Nice tones you got there!
As for me, I've tried a lot of gear this year:
- NeuralDSP Quad Cortex
- Strymon Iridium
- Built a whole pedalboard with several Strymons and some DIY pedals
- Added a Boss WL-20L wireless to my rig for convenience
I've settled on two rigs:
- Fractal FM3 for direct recording and headphones. Augmenting it with the pedalboard sometimes.
- Pedalboard -> BluGuitar Amp 1 Mercury Edition -> Bluetone 4x10 with 10" Greenbacks, closed back. This is the "when I can play loud" rig.
I also have a Victory VC35 + Fryette PS-100 as an all tube rig but I am on the fence if I will get a better matching cab for that or if I want to sell it instead. The Victory sounds good through the Bluetone cab but it's not the best match for it. I'm thinking 1x12 or 2x12 with Celestion Golds would be a better pairing.
At one point I had the FM3, QC and Helix Floor at the same time. The QC and Helix have been sold, not because they sound worse than the Fractal but because the FM3 is the best compromise for my uses at the moment. I still don't like operating it from the front panel (both QC and Helix are better) but I like that it isn't physically massive like the Helix (a reason I don't want the FM9 either) and it is a more feature complete unit than the QC. If I could get Fractal feature set and computer editor with the QC hardware and on-device user interface I would be one happy dude.
This year has made me think of some things:
- I care increasingly less about accuracy to real amps. Whatever gets me the tone/feel I enjoy is good. Doesn't matter the tech running it, doesn't matter if it's based on something existing or not. All this "is X modeler better than Y" stuff seems like a fool's errand and to me the real significant differences are in features and workflow.
- I care less about having a huge range of options for amps. I was just as happy playing a Strymon Iridium as I am playing with the FM3. While it's nice to have all the extra tweakability on the Fractal, I just don't need hundreds of amp models. I can get by with one really good one and a nice overdrive pedal.
- I have become much better at using effects. I feel my Strymon Nightsky has taught me more about reverb than I have learned from Fractal's reverb block in years because it's so much easier to tweak things with real physical knobs and no menus or esoteric, hard to understand options. For future Fractal products I'd love a "simplified" tab similar to "authentic" in amp block, except this would just simplify some effects controls for easier use. For example give me a "wow and flutter" knob rather than two fullblown LFOs to add modulation to my tape delays.