deepintheheartoftejas
New Member
Context:
For years I was very anti modeling. Distinctly remember friends using earlier fractal gear and the pod stuff and never being a fan (probably more perception than reality even back in those days). After years of being THAT guy on buying and trading on TGP/Gear Talk/ CL etc I got really tired of lugging around amps. I ended up getting an HX stomp when they came out after getting context with the Helix stuff and then eventually a Helix LT. Got me really into the world of tweaking and working with modeling. At the same time a buddy was playing the AX8 at church and his sounds were always phenomenal. Ended up joining the FM3 waitlist on the day the email went out after learning about it and man the rest is history
FM3 experience:
The first thing I did after getting the FM3 in was shoot out a ton of the amps I've had in the past to see if they felt "right" to me (very subjective for sure).
A short list of amps I did this with was the Vibro King, Bandmaster, Morgan AC20, /13 CJ 11, and DR.Z Maz 38.
When I say my jaw dropped after pairing with the appropriate cabs I'm not even remotely exaggerating.
Specifically the Vibro King model sounds like my old amp sounded but also feels like it. The quality of that model has blown me away. I started building patches of all my old historical rigs that I look back fondly on (down to the mic's I was using to track with at the time). The learning experience alone of that process was super helpful to get the feel of the system.
A note on the editor/block flexibility:
One of the big stand outs to me vs competitors in the space was the quality of the fractal editor. The grid format and how easy it is to program things like it was analog gear was super helpful to me. If anyone has done midi programming its the same reason why I fell in love with Reason all those years a go - being able to interact with it like physical gear just in a digital format made it really simple to learn the workflow.
The other things that really impressed me was the level of configuration available on every block. Simple things like I/O EQ's on the drive blocks all the way to the in depth customization i can do on an amp like swapping the preamp tubes. Coming from the HX products it truly felt like I upgraded in terms of prosumer to just genuinely pro gear.
All this to say, BIG fan and thrilled with this thing, even now that the honeymoon phase has worn off!
For years I was very anti modeling. Distinctly remember friends using earlier fractal gear and the pod stuff and never being a fan (probably more perception than reality even back in those days). After years of being THAT guy on buying and trading on TGP/Gear Talk/ CL etc I got really tired of lugging around amps. I ended up getting an HX stomp when they came out after getting context with the Helix stuff and then eventually a Helix LT. Got me really into the world of tweaking and working with modeling. At the same time a buddy was playing the AX8 at church and his sounds were always phenomenal. Ended up joining the FM3 waitlist on the day the email went out after learning about it and man the rest is history
FM3 experience:
The first thing I did after getting the FM3 in was shoot out a ton of the amps I've had in the past to see if they felt "right" to me (very subjective for sure).
A short list of amps I did this with was the Vibro King, Bandmaster, Morgan AC20, /13 CJ 11, and DR.Z Maz 38.
When I say my jaw dropped after pairing with the appropriate cabs I'm not even remotely exaggerating.
Specifically the Vibro King model sounds like my old amp sounded but also feels like it. The quality of that model has blown me away. I started building patches of all my old historical rigs that I look back fondly on (down to the mic's I was using to track with at the time). The learning experience alone of that process was super helpful to get the feel of the system.
A note on the editor/block flexibility:
One of the big stand outs to me vs competitors in the space was the quality of the fractal editor. The grid format and how easy it is to program things like it was analog gear was super helpful to me. If anyone has done midi programming its the same reason why I fell in love with Reason all those years a go - being able to interact with it like physical gear just in a digital format made it really simple to learn the workflow.
The other things that really impressed me was the level of configuration available on every block. Simple things like I/O EQ's on the drive blocks all the way to the in depth customization i can do on an amp like swapping the preamp tubes. Coming from the HX products it truly felt like I upgraded in terms of prosumer to just genuinely pro gear.
All this to say, BIG fan and thrilled with this thing, even now that the honeymoon phase has worn off!
