Mini review from former endorser...

jzucker

Experienced
So, this is my 4th foray into the fractal world. Started with axefx I, graduated to axefx ii, then ax8 (for live use) and now the FM3.

I soured on the AX8 after taking my rig over to a buddy's house and comparing my best fender presets to his BF and SF fender amps. Going through a pair of QSC K12 monitors, the fender amp just blew away the fractal in terms of vibe, reverb, feel, etc. At that time, using the AX8, I didn't feel the spring reverb really nailed the fender reverb and the whole rig (going through the FRFR) just didn't feel right to me for live playing.

A couple years went by, i had jumped back in hard with "real" amps, having bought an Amplified Nation Dirty Wonderland head (their version of the John Mayer Two Rock amp - and generally regarded as one of the best clean amps ever made) and assorted 1x12 cabs with Celestion Alnico 90 speakers...I was very happy with this rig. Sounded great for rehearsals and practicing and gigs, but it was VERY loud and hard to control for practice level playing and hard to get good recording results at low volumes.

I tried a few attenuators (UA Ox, Boss Waza) and hated the results, particularly for clean jazz tones.

So, recently - I went on a little clip exploration and was loving what I heard of the Axe III and FM3. I didn't think I needed the power of the Axe III, nor am I a fan of the form factor so I jumped in on the FM3.

One mistake I had made on the AX8 was to rely too much on AX8-Edit and I found myself lost a couple times on gigs and sessions where I didn't have an editor with me and needed to make changes to my preset layout.

So, I want to spend a few days learning to use the top panel of the FM3 prior to jumping back into the FM3-Edit. It took me about an hour before I got some of the rudiments down but fairly quickly was creating new presets, new layouts, etc.

This time around i'm doing things a little differently than I had before. I'm probably going to get a lot of criticism for this but I have gotten to the point where I just know that FRFR setups are not for me. I don't like the way they sound or feel so instead, I am running my FM3 into the effect return of a DVMark amplifier and then into 1 or 2 Mojotone Lite cabs with Celestion alnico 90 speakers. I am disabling the Cab block on the FM3 presets I'm using but would like to find a good solution for running cab blocks through FOH while having them disabled through out1/2. Looking at the setup it seems that's possible but haven't gotten there yet...

I started out with the princeton reverb, deluxe reverb and vibrolux reverb presets and began going back and forth between them and my Amplified Nation Rig through the same speakers. I didn't expect this but the clean sounds in the FM3 blew away the Amplified Nation amp. There was actually no comparison. More sparkle, shine and just made me want to play in the same way as the AN amp compared to my SS DVMark (without the FM3).

Additionally, unlike the AN amp, I could get a gorgeous sound at any volume level. I've always felt like the AN amp sounded great at gig levels but at rehearsal or practice levels it felt constricted. Not so with the FM3. As I was running through my pedalboard, I tried a few of my OD pedals through the FM3. I have a kingtone soloist, Gladio SC, Rockett Blue Note and Rockett Icon. They all sounded glorious through the FM3. Better even than the AN head. (At least at practice volume levels). I'm sure if you cranked up the power on the AN head, it would be a good match for the FM3 but at the lower levels, the Amplified Nation DID.NOT.COMPARE!

I keep the Rockett pedals set for just a slight boost and just a teeny bit of gain. For the most part, you don't know they are on except when you play 2 more more notes or hit something really hard and they are great for slamming the front end of a tube amp for some slight, natural sounding breakup. They work exactly the same with the FM3 as they do on my tube amp. Super sweet and surprising!

The Gladio SC and Kingtone sound amazing too. They both (subjectively) sound better going through the princeton/deluxe/vibrolux) presets than going through the amplified nation. The dumbleesque sound of the gladio SC going through the princeton was just stunning. Comparing it to running through the amplified nation head at practice levels was revealing. The real amp just did not compare once again...

I then tried running my kingsley maiden (a Dumble style preamp pedal with HV 12AX7) running through my DVMark head and with my UA Golden Reverberator. I compared that to the FM3 princeton and felt like the FM3 sounded better than the kingsley. I do like the sound of the Golden Reverberator though. I haven't really scratched the surface but was unable to get a plate reverb that I liked as much as the GR's plate...

So, last night I listed and sold the Amplified Nation head and the Kingsley Maiden. They are redundant, not as versatile and do not sound as good as the FM3 does at various volume levels.

