Should I sell everything to fund a Fractal?

Chrose1201 said:
I have been going back and forth on this forever.....I am watching all the videos, reading posts I have so much to learn as to why I want/need one of these...

I will have a ton of questions for the forum(s), and am doing my research however so I don't ask the already asked questions. But here's one I haven't seen yet;
Question: Should I sell all my pedals to fund the FM3? We're talking Power Grid, Buffer Bay, several OD's, assorted other pedals. All told they add up to just shy (minus the fees of course) of a new FM3.
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I understand all these effects are in the FM3, but should I get rid of all my pedals??
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I have an AxeFx III and since I bought it exactly one year ago I haven't used any of my pedals. Most of my pedals are boutique and sound great but the Axe slays them all. It was daunting at first but after I learned how to use it it's actually much easier to dial in the tones than with individual pedals. Also there's no patch and power supply cables to worry about either. The only reason I don't sell them is because I'm too lazy to break up my pedalboards and put them online. Grant it there are some people that went back to pedalboards so it's best to get a Fractal and see if you like it before you sell your pedals.
 
Chrose1201 said:
Considering how far modeling has come
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... and Fractal is in a league of its own. I've owned all the modelers from everywhere in the universe. (Slight exaggeration, but not too far off.) I have thrice tried a completely different road over the past 10-12 years, spending embarrassingly insane amounts of money, and come back to the Axe-FX each time. I've owned amp heads; sold and later re-purchased the UA OX; I own a brand new REVV Generator 120 MK3 which I love... and the list goes on and on. Nothing touches the Axe-FX 3, the FM9T, and I'm sure the FM3 if I owned one. It's just not even close. It kind of sucks to own a Fractal, because I'm ruined for life. :p
 
I wouldn’t sell everything. The Fractal is amazing but also limiting if you’re in a situation where an amp and cabinet is more practical.
 
Chrose1201 said:
Just out of curiosity when would you consider an amp and cabinet more practical? Thanks!
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Filling in for a band, playing a room with house sound where patching in an in ear rig is not practical. In my situation I can go direct and monitor with in ears 90% of the time.
 
I was getting frustrated with a huge pedalboard with midi control, an amp that most venues would not let me turn up, a heavy cab that I had to lug everywhere. I got the AX8 and used to use both my analog and digital gear. Once I sold the AX8 and got the Axe Fx III , especially after the first Cygnus firmware, I sold everything else. I was getting consistently great tones every time I turned the Axe on, that I couldn't quite get with all the analog gear.
Earlier this year, I built another small analog pedal board for some fly dates. Struggled with it, couldn't get all my sounds at the press of a button like I was used to. Got back from those gigs and sold all of it and bought an FM3.
 
It is a matter of personal taste and use.

In my case - I've switched to modelling 20 years ago (now to Fractal) and only got my self-built tube head left.
With Fractal I really don't need anything else.
Have same and consistent sound at rehearsal and home or for gigs.
I actually use a 2x12 with coaxial PA sepakers that sounds really close to the FRFR at home.
So if you ask, is there a need of other stuff than a Fractal - no.
If you want to use pedals and amp in additon or for a special, personal situation or taste - do it.

I only carry my FM3 around and poweramp and cab says at rehearsal and at home I use FRFRs and monitors for recording - done.
 
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Keep the pedals if its for nostalgic reasons, or if you dont want to put all the eggs in one basket (FM3), or if they're an investment that might get increased resell value. Sound wise there is no reason to keep a bunch of physical gear i my opinion, so I would not hesitate to sell it all :)
All I own is the FM3 + a matrix FRFR speaker.
 
