Anybody else not having much success with factory presets?

Back when I was a concert photographer full time (way before the smart phone era) I often went to a lot of sound checks and got pics of drum kits for drum magazines and things of that nature. I also got to play through the rigs of a few guitarist who I really idolized and I sure didn’t sound like them in the slightest. Honestly thought the rig was crap but sure sounded good when they played it on state later that night.
 
nhlguitar said:
I remember now why I don’t post on this forum. I’m not dissing the gear, I mentioned I have switched over from literally hundreds of pedals and a wall of tube amps to just the FM3. I’m an advanced player of over 20 years. But if I could not get a better tone than what was suggested by the default presets, I would have sold the unit (as others on this thread did). I personally have not been blown away by a video demo of the factory presets even by the big names mentioned. I understand others like the factory presets. Several on this thread do not. But seems odds to not offer a few of the hundreds of presets for those users looking for a different amp in the room type sound that the unit is also very capable of. But again, my unsolicited 2 cents.
Click to expand...

If it’s very capable as you state, and you have experience with tons of different gear over the years, why not make and share something for those who are looking for the different amp in the room sound since the Hundreds of presents oddly don’t offer this ?

Lots of factory presents have originated from forum users over the years.

Show them how it’s done and maybe with some new presets for updated firmware some of yours will be included....
 
nhlguitar said:
I have a pretty standard preferred tone (Petrucci, Andy Timmons, Vai, Govan, etc.). I admittedly am going more for amp-in-the-room (I know, it's oddly controversial), but even the FM3 can achieve pretty convincing amp-in-the-room tones through studio monitors or good headphones.
Click to expand...

nhlguitar said:
With some tweaking (and not even a crazy deep dive into the nuanced settings) I seem to get much better tones out of my own presets even when they are fairly simple. Anybody else feel that way?
Click to expand...
Could you post an example preset of what you've tweaked for say, a Petrucci tone you prefer to either the Petrucci Rig or Mark IV preset? I'd really be interested in hearing what you've done differently. (I'm not 100% satisfied, but those 2 presets come damn close for me at least.)
 
nhlguitar said:
I remember now why I don’t post on this forum. I’m not dissing the gear, I mentioned I have switched over from literally hundreds of pedals and a wall of tube amps to just the FM3. I’m an advanced player of over 20 years. But if I could not get a better tone than what was suggested by the default presets, I would have sold the unit (as others on this thread did). I personally have not been blown away by a video demo of the factory presets even by the big names mentioned. I understand others like the factory presets. Several on this thread do not. But seems odd to not offer a few of the hundreds of presets for those users looking for a different amp in the room type sound that the unit is also very capable of. But again, my unsolicited 2 cents.
Click to expand...

If you expected everyone to agree with your view, then I can see why you might be disappointed,
and why you don't post here that often.

We don't learn anything when others just agree with us. It is different views and perspectives that add
to our understanding. Not a darn thing wrong with that from where I sit! :)
 
Last edited:
nhlguitar said:
definitely don’t expect everybody to agree with me. But expect more of a discussion from fellow gear geeks than “tone is in the fingers” when discussing digital amp modeling. Does Eric Johnson tweak the angle of his pedals and battery brand because all of his tone really comes from his fingers?
Click to expand...
Uh, OK then!
 
Sometimes I just want to play my guitar and have my FM3 through my monitors and sound like I'm playing an AITR. As you've discovered, the stock Cabs and IRs don't really get you there. I've had some success with FFRF IRs from Jay Mitchell and Gissup, but I've gotten closer by just dumping the cab block all together and using a PEQ to simulate the response of the cabinet. Give that a try!
 
odourboy said:
I've gotten closer by just dumping the cab block all together and using a PEQ to simulate the response of the cabinet.
Click to expand...
which makes sense, since by dumping the cab block, you are removing that aspect of the modelling which models something that is counter to CITR (mic, mic pre...) and replacing it with something more like a guitar speaker/cab in the room (though I just opt to keep a few guitar cabs on hand for this rather than approximating it with Peq but I will try this to hear how it sounds).
 
