My reaction after taking a break

Status
Not open for further replies.
GuyJames

GuyJames

Inspired
So I haven’t had my FM3 for around 2 months since I left the country Dec 27 for a military band deployment. I took my HX stomp with me as a backup in the event the FM3 didn’t arrive in a timely manner on the military pallet transportation system we use for moving gear on deployments.

Well…. The pallet didn’t come until two days ago so I was using the HX stomp with great success in the meantime. I have to say the Line 6 stuff has really caught up imo. Reason I say this is because I was happy to have the FM3 back but after my gig tonight I don’t know what else to say except I thought my FM3 sounded like garbage.

I’ve been a victim of option paralysis and have tweaked the fractal products into the wee hours of mornings and it’s like I’m never really satisfied. With the HX stomp the Mesa Mark V clean model was like 100% exactly the clean pedal platform tone I like and I was able to get a really great sound from it.

I just feel like I’ve gotta start over with the fm3 and ditch some of the fluff I’ve adopted like multiband comp after the amp to tame lows and another compressor after that as a “post amp studio sweetener”. Stuff like that isn’t used in analog guitar chains anyway. Sure we can bring the studio to the stage but… I’m going to try and simplify things a bit and see if I get more satisfaction.
 
I think it’s important to dial in tone within the context for which they’re used.

That being said, if you’re stoked on the line six stuff then why fight it?

I have never likeed the line six products even though and I had a few but never bonded with them.

Needless to say, I will never buy any line six stuff ever again.
 
GuyJames said:
I just feel like I’ve gotta start over with the fm3 and ditch some of the fluff I’ve adopted like multiband comp after the amp to tame lows and another compressor after that as a “post amp studio sweetener
Click to expand...
Errors like that is why I have a "default" scene on every preset which has only amp and cab blocks enabled with default settings. Everything else is off, maybe a little delay 10% mix if the sound feels too dry. No fancy amp tweaks, no compressors, most knobs at 5.
This is my reality check. After every major edit I switch to this scene and make sure I didn't overdo stuff.
I cannot listen to my early presets, they are just plain garbage 🗑️ :) I keep them as a reminder!
 
wesleyamltd said:
That being said, if you’re stoked on the line six stuff then why fight it?
Click to expand...
This ^^

I’ll never understand why, when a person has a sound they really like, they ignore that and keep chasing making something else sound as good. It’s no slam to Fractal Products; some of the best players in the world (and a lot of us regular guys) get stellar tones from the FM pedals, so it isn’t the product. But nothing works for everyone, and some people find their tone elsewhere. Why look farther if you found what you want?

Making music is the point, and if you’re inspired on whatever you’re playing, then play that!
 
If it works and sounds good to you that is the important part, whether FAS or the Helix. Most of my presets are wah-effect-drive-amp-cab-effect-delay-reverb. Just like I did before when lugging around a real amp/cab.

Sometimes taking a step back and looking at what you need and use surprises us.
 
If you used to have a Helix, you probably still own Helix Native. Take it for a spin with your current guitars and brain, see how it feels. You already know the landscape, you can jump right in. Give it a couple weeks maybe, then decide.

Or keep them both? I don't have the time to totally sculpt even one of these deep devices, much less two, but you could.
 
wesleyamltd said:
I think it’s important to dial in tone within the context for which they’re used.

That being said, if you’re stoked on the line six stuff then why fight it?

I have never likeed the line six products even though and I had a few but never bonded with them.

Needless to say, I will never buy any line six stuff ever again.
Click to expand...
The HX stomp is a great back up option since it can fit in a small bag but I totally understand your stance on not having a desire to use line 6 stuff. It’s never been my idea of Great which is why I’m weirded out that I’m enjoying it more than the FM3 at the moment.
 
Chromatizm said:
Errors like that is why I have a "default" scene on every preset which has only amp and cab blocks enabled with default settings. Everything else is off, maybe a little delay 10% mix if the sound feels too dry. No fancy amp tweaks, no compressors, most knobs at 5.
This is my reality check. After every major edit I switch to this scene and make sure I didn't overdo stuff.
I cannot listen to my early presets, they are just plain garbage 🗑️ :) I keep them as a reminder!
Click to expand...
That’s a good point and method to make sure you aren’t trying to tweak an amp to be something it’s not intended to be.
 
Joshua_L said:
I think the IR (s) is the most crucial component in a modeler.
Check if you can have the same ir
Click to expand...
I’ll double check but I think it’s the same as I’ve been running the same YA ir’s for awhile now. I think I’m just using too much compression on the FM3. Something just felt “boxy” sounding to it with not enough sag.

Monitoring is everything to… mind you I’m stuck using a single qsc k10 for this tour 😪
 
Rick said:
This ^^

I’ll never understand why, when a person has a sound they really like, they ignore that and keep chasing making something else sound as good. It’s no slam to Fractal Products; some of the best players in the world (and a lot of us regular guys) get stellar tones from the FM pedals, so it isn’t the product. But nothing works for everyone, and some people find their tone elsewhere. Why look farther if you found what you want?

Making music is the point, and if you’re inspired on whatever you’re playing, then play that!
Click to expand...
The fractal modulation effects are insanely good. I have no doubt I can can this sorted out but it was a wake up call for me.
 
What probably happened is your ears adjusted to the sound you get with the Helix so now the FM3 sounds "weird". Spend 2 months with the FM3 and turn on the helix, and you'll probably have the same experience.

The good news is you own both and it sounds like you don't need to sell either. Enjoy the options!
 
I had the exact opposite experience. 5 minutes after getting my first Fractal unit I had a more realistic AC30 tone than I had ever gotten after 5 years of tweaking with Helix, simply by pulling up the Fractal AC30 on default settings and picking the stock 57+121 factory IRs. No EQ, no high/low cuts, no tweaking to get the high end right, just effortless natural accurate tones.

The artist I work for uses Helix because that's what I was using in 2018 so they made the switch for the whole band, and every time I boot up that unit during production rehearsals or at a show I can't believe how sterile it sounds on the factory presets and the presets I spent years dialing in. It's insane to me that the original amp models never get updated, even as they release newer amp models with "better" modeling.

Just like the endless tweaking to get the high end right on the amps, on the wet fx I'm constantly tweaking things to get the mix right, whereas on Fractal everything effortlessly blends together and sits well with the dry, just like with real amps & pedals or plugins. The quality of Fractal's wet fx are so much better too, particularly the reverbs; Helix's reverbs are a joke by comparison and the latest algorithms use a ridiculous amount of the DSP.

Also no multiple parallel paths, fixed linear signal path, no block bypass dry through options, buggy annual firmware releases, no block channels, the editor GUI is terrible i.e. the parameters are bars that extend the entire length of the window instead of the industry standard knobs/faders. As a result you're able to display far fewer parameters at once in the window which requires scrolling down, which would be fine except that the parameter values are also affected by scrolling with the mouse so unless you scroll in a certain tiny area on the right side of the window when you try to scroll down you mess up the parameter values, etc....
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom