What you actually bought
What this box is for, which generation it belongs to, and the one sentence that explains most of the confusion around it.
01 · 4 min
A whole guitar rig in one box, built by dropping blocks onto a grid and wiring them together. Whether it sounds right depends almost entirely on what you plug it into.
The short version
The previous-generation Fractal rack processor, running the Ares firmware line. Eight scenes per preset, X/Y switching in every block, a Tone Match block the newer devices do not have, and an onboard IR capture utility. Discontinued but very widely gigged.
Is this the right guide?
If your blocks have channels A to D rather than X and Y, you have a current-generation device — read the Axe-Fx III, FM9 or FM3 guide. Presets and firmware do not cross between the two generations.
The thing everyone gets wrong first
On a Axe-Fx II, the question we see most is the front input jack doing nothing.
INPUT 1 LEFT SELECT is set to REAR. It is a menu setting in the I/O page, not a physical switch.