Fender FR-12 preamp mod : The Hissterectomy

Joe Bfstplk said:
Would love to get rid of all the living room furniture and set up a quadraphonic rig with the Spacestation XL as the 'center' speaker....

The OL would have a fit, tho....
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In my large room which doubles as an entertainment area with tv. One end has my FR12’s and on the other end of the room roughly 20-25 ft is my computer desk/axe fx with my two CLRs. Sometimes I turn them all on at once. Quadraphonic is incredibly satisfying
 
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I'm stacking my FR10s on top of the FR12s with the bad cat head/cab in the middle. Basically WD(ish) W

I'm going to try to get the FM9 and HX stomp and tonex to all play nice together with the bad cat and pedals. That could be a phase nightmare x4. Or amazeballz. We shall see. Muhuhahah 🤓
 
Disappeared for a bit and a lot happened!

I'm sure the answers are somewhere in this 107 page thread, but...

1) How hard is the install on the new preamps? Soldering needed?
2) Where do I go to get one?

I see Fender is finally addressing things but these preamps sound magical!
 
WKSmith said:
There is an index on page 1 that helps navigate this giant thread.

I am still working through the waitlist, purchases are by invitation only for a little while.
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I hope I didn’t miss an invite in my spam folder or something. I submitted my email a little over a month ago. If this is typical that’s fine, just wish there was a way to check wait times.
 
steveheroan said:
I hope I didn’t miss an invite in my spam folder or something. I submitted my email a little over a month ago. If this is typical that’s fine, just wish there was a way to check wait times.
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I wish there was a way to estimate wait times. These are handmade and the process takes a while to build these out. There is only one of me, and my health and schedule won't allow me to do this full time. My first Fractal came after 11 months on a waitlist.

No one has missed an invite yet. And only a very scant few folks have passed on their invite. Many of the last orders were for 2 V2s .. so 20 V2s may only move the list by 10 spots. As fast as I can I fill 10 orders 12-20 new waitlist requests come in.

No one has jumped the line either. This is a frustrating wait, I know ..but this is exactly why I haven't taken any advance money or deposits.

I'm not going to publish the list, or production numbers, or dates. I do announce which month I am working on. I typically build these in batches, then reach out privately to verify how many, where are they going, and which version before final testing (actually installing each of them in a FR) then they get boxed up and invites go out . That is happening this week with another batch.

The next few batches are for the 30 on the waitlist from February. If everyone orders 2 V2s there will be a pause while waiting for custom pots before we can get through to March. You can't buy these custom parts from mouser or digi-key. And I fund all of this production out of my pocket.

I am grateful for all of the support. These are only offered here, and they are only sold by waitlist ordered invitation.

To have a plug and play preamp with this level of premium components and with this much time put in research and design ...start at just $99 ? I think it is worth the wait.
 
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WKSmith said:
I wish there was a way to estimate wait times. These are handmade and the process takes a while to build these out. There is only one of me, and my health and schedule won't allow me to do this full time. My first Fractal came after 11 months on a waitlist.

No one has missed an invite yet. And only a very scant few folks have passed on their invite. Many of the last orders were for 2 V2s .. so 20 V2s may only move the list by 10 spots. As fast as I can I fill 10 orders 12-20 new waitlist requests come in.

No one has jumped the line either. This is a frustrating wait, I know ..but this is exactly why I haven't taken any advance money or deposits.

I'm not going to publish the list, or production numbers, or dates. I do announce which month I am working on. I typically build these in batches, then reach out privately to verify how many, where are they going, and which version before final testing (actually installing each of them in a FR) then they get boxed up and invites go out . That is happening this week with another batch.

The next few batches are for the 30 on the waitlist from February. If everyone orders 2 V2s there will be a pause while waiting for custom pots before we can get through to March. You can't buy these custom parts from mouser or digi-key. And I fund all of this production out of my pocket.

I am grateful for all of the support. These are only offered here, and they are only sold by waitlist ordered invitation.

To have a plug and play preamp with this level of premium components and with this much time put in research and design ...start at just $99 ? I think it is worth the wait.
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Thanks so much for your reply, and I apologize for my impatience. My intention at this point is to go stereo, so should I pm my email again for another spot on the list? I should have asked for two in the first place, but I understand my second request should go at the end of the list, only fair. I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait!
 
steveheroan said:
Thanks so much for your reply, and I apologize for my impatience. My intention at this point is to go stereo, so should I pm my email again for another spot on the list? I should have asked for two in the first place, but I understand my second request should go at the end of the list, only fair. I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait!
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You are good 🙂
And your waitlist spot is good for 1 or 2 V2s
Most folks have been getting 2 for stereo.
 
