How will you use the FM3? Share your upcoming rig ideas!

This will be my first Fractal product, and I don’t own any other amp. Home recording and gigging out to tracks.
 
bdrepko said:
Here is a slick and very secure way to hold down heavier pedals. And leaves no residue.
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I've always used the same idea but with cut lengths of plumbers strapping instead of bike chain links. Much faster to make a board full of links and you can customize them, sometimes you need longer ones.. this stuff can be easily bent when you wish to leave the rubber feet on the unit and still attach this way from each foot. Can't do that with velcro. Bonus point: You can hide patch cable runs underneath a pedal with rubber feet.


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I wasn't really considering buying an FM3 until my bachelor party. I just wanted to jam with my bros instead of doing the strip club/Vegas thing. We got a killer rehearsal space in Boston and I brought my pedalboard/G-Force + 2 guitars up in my truck on the drive up from Florida. My bud rented me a Dual Rec and a MKIV to play through and as much as I love those amps, there was still logistics to deal with and set-up time.

FM3 will be the brain of my travel/jam rig. I'll probably get an FRFR cab for it, but ideally, I'd just like to show up, plug it into the PA and start playing. I probably won't have anything on the board aside from an expression pedal and my Freqout (because that pedal is AWESOME). Being able to toss it in a carry-on is a big plus.
 
RevDrucifer said:
FM3 will be the brain of my travel/jam rig. I'll probably get an FRFR cab for it, but ideally, I'd just like to show up, plug it into the PA and start playing. I probably won't have anything on the board aside from an expression pedal and my Freqout (because that pedal is AWESOME). Being able to toss it in a carry-on is a big plus.
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If I was you I'd maybe pick up a Powerstage 170 and squeeze that onto your board too, it's pretty small. That way if there's a guitar cab available you can bypass cab sim and use the real cab instead, or still go straight to PA with cab sim on. Or both (in that case you have to set up presets for out1 PA, out2 SD>cab). Super flexible.
 
Robboman said:
I've always used the same idea but with cut lengths of plumbers strapping instead of bike chain links. Much faster to make a board full of links and you can customize them, sometimes you need longer ones.. this stuff can be easily bent when you wish to leave the rubber feet on the unit and still attach this way from each foot. Can't do that with velcro. Bonus point: You can hide patch cable runs underneath a pedal with rubber feet.


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Yep. I have done this as well.
 
Robboman said:
If I was you I'd maybe pick up a Powerstage 170 and squeeze that onto your board too, it's pretty small. That way if there's a guitar cab available you can bypass cab sim and use the real cab instead, or still go straight to PA with cab sim on. Or both (in that case you have to set up presets for out1 PA, out2 SD>cab). Super flexible.
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Powerstage 170 is great. I used it a lot with my AX 8 🙂
 
Robboman said:
Just got my PS170 2 weeks ago! It's great. Also using AX8 here. If I'm cork-sniffing, I still slightly prefer the sound\feel of my tube head loop return as a poweramp, but you can't beat the size, light weight and convenience of having poweramp right on the pedalboard.
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Yes than you have to decide 😉 I really loved my Valvetech Hayseed 30 head as it had the best dynamics on the clean channel I ever heard on an amp. Even the 2th and 4th position of my strat sounded so powerful but still sensitive for picking dynamics. A lot of these dynamics were realised by a great point to point wiring of the best available components (call it a AC 30 derivate but more reliable like the original amps 😉) but a big part of these dynamics came from the big and heavy output transformer which made the head a pretty heavy beast.
But if you go to a jam with a small stage you love things like the powerstage as it still sounds dynamic but is way more portable.
And FAS amp modeling with the Powerstage is a match made in heaven that makes me not missing real tube amplification.
 
Single coil guitar_Chase Tone Secret Preamp (similar to the EP Booster from Xotic)_ FM3_one expression pedal (preferably one with the extra footswitch)_Mosky dual footswitch. All mounted on a 45x30 cm pedalboard with a softbag - it will be easy enough to carry on the shoulder. Then one or two Headrush 108 monitors that I have come to like very much for their sound quality, portability and price point. For recording I am a happy user of the spdif output - coming from the AX8 this has been a very convenient and reliable path into my daw.
 
