A Convert's Review

M

Marc Roy

New Member
I first tried an Axe-FX II at a friend's rehearsal space in January 2020. It left a big impression on me to say the least (he swears by his Axe-FX II and sees no reason to upgrade). I finally took the plunge last December. Being new to the modeling game, I experienced frustration at first, but after diving into the manual and watching a few videos from Cooper Carter and Leon Todd, I'm getting the hang of it.

Since I don't gig at the moment, I needed a portable low volume solution. The FM3 coupled with a Headrush FRFR12 is the perfect form factor for my situation (affordable too).

I'm a roots / soul / classic rock player for the most part (no complicated signal chains here). The options can be overwhelming, so I decided to pair it down to 2 amps and 2-3 effects for now. I've been an EL34 player for a long time but wanted to try something different, so I browsed Yek's Amp Guide. I went with the '59 Bassguy into a Bassguy M160 cab (for cleaner tones) and 6G12 Fender Concert into either a 4x10 Bassguy cab or 2x12 Brown cab for overdrive. My main guitar is a PRS DGT. I use filter and EQ blocks at the end of the chain to give it more of that "amp in the room" sound (thanks again Cooper Carter), and low and high cut settings on the cab block (since the Headrush tends to be boomy).

I don't want to sound like a kid at Christmas, but Holy F***!

The feel and dynamics are off the charts (and this is at apartment volume). Both amp models have this richness and touch sensitivity that's forcing me to rethink my playing (and that's a great thing, believe me). Never thought I'd fall for vintage Fender amps into 10" speakers, but I can't turn it off. These two amps alone cover so much ground. That Brown Fender amp might be the best overdriven tone I've ever had (I hear a little Billy Gibbons / Joe Walsh in there, can't go wrong with that). I'm sure the various Marshalls, Dr. Z, Matchless, Vox and all are killer, but this works so I'll stick to it for now. There's something to be said for getting all you can from a simple 3-4 knob circuit.

The effects are equally stunning. Since I'm not big on effects, I kept it simple and went with the FET Boost, Mono BBD delay and Rich Hall reverb. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. I'll add an expression pedal eventually.

So yeah, If I can learn my way around this thing, anyone can (to think I nearly returned it for a refund). The one and only tube amp I have left will be on the block very soon. I'm a believer.
 
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Yeah... I hear ya!
I'm doing some sub work for an ABB trib band, doesn't require a lot of different sounds, so just using 2 amps at present (BFSR for the studio stuff and a JTM45 for the live material, based upon Austin Buddy's suggestion) and that's pretty much it.
 
ucnick said:
Yeah... I hear ya!
I'm doing some sub work for an ABB trib band, doesn't require a lot of different sounds, so just using 2 amps at present (BFSR for the studio stuff and a JTM45 for the live material, based upon Austin Buddy's suggestion) and that's pretty much it.
Click to expand...

I got to playing the JTM45 lately. Love it. So versatile for such a simple thing. I love stocking it with KT66s. Which cab(s) are you using with the BFSR?
 
I'm piggy-backing on your post to avoid cluttering the forum with another thread.

Like so many, I was wary of modelers in general. I earned my battle scars in the early days of the Line6/Johnson [aka Digitech] battles. It was lovely that a drive, a delay, a chorus could all be dialed up without actually owning or using these pedals but the base tone and the choppy, artificial sound of the early modelers put me off for years. I wouldn't say I became a tube snob but I certainly spent many years and far too many dollars trying to find the right amp if there is such an animal.

Speaking of animals, animals behave differently in different environments: homes, zoos, the wild, etc. So it is with tube amps. What sounds heavenly in a home music room may - or will - sound different in a garage, in a rehearsal room, in a club, outdoors etc. A good base tone is quickly obtainable but tweaking for room acoustics and interaction with pedals is a never-ending and unpredictable process.

People - famous and anonymous - whose opinions I respect kept praising the Fractal line. They talked of doing gigs with it, recording with, etc. They marveled at the portability of the FM3/FM9 and the reduction or even the elimination of traditional guitar rig elements - pedals, pedalboards, racks, cabs, etc.

The prospect of making a single trip carrying in a guitar case and a small bag containing an FM3 and a few cables could be described as...what? Idealism? Optimism? Stealing? Lottery winner?

Frankly, it sounded like the proverbial too-good-to-be-true proposition.

To be fair, the implementation and use of an FM3 (or FM9 or AxeFx) was still reliant on operator skill, knowledge and experience. By this I mean all those hard knocks using tube amps and a staggeringly long - and expensive - parade of pedals and boards paid some dividends in creating presets. The deep-editing ability was key to making it all convincing and musical.

Then there was The Look. Don't guitar heroes need a backline? A half stack? A 2x12 combo - possibly more than one? Don't they need mic stands, tape marks on the grille cloth and cables running everywhere underfoot? Are you a Fender guy? A Marshall dude? A Mesa rocker? A boutique cork-sniffer? Are you telling me that a device the size of a cigar box can obviate all the equipment and complexity to say nothing of reducing one's footprint?

Most FRFRs look like PA speakers (probably because they are). No tweed, no Tolex, no grille cloth, no logos. Just black plastic. It ain't very rock n' roll is it?

But the FM3 was purchased, the software installed and I set about creating my presets.

Which brings us to tonight's 'rehearsal' which was actually an audition for two bass players. The FM3 and a FRFR cabinet were used. Setup took a minute. Maybe less. No sweating the pedalboard/patch cable gremlins. No buzz or hum from lights or single coils and a lack of a noise gate on a pedalboard. One bass player was miles ahead of the other but, as Leslie Nielsen said in 'Airplane!', that's not important right now.

The point was: the FM3 and presets that sounded good at bedroom volume sounded good at rehearsal volume. No loss of highs or lows due to a tube amp that couldn't breathe properly. No loss of effects without a pedalboard present.

After action report: it worked. All of it. As a guitarist, I didn't have to crank the guitar controls to 10 to get the fullest tone. I could be 'Goldilocks' in the mix, not too soft, not too loud. But lowering volume didn't mean lowering amp response or that fullness we're all familar with.

The FM3/FRFR combination allowed a rehearsal that wasn't the typical ear-splitting result of bass, keys, drums getting just a little bit louder - over and over again - to compete with the guitarist who keeps nudging up his master volume.

Tube amp users who mic their amp or use an attentuator/DI will typically lament that the FOH sound is a little or a lot different from what they're hearing onstage.

We threw the baby out with the bathwater - intentionally. This is where skepticism loomed large. We cut the FRFR out of the picture and went direct from FM3 to the PA (a Bose system). This would the ultimate (?) test: would a) it sound good, b) sound similar or identical to the bedroom/garage/rehearsal setups, c) allow the cab to be eliminated entirely and d) finally allow us to hear what FOH was truly like?

Answers: yes all round. There was no inadvertent booming bass or honky mids or teeth-aching highs as is often the case with going direct. The FM3 sound that came through home studio monitors was the same sound that came through headphones that came through FRFR that, ultimately, came into a recording desk or even a PA system at a large venue. Call it the musical equivalent of what us computer geeks call 'scalability' - an FM3 with cab emulation sounds (close to) a) the same on a bedroom practice amp, b) a combo loud enough for club gigs, c) a backline that has probably never been needed but is still impressive to grandma even if it contributes to the volume wars (TM).

And so, the FM3 is producing dividends on multiple fronts. Oh, and it's convincing-sounding as well.
 
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