Fender FR-12 preamp mod : The Hissterectomy

Dolphinado said:
I could be mistaken as I’m just a lowly guitarist with no real electronics chops, but this mod is only swapping out the preamp - it’s not changing anything about the power amp. Even if the power amp is class D, if you’re not modding the power amp itself, it seems like a pretty low risk mod? Or do I have it wrong?
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The FR has a class D amp module mounted in the bottom of the cabinet to power the 12" speaker. The preamp is in the top of the cabinet in the metal chassis with the knobs. We aren't going anywhere near the class D amp module.

The preamp is low voltage and very simply replaces the stock preamp. It is a 6-7 min installation. No soldering required. And it fits in the factory holes and uses factory sockets and wiring.
 
Love my FR10 for Fractal stuff. But the big surprise is how warm and huge my synths sound through it. I figured because of the way it's more voiced towards guitar it might sound less than ideal with other instruments, but I love the warmth it imparts on synth sounds.
 
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The first 12 new production V2s are on the way to waitlist customers in the next couple of days.

You didn't miss an email if you haven't been contacted yet. I am still filling waitlist orders from 1/20 which is the first day the waitlist was announced. They are moving much faster now though.

Thank you for your patience! I am trying to make the process go a lot faster without rushing the build quality.

Sorry for the brief pause while I switched over from building the V2s entirely here .. to 85% fully assembled V2s (that are still completely hand soldered) and they now have the Nichion electro caps and TDK film caps .

100 of these will be on the way to waitlist customers soon, but there are a lot more than 100 of you. Thank you for that! These will never see advertising or promotion until the waitlist is filled. Yall are more than enough to keep track of for now🤣

I am keeping the price the same until I order more custom pots ...about 50 V2s from now.

$99 for the standard V2

$129 for the gold upgrade to 4 BurrBrown OPA2134 opamps for higher headroom before clipping and even lower noise.

Your waitlist position is good for 1 or 2 V2s
 
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March 12
Ill Be Back Jim Carrey GIF
 
In the meantime, I finally have a III Mkii Turbo and FC12 on the way. My hands will be full learning that.

My Fractal Audio journey started back with the II and FW9, IIRC (and pre-Quantum, right? I think). (with various Xitone speaker cabs)
Then the amazing AX8.
Then I had the FM3 for a few years.

Now, I've been really into analog "modeling" zero-watt amp pedals, and switching back and forth between way too many pedals, the HX FX, and of course the FX8 in the loop. Some of these solutions seem to work better than others.

There's not specifically a "perfect" solution, but I've been happy with how the FX8 works. It's just so transparent, and I think overall, a little higher quality than the HX FX. I do enjoy the more type-specific presets available on the HX FX. But with the 3rd gen product line, we now get plenty of that, with less programming involved on our part.

Regardless, everything sounds really good either through my EV PXM or the FR-10s. No hiss with the FR-10s will just be icing on the cake. And who knows, maybe I'll even get into the whole W-D-W thing. Changing up the monitoring solution has made a big difference.

At this point, I'll likely only be keeping one of the analog modeling zero-watt amp pedals (the actual simplest one to use and get the best sounds out of), and just work on getting the most out of all that the III has to offer. Nothing holding me back except myself, at this point. It's more a matter of trying to make the most out of the time we all have, and moving forward instead of backward, right?
 
I am hoping this V2 thing will yield a return of an AXE FXIII and its related controllers.

I started in '19 ish on an 11 month waitlist for a 1st gen FM3 running Ares. It was the most amazing tone right out of the box.

I moved to the FM9 and I plan on keeping it. ..But I am going to need the flagship III in my collection of needful and tone-full things.

Plus it's returning to Fractal a small portion of the bandwidth that this thread has taken from the conversation by fixing a competitors problem.
 
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WKSmith said:
I am hoping this V2 thing will yield a return of an AXE FXIII and its related controllers.

I started in '19 ish on an 11 month waitlist for an 1st gen FM3 running Ares. It was the most amazing tone right out of the box.

I moved to the FM9 and I plan on keeping it. ..But I am going to need the flagship III in my collection of needful and tone-full things.

Plus it's returning to Fractal a small portion of the bandwidth that this thread has taken from the conversation by fixing a competitors problem.
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It definitly should, and you certainly deserve at least that for all your worthy efforts.

As I said before, "Hey Fender! Take note." We're all watching these big corporations, and I think we would like to be able to support them (at least, some of the better ones), were it not for poor decisions of putting potential profit over quality. That is obviously not the MO of Fractal Audio, which is why I have only ever briefly been without one of their products over the last 15 years or whatever it's been.

[Adding: A poor economy is only one part of the problem. I would like to think that I'm among a growing majority who would rather spend a little more for something of higher quality that will bring more satisfaction with a longer lifespan. I'm thinking food, clothing, shoes, appliances, automobiles, yes guitars, and all kinds of stuff. "Cheap" is nothing more than a misleading moniker, and winds up being wasteful and damaging to our planet. I will stop before this could very easily become political! :sunglasses:]
 
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plus @WKSmith I feel you have greatly contributed to the playing experience of Fractal products. The FR's have brought me that much closer to that one elusive missing piece - that amp in the room FRFR feel. And your much improved design is going to put it over the top now so a huge thanks for all your efforts and making this avail to us!
 
I wish there was an icon bigger than heart eyes @pima1234

FAS is one of very few companies doing this right. The day they sell out to GC/MF isn't coming. The customer service and build quality will never come second to profits.
That is exactly why they can continue to be light years ahead of everyone behind them.

This V2 is an experiment. It has worked very well to show the giant mega corp ego and that clr tr0££ ... to put your money where your mouth is. All I'm getting is crickets, and a lot of very happy customers.

The next generation of Archangel preamps will be a DIY build. You will be in charge of your own customer service and press releases. And you get to keep the difference in $$$. I'm just over it all. The failed FRFR companies are a stain on the entire industry.
 
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