I hadn't even considered the Power Stage 170 and that would be a great option. Guitar to FM3 then one side to PS170 to existing cab for stage volume and the other side to the desk for FOH and IEMs. Hmmmm ..... lots of food for thought.
 
Just curious, why do you guys choose the Temple audio over Pedaltrain? Is it because of their lock system is easier and quicker to release or attached to the board?
 
bishop5150 said:
My original plan was to put the FM3 and my FC-6 on a pedalboard and run all the cables back to my FRFR backline. Just cause that's how I did it with my AX8. But with the FM3 I don't need to do that. I can put the FM3 on top of my FRFR at the backline and just run my FC-12 board out to the front of the stage with an XLR like I do now with the Axe-Fx III.
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Dumb question. What is the reason for not having the FM3 on stage. If it goes off stage, what is the benefit of doing that vs just using the III?
 
Chad Beattie said:
Dumb question. What is the reason for not having the FM3 on stage. If it goes off stage, what is the benefit of doing that vs just using the III?
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I can keep the FM3 in my gig bag and not have to bring my heavy rack case with the Axe-Fx III and other rack gear in it.

And instead of having a bunch of cables, power cable and all the other cables going from the FM3 to my FRFR's on the backline and to FOH, I'll just have a single XLR cable going from the FC-12 back to the FM3.

The FM3 will mainly just be for my out of town shows. I will continue to use my Axe-Fx III for the majority of gigs.
 
bishop5150 said:
I can keep the FM3 in my gig bag and not have to bring my heavy rack case with the Axe-Fx III and other rack gear in it.

And instead of having a bunch of cables, power cable and all the other cables going from the FM3 to my FRFR's on the backline and to FOH, I'll just have a single XLR cable going from the FC-12 back to the FM3.

The FM3 will mainly just be for my out of town shows. I will continue to use my Axe-Fx III for the majority of gigs.
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Good info, thanks. I have the same setup (III and FC12) which is why I was asking. For some gigs, I don't mind lugging the rack and all. But more often than not lately, all I really need is something like the FM3. My aging back and body really wants me to get an FM3 :)
 
Chad Beattie said:
Good info, thanks. I have the same setup (III and FC12) which is why I was asking. For some gigs, I don't mind lugging the rack and all. But more often than not lately, all I really need is something like the FM3. My aging back and body really wants me to get an FM3 :)
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Same here. Had back surgery 6 years ago and still have 3 herniated discs. And with just turning 48 years old it's in my best interests to lighten my gear load as much as possible! ;)
 
Robboman said:
If I was you I'd maybe pick up a Powerstage 170 and squeeze that onto your board too, it's pretty small. That way if there's a guitar cab available you can bypass cab sim and use the real cab instead, or still go straight to PA with cab sim on. Or both (in that case you have to set up presets for out1 PA, out2 SD>cab). Super flexible.
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Good call. I actually want to grab one of those for general use anyway.
 
guitarmanUK said:
I hadn't even considered the Power Stage 170 and that would be a great option. Guitar to FM3 then one side to PS170 to existing cab for stage volume and the other side to the desk for FOH and IEMs. Hmmmm ..... lots of food for thought.
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Today I tested my pedalboard which has a Ramble FX Marvel Drive 3 and a Timmy overdrive after it to finetune the sound of the Marvel Drive together with the Powerstage 170 and my new Kool 2x12 dumble style cab with UK made celestion creambacks and I can really assure that the Powerstage has enough Power 🙂 we cover AC/DC, ZZ Top and some other stuff and the sound that we got out of my setup had the same power as the rig of the other guitarist who plays a JVM with 100 Watts and a 4x12 cab together with a 2x12 cab.
That was really interesting to see how good technology has become 😎🤩
Try the powerstage 🙂
 

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bishop5150 said:
I can keep the FM3 in my gig bag and not have to bring my heavy rack case with the Axe-Fx III and other rack gear in it.

And instead of having a bunch of cables, power cable and all the other cables going from the FM3 to my FRFR's on the backline and to FOH, I'll just have a single XLR cable going from the FC-12 back to the FM3.

The FM3 will mainly just be for my out of town shows. I will continue to use my Axe-Fx III for the majority of gigs.
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How do you manage your wireless with just the FC 12 on your board?
 
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