FM3 Arrived Yesterday and My Thoughts:

mr. clean

New Member
Hi! Great to be here with all of you! After adding myself to the FM3 waitlist on March 20 (7 months back) it showed up last night.

The FM3 replaces my Line6 Vetta, which was upgraded many years ago to Vetta II specs. I got many compliments on my tone with the Vetta and would hope to get more with this box. Personally, my gigging these days consists of the odd classical guitar booking and a few single-act midi gigs playing rock to country to 50s with a few newer tunes for the kids. The Vetta replaced my Canadian JCM800 once I was convinced its AC/DC tone was “right”.

My main guitar is a JTV-89F Variax set on its Gretsch sound for the most part. Through the P.A. system running direct it sounds great but recorded direct it sounds a bit harsh/bright. It was like that through the Vetta and it is the same through this FM3; we get out what we put in, I suppose.

That being said, though I always use the mic simulation with these devices (except for acoustic patches), I never use cabinet simulators, now called IRs, of course. Without them, imho the sound is bigger and more full while still retaining each amp’s charms and characteristics.

I realize this could run contrary to what some might think, especially if some have spent money for IRs. I will definitely be spending some time testing the factory IRs (especially with the aforementioned Gretsch sound), but very early on the sound seems fuller without the cabs.

It was very important to see if I could have the sequencing software on my laptop change presets on the FM3; that worked quite quickly. After hearing from others beforehand about the audible gaps when switching presets (the Vetta switches instantly) I felt the need to explore the possibility of switching scenes via my midi software. Supposedly that switching can be done instantly. It took a very long time to figure this out but I finally solved it. I could find no information re: my specific need for this, so if anyone needs to know, give me a shout.

Take care, all!
 
Hi! Great to be here with all of you! After adding myself to the FM3 waitlist on March 20 (7 months back) it showed up last night.

The FM3 replaces my Line6 Vetta, which was upgraded many years ago to Vetta II specs. I got many compliments on my tone with the Vetta and would hope to get more with this box. Personally, my gigging these days consists of the odd classical guitar booking and a few single-act midi gigs playing rock to country to 50s with a few newer tunes for the kids. The Vetta replaced my Canadian JCM800 once I was convinced its AC/DC tone was “right”.

My main guitar is a JTV-89F Variax set on its Gretsch sound for the most part. Through the P.A. system running direct it sounds great but recorded direct it sounds a bit harsh/bright. It was like that through the Vetta and it is the same through this FM3; we get out what we put in, I suppose.

That being said, though I always use the mic simulation with these devices (except for acoustic patches), I never use cabinet simulators, now called IRs, of course. Without them, imho the sound is bigger and more full while still retaining each amp’s charms and characteristics.

I realize this could run contrary to what some might think, especially if some have spent money for IRs. I will definitely be spending some time testing the factory IRs (especially with the aforementioned Gretsch sound), but very early on the sound seems fuller without the cabs.

It was very important to see if I could have the sequencing software on my laptop change presets on the FM3; that worked quite quickly. After hearing from others beforehand about the audible gaps when switching presets (the Vetta switches instantly) I felt the need to explore the possibility of switching scenes via my midi software. Supposedly that switching can be done instantly. It took a very long time to figure this out but I finally solved it. I could find no information re: my specific need for this, so if anyone needs to know, give me a shout.

Take care, all!
Hi, @mr. clean ! You're in for a fun ride.

And you're right: while i have no experience with the Vetta, I'm puzzled by your position on cab sims. To my ears, going direct without a cab sim sounds unbearably harsh, just like a real tube amp into hi-fi speakers. I'd be interested to know if you don't feel the same way after a few more days. Might have something to do with why you find your Variax setting a bit harsh.

IRs are different from the cab sims you're familiar with. Before convolution IRs came along, cab sims were just EQ circuits designed to approximate the frequency response of speaker cabs. IRs are accurate captures of the actual measured response of actual cabs. FWIW, almost all modern IRs have the mic sim built in, because real mics are used to capture them.

Either way, enjoy playing your new toy!
 
Excellent stuff, Rex...I feel smarter already. So without looking at the manual which hasn’t been printed out yet, in the FM3 do the mic settings have their own section or are they adjusted in the cabs block (don’t have the unit in front of me). Anyway, in our first band around ‘84 I used a Carvin X50B head into a Marshall 4x12 cab. The head had a variable XLR out so we tried it out. Once. It had no emulation built in and it was the worst sound we had ever heard. Will definitely spend a lot of time A-B’ing the cab and no-cab tones through the P.A. system, headphones, and recording device as with this unit there should be no excuse for less-than-stellar tones.
 
Excellent stuff, Rex...I feel smarter already. So without looking at the manual which hasn’t been printed out yet, in the FM3 do the mic settings have their own section or are they adjusted in the cabs block (don’t have the unit in front of me). Anyway, in our first band around ‘84 I used a Carvin X50B head into a Marshall 4x12 cab. The head had a variable XLR out so we tried it out. Once. It had no emulation built in and it was the worst sound we had ever heard. Will definitely spend a lot of time A-B’ing the cab and no-cab tones through the P.A. system, headphones, and recording device as with this unit there should be no excuse for less-than-stellar tones.
No, there aren’t separate mic settings. If an IR was captured with a Shure SM57 microphone, it has the SM57 sound baked into it. Different mics and different mic placement will capture different aspects of that cabs’s sound. Pick the one you like best (there are a couple thousand to choose from). Or you can blend two IRs together.
 
Perfect. I have catalogued my Vetta patches and will start re-creating them in the FM3 tomorrow. The fun is about to start. No need to answer the following, Rex, as I will find out soon: the Vetta has two amps at once and a variable doubler...am sure I can create the second easily enough and even if I can’t have two amps at once on the FM3 the sound quality and adjustments will be so good that I won’t miss it.
 
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