Genghis
Power User
It arrived last night and for those of you still waiting, it is well worth the wait. It is amazing! Everything I expected and a bit more. Looks great in person, probably better than the pics show you, but I know we don't buy this thing to look at.
I'll start with my only complaint... I think all of the cab packs I have accumulated through the years are pretty much obsolete. Not only are there a wide variety of stock cabs to choose from, it seems that they chose a lot of the best from a lot of different sources. With the ability to mix up to four different cabs in the block, adjust distance and proximity, and the level of each compared to the other, I don't think there is any need to even browse through user cabs any more, unless you're one of those guys with a very specific cab of your own, and the resources to take an impulse of your cab.
I'm really not a preset kind of guy, but I go for a particular layout for some of the standard variations and I started out on preset 000 and played just long enough to know that I hooked everything up and then started replacing the amps and rearranging the grid to my liking. I do some presets for specific odd stuff, but for the main performance presets I like 4 scenes per preset at the minimum and sometimes a 5th for something different:
Once I got those two core tones down, time to go to the effects. We all have preferences, but I tend to like delay and reverb in parallel so I rearranged that part of the grid for parallel and changed both of the blocks to my liking... for now. I may do a bit more later on those but it's a great starting point. Very light and short reverb on rhythm, and kick on delay as well for leads.
On to the clean... Fender Twin for this one. What else? For now, I didn't even change channels on the cab block, but it sounds killer. Later, I'll probably switch that to channel B and try a few cabs that are more designed for that sound, but I'm happy so far.
That new chorus type is great on the cleans. I dialed that in and adjusted it to my liking. Also switched over to a different reverb, as I like my cleans to drip a little more than my dirt sounds.
So,, for Channel 4, I picked the Badger 30 and dialed in a nice light crunch tone that breaks up nicely. I have a drive I can kick in if I want a little more, but this thing is nice.
I still have to dig out a MIDI cable and hook up the MFC, but so far so good. No noticeable gap when you reach over and change Scenes.
And the UI... well thought out short cuts, but still familiar to any of us who have been using Fractal for awhile. I have to admit I haven't even looked at the manual, but I imagine I could save a little time by perusing it for tips. Pretty easy to figure out if you've done it on a II or even a first-gen unit. Just much more user friendly with the extra knobs and push buttons below the screen.
All in all, this thing is great. Just need to start listing some of the old gear now, but I think many of us are thinking the same thing on that.
I'll start with my only complaint... I think all of the cab packs I have accumulated through the years are pretty much obsolete. Not only are there a wide variety of stock cabs to choose from, it seems that they chose a lot of the best from a lot of different sources. With the ability to mix up to four different cabs in the block, adjust distance and proximity, and the level of each compared to the other, I don't think there is any need to even browse through user cabs any more, unless you're one of those guys with a very specific cab of your own, and the resources to take an impulse of your cab.
I'm really not a preset kind of guy, but I go for a particular layout for some of the standard variations and I started out on preset 000 and played just long enough to know that I hooked everything up and then started replacing the amps and rearranging the grid to my liking. I do some presets for specific odd stuff, but for the main performance presets I like 4 scenes per preset at the minimum and sometimes a 5th for something different:
- Heavy Rhythm
- Hi-Gain Lead
- Clean
- Lo-Gain Lead
Once I got those two core tones down, time to go to the effects. We all have preferences, but I tend to like delay and reverb in parallel so I rearranged that part of the grid for parallel and changed both of the blocks to my liking... for now. I may do a bit more later on those but it's a great starting point. Very light and short reverb on rhythm, and kick on delay as well for leads.
On to the clean... Fender Twin for this one. What else? For now, I didn't even change channels on the cab block, but it sounds killer. Later, I'll probably switch that to channel B and try a few cabs that are more designed for that sound, but I'm happy so far.
That new chorus type is great on the cleans. I dialed that in and adjusted it to my liking. Also switched over to a different reverb, as I like my cleans to drip a little more than my dirt sounds.
So,, for Channel 4, I picked the Badger 30 and dialed in a nice light crunch tone that breaks up nicely. I have a drive I can kick in if I want a little more, but this thing is nice.
I still have to dig out a MIDI cable and hook up the MFC, but so far so good. No noticeable gap when you reach over and change Scenes.
And the UI... well thought out short cuts, but still familiar to any of us who have been using Fractal for awhile. I have to admit I haven't even looked at the manual, but I imagine I could save a little time by perusing it for tips. Pretty easy to figure out if you've done it on a II or even a first-gen unit. Just much more user friendly with the extra knobs and push buttons below the screen.
All in all, this thing is great. Just need to start listing some of the old gear now, but I think many of us are thinking the same thing on that.