I could use the princeton amp alone without any effects and never switch between scenes and I feel like it's already a huge improvement over what I was doing before. Once I integrate some scene switching it'll be even better.

A couple criticisms - some of which are likely due to not having hooked up an external editor and being a newbie to the FM3.

So far, I haven't bonded with any of the OD pedals. The zendrive just sounds weak to me compared to my real Gladio SC and the TS808 sounds weak compared to my Kingtone. I'm sure the reverbs and delays are killer based on past experience but I haven't found one yet that I like as well as my UA reverb and delay. I hope fractal considers adding a gladio SC pedal or perhaps once I learn to configure the modeled zendrive, I won't need it.

I feel like the top panel is a bit cumbersome and takes a lot of keystrokes and is a little too easy to accidentally jump to a different block when you are trying to edit but you can do what you need to do there. I also wish it had a touch screen. That would certain make block layout a little easier...I'll probably start playing around with FM3-Edit later this weekend but I'll never forget being stuck on a gig and spending 15 minutes trying to add an octave pedal to my Axefx II without an editor so I want to make sure I can do everything from the unit itself!

I also heard about some issues like the voltage on the Midi being too high and causing overheating problems on certain wireless midi devices and the fact that the USB-A connector cannot supply power. It would be nice if those issues were resolved.

I wish the outputs were muted during startup. Having it "pop" from the outputs is less than desireable. I understand you can easily circumvent this by powering the unit up prior to connecting but it would be better if the outputs were muted during initialization. Particularly the headphones. Setting out1 to zero output doesn't stop them headphones from getting a loud pop when the unit powers on. You need to make sure the FOH outputs are only connected after the unit powers on too which also can cause a pop during connection.

The headphone support isn't as good as it could be. I feel like there should be a low pass filter on them to cut off frequencies above 5k. It would be nice if you could apply this only to the headphones and not for all out1 connections.

However, overall this thing kills. I can't wait to get into it even more since I've barely scratched the surface.

Easily 9 out of 10 stars.
 
Even though I have an Axe III, I wasn't aware of the headphone "pop" when powering the unit on (and off), since I always grab my guitar while the unit is initializing, plug it in, then put on my headphones last, so I never heard it. So thanks for pointing that out. I'd have never known that otherwise, and I'd like my headphones to last as long as possible, so I guess I'll start unplugging them (at the risk of shifting the wear to the jack, lol), but like you said, it would be nice if Fractal addressed this issue.

It would be a convenience if they had a dedicated headphone output, in which you could EQ it differently than OUT 1. But barring that, you might want to set a Global EQ correction curve to flatten them (and cut whatever high frequencies you want), and then when using OUT 1, just remember to disable that EQ. I don't think it's that big of a deal to do that, as a work-around to not having a dedicated PHONE OUT.

You can find EQ correction curves for many headphones on github.com
 
That was a very comprehensive review. I will have look into the “pop” issue because I don’t recall that happening. That’s one thing I hate about powering up certain equipment. What firmware was being used for this testing? I’m glad to hear you have found the FM3 the same as I do. I’m an old timer and had dismissed all amp modeling until almost a year ago when I took the plunge with the FM3. I have been blown away since.

One question that is a bit personal, are you the jzucker that I remember from some other forum? (could be TGP, but feel it was something more obscure) I have outlawed most social media and forums for quite a few years. Too much idiocy for me. So far I have survived here at the Fractal forum. Anyway, I remember this jzucker was a great player and if I remember correctly had a published music theory or training book or video or something like that. It has been a while and I’m bit foggy. Regardless, glad to have you here and hope to see more posts from you. Thanks!
 
That was a very comprehensive review. I will have look into the “pop” issue because I don’t recall that happening. That’s one thing I hate about powering up certain equipment. What firmware was being used for this testing? I’m glad to hear you have found the FM3 the same as I do. I’m an old timer and had dismissed all amp modeling until almost a year ago when I took the plunge with the FM3. I have been blown away since.

One question that is a bit personal, are you the jzucker that I remember from some other forum? (could be TGP, but feel it was something more obscure) I have outlawed most social media and forums for quite a few years. Too much idiocy for me. So far I have survived here at the Fractal forum. Anyway, I remember this jzucker was a great player and if I remember correctly had a published music theory or training book or video or something like that. It has been a while and I’m bit foggy. Regardless, glad to have you here and hope to see more posts from you. Thanks!

yes, i'm the author of the sheets of sound for guitar series books and used to be a regular on TGP until it became filled with crazed, rabid posters who are only interested in one-upsmanship...
 
yes, i'm the author of the sheets of sound for guitar series books and used to be a regular on TGP until it became filled with crazed, rabid posters who are only interested in one-upsmanship...
Yes that's it! I remember now. I aways liked your playing and input. Yep, the patients run the asylum at TGP.
 
