a kneecapped feature set and for the first 7 or 8 days it gives you an annoying buzz ever 5 minutes. After those days, the buzz happens every 60 or 90 seconds (can't remember, don't feel like looking it up). Not being able to try the features I'd be most interested in does not entice me to plunk down $300. PG is obviously free to decide how they want to entice users, and they seem to be doing just fine - but it doesn't work for me.

Business practices aside - from the little I played around with it I will say I think it does sound and feel a little better than Bias FX 1, but I can't say anything I heard made me feel it was better than TH3 or any of the neural stuff. I wanted to a/b it against my normal tones, but was unable to get close because of the limitations. I got some decent sounds that weren't my standards, but nothing I felt I couldn't get out of TH3. The strongest thing Bias has going for it - and as a TH3 user I'm envious - is their community of players who upload their presets. There's a lot of not so great tones, but some good ones as well - it's a quick way to get a starting point and I dig that. I hope with the TH-U integration into the Slate bundle that will start to change, but I don't think overloud makes it easy to share presets (or at least as easy as it could be). Overall, it's a pass for me - TH3 / THU is still the top of the heap for a plugin with multiple amps/pedals/cabs. If you didn't need or want all the options, then the NTS suite would be my second choice.