Huge disappointment , selling my Fractal......;)

Anand Mahangoe

Power User
Hi All !!
Man , I have loved Fractal since the Ultra era after selling my Tube Amp head , 3 4x12 cabs , 12HE with TC2290 PCM80 and so on......

Lately technology and gear give lots of possibilities and so I thought :

" Why not buy a 'Real' tube amp and see how the RESPONSE & FEEL is vs Fractal gear......" and get the best of both worlds...:)

Sound wise I know Fractal is killer , so only to see and feel if my fingers would react different with the real amp.......I know that when we play Amp in the room : of course , we start playing different...BUT that is a path I will never go back to if it is up to me

Spent I whole week researching which amp I would like and stuff.......2 channel and always used the Plexi Marshall style sounds.....so enter the world of the Marshall Silver Jubilee !!! Great sounding videos on YT and stuff......

So, today I went with my FM3 , Suhr Reactive Load and MacBook Pro to record and test the Real Amp vs Fractal....same impulse for both...nothing can go wrong.....

After hitting the first chord.......I knew.......tried to still adjust the sound for another hour......nothing worked .....It was a HUGE disappointment...was really looking forward to this .

So , I am selling my Fractal FM3 and will buy the.......
.
.
.
.
.
AXE FX III

Sorry for the story telling this way...BUT Fractal sounded way better and feel wise......Nothing , no difference for me IMHO...if even more :

I ENJOYED my Fractal FM3 better than the "Real" deal......

Now that I know from my OWN experience how things feel and responses , I wanna go back to my previous setup which was the AXE III Mark I.....

HUGE thanks to FAS of course and I will continue making videos of this amazing gear like never before :)

Thanks for bearing with me !
Cheers
 

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Interesting, the pre of my little Blackstar combo sounds/feels crazy good into Ax3 tube pre + cabIR (tube pre setup as a neutral power amp) - multiples better than this amp ever sounds stand alone in the room and rivalling some Axfx Marshally models (sounds hot rodded 800ish). Axefx models are #1 but playing around with preamp sections of combos and heads into Axefx is sooo cool, I always keep a patch dialed in with an external tube pre + analogue od/ds pedal in the loop and go to it often for change of mojo via FRFR - even going back into the combo power section/cab sounds way better than the amp stand alone probably due to the power amp sim coming from Axefx tube pre into power tubes that are never pushed very hard in my at home evironment (+ the Axefx drives work great into the Blackstar) - Was actually thinking of getting a DSL combo to have external tube preamps for Marshall clean/cruch/od1/od2 on tap in Axefx + to have the equvilent of a tube coloured stereo poweramp option via Marshall/Blackstar power sections.
 
Hi All !!
Man , I have loved Fractal since the Ultra era after selling my Tube Amp head , 3 4x12 cabs , 12HE with TC2290 PCM80 and so on......

Lately technology and gear give lots of possibilities and so I thought :

" Why not buy a 'Real' tube amp and see how the RESPONSE & FEEL is vs Fractal gear......" and get the best of both worlds...:)

Sound wise I know Fractal is killer , so only to see and feel if my fingers would react different with the real amp.......I know that when we play Amp in the room : of course , we start playing different...BUT that is a path I will never go back to if it is up to me

Spent I whole week researching which amp I would like and stuff.......2 channel and always used the Plexi Marshall style sounds.....so enter the world of the Marshall Silver Jubilee !!! Great sounding videos on YT and stuff......

So, today I went with my FM3 , Suhr Reactive Load and MacBook Pro to record and test the Real Amp vs Fractal....same impulse for both...nothing can go wrong.....

After hitting the first chord.......I knew.......tried to still adjust the sound for another hour......nothing worked .....It was a HUGE disappointment...was really looking forward to this .

So , I am selling my Fractal FM3 and will buy the.......
.
.
.
.
.
AXE FX III

Sorry for the story telling this way...BUT Fractal sounded way better and feel wise......Nothing , no difference for me IMHO...if even more :

I ENJOYED my Fractal FM3 better than the "Real" deal......

Now that I know from my OWN experience how things feel and responses , I wanna go back to my previous setup which was the AXE III Mark I.....

HUGE thanks to FAS of course and I will continue making videos of this amazing gear like never before :)

Thanks for bearing with me !
Cheers

Nice setup. Really upped the dramaticism. :)
 
The FM3 was the first dose and then you get hooked... I feel ya, it happened to me also. In about 6 months with the FM3 I was already making more complex presets that could use the extra CPU power, thanks to this forum and the YouTube videos by Marco Fanton, Leon Todd, and others. Such a great community, reminds me of early Apple computer users that totally get into a great product. But enough reading, time to play! 🎸
 
Slept a good night on this idea and still something ( feeling) is making me doubt…… so ordered myself the Marshall Studio Silver Jubilee to try a whole week to check out all the subtle details and then make my decision which way to go .