This is how I see it:

Pedals:
  • Specific flavor of an effect that might be just right for you.
  • Dedicated knobs and switches for almost everything. Grab and adjust as needed.
  • Curated experience. A lot of pedals might do a lot under the surface but the controls are simple to figure out.
  • Simplicity. What you see is what you get.
  • Resale value. Some pedals keep their value quite well especially if you bought them used.
  • But if the pedal is no longer popular or is obscure to begin with then it will often need to be sold cheap. Pedal buyers are fickle.
  • Cost. My current, mostly Strymon pedalboard costs a lot more than a FM3! Obviously this depends a lot on what you buy, used or new and boutique or not.
  • Space taken. With enough pedals you have a board much larger than a FM3.
  • Routing changes. Patch cables, having to physically rearrange the pedals.
  • Switching multiple pedals with one button. Needs MIDI or a loop switcher.
  • Presets are hard to manage if there are no displays, handling of this varies by pedal brand.
  • Parallel routing. A/B/Y boxes, parallel mixers are all expensive and take space.
  • Power supplies are expensive.

FM3:
  • Huge variety of effects and tweakability.
  • World class amp/cab modeling.
  • Output to a variety of devices including headphones for late night jamming.
  • Routing is easy to manage as it's all virtual.
  • Parallel routing could not be easier.
  • Switching is easy thanks to scenes.
  • Super easy to record.
  • Doesn't take a whole lot of space.
  • Resale value. It's fine until Fractal releases a next gen unit. We don't know when that will happen but it will most likely be several years from now.
  • Effects adjustment. For example it's easy to manage a multi-head tape delay on my Strymon Volante, but a lot more complicated to do on the Fractal Multitap Delay block. The tones are there, it's just not as fast to adjust compared to an effect built for a specific thing because Fractal involves a lot more navigation whereas the Volante has dedicated knobs/switches for most of this stuff. Fractal allows for finer grained and more complex control but it comes at the expense of speed and complexity.
  • Navigation. Getting where you want takes more time than pushing a button on a pedal or turning a knob on it. The more pre-programmed you have the Fractal, the better time you will have.
  • Limited onboard switching without adding extra gear, whether it's some simple dual footswitch, a MIDI controller or a Fractal FC6/12.

I don't think it's an easy decision. I have an Axe-Fx 3 but also own a FM3. I have several times considered if I should sell the FM3 and keep my pedalboard, or sell my pedals and keep the FM3. I am still undecided as both approaches have pros and cons and both sound great. If I did NOT have an Axe-Fx 3 as well, it would easily make me keep the FM3 though.
 
DON’T buy it on credit and YES, sell all your pedals to buy it. I kept all my pedals, but literally haven’t used any of them for more than a couple minutes in the over four years since I got my Axe Fx III (then my FM3 2 years ago).

It’s just SOOOoo easy and convenient to do everything inside the FM3. There’s no pedal you have that’s so unique that you can’t approximate it in the FM3. You think you’ll end up incorporating them with the FM3; in front or in the loop, but you never do, unless you don’t mind having those extra cables, having to power them, and having to incorporate them into each preset.
 
laxu said:
This is how I see it:

Pedals:
  • Specific flavor of an effect that might be just right for you.
  • Dedicated knobs and switches for almost everything. Grab and adjust as needed.
  • Curated experience. A lot of pedals might do a lot under the surface but the controls are simple to figure out.
  • Simplicity. What you see is what you get.
  • Resale value. Some pedals keep their value quite well especially if you bought them used.
  • But if the pedal is no longer popular or is obscure to begin with then it will often need to be sold cheap. Pedal buyers are fickle.
  • Cost. My current, mostly Strymon pedalboard costs a lot more than a FM3! Obviously this depends a lot on what you buy, used or new and boutique or not.
  • Space taken. With enough pedals you have a board much larger than a FM3.
  • Routing changes. Patch cables, having to physically rearrange the pedals.
  • Switching multiple pedals with one button. Needs MIDI or a loop switcher.
  • Presets are hard to manage if there are no displays, handling of this varies by pedal brand.
  • Parallel routing. A/B/Y boxes, parallel mixers are all expensive and take space.
  • Power supplies are expensive.

FM3:
  • Huge variety of effects and tweakability.
  • World class amp/cab modeling.
  • Output to a variety of devices including headphones for late night jamming.
  • Routing is easy to manage as it's all virtual.
  • Parallel routing could not be easier.
  • Switching is easy thanks to scenes.
  • Super easy to record.
  • Doesn't take a whole lot of space.
  • Resale value. It's fine until Fractal releases a next gen unit. We don't know when that will happen but it will most likely be several years from now.
  • Effects adjustment. For example it's easy to manage a multi-head tape delay on my Strymon Volante, but a lot more complicated to do on the Fractal Multitap Delay block. The tones are there, it's just not as fast to adjust compared to an effect built for a specific thing because Fractal involves a lot more navigation whereas the Volante has dedicated knobs/switches for most of this stuff. Fractal allows for finer grained and more complex control but it comes at the expense of speed and complexity.
  • Navigation. Getting where you want takes more time than pushing a button on a pedal or turning a knob on it. The more pre-programmed you have the Fractal, the better time you will have.
  • Limited onboard switching without adding extra gear, whether it's some simple dual footswitch, a MIDI controller or a Fractal FC6/12.

I don't think it's an easy decision. I have an Axe-Fx 3 but also own a FM3. I have several times considered if I should sell the FM3 and keep my pedalboard, or sell my pedals and keep the FM3. I am still undecided as both approaches have pros and cons and both sound great. If I did NOT have an Axe-Fx 3 as well, it would easily make me keep the FM3 though.
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Excellent summary!
 
If you are willing to put in the time and effort to learn how to use the unit and have a quality speaker solution (FRFR, good monitors/headphones, or a power amp and guitar cab) then yes. It will take some work to get the unit customized to your rig, guitars, and workflow, but you can get great tones right out of the box and building basic presets to jam is not difficult. If you are a tweaker, then you will be in heaven. This is also the best possible education you can get on amps and effects as you can basically simulate any kind of signal chain imaginable and virtually modify amps in countless ways. I’ve learned more about amps, mics, cabs, and pedals from using Fractal units than I ever could have playing a traditional rig.
 
Chrose1201 said:
I can wrap my head around modeling. Let's put it this way. When I got back into gigging about 15 years ago I sarted out with a Line 6. I loved the options I had but it wasn't a real amp to me being all SS. I then went to a Peavey Vyyper hybrid which was great except that the SS part through the pedal kept cutting out. The good part was there wasn't any tube warmup needed you could turn it right back on. But it wasn't the organic tube feel I was craving. I went through a Mesa Boogie and then settled on a Friedman Dirty Shirley. The amp is amazing, but I can never seem to find a nice smooth tone that I crave. Considering how far modeling has come, and that fact that I play in a cover band and will never be better than the average player I am. So then I see nothing wrong with modeling if it gets me where I want to be!
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Do it. Straddling the fence can hurt the juevos if you sit there too long. If you have a Dirty Shirley then worst thing you did was replace your pedals with one pedal that has them (you stated) and more in it. Best case you find out you like the amp models too. Advantage is you can run a line to that shirley as just effects or use it for the amp in the room feel or best case realize you don't need to carry the weight of the amp anymore. Or do like someone said buy it on credit try it return it. If you are in Maine welcome to come up to visit for a spell and try out my 3. If not if I fly into your area welcome to try it that way too.
 
bebaldwin said:
I have an AxeFx III and since I bought it exactly one year ago I haven't used any of my pedals. Most of my pedals are boutique and sound great but the Axe slays them all. It was daunting at first but after I learned how to use it it's actually much easier to dial in the tones than with individual pedals. Also there's no patch and power supply cables to worry about either. The only reason I don't sell them is because I'm too lazy to break up my pedalboards and put them online. Grant it there are some people that went back to pedalboards so it's best to get a Fractal and see if you like it before you sell your pedals.
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similar boat for me. I still have all my stuff setup. Never turn it on. I use my Axe. The biggest reward for buying the Axe Fx 3 is genuinely how much money I have saved since. I would have bought more amps and more cool looking boutique pedals for funsies. Now I have too much fun twisting knobs in the Axe Fx and the convenience of reordering things without pysically bending and using plugs is win win also. It has been over a year and I see no signs of it changing. I have my "use" rigs dialed and an entire playground of amps and effects not to mention an airplane hanger full of IR cabinets inside that little box. It just struck me I should use that money I saved to buy more guitars I don't need. Now... to explain that to the wifey.
 
