One thing I have noticed....

jrusidoff

jrusidoff

Member
I am about to enter the Fractal universe, most likely with an FM3 and one or two decent FRFRs as I plan to use it live.

I know this is probably "entry level" to most of you, but being an old guy with very limited resources, this is a big chunk o' change. But I have noticed a lot of discussions on this forum go something like this:

"So, used the Helix for a couple of years, then bought the Kemper and the Quad Cortex, but neither one of those can really capture my '68 Plexi or my '64 Vibroverb, so I bought the FX-III, but I leave that at home and just take either my FM3 or FM9 depending on how much firepower I need, and run it through a couple of my half-dozen FRFRs..."

Jeez....are you guys single lawyers or what???
 
Yup Some people have a lot of dispensible income apparently. Me, I'm just a guitar/amp/tone nut! :cool:
 
I did it because it was the budget option for what I needed.
The amp I wanted was 2500, was looking at another 1k in pedals. 1800 made sense.
 
The bassist from one band I used to play with once noticed that I wore multiple versions of the same type of shoes on a few gigs, and asked me about it. I told him I really liked the shoes, and had 4 pair. He has four kids, and told me anytime he bought 4 pairs of shoes, it was "here's your pair, here's your pair..." etc.

My wife and I have no kids. No kids == disposable income. :)
 
jrusidoff said:
I am about to enter the Fractal universe, most likely with an FM3 and one or two decent FRFRs as I plan to use it live.

I know this is probably "entry level" to most of you, but being an old guy with very limited resources, this is a big chunk o' change. But I have noticed a lot of discussions on this forum go something like this:

"So, used the Helix for a couple of years, then bought the Kemper and the Quad Cortex, but neither one of those can really capture my '68 Plexi or my '64 Vibroverb, so I bought the FX-III, but I leave that at home and just take either my FM3 or FM9 depending on how much firepower I need, and run it through a couple of my half-dozen FRFRs..."

Jeez....are you guys single lawyers or what???
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Heh, no lawyers in my house.

Fractal stuff's not cheap, which does bias this place towards relatively well off folks, but there's a range.

I see folks here with 12 PRS core guitars, tons of real amps, sports cars, etc, but that's not me, and they still let me in ;)

All are welcome, really, even low rent no-account old guys like me.
 
jrusidoff said:
I am about to enter the Fractal universe, most likely with an FM3 and one or two decent FRFRs as I plan to use it live.

I know this is probably "entry level" to most of you
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Not at all. Entry level would be some other brand's $500 modeler and the cheapest speakers you could find.

jrusidoff said:
, but being an old guy with very limited resources, this is a big chunk o' change.
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It's an investment, yes, and once you have it you'll wonder why you didn't buy it sooner. Seriously.

There are lots of "old guys" here, some approaching retirement, some post-retirement.

jrusidoff said:
"So, used the Helix for a couple of years, then bought the Kemper and the Quad Cortex, but neither one of those can really capture my '68 Plexi or my '64 Vibroverb, so I bought the FX-III, but I leave that at home and just take either my FM3 or FM9 depending on how much firepower I need, and run it through a couple of my half-dozen FRFRs..."
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Most people buy gear over a lifetime of playing, not all at once. They sell the gear they didn't like and recovered some money and invested it back into their gear. Over 30 years people go through a lot of gear and keep some of it.

It's not a competition, it's more like a learning experience.
 
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jrusidoff said:
go something like this
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You mean... guys like this? ;)
jrusidoff said:
Hello all...new to the forum.
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jrusidoff said:
I am a veteran guitar player who has owned vintage Fenders, Marshalls, Marshalls modded by Mike Soldano, Lab Series, you name it....as well as a flirtation with Kemper a few years ago. I have always loved the immediacy of a live guitar amp, but in the past years have not recorded a live amp as plugins and digital stuff is so much easier to get fantastic sounds without having the perfect room, million-dollar mics, etc. No argument there.
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jrusidoff said:
my current live rig is a Fender Tone Master Super Reverb, so as you can see there are no tubes involved. I feed some drive pedals into it and it's great.
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jrusidoff said:
When I had the Kemper, I tried all sorts of stuff, from sending the signal to a power amp and guitar cabinet (with cab sims off, of course) to several FRFRs (Headrush...not so good - Laney....much better)
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You've had a lot of gear yourself.
Enjoy the Fractal!
 
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md1234 said:
You mean... guys like this? ;)




You've had a lot of gear yourself.
Enjoy the Fractal!
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Ha! Greg,,,touche...however I was poking fun at those who have all these things together......all the stuff I have owned over my life is pretty much sequential...normally selling one thing to get another. I think that is the heart of why I am deciding to go Fractal. I know that if I have a nice Fender, I will want a Marshall, then a Soldano and even if I could afford the FX-III, it would actually be cheaper than trying to get all the actual amps themselves. Then, I would have to buy the pedals/effects. So, I am hoping that I can get my head around not having a real amp behind me after all these years.
 
jrusidoff said:
So, I am hoping that I can get my head around not having a real amp behind me after all these years.
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Oh, that happens really fast when you are at stage volume with the preset dialed in and the guitar reacting to your touch. I’ve had several Mesa amps, a good handful of Fenders, many vintage amps and still have several boutique amps, but I prefer the Fractals.
 
There are certainly some folks on gear forums who indeed are either extremely financially secure or extremely in debt!

I can't speak for everyone, but for me personally I flipped a bunch of gear chasing nothing in the end and figured out the hard way that the gear isn't what brings joy, it's the music. That said, my gear flip journey was mostly centered around saving up for the first bigger piece. After that point, with some diligence buying used/b-stock you aren't spending a ton as the sale of the last piece funds the next. Also, all money I generated off music was being put back into gear as I had/have a day job.

All that said...I'm pretty much 100% sold on Fractal gear at this point and will upgrade to the next gen unit when it comes out as I did from the AX8 to the FM3.
 
For me, it's like diet and portion control-I choose which battles to fight. For example, I visit McDonald's but not every day, and when I do, I don't super size it.

My car is over a decade old, but it's paid off. No car payment means I can spend on other things, like Fractal products and music gear, but my setups are still less elaborate than many others.

I'm not a gigging musician any more, but I have two FM3 units in two different rooms of my house because I like being able to have a great setup wherever I'm practicing, and the second FM3 I bought is a used unit.

Interestingly, when I think about it, the two pairs of FRFR monitors I use for the two units cost more than the two FM3 units, so even being a fan of Fractal since the original non-Ultra Axe-Fx I, not all my gear cash goes to Cliff and company
 
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goodwill559 said:
For me, it's like diet and portion control-I choose which battles to fight. For example, I visit McDonald's but not every day, and when I do, I don't super size it.

My car is over a decade old, but it's paid off. No car payment means I can spend on other things, like Fractal products and music gear, but my setups are still less elaborate than many others.

I'm not a gigging musician any more, but I have two FM3 units in two different rooms of my house because I like being able to have a great setup wherever I'm practicing, and the second FM3 I bought is a used unit.

Interestingly, when I think about it, the two pairs of FRFR monitors I use for the two units cost more than the two FM3 units, so even being a fan of Fractal since the original non-Ultra Axe-Fx I, not all my gear cash goes to Cliff and company
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A chicken in every pot, and an FM3 in every room.
Livin' the dream. :)
 
Getting whichever unit you can afford and same for the fr's you want will have more sounds and abilities beyond what you will ever use. I think sometimes people have the "I need more equipment" rather than fully exploring the capabilities of the one unit you decide is best for your pocketbook especially because the folks at Fractal are so awesome will the updates on the software parts of them. I never think my fm3 is not enough...
 
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