Anyone there?

You've said you've used fractal systems for many years and still find it limiting but currently you are using qc which is an inferior system.

I think that’s a personal judgment. I prefer the Axe fx too but that doesn’t mean other products are inferior. You can get good results with any good modeler.
 
You've said you've used fractal systems for many years and still find it limiting but currently you are using qc which is an inferior system.
I've always hoped that we could win prizes for having the most superior gear of the day. Somehow it seems things just don't work like that. LOL. Musicians who don't play well and don't know how to get a good sound will never get anywhere no matter what gear they use.

Like the other profilers/modelers available on today's market, the Quad Cortex offers so much more for bassists, specifically, than Fractal does. Clearly, this is not a thing that Fractal cares much about in the grand scheme, and so be it. I'm not sure I'd hold it against ANY serious bassist for going elsewhere (as I did for 7+ years) to get accommodated.

But as I've said before, IMO Fractal has continued to improve all aspects of their products and modeling algorithms, to the point where my previous frustrations have been almost fully mitigated. Now, I can pretty easily get SVT sounds that I like whereas I struggled with the AxeFXII. Thankfully, I'm an Ampeg lover to the core, but if I were fully invested in other bass tones (GK, Aguilar, Trace Elliot, SWR, vintage Acoustic, et al), I might still be in trouble without an additional investment in 3rd party IRs and/or presets - at the cost of additional time and $$$. This is why bassists have been forced, to some degree, to look at other products. I personally would prefer to never have to go anywhere else than Fractal for my bass needs. Currently, this isn't realistic for a lot of bassists, and I understand why. Even my "lowly" Zoom B6 trumps Fractal in only one area: bass amp/preamp models and effects. And the tones produced are surprisingly good, and IMHO worthy quality. Other than that, Fractal wins 100% of the time.
 
I've always hoped that we could win prizes for having the most superior gear of the day. Somehow it seems things just don't work like that. LOL. Musicians who don't play well and don't know how to get a good sound will never get anywhere no matter what gear they use.

Like the other profilers/modelers available on today's market, the Quad Cortex offers so much more for bassists, specifically, than Fractal does. Clearly, this is not a thing that Fractal cares much about in the grand scheme, and so be it. I'm not sure I'd hold it against ANY serious bassist for going elsewhere (as I did for 7+ years) to get accommodated.

But as I've said before, IMO Fractal has continued to improve all aspects of their products and modeling algorithms, to the point where my previous frustrations have been almost fully mitigated. Now, I can pretty easily get SVT sounds that I like whereas I struggled with the AxeFXII. Thankfully, I'm an Ampeg lover to the core, but if I were fully invested in other bass tones (GK, Aguilar, Trace Elliot, SWR, vintage Acoustic, et al), I might still be in trouble without an additional investment in 3rd party IRs and/or presets - at the cost of additional time and $$$. This is why bassists have been forced, to some degree, to look at other products. I personally would prefer to never have to go anywhere else than Fractal for my bass needs. Currently, this isn't realistic for a lot of bassists, and I understand why. Even my "lowly" Zoom B6 trumps Fractal in only one area: bass amp/preamp models and effects. And the tones produced are surprisingly good, and IMHO worthy quality. Other than that, Fractal wins 100% of the time.

I agree with all points. Excellent post!
 
You've said you've used fractal systems for many years and still find it limiting but currently you are using qc which is an inferior system.

You have no idea what you're talking about here, based on the few details I mentioned. I said the FM3 was limiting * for me * because of DSP and routing, and I said the fractal has limited bass content (truth) and the QC offers more (also truth). Whether you think what I'm using is 'inferior' is irrelevant - I'm not here for a gear war. I came for bass related content. I have an Axe III I use as well and am likely to buy another FM3 when tonex pedal comes out. I do not care about your opinions about what's better than what.
 
