FM3 at my outdoor Concert Gig was INCREDIBLE!

Royalty

Member
I got the FM3 2 weeks ago and it had Firmware 1.06. Sound was incredible in my KRK E8 studio monitors. I downloaded some Artist Presets like Steve Stevens presets. I love how large and big they sound. His Atomic Playboy Crunch sound is MASSIVE in my book. So then I bought the Austin Presets and those are really nice also but for the rock that my band does live the Steve Steven sounds are tailor made. We do Journey, Heart, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Guns & Roses, Van Halen, Bad Company, Queen etc............

Anyway we had an outdoor gig in a Big Ampitheatre Saturday Night with a sound system that could have been ready for all of the bands I mentioned above and of coarse lights were great.

So we set up and my band sees I got a different pedal. They are used to seeing me use a Line 6 POD HD 300. I made some big Marshall presets on the Line 6 that impressed a lot of people before I have to say. So when the sound guy at the console said ok lets hear the guitar I played a few big Power chords with the Steve Stevens Atomic Playboy. I told the sound guy please lets start out with flat EQ. So I hit a chord and everyone comes up to me from my band freakin out sayin that my sound was FU--N GIGANTIC . And I gotta say we were at Journey Concert volume with headroom to spare. I said its these presets that I love. The sound guy said I'm not gonna touch the EQ on those patches , they are so fu-cin big that I don't want to alter them.

The sound crew started talking with me telling me that a few of them also play guitar and 2 of the guys had Kempers. They told me that after hearing my FM3 they are gonna sell their Kemper for Fractals. Every single one of them said the sound they heard out of my FM3 with the Steve Stevens Presets was to die for.

Just thought I'd share that. I know there are more gigantic amp sounds available , but I needed to be able to do a whole show with a killer Power Crunch sound and Great solo sound with stereo delays. And I could tell when we were playin our show thru that humungous PA system that the guitar sound I had was without a doubt WorldClass Bigtime . So I'm a happy guy with this FM3. I ordered a FC-12 so I can make it even easier for myself to just put all my show sounds on scenes and have them right there to pick. The 3 button thing has me confused and I just want it laid out easy to pick what I want when I want. Great UNIT , love it. I did that show with Firmware 3.00. Actually put it in the same day as the show I did.
 
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One of the sound crew guys from my Saturday night show who plays guitar and has a Kemper just called me to pick my brain about the FM3. I told him for the price it's a No brainer. And now there's not a wait list. He said he just put his Kemper up for sale. He said he also just went on the Fractal site & Watched Steve Stevens demo his presets. He said he's gonna download them first thing after we get off the phone. Yep Good stuff!!!!!
 
Congrats on a great experience and thanks for sharing!

Playing loud really makes a huuuuge difference to your tones, I get so much more headroom when playing live than when I jam at home. It's like a drug, I just want to play loud all the time! :D

You definitely had all the right mix of things, great gear (FM3), good PA, and soundguys who are guitarists (especially ones who already play through an amp modeller of sorts so they get the DI thing without you having to convince them).
 
The Stevens Playboy preset is really amazing. It is dialed in to sound awesome. I suspect I might have to dial the gain back just a bit at live volume, though.
 
The Stevens Playboy preset is really amazing. It is dialed in to sound awesome. I suspect I might have to dial the gain back just a bit at live volume, though.
I don't think you will want to dial the gain back on Stevens Playboy preset. For me it was just leave it and go. I also copied the playboy preset to the very next preset number and added stereo delay for leads and I added more gain than the stock setting and I added about 1.5 db midrange. It was perfect for my 3 button setup. I had 2 Buttons with the Stevens sound ready for power chords and the next button for a lead sound with same preset altered with delay and gain.

My 3rd button I put the Shiver Clean sound with a bit of reverb and a quick delay that was just enough and a drop of chorus. After I get the FC-12 I will spread my favorite sounds I use the most out on about 8 buttons just ready to push and go without worrying how to get to the preset I need quickly.

In my band we do a rock show for Royal Carribean Cruises 12 times a year on all the big ships as a Headliner in the theaters on the ship, which has stopped for obvious reasons. Every time we do a ship show the theatre has 2500-3000 people and that is where we do all the Classic Rock stuff I mentioned. I wanted the Fm3 for those shows but I used my Line 6 POD HD 300.

I also made a clean preset to do Celine Dion's Power of Love which is the only ballad in our show.

I used a Fender twin preset with delay & Big Plate reverb & detuned stereo pitch (-9 fine Left/+9 fine Right to try and emulate an Eventide H3000. It came out perfect. Sound like the record sound to me. But its only on the verses, then power chords on the choruses.

Michael Thompson was the guitar player on that record and you can see his setup on YouTube how he uses his Eventide on every record he's ever played on with a clean sound and a strat. For that studio clean sound my fav is Michael Thompson's cleans so I try to copy close to what he's got.
 
I’ve seen a few of your shows on the ships I think. Always sounded great.
Our Show is called "ROCK & ROLL FANTASY" We played on "Allure" Independence of The Seas", Oasis, Mariner, Freedom, Harmony, Jewel, Navigator, Ovation in Alaska, . If you were on any of those and saw that show you saw me playing. And we also have a female singer who does heart, Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion. So there's a bit of info for you if you recognize any of that. We did about 12 to 15 cruises a year. The rest of the time we play in Florida
 
Our Show is called "ROCK & ROLL FANTASY" We played on "Allure" Independence of The Seas", Oasis, Mariner, Freedom, Harmony, Jewel, Navigator, Ovation in Alaska, . If you were on any of those and saw that show you saw me playing. And we also have a female singer who does heart, Stevie Nicks, Celine Dion. So there's a bit of info for you if you recognize any of that. We did about 12 to 15 cruises a year. The rest of the time we play in Florida
Yup, you guys were really good.
 
Yup, you guys were really good.
THANK YOU!
We will do more as soon as cruises resume again. I'm thinking that could be another 9-15 months from now. Hope to see u again if you go. The top photo is what it looks like in the theatre when we play. The bottom photo is a pic of everyone in the theatre. There is always 2400 to `2500 people in our shows.there on ships. Alot of fun. I'M THE GUY ON THE RIGHT!PIC 2.JPGPIC 1.JPG
 
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We'll be back. It's a pretty inexpensive holiday when you consider lodging and food is included. I always try to catch all the guitar-based shows in the lounges, theatres, cafe's, etc. RC doesn't screw around with their entertainment. You're not great, you don't get hired.
 
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