First 48 hours with FM3

gribbly

gribbly

New Member
Hey all… I’ve enjoyed reading other “first impressions” posts, so thought I’d share mine.

I just got an FM3 (my first Fractal Audio product, and my first modeling hardware), and so far I love it!

My primary use case is recording. I used to gig with a Mesa/Boogie Mark V, and I loved how versatile it was - I could get everything I wanted from very AC30 jangly cleans to very M/B chugging distortion. It sounded glorious! But it was just too much for my home studio - too loud, too big, and getting mic placement right was always time consuming and unreliable for me. So I found the Mark V was gathering dust and I turned to fully “in the box” recording, using the Kuassa amp plugins. I was pretty impressed by the sound I could get via plugins, which opened my mind to modeling. So I started to think seriously about ditching the Mark V and getting serious about modeling.

Creatively, I don’t like the workflow of recording clean and choosing an amp later. I much prefer to commit to a sound and print it to tape (I’m old enough that I used to record to a cassette four track, and the habit of committing to choices is very ingrained!). I also don’t like the experience of trying to monitor via software plugins… I’m sure it’s possible, but I could never quite get the mix of latency and monitoring options to sound good and be hassle-free enough for my tastes.

So I started looking at what was out there in the world of “virtual amps” - the idea of recording directly into the computer with quality tone was very appealing.

I had heard of Kemper, so I started there. Watched lots of YouTube vids, read lots of reviews. Got attracted to the Kemper Stage. And had actually decided to buy one, but I had to sell my Mark V first (that’s my gear rule - sell one, buy one). That ended up taking a while, and during that time I did more research and learned about newer options - Fractal Audio, Neural DSP, ToneX (which didn’t quite have hardware yet, but was getting rave reviews for their plugins), and others.

More YouTube, more reading! Wasn’t able to try that many of them (only the Kemper), so after I sold the Mark V I found an FM3 on Craigslist and went for it. I’ve had it for a few days now and am super impressed.

  • The size of the device is nice - small, but big enough that the buttons, etc., are easy to use.
  • Build quality seems awesome
  • I’ve found it pretty easy to navigate - but definitely had to read the manual to figure some stuff out.

And that’s when I found the wiki, this forum, and the various amp guides, etc. that have been written by the community. Amazing! I made so much more progress in my first 48 hours than I would have otherwise, because people had shared their knowledge. So thankyou for that!

And of course it sounds great. I started with the factory presets, and had a lot of fun checking them out and cross-referencing with the descriptions on the wiki (so I could learn what amps and cabs were what).

Then I started building my own, and that’s been great. I am not huge on effects, so my setups are pretty simple. IN > CMP > AMP > CAB > (maybe REV) > OUT. That’s it. Then it’s all about finding AMP and CAB models that I like.

As a starting point, I’m going deep on the FAS models. I love classic amps, but I’m not obsessed with using models of them. And so far the FAS models have really jumped out to me as easy to get good sounds. (Of course, tastes vary so I’m sure not everyone feels this way).

One thing I’m struggling with so far is getting the DRV block to sound good. I definitely think it’s me, I just haven’t figured out how to dial it in yet. But when I do IN > DRV> AMP > CAB I struggle to get a good “overdrive” sound with a clean AMP (so the distortion is coming from the DRV block). Any tips appreciated! I play a Strat with a bridge humbucker, and am generally after that Mark V (which I guess is really a Mark IV) overdrive sound. I can get it from the AMP block, but can’t even get close with DRV. Would like to learn.

TLDR - loving it so far, really glad I’ve taken the plunge. And really amazed and grateful that there’s so much help available on the wiki/forums/etc.

Question: What’s the best AC30 model?
 
Thanks! I’ll check it out. I haven’t even played with FM-3 Edit yet, so I have a lot of learning to do yet!

I should have mentioned in my initial post - I knew I was never going to capture my own profiles, so that influenced my research a lot. Kemper, Neural (and even the Axe-Fx III) had a whole suite of features that were wasted on me. What pushed me over the edge towards Fractal was some YouTube “shootout” videos where they did blind A/B/X tests of Fractal, Kemper and the real amp. Honestly they all sounded good, but I loved the sound of the Fractal and convinced me it could create excellent guitar tones.

I’m new to the forum so can’t post links, but I’m sure you know the kind of videos I mean!
 
Hey, welcome and you're going to really enjoy your FM3. Amazing sounds + Fractal is a great company, always tons of updates and Cliff is very active here, can learn a lot from him.

I recommend getting as comfortable as you can using the FM3 itself before venturing into FM3 Edit, it's worth the while and comes in handy.
 
Welcome and congrats!

I started having the best luck with the Drives when I started tweaking the Tone page of them. I drop the mids in 90% of the drives I end up using. I generally don't touch the Mid Frequency setting at all, I just tweak the Mids and Hi Mids.

Enjoy it!
 
Welcome!

I had started to work the digital way with a kemper stage before, I just lost my time, never could get a great tone out of it (don’t shoot it’s my experience).
The fm3 is an amazing unit, so great to play, the feel is amazing and the Marshalls are out of this world for a modeling device.

