My cousin asked me a few weeks ago to record some guitar tracks for a couple songs he's working on. I knew I wanted to use the FM3, but wasn't sure on how we were going to capture the sounds.
We had a rehearsal and I played through the FX loop of a 5150 and a Marshall cab and while it sounded pretty great, the hum was so loud I couldn't wait to turn the Amp off.
Fast forward to yesterday (recording day) and we tried a couple things. I tried the 5150 again and it was just unusable for recording. For my Amp settings in the FM3 I turned off power Amp modeling and the cab Sim obviously while trying this setup.
We went to an older rackmount power Amp and the same Marshall cab so I turned the power Amp modeling back on. The sound was kinda harsh and not what I was expecting.
Going to the "last resort", he took a mono DI from the FM3 and I had my patch with the cab on and the power Amp on, just as I did when creating the tones through my monitors. I used a basic setup with minimal delay and reverb, the Leon Todd TV2 IR, and I was switching between a Vox style (I think I used a matchless model) and the JCM 800 mod. A little phaser courtesy of the evh phase 90 and I was set.
Side note: I have a 1978 block Mxr phase 90 but I used the fractal because there was no pedal pop or mid push that the mxr has. I just love how easy it was to understand that the pedal wasn't working, and I can load up one of several phase 90s and get a great sound. Do they sound the same? No. Is the mxr more "authentic" sounding? Yes. But there comes a time when using a "cool pedal" may not work in a situation, and I'm just glad to happily use one of the emulations. I was put off by most Helix Native mod effects especially the phasers (although I wish Fractal had a small stone even though the bad stone gets close) but the fractal effects are absolutely more inspiring.
Back to the story... Within a minute the engineer looked in and said cool sounds good! I honestly thought he was kidding (not because of the quality of the unit, but because it was so quick). All he said he did was add 2db of mids at 2k and that was it. It sounded killer and we all couldn't believe how quickly it was ready to go. These guys had never used one before but they were all looking at them online and astounded at what the unit is capable of at the price point.
Granted I did work on the patches alone and tweaked them some, but it was mostly trying different amps honestly. And for someone running a studio, it's an amazing piece of gear (fast, efficient, and consistent) that allows players to use their pedals in the same way they would with an Amp. And that doesn't even cover the reamping abilities and the studio quality reverbs and delays. I just love this thing.
Ps. I think I'm out of the IR rabbit hole! After trying several types and brands (York, own hammer, celestion) I realized that the LT TV mixes just sound great and do what I want. From now on I think most of my patches will start with that and I will work an Amp in how I see fit. So many ways to approach tones!
We had a rehearsal and I played through the FX loop of a 5150 and a Marshall cab and while it sounded pretty great, the hum was so loud I couldn't wait to turn the Amp off.
Fast forward to yesterday (recording day) and we tried a couple things. I tried the 5150 again and it was just unusable for recording. For my Amp settings in the FM3 I turned off power Amp modeling and the cab Sim obviously while trying this setup.
We went to an older rackmount power Amp and the same Marshall cab so I turned the power Amp modeling back on. The sound was kinda harsh and not what I was expecting.
Going to the "last resort", he took a mono DI from the FM3 and I had my patch with the cab on and the power Amp on, just as I did when creating the tones through my monitors. I used a basic setup with minimal delay and reverb, the Leon Todd TV2 IR, and I was switching between a Vox style (I think I used a matchless model) and the JCM 800 mod. A little phaser courtesy of the evh phase 90 and I was set.
Side note: I have a 1978 block Mxr phase 90 but I used the fractal because there was no pedal pop or mid push that the mxr has. I just love how easy it was to understand that the pedal wasn't working, and I can load up one of several phase 90s and get a great sound. Do they sound the same? No. Is the mxr more "authentic" sounding? Yes. But there comes a time when using a "cool pedal" may not work in a situation, and I'm just glad to happily use one of the emulations. I was put off by most Helix Native mod effects especially the phasers (although I wish Fractal had a small stone even though the bad stone gets close) but the fractal effects are absolutely more inspiring.
Back to the story... Within a minute the engineer looked in and said cool sounds good! I honestly thought he was kidding (not because of the quality of the unit, but because it was so quick). All he said he did was add 2db of mids at 2k and that was it. It sounded killer and we all couldn't believe how quickly it was ready to go. These guys had never used one before but they were all looking at them online and astounded at what the unit is capable of at the price point.
Granted I did work on the patches alone and tweaked them some, but it was mostly trying different amps honestly. And for someone running a studio, it's an amazing piece of gear (fast, efficient, and consistent) that allows players to use their pedals in the same way they would with an Amp. And that doesn't even cover the reamping abilities and the studio quality reverbs and delays. I just love this thing.
Ps. I think I'm out of the IR rabbit hole! After trying several types and brands (York, own hammer, celestion) I realized that the LT TV mixes just sound great and do what I want. From now on I think most of my patches will start with that and I will work an Amp in how I see fit. So many ways to approach tones!
