First experiences with FM3

bikescene

Member
I just got my hands on the FM3 earlier this week. I’m coming from HX Stomp and VST amp sims. I’ve been trying to balance setting up the unit and playing through the unit.

I’m doing a lot of searching on the forum’s old threads to figure out how to set up switches. I thought I was mainly going to use the FM3 for amp tones only, but have been enjoying playing around with the effects and switching.

I’ve been pretty much parked on the Plexi 50W High 1 and building a preset off that since I got the FM3. The Metal Panel Marshall models are a nice change of pace from the Helix models that I’ve been playing through.

I have a DIY 68 Plexi build that I added switches for common mods, and love playing around with the advanced parameters to mimic those mods. I’ll be looking to try to emulate amp’s typical for fun and to save tube life.

I was blown away by the extensive amount of IRs in the FM3. I’ve been on the hunt for IRs to use with my 5F2A and 5E3 builds, and I’m definitely going to browse all of the small cab IRs.

I’ve been listening through headphones and monitors so far. I am looking forward to playing through my PS170 power amp and cabs. I’ve enjoyed playing through my own IRs of those cabs so far, but want to experience the amp in the room sound with the FM3.

I’m going to be doing some home recording through USB with the FM3. I set the manual latency offset to 1168 samples with my PC setup at 128 sample buffer and reamp just fine. I noticed that the FM3’s main input level is 1.5dB lower than my HX Stomp’s input, so I can still use my old DI tracks with a minor level adjustment.

I think I’m done buying guitar gear for a while. Exploring the FM3 is going to keep me occupied for a while.
 
I think you'll be surprised and perhaps shocked at how much better the Fractal can sound as compared to the HX Stomp and Helix in general. I had a HX Stomp for a year and sold it as I could not get any tones I liked out of its modeling, which always seemed two dimensional and harsh. I also still have Helix Native, and hardly use that at all. But the models in the FM3, especially the overdriven ones, are a complete revelation.

You'll also be pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to work with IRs in the FM3 as compared to Line 6 products. Where you only get stock cabs or cabs baked in to models with HX and Helix, you get a staggering selection in the FM3 that are so easy to demo while building a Preset.

But IMHO the real wizardry in the FM3 is the deep amp parameters. If you understand tube amps and how they work, you can do amazing things with the deep parameters, such as channel your inner Alexander Dumble and tweak amp models to your playing style and individual guitars.
 
Nice! I've got one coming soon: super hyped about it.
Good stuff. Get ready to have fun with the FM3. I was very excited to move up to Fractal’s modeling.
But IMHO the real wizardry in the FM3 is the deep amp parameters. If you understand tube amps and how they work, you can do amazing things with the deep parameters, such as channel your inner Alexander Dumble and tweak amp models to your playing style and individual guitars.
I am enjoying digging into the advanced parameters. There’s so many that I haven’t gotten to them all yet. I just started playing around with the speaker impedance curves. I thought it was going to be a minor adjustment to the sound, but I think it’s a pretty powerful tool.

To make an amendment to my first post, I had to adjust my DAWs offset to 2149 samples, with the amp and cab blocks engaged. This is with a 128 sample ASIO buffer and the 1536 hardware buffer. I can get sample accurate reamps with my current patches this way.
 
I think you'll be surprised and perhaps shocked at how much better the Fractal can sound as compared to the HX Stomp and Helix in general. I had a HX Stomp for a year and sold it as I could not get any tones I liked out of its modeling, which always seemed two dimensional and harsh. I also still have Helix Native, and hardly use that at all. But the models in the FM3, especially the overdriven ones, are a complete revelation.

You'll also be pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to work with IRs in the FM3 as compared to Line 6 products. Where you only get stock cabs or cabs baked in to models with HX and Helix, you get a staggering selection in the FM3 that are so easy to demo while building a Preset.

But IMHO the real wizardry in the FM3 is the deep amp parameters. If you understand tube amps and how they work, you can do amazing things with the deep parameters, such as channel your inner Alexander Dumble and tweak amp models to your playing style and individual guitars.
As a former Line 6 user (who still loves Line 6!), I agree that the IR auditioning is so much easier on the FM3 by pinning the menu.... Further, I've only dug into a couple advanced controls (the dynamics tab with feedback compression and the input boost) but they really work well for a fuller sound.
 
I think that sound is subjective.. what amazed me the most is the feel. I have tried a few modelers and there was always something that made me feel disconnected from my hand to the speaker.. With some modelers it is less than others but when I first played through the presets on the Fractal I was blown away with how many of them connected all the way. The ones that didn't, well that was a guitar (strat) vs amp problem and was easy to rectify with some tweaking. I have only just started dialing in a few permanent amp/cab combos for "my" sound. But having the option to explore so much is amazing. I just got my FM9.. and well.. now I have to decide if I am keeping the FM3.. most will not need more than the FM3 but man, doubling up amps is fun and gets me the sound in my head. Running a Bassman and a Princeton at the same time. A Bogfish and a Friedmann at the same time. Setting up the dual delay as a doubler for thick simple chords with each amp panned hard left and right.. it's really amazing. However, I only got the FM3 because of the wait for the FM9 and while the FM9 is more.. I would be satisfied with just the FM3 for sure.
 
To me, and I’m by no means an expert audiophile, the fractal sound is objectively superior to the Helix. I’m not saying a better player using the helix won’t sound better than me though… it sounded muddy to me. I tried some paid patches and they sounded good but to achieve those sounds they had to do some very extensive tweaking that were completely unlike what you would do in the real world. Just my .02 cents
 
The FM3's reverbs and delays are incredible. Well, all of the effects are great, but the reverbs just blew me away. I spent days just playing with reverbs. And this was after a friend of mine already showed me some great reverb settings. I didn't realize how important a truly great reverb was until I got an FM3.
 
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