I've been struggling with the FM9 since I got it to be honest, in terms of getting a modern metal tone akin to what I get from the Parallax plugin. When you say 3 rows are you referring to what's being done in preset 103 ("Leon's Djent Bass FM9")? I can't find a youtube video explaining exactly what is going on but it looks like it's trying to split the signal to only distort the high and mid range, leaving the lows clean like in Parallax. Problem is it just sounds so washed out weak to me.

Do you have any tips for dialing in bass tone on the Fractal? I'm tempted to just get a Darkglass pedal like the Infinity for my bass needs and stick to the FM9 for guitar.
Agree. I've been fighting the FM3 a bit with a modern metal bass tone. I'm currently doing a parallel path clean / distorted, and I agree the phasing has been tough.

I have a Bk3 and the Bk7 on the FM3 just feels off to me (not exactly sure why).

I'm tempted to just grab an X7 or just record a DI in my DAW and do all the processing there.
 
Like that one yes, only that seems to be a bit heavy on processing IMHO. I'll usually split one clean path, one low passed compressed path, and one distortion / drive path and blend them into one amp (or bypass the amp with the low end). It's just kind of a pain getting the phasing to be correct - you have to play with inverting phase and /or using a bypassed drive block on the clean path to get it right. Leon's preset would be good in a mix I think, but I can't imagine playing that at band volume.

See the attached preset and sound clip. This was either my dingwall or spector (I can't remember which the DI is from) with probably newish strings, so take that into account. Adjust accordingly
Yeah, I'm having to bybass a drive block on the clean part of the parallel signal to get the phase correct.
 
Agree. I've been fighting the FM3 a bit with a modern metal bass tone. I'm currently doing a parallel path clean / distorted, and I agree the phasing has been tough.

I have a Bk3 and the Bk7 on the FM3 just feels off to me (not exactly sure why).

I'm tempted to just grab an X7 or just record a DI in my DAW and do all the processing there.

That's what I do - all DAW processing via parallax or similar combination with 2 or 3 parallel tracks. I'm actually leaning towards just going back to my pedals for bass but will see if I can match them digitally after I put my small board together. Honestly a small board and head isn't any more bulk than a modeler/power amp/cab unless you're only going direct, and plenty more bass options + no phase issues. Even going direct, for that matter.
 
Hi all, new guy here—first post. :)

I'm mainly a bassist but I also dabble with guitar and other instruments. I just got my FM3 as an x-mas gift to myself but didn't really have time to dive in until recently. I can't tell you how much I love the tones I've been getting out this thing. I will be using it mainly for practicing and recording bass (no live gigs) and songwriting and recording demos on guitar. It's really fun to scroll through all of the Presets/Scenes to get inspired, and all of the new sounds we got with the Gift of Tone has been nothing short of amazing. I was also happy to see at least a few GoT Presets for bass.

I also get that there are so many options and tweaks that can be made that "paralysis by analysis" can be a real thing. I will be recording a new album soon and plan to use the FM3 this time around for recording. To help me stay focused on learning the challenging new tunes I will probably get the Buddy Austin Bass Tonepack to get me started. I also like that Buddy has created scenes that add a DI signal. The last few projects I've recorded on I've always recorded two tracks, one with effects and one dry/direct track, just to give my mixing engineer more options. I like that Buddy's tone packs kind of support that.

Still lots for me to learn but excited to learn more about my Fractal. Happy to see other bassists here as well!
 
I've actually since gone to a plain simple ADAM board for bass which just already does all of these things (parallelization, compression, etc) and "just works" with 1 or 2 other pedals. Played a show with that last weekend and it did exactly what it was supposed to and sounded great. FM3 will give you a lot more options, but if you're just looking for that modern bass tone it's very easy to get without all the routing hassle with the DG programmable pedals. Perhaps not the case for other tones, and you still want an amp head onstage with it if you need stage volume - but those small ones are even smaller than my matrix GT1000FX.
 
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