Chrose1201 said:
Question: Should I sell all my pedals to fund the FM3?
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I did - in reverse. I bought the Axe FX II, then got rid of everything I didn't use anymore. After a few months I only had the Axe FX left.
So the short answer is, as stated by others above - Yes!
 
I have a friend that I've been trying to slap this same sense in to. He has a TON of old outboard gear, synths, effects, and a Princeton amp that he no longer uses and I've been telling him to sell it all off and get an Axe3 for about the last 2 years. He's been sharing my Bias FX plugin since its the most convenient for him, but I told him it sucks big time compared to Fractal and that he needs to cash out the outboard and can be set up likely for the rest of his playing days. He even had the chance to buy my FM3 for a "mates-rate" when I went up to the FM9 but he procrastinated and missed out.

Fractal is the best musical investment I've made in the last 20 odd years of playing, hands down. I've sold off all my old pedals except my old Ibanez TS808 (which I've kept hold of all these years more for sentiment than anything) even though I direct A/B'd it with the Fractal TS808 using a loop patch and I could hear zero difference between the two and have no realistic compulsion to ever own an Amp or pedals again. Unless I win the lottery or something in which case it would be a gross over-indulgence just because I could and would be as well as a Fractal.


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I don’t know if this will help any. It would always be best to not have to sell something you like in order to afford something else. However…
My personal experience:
  • Been playing for a long time
  • Have used every type of multi-fx, and miscellaneous gadgets
  • Have and can use a DAW for recording
  • Have, used and programmed synth workstations
  • Understand Midi
  • All the above I can do, but by no means a super duper expert
  • Tried modeling 20 odd years ago and hated it
  • Sniffed around computer based modeling off and on as the tech progressed (never could get along)
  • Had known about Fractal for awhile, but mostly knew about the AxeFX II and III…and still modeling.
  • Wanted to downsize my rig
  • During the lock down looked into Fractal more seriously and saw the FM3 and thought the pricing and form factor was just right.
  • Did all sorts of research and was convinced the main thing I hated (latency) was not an issue and little did I know how the other thing I disliked (the tactile feel) was going to blow me away. (Has only gotten better with firmware updates)
  • Pulled the trigger and have found it to be the BEST money I ever spent on a piece of guitar gear (No exaggeration, and I’ve spent large amounts of money)
And to wrap around to the beginning and somewhat contradict myself. Now that the FM3 is paid for I have a bunch of pedals and gear that have a 1/4” of dust on them that I should sell, but don’t have the motivation to do it. Some of the gear has a nostalgic appeal, but that really isn’t a logical reason not to sell something. We can’t take the stuff with us in the end.
 
Fragleader said:
Do it. Straddling the fence can hurt the juevos if you sit there too long. If you have a Dirty Shirley then worst thing you did was replace your pedals with one pedal that has them (you stated) and more in it. Best case you find out you like the amp models too. Advantage is you can run a line to that shirley as just effects or use it for the amp in the room feel or best case realize you don't need to carry the weight of the amp anymore. Or do like someone said buy it on credit try it return it. If you are in Maine welcome to come up to visit for a spell and try out my 3. If not if I fly into your area welcome to try it that way too.
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Love Maine! Visited there for Xmas a few years back. We kind of liked Bangor, but who knows? If you happen to get to Rochester, NY with your Fractal look me up :) and thanks!
 
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