Last edited:
la noise said:
So the OP deletes all of his posts?

I really don't understand that.
Click to expand...
dunno - if I were to pose the same question: "I get good results doing my own presets but don't like the stock/3rd pty ones - do you agree?", what answer am I looking for? - I'd have to say that I'm looking for a little more than agreement which does not really get me anywhere - I'm probably hoping someone can tell me what I can do in Axefx settings to make stock/3rd party presets sound as good as my own presets, and I may be frustrated to hear an answer that suggests something to do outside of an Axefx tweak - like dialling presets into alignment with my own hands/guitar). And that's why I keep posting my point above in answer to these type thread questions (which maybe got him PO'd as he reacted in the next post after mine - sorry to the OP if that's the case, but that's my opinion - no offence intended) - there's just soo many of these threads in modelling generally where the OP seems in search of a tweak or tweaks that will solve tone - sometimes there is a tweak but many times not, and hands/guitar never seems to be the answer that gets any uptake/analysis/detailed consideration (in this case it seemed to cause an insult) - can't help but feel strongly about it as I went through that kind of search for so long before realizing it's not really there - the DI exercise is a shortcut to that realization. If every stock / 3rd pty preset had companion performance clips along with associated DIs for typical guitars used in the preset's intended style, I bet almost all of these type discussions would not occur. As Spok would say: "quite fascinating"
 
Last edited:
Mentioning liking another product better/easier is always fine, but it does make me have some thoughts too. It always depends what the actual result desired is, but if it’s an opinion thing on something as subjective as guitar tone, it’s hard to get agreement on that.
 
Gotta be honest....I've owned a ton of digital gear over the years and Fractal Presets in general are about the best. I'm not saying every preset is a gem nor that I think it's absolutely ready to go out of the box, but the presets present a wide range of tones across a great many genres including some very specific presets aimed at classic songs/artists and are generally good sounding. I've actually used a few untouched for something I'm working on and 2 of my main presets are slightly modified factory presets.
 
Maybe a moderator can lock the thread. Doesn't seem reasonable to leave it active if the OP has abandoned it.
 
fcs101 said:
Maybe a moderator can lock the thread. Doesn't seem reasonable to leave it active if the OP has abandoned it.
Click to expand...
This thread was built on shaky ground because it was built on opinion and lacked basic information so it couldn't be solved with technical answers, so I think it should just go away entirely.

In general though, threads have use for others beyond the person who started them. A well asked question can be useful for a long time; Imagine all the information that'd be lost if the initiator of the thread always deleted it when they were finished with it.

A well-known developer's site I use has a stated policy that threads belong to the community, not to the person starting it, because others can benefit from the information. Many of us on that site have the ability to revive deleted threads if we see they have merit. At the same time threads that don't make the grade can be voted out of existence by the community.
 
The FM3 stock presets sound pretty righteous to me. Beats the pants off of the other modeling gear I've been using since 2001. BUT, I get not enjoying the stock presets and this thread isn't about me.

However, I think it should be noted that expecting to love a piece of gear's tones without any tweaking is a bit out of touch. We change strings on our guitar, choose the pick we want, mess with pedal settings, adjust amp EQ, etc. All these things are done to personalize our sound and it's no different on a piece of pro gear like the Fractal FM3. Yes, absolutely, anybody should be tweaking their sound!

I know the OP is gone, but there might be a corollary issue of not liking the speaker he's using. I definitely get this, and I'll regularly rotate amps/speakers to keep my ears fresh. I have a 2x12 guitar cabinet, 2x12 bass cabinet, two 6" studio monitors, and a little practice amp. Changing which ones I'm using is fun, keeps things interesting, and encourages me to listen.
 
I think the length of time that you're allowed to edit (and delete your posts) should be shortened. If someone were to find this thread via a search, it wouldn't make much sense. You'd probably figure out what happened by context, but still.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
In general though, threads have use for others beyond the person who started them. A well asked question can be useful for a long time; Imagine all the information that'd be lost if the initiator of the thread always deleted it when they were finished with it.
Click to expand...
+1. Definitely my view as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom