First Gig FM3 into Katana WOW

Greg Ferguson said:
Pearson uses a hand-picked Squire, often found after playing through a large number of them when he’s out looking, so he didn’t just grab the first one off the wall, he found a very unique, special, one; it was inexpensive compared to others in Fender’s line up, but considering the time and effort he put into finding that rare one it’s no longer “cheap” and he consistently acknowledges that the ones he plays are not the average. He also owns and plays other guitars beside the Squires, such as some G&Ls, a Gibson SG and a 339, among others, but people point out the Squires because it’s unique to him. But a rare guitar is a lot different than a commodity amp. Pearson’s amp is also not in the class as the Katana, it’s a VVT-JP and is a custom-built boutique amp made to his specs and the small one goes for $2599. That’s not a cheap amp but it’s a part of his signature sound.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that if he were running a digital system, he wouldn’t be running it into the back end of a Katana unless he had no other choice.
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Well, glad you know so much. Funny, Jack Pearson seems to tell a different story, but hey what does he know.
No problem. You win. Cool!
 
JPS225 said:
What all do you have plugged in? It looks like 2 expression pedals and a couple of dual switches. I didn't think the Fm3 could handle all that
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2 exp pedals, 2 dual switches and a midi baby 3 controller with 3 switches. That 10 switches including the FM3.
Works great every time.
 
Also running the fm3 though a boss Katana MK1 212.

I can connect the fm3 to katana in three ways :


1 output from fm3 to guitar imput jack of katana and use acustic mod
1 output from fm3 to return from boss katana (the best results for me)
output 2 (left, right) to aux conection in katana (stereo?)

Very happy with the results.
 
RLD said:
2 exp pedals, 2 dual switches and a midi baby 3 controller with 3 switches. That 10 switches including the FM3.
Works great every time.
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Sorry for all the questions...I see 2 pedal Jacks on the fm3. are you splitting them somehow? This is the kind of setup I was trying to do, but can only get 1 mosky dual and 1 expression pedal
 
JPS225 said:
Sorry for all the questions...I see 2 pedal Jacks on the fm3. are you splitting them somehow? This is the kind of setup I was trying to do, but can only get 1 mosky dual and 1 expression pedal
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No worries...that is the reason for the midi pedal.
Exp pedals take both jacks. Dual switches go to midi pedal and programed via editor to do what you want.
 
Update got the Electro-Voice PXM-12MP and love it - the Katana is still a raw cool sound for live and i haven't had a gig to check the EV yet but sitting in the room with it, it sound great - Only problem is my EV made in 2021 has the distortion problem at the end of a note. Sounds like a Noise gate turning off to me but EV is covering it, already sent me an RA label (great Company IMHO) only problem now is No FRFR for a couple of weeks.
 
hi don't know if this is the right place , but i wonder if a can use a kraken v4 preamp with my fm9 and how. thx for answers
 
unix-guy said:
It's 100% helpful.

You hijacked someone's thread and even said:


It's not... and the OP told you where to post that IS the right place.

If you have a question, post your own thread with that question.
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And exactly how do you know that that thread is helpful to him? Especially since he would have checked it before posting that it wasn’t?
 
App12 said:
And exactly how do you know that that thread is helpful to him? Especially since he would have checked it before posting that it wasn’t?
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It's not a thread. It's a forum, for FM9 discussion.

In which, he's now posted his own thread:
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As I've posted before (including a thread here), I switched from FRFRs to a Quilter Tone Block 202 feeding high wattage NEO speakers in well-made cabs with great results. The Quilter stuff is not inexpensive but, I think, it's very good bang for the buck. I think there's nothing wrong with using a less expensive amp / cab if it works for the user. They might not last as long, but if they sound good that's what counts. I'll add that a had a CLR NEO and it conked out within a couple of years, requiring repair and a lengthy wait time, despite its very high purchase price. So, in short, the quality and longevity of FRFRs is not necessarily better than less expensive amps/cabs, despite the price.
 
lauke-lux said:
Wow....all this for a "Katana". Suggestion : let anybody just uses his ears and do as he feels. I might be wrong but my little pinky whispers to my ears there's a little smell of "oem endorsement" hanging around here, just a post from time to time to put the thread on top of the list and it maybe it would be keen to just close this thread thatvm seems to no particular interest.
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Based on what evidence?

If you read the thread you'll see that the OP actually purchased an FRFR and so far seems very happy about his choice.
 
Not sure if anyone pointed out there’s a big difference between the regular Katana and the Artist. The Artist has a better speaker and the combo box itself is bigger than the standard. It sounded better than a few frfr solutions I’ve tried.
 
danyeo said:
Not sure if anyone pointed out there’s a big difference between the regular Katana and the Artist. The Artist has a better speaker and the combo box itself is bigger than the standard. It sounded better than a few frfr solutions I’ve tried.
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Interesting point.

Having said that, I think you are going to run into the same impacts as using any "real" amp solution; and this is very different from using a good FRFR. I could be wrong, but like the regular Katana, the Artist has its own "sound"/"color" (e.g. not FRFR). I think it is a perfectly valid option to build your set-up around an amplification option which has its own (relatively fixed) sound, but you are building it around that sound.

Personally I've tried a number of options here and ultimately discovered that you really can't beat a good FRFR soution (again, just my opinion). As anyone who's spent enough times building presets knows, maybe the majority of the tone comes from the IR you select. As such, any "real" speaker/power amp is going to dictate a very large degree of your tonal character.

Here are the more traditional options I've tried my FM3 into:
  • Going into the FX return of a modified Peavey Bravo (with a Celestion speaker). Sounds cool, but obviously has a very fixed color from the speaker and power amp.
  • Direct into a Katana 100 2x12 Mk1 (both into the input and the FX loop return). This was awesome from a volume perspective, and maybe a little less colored than the Peavey, but still the Katana had it's own very present flavor.
  • Direct into a Roland JC40. This is cool because you can get some stereo love. And while the JC power amp is really clean and the speakers are much fuller frequency range, they are still not really flat. There is color and I ultimately didn't like it (also, not quite enough balls for my taste).
  • Into a PS200 driving a decent 4x12. I really liked this option with my hard rock metal gigs, but it 100% has a lot of its own flavor. I found myself really going down EQ rabbit holes trying to get a tone that I really liked, and it was not terribly flexible.

I have also done the following FRFR options:
  • Driving a pair of Headrush 108s. I really liked this at first, but man did they have their own flavor. Like others, I kind of don't think of these as really being FRFR. I used the PEQ trick posted elsewhere and it improved things, but I still just found I was fighting with the sound of these. They also weren't that solid at high volume.
  • Driving a pair of EV PXM-12s. Glorious. These are crazy loud and I personally find the tone I get from them to be worlds better than any of the other options. And obviously this is an incredibly flexible option since you can really depend on the IRs to help shape the tone.
This last option has now become my only realistic option and I don't see myself doing anything else. One added bonus with using a really good FRFR is that the tone you create will translate perfectly to FOH (assuming they have a decent system). To me this is actually one of the biggest drivers and advantages of the FRFR solution. I watch our other guitarist (who uses a bad ass traditional amp rig) fight with his live sound and I have no such issues. What I hear at rehearsal is pretty much what the audience is going to hear on gig day.
 
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