How does the the FM3 take pedals?

thembones

Member
I hope this isn't a "dumb question" but how does the FM3 take pedals?
I am going to end up mounting it on a board with my MC6, volume pedal and bank up/down switch
I thought I may put my trusty Klon KTR on there also just to have that magic button available at any given time.
If you use drive do you guys put them in the front input or use an effects loop?
 
I use a King of Tone in front of the FM3 (and an MC6 as well).
Honestly, in my experience, the FM3 takes the pedals better than a solid state amp, but not at the same level of a tube amp.

I don't have the same nuances I get with my Mesa Mark V, but it is better than the Marshall MG.
I hope it make sense and it may help.

Anyway it is not bad.
 
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@Poparad likes pedals? Are we sure about that? :innocent: I'm sending this pic to my buddies, they will love it as much as I do.
BTW @Poparad I noodled some nonsense through the Holdsworth Omnipatch at a friend's request (all 8 scenes) and he is still recovering from how authentic the sounds are even though I can't play anything AH did.

Personally I haven't put anything in front of my FM3 yet but that's because I am still coming to terms with everything IN the FM3. My last guitar rig was built around pedals so I have some pretty nice ones that I am sure would go great in front. This is what stayed on my board the most. That Fender "The Pinwheel" is tons of fun, in this application it's the pedal the splits the guitar signal to the amp inputs, while the time-based effects are in the loop with the EQ.
 

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This is how I've done on my board...

In front: Volume Dunlop > CAE 404 Wah > Odin Fuzz
FX loop: Tumnus Dlx > Bonsai > Duellist > Gladio

Why? In most of my presets, I use the first two scenes as clean tones, so having my drives in the FX loop allows me to turn on/off the drives in whichever stacking combination I set them previously, without the hassle of tap dancing in the middle of the songs. Also, I've read somewhere in this forum that part of the magic of the FM3 with the amp modeling relies on its input impedance, therefore I didn't want to mess around with that and opted to the Fx loop. I tried put them in front though and even though the sound did not change at all the response to certain notes did a bit.

FM3 board.jpg
1629769348030.png
In any case, feel free to experiment and go through the road that suits you best.

Cheers!
 
This is how I've done on my board...

In front: Volume Dunlop > CAE 404 Wah > Odin Fuzz
FX loop: Tumnus Dlx > Bonsai > Duellist > Gladio

Why? In most of my presets, I use the first two scenes as clean tones, so having my drives in the FX loop allows me to turn on/off the drives in whichever stacking combination I set them previously, without the hassle of tap dancing in the middle of the songs. Also, I've read somewhere in this forum that part of the magic of the FM3 with the amp modeling relies on its input impedance, therefore I didn't want to mess around with that and opted to the Fx loop. I tried put them in front though and even though the sound did not change at all the response to certain notes did a bit.

View attachment 87520
View attachment 87521
In any case, feel free to experiment and go through the road that suits you best.

Cheers!

FM3 does not have the Input Impedance Switching Circuit.
Having your Wah & Fuzz out front would be proper as Fuzz & Wah usually have impedance that would load your guitar pickups authentically, but the Volume Pedal 1st may negate that effect...???
Also the Fuzz would not Load your Pickups unless your Wah is True Bypass.

But no impedance circuit on the FM3
From the Wiki
  • Axe-Fx III: variable, Input 1 (front and rear)
  • FM3: fixed at 1 Megaohm
  • Axe-Fx II: variable, front input
  • FX8: variable, instrument input
  • AX8: fixed at 1 Megaohm
 
I don't now what this pedal does, but I need it.

It's the "Meme Driver" by noiseKick FX. Left side is a Tube Screamer and the right is a fuzz (a nice, mid-heavy fuzz... kind of an anti-Muff style). I have a few TS clones and a mini TS and I have to say, this one is actually my favorite. Nice, full body to it. It sounds fantastic going into a Wampler Belle overdrive.

I have a few pedals from NoiseKick and they're all great. Really under-the-radar pedal maker in Baltimore. The "Reagan Fuzz" to the right of the Meme Driver is a Civil-War/Russian muff based circuit and also sounds great. Another one of my top favorites.
 
et external switches to control pre

This is how I've done on my board...

In front: Volume Dunlop > CAE 404 Wah > Odin Fuzz
FX loop: Tumnus Dlx > Bonsai > Duellist > Gladio

Why? In most of my presets, I use the first two scenes as clean tones, so having my drives in the FX loop allows me to turn on/off the drives in whichever stacking combination I set them previously, without the hassle of tap dancing in the middle of the songs. Also, I've read somewhere in this forum that part of the magic of the FM3 with the amp modeling relies on its input impedance, therefore I didn't want to mess around with that and opted to the Fx loop. I tried put them in front though and even though the sound did not change at all the response to certain notes did a bit.

View attachment 87520
View attachment 87521
In any case, feel free to experiment and go through the road that suits you best.

Cheers!

Your layout is interesting I haven't tried the in'/out stuff yet, can you not use fx send/return to do that? Or are you using the FX loop it is just labeled out2/in2?

Also that seems like a lot of "stuff" to only be at 75% on your fm3!
 
FM3 does not have the Input Impedance Switching Circuit.
Having your Wah & Fuzz out front would be proper as Fuzz & Wah usually have impedance that would load your guitar pickups authentically, but the Volume Pedal 1st may negate that effect...???
Also the Fuzz would not Load your Pickups unless your Wah is True Bypass.

But no impedance circuit on the FM3
From the Wiki
  • Axe-Fx III: variable, Input 1 (front and rear)
  • FM3: fixed at 1 Megaohm
  • Axe-Fx II: variable, front input
  • FX8: variable, instrument input
  • AX8: fixed at 1 Megaohm
Interesting! Thanks for shedding light on the impedance thing. Yes, the Wah is true bypass and from all the iterations that I tried, this one is what I liked the most in front of the FM3.

Your layout is interesting I haven't tried the in'/out stuff yet, can you not use fx send/return to do that? Or are you using the FX loop it is just labeled out2/in2?

Also that seems like a lot of "stuff" to only be at 75% on your fm3!
Indeed, the OUT2 and IN2 blocks are the real fx loop of the unit whereas the send & return blocks are meant to help you organise/expand your signal chain when you run out of grid blocks to accomodate things around. For me it has more sense this way where I put "dry" blocks on top and "wet" effects below. Credits to AustinBuddy as I replicate this approach from his tonepack. And yes, CPU still below 80% because Reverb is set on Economy and the echo density is set on 4 as I don't use that much of it. The spare CPU allows me to insert a Gate block in presets with higher gain amps.
 
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