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yes, i'm the author of the sheets of sound for guitar series books and used to be a regular on TGP until it became filled with crazed, rabid posters who are only interested in one-upsmanship...

Hi JAZ, nice review, haven't seen you around much since the old Boogie-Talk email list days! :sunglasses:

I agree, the great thing about Fractal is that you get ideal amp sound by being able to dial the models into the sweet spot at any volume. And you don't have to deal with the vagaries of component variance, power fluctuations, and wear and tear. Finding a good monitoring solution is of course key, and QSC is good but not great. Sounds like you found what works for you.

I use a pair of Friedman ASM-12s myself, maybe some find them vulgar, but I sure enjoy 'em!

-Dave C
 
Hi JAZ, nice review, haven't seen you around much since the old Boogie-Talk email list days! :sunglasses:

I agree, the great thing about Fractal is that you get ideal amp sound by being able to dial the models into the sweet spot at any volume. And you don't have to deal with the vagaries of component variance, power fluctuations, and wear and tear. Finding a good monitoring solution is of course key, and QSC is good but not great. Sounds like you found what works for you.

I use a pair of Friedman ASM-12s myself, maybe some find them vulgar, but I sure enjoy 'em!

-Dave C

i'm just not a fan of FRFR speakers. I don't mind them for going into the house or recording obviously but to me, the weakest link of modelers is that piece. Going through a real speaker cabinet just sounds infinitely better than going through an IR and into an FRFR IMO. I also had an atomic CLR based rig at one time and didn't dig it so it's not just the QSC. Despite what folks claim about most of these FRFR rigs as being neutral, the ones I tried ALL imparted a sonic signature onto the sound. I mean it's pretty obvious. If they didn't you could just use the cheapest alto powered speaker and be done. But also, IMO there is no point in having a 20hz-20khz reference speaker if you are attempting to emulate the various historic fender, marshall, vox cabs since even an EV12L falls off extremely steeply above 5.5k. And they just don't sound like a real amplifier rig when you are playing in the room or live at a gig.
 
While I do have a FRFR setup that I love with my FM3, I'm gonna comment on how much I agree with the things you say about running it into a power amp and guitar cab; it totally blows me away. A while back I got together with a few pals to see how close we could get my FM3 to sound to their "real amps" running through the same speaker cab (tl806 with an ev12l). First we set up my pal's Morgan AC20. I thought we would get close, but I was wrong; we totally nailed it. And it didn't even take long, just a few minutes of tweaking. Then we did the same thing with my other pal's old BF Bassman. We were all in awe. Since then I've made a bunch of presets from many amp models and spend pretty much most of my free time jamming on amps that I'd probably never be able to find or afford. Currently I'm in absolute love with the Matchless DC30 preset I made and I'm positive I could live with it all by itself for the rest of my years.

A big thing for me is that I have a nice selection of speaker cabs and speakers, so it gives me the ability to get closer to the classic tones that are associated with certain amps. The 12l is a good all around choice, but my personal favorite is my ev SRO alnico, I just love the character of that speaker with every amp I've ever plugged into it (real or digital).

I think it'd be great for users to start sharing presets specifically for using without amp blocks into power amps. There may be some out there, but none that I've seen. I know there are a variety of power amps that folks use and each one has it's own set of tweaks that need to be made within the amp block, maybe that's why those types of presets aren't shared. Plus not everyone is going to use the same guitar cabs and speakers. I'd still be interested in trying some made by others, though.

Anyway, great review, very honest nicely written. Thanks for sharing!
 
While I do have a FRFR setup that I love with my FM3, I'm gonna comment on how much I agree with the things you say about running it into a power amp and guitar cab; it totally blows me away. A while back I got together with a few pals to see how close we could get my FM3 to sound to their "real amps" running through the same speaker cab (tl806 with an ev12l).
What power amp do you use?
 
If you like it with the Dv mark power, try it with a tube power Amp and roll back the Amp block speaker impedance curve resonances.
 
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