I'm still on 4.00 with FM3, If I go to 5.03 firmware what will I have to tweak?

R

Royalty

Member
I'm still on 4.00 with FM3, If I go to 5.03 firmware what will I have to tweak? I love how it sounds now but I have no problem updating to 5.03 and it sounding even better. I pretty much use only 6 presets. My number one preset is the STEVE STEVENS "ATOMIC PLAYBOY"for my power chord live shows. For solos I bumped it up 3 DB and use the booster he has on for solos. My main clean path is "SHIVA" with a quick slap delay and a bit of stereo Chorus.

If I update from Firmware 4.0 to 5.03 am I going to freak out because my main 3 presets are changed beyond recognition or will they sound better with the firmware upgrade? That's all I am asking. I'm 100 percent happy the way it is now but I'd love to know it's going to sound even better with the firmware update to 5.03.

Any input is much appreciated. Thanks
 
Make a back up of your favorite presets in 4.0. Than load 5.03 and see what happens to them. Maybe they sound better, maybe worse or maybe more or less the same. If you feel the need to tweak, just do so. Still not satisfied, go back to 4.0 and reload the presets you saved earlier. No harm done.

Hard to tell what will be the effect on your presets when going from 4.0 to 5.03. But you can also go back and if you have your presets backed up, why not give it a go.

My “prediction”; you won’t regret it for a moment…….
 
We’ll be getting 5.04 soon. Which will have thump and the Klon. So may as well get started with the 5 firmware. Your presets probably won’t sound the same. You will be able to get them back and better than before. Cygnus is better than Ares. For me it was a bit of a train wreck at 1st but I was pretty new to FAS at the time. I’m very happy with the tones I’m getting on 5.03 and looking forward to 5.04.

Edit: was unaware the new FW will be 6.0 not 5.4. So hopefully I don’t have to rebuild too much. Since it should be soon maybe wait.
 
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I would say: Wait for 6.0 and rebuild your amp sounds from scratch.
I had to rebuild my sounds completely from 4 to 5 .. but: It was easier to get what I wanted.
With 4.0, I spent months to tweak, also on many advanced parameters - with 5, I don't have to mess with that many parameters anymore :)

  • standard parameters
  • impedance curve
  • speaker drive
  • negative feedback
  • output type SS/poweramp

And that's it :)
 
Its not a huge change, learn to tweak the small differences.
Some people here tend to oversell the differences IMHO. they matter, but are not night and day nor close.

There hasn't been a true night and day change for me since I went from a AF Standard to an AFII. That was actually massive.
There's only so much that is going to change with something that sounds like an 80s Marshall with a boost in front and a delay in the loop!
What is your go to? These +1 version updates are more like +.1 updates to me within a physical products lifecycle b/c Fractal does them so much. Yes, that is great, but don't confuse numbers for level of change you will hear.

What's changed is how much more the Fractal can do and how much better it is out of the box vs after lots of tweaks.
The preset selection and the cab selection out of the box is truly great in this era. You don't need deep tweaks or -any- third party stuff, basically ever IMHO unless there is something really unique you are chasing in core amp/cab tones. FX is a different story but thus the nature of FX. There is always more you -could- do with FX!
 
The level of difference will depend a lot on how much tweaking you do in advanced parameters. If you only generally use the main controls, the transition should be pretty simple: basic tweaks to volume, gain, and eq. If you do a lot with advanced controls to really tweak your tone at a granular level then you’ll have some work on your hands. Also, there have been quite a few additions in terms of effects: mainly new presets. Those are definitely worth an audition but should not affect your core tone.
 
FPFL said:
Its not a huge change, learn to tweak the small differences.
Some people here tend to oversell the differences IMHO. they matter, but are not night and day nor close.

There hasn't been a true night and day change for me since I went from a AF Standard to an AFII. That was actually massive.
There's only so much that is going to change with something that sounds like an 80s Marshall with a boost in front and a delay in the loop!
What is your go to? These +1 version updates are more like +.1 updates to me within a physical products lifecycle b/c Fractal does them so much. Yes, that is great, but don't confuse numbers for level of change you will hear.

What's changed is how much more the Fractal can do and how much better it is out of the box vs after lots of tweaks.
The preset selection and the cab selection out of the box is truly great in this era. You don't need deep tweaks or -any- third party stuff, basically ever IMHO unless there is something really unique you are chasing in core amp/cab tones. FX is a different story but thus the nature of FX. There is always more you -could- do with FX!
Click to expand...

I slightly disagree ;) Check on the old 5.00 thread, many people had to rebuild their presets - not only super-tweaked-presets ...
I think with 5.x, the amps itself sound better. With 4.x, I had to add many extras to get the punch, fatness and mid-focus what I wanted. Since 5.0, everything is generally at a better place.
But still, I'm thrilled to get the new thumb parameter ;) ..
 
If you use modifiers, envelope follower etc, 5.03 will corrupt your earlier firmware's preset's modifier parameter settings (not sure about 5.03's own modifier parameter values, can't use it for my needs, so I'm on 5.01 which is fine?).


Not sure about 5.02 due to another problem which 5.03 fixed, so it might be fine, or not in this regard).


They all sound great though.
 
MrPond said:
I would say: Wait for 6.0 and rebuild your amp sounds from scratch.
I had to rebuild my sounds completely from 4 to 5 .. but: It was easier to get what I wanted.
With 4.0, I spent months to tweak, also on many advanced parameters - with 5, I don't have to mess with that many parameters anymore :)

  • standard parameters
  • impedance curve
  • speaker drive
  • negative feedback
  • output type SS/poweramp

And that's it :)
Click to expand...
I'd like to think I'm better at creating patches now than back on the axefx2 many moons ago.... But I'll be realistic and say that the state of the FM3 in v5 is just so damn good it does a ton of the lifting!
 
So I took a chance and updated to 5.03 and my main presets I use on my gig sound the same and did not change. The only thing I had to do was raise the volume of my clean preset which was SHIVA. I had to raise it quite a bit to match my crunch presets. I use the Steve Stevens "ATOMIC PLAYBOY" for my hard rock power chord preset on my gigs and I use the Atomic Playboy lead preset for solos with a 3DD boost. So mission accomplished with no problems. My Main Power Chord preset sounds exactly the same to me which is a good thing. I should have recorded a before and after on my protools rig to compare. I have some songs I used the 4.0 on so I'll go recall them and plug in and compare the 5.03 to the 4.0 in a week or 2.
 
The nice thing about the Fractal units is if you do can easily a full backup. Then you can try the newer firmware and if you don't like it, rolling back is simple.
 
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