For your questions :
As said before : Morgan AC20

For the drive with a clean tone, start with the common ones like tube screamer etc. Set them with 0 gain, level at 5 and just try to raise the level.
Another way to get some dirt on a clean tone is the Comp block.

Have a good journey.
 
gribbly said:
Creatively, I don’t like the workflow of recording clean and choosing an amp later. I much prefer to commit to a sound and print it to tape (I’m old enough that I used to record to a cassette four track, and the habit of committing to choices is very ingrained!). I also don’t like the experience of trying to monitor via software plugins… I’m sure it’s possible, but I could never quite get the mix of latency and monitoring options to sound good and be hassle-free enough for my tastes.
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With a DAW, USB and the modeler you can have the best of both worlds. You can send the raw and the processed signal, so they’re in sync, and re-amp the raw later if you want.

Section 3 in the manual will help with setting up the USB channels, Section 4 covers the wiring issues, and Cooper Carter has a video tutorial demonstrating it with the FX3 and FM9 but with the documentation you should be able to piece it together…

 
You can send the raw and the processed signal, so they’re in sync, and re-amp the raw later if you want.
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Oh interesting, I hadn't considered that. Thanks for the tip.

Haven't tried the Morgan AC20 yet... but I've been having fun with the FAS Class A!
 
OK tried out the Morgan AC20 (AC-20 12AX7 Bass into 1x12o G12M Creambk) and holy crap, I love it. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the pointer.

Also tried some of my old boss pedals into the FM3... sounds great. I am loving this thing.
 
I get the best results when the amp block is pushed and the drive is setup like a boost. Meaning I’m not cranking the gain up much. There’s a bunch of good ones. Klone, Bosom, Heartpedal 11, or just the FET preamp. Put a looper right after the input with 100% playback back level, run the loop and try out different drives. The input boost in the amp block works great on most amps. Several flavors available. I use 4 scenes from cleanish to whatever my top gain level is using the 4 amp channels. Then 4 drives, and have the boost on a control switch. The saturation boost in the amp block works well with the AC20.

It will take awhile to figure it out but sounds like you’re making a good start. The IR and speaker curve in the amp block are a big piece of the puzzle. You can make an amp model sound very different depending on speaker and IR. Best luck man!
 
skolacki said:
I get the best results when the amp block is pushed and the drive is setup like a boost. Meaning I’m not cranking the gain up much. There’s a bunch of good ones. Klone, Bosom, Heartpedal 11, or just the FET preamp. Put a looper right after the input with 100% playback back level, run the loop and try out different drives. The input boost in the amp block works great on most amps. Several flavors available. I use 4 scenes from cleanish to whatever my top gain level is using the 4 amp channels. Then 4 drives, and have the boost on a control switch. The saturation boost in the amp block works well with the AC20.

It will take awhile to figure it out but sounds like you’re making a good start. The IR and speaker curve in the amp block are a big piece of the puzzle. You can make an amp model sound very different depending on speaker and IR. Best luck man!
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Just out of curiosity, are you saying you have 4 drive blocks in most of your presets? Do you have 4 footswitches to turn them all on and off separately in various combinations? Do you have switches to change channels on any of them?

In wondering if you could simplify this by using the 4 channels of a single drive block?
 
Dave Merrill said:
Just out of curiosity, are you saying you have 4 drive blocks in most of your presets? Do you have 4 footswitches to turn them all on and off separately in various combinations? Do you have switches to change channels on any of them?

In wondering if you could simplify this by using the 4 channels of a single drive block?
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4 channels yes. Only 1 drive block. I use scenes to switch channels. Scene 1 uses drive channel 1 etc. I just switch it on and off if I want the boost within that scene. Scenes recall block states including channels. I select a scene and then switch to the effects layout. That’s just the way I do it. You’ll find your way soon.

Edit: Hi Dave, I thought it was the OP which is why I explained scenes. For me it’s easier to just setup the 4 channels into 4 scenes and run it like a pedalboard. Basically I just use the scene to select my block channels.
 
skolacki said:
4 channels yes. Only 1 drive block. I use scenes to switch channels. Scene 1 uses drive channel 1 etc. I just switch it on and off if I want the boost within that scene. Scenes recall block states including channels. I select a scene and then switch to the effects layout. That’s just the way I do it. You’ll find your way soon.

Edit: Hi Dave, I thought it was the OP which is why I explained scenes. For me it’s easier to just setup the 4 channels into 4 scenes and run it like a pedalboard. Basically I just use the scene to select my block channels.
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Understood about the scene explain. I'm parachuting into this thread just to clarify what you said about 4 drives.

I do pretty much the same as you, 4 scenes with 4 channels of a drive block matched to 4 channels of amp. A fair number of my presets have that x 2, two amp blocks and 2 drives.

Lately I've done some with 2 drive blocks per amp channel, one with more low mid fullness, mostly for the bridge pickup, and one with some bottom pulled out mostly for neck. I don't have a turbo though, so that starts to limit the other effects I can have available.
 
I’m on on the FM3 so only one drive block. They use a lot of juice. I do the same as you it sounds like. The lower gain amp channels are aimed at my middle and neck so they’re dialed in differently.
 
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