Help! I'm a newbie and my used FM3 sounds like trash

Cobrams said:
A week ago I modified the guitar and experimented with the FM3 again. Sound is still terrible, pretty much the same quality as before.
What do you think?
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Have you tried any presets that aren't high gain? The 3 metal-ish presets sound basically right, and "Tweed Fuzz" is pretty much that.

But your listening environment figures into it pretty extensively too. You're only using headphones and a laptop? Of course the sound is going to be terrible; I'd be surprised if it wasn't. You need to listen to it through something appropriate.
 
I hear a low-frequency resonance in all four clips. Are you sure the Global EQ is flat?

Also, how did you record these?
 
GitGuy513 said:
Sounds like you need to cut some low end out. It’s a bit muffled, but not enough to be able to immediately tell from the recording what it could be. So you’re saying these recordings were direct from the FM3 USB to computer? What software were you using?
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Yes, I was using the FM3 connected via USB. I recorded with Audacity. Before posting the audio I also tried Ableton Live. Exact same result.

After your question about the software I decided to learn how to use a proper DAW, so I set up Reaper (using a guide I found here on the forum) and also experimented with reamping my own DI tracks recorded via FM3. All of the methods I used resulted in exactly the same sound

GitGuy513 said:
The sound almost sounds like it’s going from analog outs and through a poor audio interface and that is coloring the sound.
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Nope, using USB.

GitGuy513 said:
How far are the pickups from the strings? I guess what I’m saying is that the sound isn’t great, but not so far off that something like improper pickup height or EQ could be causing the muddiness.
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I can't measure the exact height right now, but after your question I experimented a bit with just the height of bridge pickup (the one I used for the audio samples). I only noticed a change in the volume and in the balance between the upper and lower strings.
I've now tried the fm3 with 3 different guitars and I keep hearing the same sound quality I personally perceive as terrible. So I'd say the problem is probably not the pickup height, or at least not the problem I hear. It may as well be a contributing factor that can be perceived by an expert, but I did not notice a relevant difference.

Output 1 EQ is completely flat.

GitGuy513 said:
Oh and did you “Refresh after Firmware”?
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Yes
 
Rex said:
I hear a low-frequency resonance in all four clips. Are you sure the Global EQ is flat?
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I've a pretty good understanding of the general concept of resonance in physics and engineering, but I kinda have no clue as to what that means exactly in this context. Anyway, the Global EQ is 100% flat.
Rex said:
Also, how did you record these?
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Via USB using Audacity. As I wrote in the previous post, I also briefly tried Ableton Live. I experimented a bit more with reaper and re-amping. Audio was exactly the same.
 
DougB415 said:
Have you tried any presets that aren't high gain?
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Yes, I'd say the clean sounds are ok. When there's distortion they start to sound not so good and they more or less keep getting worse the higher the gain. I'm kinda clueless, but I suspect it may be possible that the high gain makes it easier to hear a problem in the EQ.

For some reason, the very convoluted/bizarre presets (Like the Blade Runner one and all of those that are synth-like) sound amazing. Maybe it's because they don't even sound like a guitar anymore and I have no preconceived idea of what a good sound for them should be. I don't know.

DougB415 said:
The 3 metal-ish presets sound basically right, and "Tweed Fuzz" is pretty much that.

But your listening environment figures into it pretty extensively too. You're only using headphones and a laptop? Of course the sound is going to be terrible; I'd be surprised if it wasn't. You need to listen to it through something appropriate.
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Ok, I understand. The thing is, I'm not sure where the problem lies exactly. Is it my ears? My equipment? A defective FM3? Wrong setup? I don't know. I'm more pressed to rule out any problem with the FM3 though.

So far I only used a pair of Philips Fidelio X2HR connected directly into the analog headphone output of the FM3. When I wrote about listening to the FM3 through laptop I meant that I used the headphones connected to the laptop audio output. I did that to make sure there was not a problem with the FM3 headphone out. The sound is exactly the same, anyway.

