On fence with 3 and 9

R

riceprF

Member
I think I might like dual amps or cab. As 3 owners, what limits have you run into that a 9 might solve?

I don;t think I'm going wild, alt-rock/jam band/bad jazz guy, preset might be

comp->drive1->drive2->amp->cab->phaser->delay->reverb, maybe an EQ

arm issues preclude bass/ baritone playing, so pitch/capo might be useful

Thankee
 
My FM9 has only left the house a few times and I love having the extra switches. It's convenient if nothing else.

Look at this way, you're gonna want the FM9 to play all those cool patches that Brett Kingman gives away so generously for free.
 
I’ve owned and sold the FM9 twice. I now have the FM3 Turbo and miss very little about the 9. It was surprisingly heavy and way overkill for a bedroom wanker like me. I know what you’re thinking…”Then why’d you buy it twice?” I thought I’d eventually want/need the extra horsepower for running dual amps. Well, there’s more than enough option paralysis using a single amp block with the FM3. I can’t imagine how many years could be lost trying out the 97,453,582 dual amp combinations offered in the FM9/AXEFX. In summary, be honest with yourself about your NEEDS vs paying for what you wont use. There is zero difference in sound quality and all are equally horrendous to use without the editor. 😉
 
The 3 has more than enough power for what you need (except for dual amps). But, if you're on the fence, then just got ahead and get the 9.
 
Basement wanker here.

In my mind, I'm jamming with friends usually. I do the rhythm parts, then the solo, back to rhythm, ending solo, special thing for the prechorus, yadda. That's tough without enough switches.

It's all well and good to have a bunch of effects available, but it's a pita if you can't get to them quickly.
 
I have an fm3 for rehearsals and backup. I really miss horsepower. Also, I found out that I use dual amps more often as I thought.
I also noticed that getting hold of a used FM3 is easy, a used fm9 nearly impossible. That says something too.
 
If you have 2 speakers or if you can run stereo you can run the same amp into 2 different sounding IR’s and pan them left and right. They will both be the same amp and gain level but will sound different. For switching from rhythm to lead, there are 4 amp channels and each channel can be whatever you want. I have 4 channels set up low to high. In practice I just use a drive and guitar volume for leads and stay on one or 2 channels. If I had the FM9 I doubt I’d use dual amps. One is plenty. Having more cpu would be nice but the FM3 does what I want. I like having more switches. I have the FC6. At home it rarely gets used but with the band and no laptop I do use it. If you’re on the fence I’d say buy the FM9. The FM3 is showing signs of being tapped out for power and storage.
 
riceprF said:
I think I might like dual amps or cab. As 3 owners, what limits have you run into that a 9 might solve?

I don;t think I'm going wild, alt-rock/jam band/bad jazz guy, preset might be

comp->drive1->drive2->amp->cab->phaser->delay->reverb, maybe an EQ

arm issues preclude bass/ baritone playing, so pitch/capo might be useful

Thankee
Click to expand...
I rarely used dual amps when I had the FX3, and when I did, that was more “because I can” rather than any real need apart from avoiding gaps when switching. With gapless switching in all fractal devices available now, I don’t even have a use case for them. So it missing this part at all.

However, looking at the effects you are listing, with a compressor, two drives, and a reverb, I suspect the virtual capo would be struggling on both devices, much more so on the FM3 where you don’t have a dedicated core for reverbs. You can replace one of the drives with amp input settings, do some optimizations here and there, but with current firmware it might be a challenge to get good pitch shifter performance.
 
I use the FM3 live and have never run out of horse power. I have the Axe FX III in my home studio.
That being said, get the most you can afford.
If you can get the Axe FX III, do it.
20250703_211002.jpg
 
vangrieg said:
However, looking at the effects you are listing, with a compressor, two drives, and a reverb, I suspect the virtual capo would be struggling on both devices, much more so on the FM3 where you don’t have a dedicated core for reverbs. You can replace one of the drives with amp input settings, do some optimizations here and there, but with current firmware it might be a challenge to get good pitch shifter performance.
Click to expand...

The VC is a toy and that’s it. I use it to jam with songs that are tuned down up or just off tune. I don’t use it live. Both units do a great job of modeling amps, effects, speakers cabs, and mics other than the VC. Maybe the FM9 does the capo better than the FM3. I honestly don’t care about the VC. I read through the long VC complaint thread. Respectfully you sound like a broken record. If I wanted a VC I’d just buy a Drop and offload the cpu. Maybe the next generation will have a legit VC. A virtual capo is not why I bought a FAS modeler. It is a small fraction of what these units can do.
 
skolacki said:
The VC is a toy and that’s it. I use it to jam with songs that are tuned down up or just off tune. I don’t use it live. Both units do a great job of modeling amps, effects, speakers cabs, and mics other than the VC. Maybe the FM9 does the capo better than the FM3. I honestly don’t care about the VC. I read through the long VC complaint thread. Respectfully you sound like a broken record. If I wanted a VC I’d just buy a Drop and offload the cpu. Maybe the next generation will have a legit VC. A virtual capo is not why I bought a FAS modeler. It is a small fraction of what these units can do.
Click to expand...
This is all fine, but the person who created this thread and asked the question said he was interested in using VC, and he should know about potential issues. So whether or not you care about this feature, what you think anbout it (or me) isn’t relevant here.
 
vangrieg said:
This is all fine, but the person who created this thread and asked the question said he was interested in using VC, and he should know about potential issues. So whether or not you care about this feature, what you think anbout it (or me) isn’t relevant here.
Click to expand...
I found his comments accurate and relevant. The OP needs this kind of input to make an informed decision. What if he's misled into expecting more performance from the VC, gets the unit, then wishes he was aware of the limitations?
 
Get the FM9T. To quote YJM, less is not more; more is more. I use an FM9T with a FC12. I don’t see an FM9 as being overkill, even for a home player.

I’ve almost no experience with the virtual capo. When I’ve tried it, power chord things were fine, but detailed clean chording was less so. Just my two cents there, as I’m not a heavy user.
 
For me the biggest limitations have been:

1. Runs out of CPU sooner than an FM9, but it’s never stopped me from getting tones I want - it just usually means rejigging some presets or removing unused blocks. I suspect if I were using an FM9 the same thing would happen - ie, I’ll max out whatever is available, just like I’ve rarely had a pedalboard that had free space on it :-) - but it would ultimately have more flexibility in this regard.

2. I have an FC6 so I have just as many switches and even more controller inputs (external switches and expression pedals) than an FM9, but I have slightly fewer audio I/O, which is relevant if you’re running external pedals or other devices or if, like me, you’re running multiple instruments into it at the same time (I’ve run mandolin, lap steel, pedal steel, banjo, theremin, and even saxes through my Fractal rig at gigs, as it can then handle all the switching thus reducing the number of external devices needed …).

The other differences I haven’t found relevant to me. For example, I never had the urge to run amps in parallel for live shows so I don’t miss not being able to run 2 amp blocks in a preset.

The biggest advantage is that I can fit my FM3 in not only the recently reduced (for some airlines) carry-on baggage sizes but could even bring it as a ‘personal item’, which could halve the flight cost (as opposed to having to pay for a carry-on or checked luggage for an FM9). And for things like musical theatre or other gigs where stage/pit space can be a huge issue for some shows, it’s great to have the very small FM3.
 
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