Neal Schon’s FM9

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guitarrob

Member
I’ve been setting up my FM9 for live use this week (had been using it for recording only since I’ve had it) and I happened to see a photo of Neal Schon’s FM9 onstage. I noticed that on his FM9, only two foot switches seemed active, one with green LED and one with red. What I read into this was that Neal was probaly using only two scenes, assuming that he is using scenes, one for rhythm and one for lead. This makes sense to me based on his old Journey rigs, as he primarily used only two sounds, and mixed in varying levels of verb and delay and stomping on his CS-3, wah and overdrive/distortion/fuzz choice for that day.

If somebody knows more about how he uses his FM9 (I do know that he uses the FM9 in conjunction into two Meyer wedges for his wet sound flanking EVH cabs, which are powered by EL34 EVH heads I believe for his dry sound) in terms of how he uses presets, scenes and foot switches, I’d be interested.

I’m trying to set up a preset and footswitch layout that is simple, bullet proof and easy to maneuver live. I sing a lot of backgrounds and often switch sounds right before, during or after singing - and I’m not the most coordinated guy, so I was fascinated to see Neal’s FM9.
 
Could be he’s using the songs feature?

Then the foot switch just moves up and down between sections of the song. Would be super easy
 
My guess is he is using "updated" versions on the presets he used way back to the ultra days. I know back then he was using a blackstar to power things up and I would guess the EVH fits in that space. Not sure if it is an effects unit or he gets his "sound" from it. Although he does record with a Fractal so it is likely. He does use the cabs on stage in his words "to feel it". Hit him up on facebook - he is very approachable.
 
He may have just dimmed the other LEDs so the brighter ones stand out more.

Personally, I have my LED’s color coded so even if I’m at the mic and need to change a scene, I can just look for a color out of the corner of my eye and I’m good to go. Crazy how long I went with a Ground Control Pro with no scribble strips and just a single, red LED letting me know where I was.
 
Many years ago, probably around 2008, I was given a tour of Neal's rig before a show. This predates his use of Fractal products. He was using a couple of heads, I believe that they were Hiwatts, much in the same capacity that he is using his EVH heads now. And for a modeler / effects unit, he was using a Boss GT-6 - the GT-8 was already out by then, but according to him, the GT-6 was superior.

He was using the GT-6 not only for effects but was using the primitive (at least compared to today's standards) amp modeling in the GT-6 as well. But the sound of the GT-6 onstage and in the audience was monstrous!

And I remember that his tech told me that he really only used two or three patches on the GT-6. Anything else he needed came from pedals in front. Judging by what his rig looks like these days, I'm imagining that most of the gear has changed (not the Boss CS-3), but his philosophy appears to have remained in-tact.

So remembering this, based on my seeing the recent Schon rig photo has inspired me to make my live patch consisting of just three scenes and nothing else to keep it fool-proof. Otherwise, I would have probably have built another kitchen sink preset with 6+ scenes and a few instant access switches, most of which I would never use. I know I can do a gig with three basic sounds. This will keep me from hitting the wrong switch at the wrong time, and best of all, will make it so I don't have to think, just play.
 
This is true, but knowing Neal's past practices, I think it's a solid guess, that he's just using two different amp models as if the
FM9 were a two channel amp, plus time based effects from the FM9 mixed in via expression pedals and drive, his trusty Boss CS-3, wah and fuzz in front of the FM9. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong.

If Cooper Carter can chime in, since I believe he actually helped Neal with his system, that would be awesome.

I built a preset today based on this concept and man, I'm really enjoying it. Just two amps, semi- clean (AC20 12AX7 Treble) and dirty (Friedman HBE V3) with a little plate verb. I always felt like I had to make use of all the blocks I could get under the CPU limit and every available footswitch in order to maximize each preset, but in the end, I feel like I was over complicating things and making it difficult for myself live.

I will probably end up with a preset that is somewhere in between, but I will only include blocks that I'm sure to use and will keep the available footswitches to a minimum. Valuable lesson learned.
 
Neal really seems to cover the bases with digital gear. In a new YT video, he talks about using a Kemper exclusively for the new Journey album that comes out next week - find his comments around the 11 minute mark.

Live, I believe he still favors Fractal along with his EVH amps. Listening to a few of the songs already released from the new CD, I can't say that I love the Kemper tones, but I think his playing, as always, is superb.

 
We have four scenes in Neal's live FM9 preset, along with various effects on IA switches.

In the photo I posted, you're seeing two buttons because that's the Looper layout. You're seeing REC and PLAY. All the other rings are dimmed down to min value for clarity onstage.
 
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Cooper Carter said:
We have four scenes in Neal's live FM9 preset, along with various effects on IA switches.

In the photo I posted, you're seeing two buttons because that's the Looper layout. You're seeing REC and PLAY. All the other rings are dimmed down to min value for clarity onstage.
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Thank you for the clarification Cooper! That’s interesting to know. I’m assuming he does most, if not all of the show on this one preset? My guess would clean, semi-clean, distorted rhythm, and lead for his four scenes? At any rate, his live tone, when I saw Journey in several months ago was stellar - one of the best live mixes I’ve heard ever at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
 
guitarrob said:
Thank you for the clarification Cooper! That’s interesting to know. I’m assuming he does most, if not all of the show on this one preset? My guess would clean, semi-clean, distorted rhythm, and lead for his four scenes? At any rate, his live tone, when I saw Journey in several months ago was stellar - one of the best live mixes I’ve heard ever at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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🙏🏻🤘🏻 Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, one preset for the whole show. It's more like semi clean and four flavors of big, driven tones. He uses the volume knob a lot to get a ton of mileage out of any one setting.
 
Can anyone speak to what he's doing in the videos he posts on Facebook? His reverbs and delays are insanely deep sounding.

Edit: by "doing" I mean in terms of gear and, if it's Fractal, what blocks/routing he's using.
 
Cooper Carter said:
🙏🏻🤘🏻 Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, one preset for the whole show. It's more like semi clean and four flavors of big, driven tones. He uses the volume knob a lot to get a ton of mileage out of any one setting.
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Thanks for the info Cooper. I've never noticed Neal's volume knob usage so much, but based on your comments, I watched this YT video of his solos from various shows in 2022, and sure enough, like you said, he is constantly manipulating the volume knob on his guitars. Any chance you could tell us which amp models he is using in his preset?

 
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