Will post some clips , thanks !
Clips which I made until now feels for ME a bit “flat” and Good “real” amps clips also recorded with IRs “lives” a bit more to ME .

No offense to no one , please , this is not a post about Fractal not sounding great or other things…… as stated before : Love my Fractal gear !!
 
Hi All !!
Man , I have loved Fractal since the Ultra era after selling my Tube Amp head , 3 4x12 cabs , 12HE with TC2290 PCM80 and so on......

Lately technology and gear give lots of possibilities and so I thought :

" Why not buy a 'Real' tube amp and see how the RESPONSE & FEEL is vs Fractal gear......" and get the best of both worlds...:)

Sound wise I know Fractal is killer , so only to see and feel if my fingers would react different with the real amp.......I know that when we play Amp in the room : of course , we start playing different...BUT that is a path I will never go back to if it is up to me

Spent I whole week researching which amp I would like and stuff.......2 channel and always used the Plexi Marshall style sounds.....so enter the world of the Marshall Silver Jubilee !!! Great sounding videos on YT and stuff......

So, today I went with my FM3 , Suhr Reactive Load and MacBook Pro to record and test the Real Amp vs Fractal....same impulse for both...nothing can go wrong.....

After hitting the first chord.......I knew.......tried to still adjust the sound for another hour......nothing worked .....It was a HUGE disappointment...was really looking forward to this .

So , I am selling my Fractal FM3 and will buy the.......
.
.
.
.
.
AXE FX III

Sorry for the story telling this way...BUT Fractal sounded way better and feel wise......Nothing , no difference for me IMHO...if even more :

I ENJOYED my Fractal FM3 better than the "Real" deal......

Now that I know from my OWN experience how things feel and responses , I wanna go back to my previous setup which was the AXE III Mark I.....

HUGE thanks to FAS of course and I will continue making videos of this amazing gear like never before :)

Thanks for bearing with me !
Cheers
For the comparison have you used 2555 or 2555x? In this moment i dont know if buy an fx3 and have a full rig in my units or buy a real jubilee 2555 with a torpedo captor load, someone say that there is a big difference beetween model and the real one and other say not.
How have you matched them? Only base parameter or other advanced parameter?

Thanks
 
For the comparison have you used 2555 or 2555x? In this moment i dont know if buy an fx3 and have a full rig in my units or buy a real jubilee 2555 with a torpedo captor load, someone say that there is a big difference beetween model and the real one and other say not.
How have you matched them? Only base parameter or other advanced parameter?

Thanks
Hi, I have tried the 2555X…. New tubes and stuff so would not sound exactly as the old 2555 with used tubes and things.

My choice went eventually to the smaller 2525H !! Compared to the 2555X it sounds bit fuller in the mids due to the 20w instead of the 100w and of course much lighter to carry :) 100w sounds bigger in low ends and stuff but all a matter of taste.

I can really advise to use the Suhr / Fractal load box because of their correct speaker impedance and use the AXE III / FM3 as IR loader with the Ultra res impulses . Torpedo and others use “normal” res IRs and incorrect speaker impedance…. There are topics about this on the forum.

Haven’t been busy with tone matching between the “real” one or Fractal….not my goal… my main thing was about the “Response & Feel” and tubes I prefer .
 
Hi, I have tried the 2555X…. New tubes and stuff so would not sound exactly as the old 2555 with used tubes and things.

My choice went eventually to the smaller 2525H !! Compared to the 2555X it sounds bit fuller in the mids due to the 20w instead of the 100w and of course much lighter to carry :) 100w sounds bigger in low ends and stuff but all a matter of taste.

I can really advise to use the Suhr / Fractal load box because of their correct speaker impedance and use the AXE III / FM3 as IR loader with the Ultra res impulses . Torpedo and others use “normal” res IRs and incorrect speaker impedance…. There are topics about this on the forum.

Haven’t been busy with tone matching between the “real” one or Fractal….not my goal… my main thing was about the “Response & Feel” and tubes I prefer .
In term of sound what difference did you hear between 2555x and the fractal?
 
In term of sound what difference did you hear between 2555x and the fractal?
Basic sound wise the fractal comes very close in a band mix : no one will hear in the audience.
To me when playing and listening : Low end responses better with tubes and the overall tone just sounds more alive instead of the fractal which sounds a bit flat....I was always struggling with the highs in the fractal and started using high cuts and low cuts for the muddiness : with the tubes , none of this is necessary as we just dial back the bass / treble and done.....difficult to describe actually BUT I will make a in depth video soon between my 2525H and Fractal .......Overall I can say that I am very very happy with this setup with tube amp and digital Fractal Speaker IR / FX.

Finally my tone feels like it is 'living' : each note I play reacts different from the previous one depending on my way of picking and that got a bit lost with the Fractal. No offence please to FAS or anybody else....I am still in love with FAS !!
 
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