WKSmith said:
I wish there was a way to estimate wait times. These are handmade and the process takes a while to build these out. There is only one of me, and my health and schedule won't allow me to do this full time. My first Fractal came after 11 months on a waitlist.

No one has missed an invite yet. And only a very scant few folks have passed on their invite. Many of the last orders were for 2 V2s .. so 20 V2s may only move the list by 10 spots. As fast as I can I fill 10 orders 12-20 new waitlist requests come in.

No one has jumped the line either. This is a frustrating wait, I know ..but this is exactly why I haven't taken any advance money or deposits.

I'm not going to publish the list, or production numbers, or dates. I do announce which month I am working on. I typically build these in batches, then reach out privately to verify how many, where are they going, and which version before final testing (actually installing each of them in a FR) then they get boxed up and invites go out . That is happening this week with another batch.

The next few batches are for the 30 on the waitlist from February. If everyone orders 2 V2s there will be a pause while waiting for custom pots before we can get through to March. You can't buy these custom parts from mouser or digi-key. And I fund all of this production out of my pocket.

I am grateful for all of the support. These are only offered here, and they are only sold by waitlist ordered invitation.

To have a plug and play preamp with this level of premium components and with this much time put in research and design ...start at just $99 ? I think it is worth the wait.
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when it happens, it happens. all good. no need to add stress! appreciate the efforts
 
Just wanted to update everyone with my experience. My V2 Gold upgraded boards arrived on Friday and first one was installed Saturday morning into an FR10. Very easy install!! Immediately plugged in the FR10 and flipped on the power only to be greeted by a loud buzz. PANIC - What did I do wrong??? Flipped on the FM9 and still buzzed - now I'm having a WTF moment so started playing with the EQ and Volume on the FR10 - only made it worse - Argggggg!!! Then it hit me, the other end of the cable wasn't plugged into anything - quickly plugged into the Left out of the FM9 and the buzz dropped to barely audible but was still there "but different" - OK, now I think I'm losing my mind - more fiddling with EQ and volume but still this faint buzz. Then it hit me, my wireless bodypack wasn't plugged into anything and was sitting on the table beside my computer. Grabbed the closest guitar I could reach, jacked in and the FR10 went DEAD SILENT! Set to a Baseman preset and strummed a chord - GLORIOUS!!!! Was standing right in front of the speaker so I now need to get my hearing checked since I forgot to turn down the volume in my panic.

In my space, I needed to pull down the bass a little and boost the mid and treble a bit (old ears). I spent the rest of the day just going through all the presets on the FM9 - I swear that there's a whole new level of clarity I've never experience even through studio monitors.

I want to publicly thank Liam for all his hard work and to let him know that I really appreciate what he's done. This combination of Fender's packaging & voicing of the cabinet / speakers along with Liam's preamp have made a killer combination in the FRFR space!
 
All this good reviews making me hope even more, that my spot on the waiting list will be reached soon. But as I joined in April, it‘s still a long wait. But none the less, I‘m happy to join the V2 family soon
 
I just found something funny as shit!

Our phantom poster Mr Mooney.. whose F-corp posts disappear like vanishing ink .. and read like F-corp fanboy sales pitches generated by Ai.

He shares the same name as the Fender CEO Andy Mooney. Surely this ain't the same dude?

But if so..
I'm so glad I have your attention... And I apparently have for quite a while. We should chat. Glad you have fixed the hiss a bit, and cleaned up the support response. There are still a couple major problems in the stock pre that need to be addressed.

I'll be happy to license you a white box design when you get tired of throwing time and money away by fixing a really bad preamp by replacing it with another bad preamp that hisses less and costs more.. but still is out of phase with the input, and still has zero phantom power protection. Also your phasey graphic gyrator based eq sounds like ass. And the crossover has a nasty notch. And the gain is way too hot for the hissy horn amp. And lose the stupid charge pumps.. they arent even regulated to 36v. And who thought 4558 tube screamer ICs were a good idea? What idiot designed this thing?

I have already solved all of this from input to output.

Do better. You are the largest music instrument corp in the world. Lead .. or follow.

Fly into JAX and book a conference room and bring your "golden standard" FR and if common sense doesn't lead you to the V2 .. the tone and effiency of the V2 will absolutely make you a believer... and with only half of the number of opamps. Your FRs have never sounded better.

Welcome to the revolution.



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Could it be that this thread got the CEOs attention? Then the V2 is a success ! If only he could hear one.

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..
 
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