The thing I do not understand is why does every single audio bit I have heard online of the FM3 and FX3 sound f*****g amazing even through my 3€ earbuds, while mine sounds like shit no matter what I do. So, I'm still not convinced my FM3 is completely fine, especially considering I bought it second hand. I'm a bit undecided on how to proceed. A few options I thought of:
  • Get better headphones. I've scoured the forum for headphones recommendations. From what I read, the OLLO S5X seems to have the best rep around here. It's way above my initial budget, but I may order one.
  • Try to get my hands on a new FM3, and compare it to my own. I'm kinda tempted to order the FX3, but it's probably overkill for me.
  • Set the FM3 of fire and forget about all of this stuff. Well, not really, but I kinda contemplated the idea at times:fearscream:
Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you all for the help by the way!
 
the presets you sent sound about right. seems like either you need to make the sound you want/search through all the factory presets for something close to your taste OR your listening device is severely distorting the sound you hear.
try taking those recordings you made and listening to them somewhere else i.e. a car stereo or some other system. if you hear a big difference then something is wrong with your interface/headphones/speakers at home. otherwise you just may not like the fm3 although given the options available to shape the tone that would be kind of rare
 
Cobrams said:
Only headphones, Philips Fidelio X2HR.
I guess this may be my problem, I don't know.
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Don’t set it on fire just yet.😉 I’m not familiar with those headphone, but it’s not like they’re cheap. There are fully open back, but shouldn’t really make an extreme difference. Or a difference between awful and great. Honestly the headphone thing is tough. Most all reasonably affordable headphones color the sound in some way. Trying to find a speaker system to listen and not headphones would be a good thing to try.

I went back and listened to the audio clips again and they’re really not that bad. The second clip seems to have a weird slight ringing in the background. Probably EMI, but the overall tone was close. The one thing that we have to establish is to get a much better idea of what you mean by “trash”. I’m not being snarky just need to get an idea what is really driving you nuts.

You mentioned you are familiar with modeling through plugins. Just how familiar are you with modeling and IR’s? Much of the discussion on the forum revolves around the issues related to not hearing the “amp/speakers in the room” sound. It also seems to be hard thing to get across to people. Lately I have been realizing so much of these discussions are sort of pointless. Because with IR’s you’re getting the sound of a mic'd speaker and cab. I got thinking to myself that when I was just recording a tube amp and cabinet with 1 or 2 mics I was never really satisfied with the bare sound captured on tape or digital. It always had that dry boxed sound. It wasn’t until I double tracked and added some reverb, EQ, panned and most of all heard it in the mix did it come alive. Electric guitar especially distorted guitar is not the easiest thing to capture. It’s been said many times, but the sound coming from a guitar speakers and filling a room at decent volume and interacting with the guitar itself is a glorious thing that is hard to quantify.

Anyway, aside from philosophical babble probably monitoring it outside of headphones is a step to take. There’s many ways to go about this also. I use a pair of QSC K12.2’s, but that’s an expensive and not completely necessary first step. Others have more experience with FRFR and studio monitors that could jump in and help with suggestions.

One last thing is no matter what you use there will be some sort of color added and knowing the gear and what that coloring is and then if you can eliminate it through sound processing or just realize it and take it into consideration is something to nail down.
 
do not rush to burn your FM3! I also have problems with sound. I want to figure out what we're doing wrong. I'm doing home renovations. That's why I can't make music for a while. But I will definitely return to this topic after I solve the problem with the sound of my FM3.
 
To get good tones requires proper frequency cuts in the effects chain.
1) Add a PEQ module before the AMP module, cut lows around 250Hz, cut highs around 5kHz.
2) In the CAB module try setting cuts around 100Hz for lows and 5kHz for highs, use -24dB for all cuts.
3) I recommend putting the CAB module at the very end of the effects chain, the very end!
4) Make appropriate EQ adjustments on the AMP module to suit your taste, don't worry about those other complex parameters.
With the above steps I think the tone will improve very quickly, good luck! The FM3's tones are truly amazing!!
 
Record a raw DI guitar track via USB along with your sample recording and post them both along with the preset you used. People can then try reamping your guitar's raw tone through their units to see if it sounds any different.

Your posted recordings have a quite a bit of low end woof going on. Try raising the Low Cut frequency in the Input EQ section of the Amp block. That will tame the amount of low end going into the amp and tighten up the sound. Keep cutting until the flub is gone. If it's then too thin sounding, you can add low end back using the graphic EQ in the Amp block or post amp EQ.
 
Have you tried recording two guitar tracks and panning them left and right? Record two takes of the same thing, and pan them left and right and then listen back. Almost every recording you hear in music is a pair of tracks panned. Having a center panned close mic'd guitar sound drilling into the center of your head via headphones is usually less pleasant.

If you find the left and right panned sound is better, then you might need to investigate a number of tricks that make headphone listening better, such as: The Enhancer block, the Room setting in the CAB block, Reverb, etc. Those all help widen the sound or put it in a space, rather than on the bridge of your nose.

How for recording, you'll want to shut some of that off again when you can pan things and multi-track, but for individual playing with headphones those will help a lot.
 
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