Should I sell everything to fund a Fractal?

Holy mackeral Andy! What responses. The fact of the matter is I am a tone chaser, but only because I can never quite dial in what I am looking for. I have a tin ear which frankly doesn't help. I am not in love with pedals, to me they are tools, a means to an end. I also only play covers, I really don't write much, so I have no need for the amazing things that these pedals can do! In my hands they don't sound as amazing as the people demo'g them! I am also not a tweaker, I am a pretty simple guy. I would likely find the presets that serve my needs and get me started. Then I could start to play around. There are a ton of reasons not to keep the pedals and only a couple in favor of them. I think I am going to pull the trigger, then sell off what I don't need after the fact. Now I guess I need to start a new thread to get my other questions answered! Thanks to ALL of you that took the time for great and often funny answers!
 
I would say do it, I recently made that decision for myself and haven’t looked back. I’m pretty much a tube snob so I wrote off anything digital from any company since they started to become popular, but as I’m getting older I’m getting tired of dragging amps, effect racks, cabs and guitars to shows where nobody will notice if my tone is on point or not. So I took the plunge and I leave my Bogner at home and while it’s different I definitely don’t feel like I’m sacrificing anything. The guys in my band actually seem to prefer the fm3 so for the ease of setup and carry I’ll be sticking with it. Good luck to you if you try it.
 
Chrose1201 said:
I think I am going to pull the trigger, then sell off what I don't need after the fact.
Click to expand...
You have choosen.... wisely.
I sold most of my pedals within a couple months of getting the FM3. Kept a couple JHS pedals just in case I need to go into an amp. Also bought a couple of pedals but only because they are National Park edition Walrus Audio pedals and I'm really into hiking. No plans to get any other pedals and still thinking about selling my last tube amp; Marshall Origin 20. Not missing my Mesa's, Whammy, TC Electronic pedals etc.
 
I've told my story elsewhere, so here is the radio edit... bought an AxeFX II (many years ago when it was the flagship model). Immediately pared down my pedalboard to just three pedals that the AxeFX didn't have as models. Three months later, they were included in a FW update and I got rid of them. The last holdout of my old rig was a Mesa Boogie Lonestar amp, which I had put a lot of work into, upgrading critical components with very narrow tolerance replacements. One of the FW updates made significant changes to the Lonestar model, and I was blown away. Sold the amp. I'm now running an AxeFX III as my main rig, and an FM3 as my fly rig. The only pedal that I added to my rig is a Digitech Freqout, which is hidden in the back of my rack on an effects loop in the AxeFX III. At some point, I expect Fractal will add that to the effects models, and I'll remove it.
So, should you take the plunge? I'd say yes. I retroactively funded the AxeFX II when I sold my pedals. Came out ahead actually. The AxeFX III was offset by the sale of the Lonestar, and then I sold my gently used AxeFX II, adding to the positive balance.

It's a brilliant piece of equipment. For the price of a single boutique amp, you will have HUNDREDS of them, plus HUNDREDS of cabinets, and HUNDREDS of effects. All in a happy solid-state magic machine that receives free updates on a regular basis. If you are uncertain about whether it's "for you", just look at the endorsing artists on Fractal's web site. Those musicians play in a very wide array of music styles, are all known for having killer tone, and they can have any guitar gear they want. And they use Fractal. That was what convinced me when I was on the fence 10+ years ago. This community of Fractaloids is amazing. You will find answers, inspiration, and plenty of goofball nerdy humor here.
 
Which specific pedals? If they can't easily be replaced I'd say "no". Personally, I haven't found the overdrives to be identical.

If they're a bunch of newer boss pedals then, "yes", move on.
 
Even if you did, you'd probably not regret it especially at the rate at which Fractal puts out significant firmware updates / improvements.
 
laxu said:
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.
Click to expand...
I think your post was really a good breakdown...

But resale is still pretty good, IMO.

I still see the Axe Fx II going for close to $1k and even the Standard/Ultra are going for a decent amount considering their age.
 
unix-guy said:
I think your post was really a good breakdown...

But resale is still pretty good, IMO.

I still see the Axe Fx II going for close to $1k and even the Standard/Ultra are going for a decent amount considering their age.
Click to expand...
Historically the current gen unit prices do really tank when a next gen unit gets released. Which is totally normal and applies to all modelers (and even pedals as Strymon V1 pedals for example are now less valuable than the new V2). I remember when the Axe-Fx 3 was released the Axe-Fx 2 prices went from around 1800 euros down to about 1300 overnight. Now they seem to be selling around 950-1000 euros so there's going to be "bottom out" price for sure.
 
laxu said:
Historically the current gen unit prices do really tank when a next gen unit gets released. Which is totally normal and applies to all modelers (and even pedals as Strymon V1 pedals for example are now less valuable than the new V2). I remember when the Axe-Fx 3 was released the Axe-Fx 2 prices went from around 1800 euros down to about 1300 overnight. Now they seem to be selling around 950-1000 euros so there's going to be "bottom out" price for sure.
Click to expand...
I am old enough that I can see this being the last piece of major equipment purchases. But then again this may prove to be so much fun that the only thing I end up purchasing in the future is whatever version of the FM3 comes in the future. With any luck I'll give up the Fractal when they pry my guitar pick from my cold, dead fingers :D
 
Chrose1201 said:
I am old enough that I can see this being the last piece of major equipment purchases. But then again this may prove to be so much fun that the only thing I end up purchasing in the future is whatever version of the FM3 comes in the future. With any luck I'll give up the Fractal when they pry my guitar pick from my cold, dead fingers :D
Click to expand...
Obviously you can just keep using whatever you got and it will keep sounding just as good as it did before.

I feel like we are firmly in diminishing returns for how good these things can sound and the main things future units will improve is usability and convenience.
 
laxu said:
Obviously you can just keep using whatever you got and it will keep sounding just as good as it did before.

I feel like we are firmly in diminishing returns for how good these things can sound and the main things future units will improve is usability and convenience.
Click to expand...
As I was typing my response I had the exact same thought which is why all I could come up with was "whatever version of the FM3 comes in the future"!
 
Fro68 said:
I sold an amp and most of my pedals before buying my AxeIII.
I sold my remaining amp and the rest of my remaining pedals soon after.
No regrets.
Click to expand...
This is my same experience.

I sold 50% of my gear to buy a Fractal and then I realized the remaining 50% was collecting dust...so I sold basically everything except a King of Tone (because I don't want to wait 4 years again...just in case).
 
Buy the FM3. If the only way you can buy it is to sell what you have, then sell what you have. Although, if you don't have much money to start with then you may think about getting a better day job and making a better living before buying anything. But that's a life decision...and it's your life.
 
After having sold gear to fund a kemper stage and being disappointed I’m know selling my kemper to get a FM3.

Hope I will be better! :)

It’s just I can’t play the kemper anymore without hearing than f*** compression and the « 2D tones » of it. Also it doesn’t react like an amp with the attack (and I’ve been playing amps for 20 years before that), more like a DI with some layers on it.
I’m also fed up of the « profile » thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom