the surface has been scratched..

Cainer

Experienced
Moving form the AX8 to the FM9 - haven't had as much chance to crank it up and dial in tones as I'd like as I've been busy gigging, getting ready for tour, and then 2 of my FRFR speakers crapped out on me (along with my car - it's been that kind of a week). In any case, some initial observations:

1. the processing power is such a relief - I'm getting nowhere close to tapping it out on the patches I'm creating that used to push the envelope on the AX8. I read somewhere the reverb gets it's own core? That makes sense if it's true - I added a super high quality reverb to a patch and cringed as I waited for the CPU meter to spike, and it didn't even budge (!) After a few minutes of patch construction I stopped even watching the CPU meter - nice!

2. The software editor is AWESOME - dear lord I just kept saying "that makes sense!" with each new editing feature I found - love the drag-and-drop, and also the way amps tone controls have the authentic tab (not sure if that's what it's named) where they only offer the actual controls the real amp would have, but then also the "ideal" page where the complete set of tone shaping controls are there if you want to use them. Very cool!

3: Lights! Names! I LOVE having custom color-coded LED switches - now I can instantly tell what is a drive, a phaser, a delay etc. just by color - and then having the ability to customize the names in the backlit text display above each button - SO quick and easy to remember what the switches do, even if they're different per preset.

4: scenes, presets, set lists - so many options as to how to set up the footswitches, honestly I don't know which ones I prefer, but I think I'm going to end up using multiple. the A,B,C,D channels on blocks are awesome too - the flexibility seems it can likely accommodate literally anything I'm going to want to do as far as on-the-fly parameter switching.

5: IR slots - it may seem like overkill, but when you get a cab pack they have so many variations, so it's amazing having the number of User slots for IRs (on the AX8 I'd have to delete some to add any more).

6 construction - feels solid AF - do wish it had a handle or some way to more easily pick it up. Fits in my existing case so is good for air travel. Footswitches are easier to access now too - the downside of the metal bar on the AX8 was it would sometimes obstruct using the top row of switches. I am a little concerned about protecting the knobs on it so might look into a protector of some kind. They look and feel solid enough, but anything that sticks out and isn't steel makes me nervous. the footswitches themselves are as good as one could imagine form a feel/construction point of view- no surprise there.

7 I/O - love it - so much flexibility, makes so much sense how they've set it up!

8 last but not least - tone - ok so I haven't had nearly as much time to play it as I would like to be able to speak too much on this, but so far the biggest thing was how chunky the Plexi models are now - wow! Just makes me want to play AC/DC all day long. Just sounds SO legit. Also the new factory IRs are way better than before - specifically the Vibroverb and Super Reverb ones which is what I spent the most time with. I'll have to do a review of it once I've had a chance to really play it and dial in some tones. I never bother with factory presets so can't really offer an opinion on those :)

Overall I'd say thus far I'm super-impressed, lots of things I was looking forward to, but also tons of solutions to problems I didn't even realize I had lol It's really well thought out from a player's perspective. Tons of little touches like having a mini-tuner displayed at the top of the screen are pleasant surprises. As I've been going through it to learn it I just keep saying "this makes so much sense"

I was worried when I first got it and plugged it in and it was so much quieter than the AX8 - was thinking "omg this won't work for live!" and then RTFM to find out it defaults to -10 dBV output. Once I switched that to +4 dBu it was all good! So yet another lesson to RTFM

Super-pumped to get this thing dialed in for my patches and start using it live!
 
do wish it had a handle or some way to more easily pick it up.
Here is my solution:
0313222013a.jpg
 
Hi Gary,

Seems like only a year or two ago your last car crapped out! Man you must do some miles :)
I'm sure you'll love the new unit - about time!

Thansk
Pauly



Moving form the AX8 to the FM9 - haven't had as much chance to crank it up and dial in tones as I'd like as I've been busy gigging, getting ready for tour, and then 2 of my FRFR speakers crapped out on me (along with my car - it's been that kind of a week). In any case, some initial observations:

1. the processing power is such a relief - I'm getting nowhere close to tapping it out on the patches I'm creating that used to push the envelope on the AX8. I read somewhere the reverb gets it's own core? That makes sense if it's true - I added a super high quality reverb to a patch and cringed as I waited for the CPU meter to spike, and it didn't even budge (!) After a few minutes of patch construction I stopped even watching the CPU meter - nice!

2. The software editor is AWESOME - dear lord I just kept saying "that makes sense!" with each new editing feature I found - love the drag-and-drop, and also the way amps tone controls have the authentic tab (not sure if that's what it's named) where they only offer the actual controls the real amp would have, but then also the "ideal" page where the complete set of tone shaping controls are there if you want to use them. Very cool!

3: Lights! Names! I LOVE having custom color-coded LED switches - now I can instantly tell what is a drive, a phaser, a delay etc. just by color - and then having the ability to customize the names in the backlit text display above each button - SO quick and easy to remember what the switches do, even if they're different per preset.

4: scenes, presets, set lists - so many options as to how to set up the footswitches, honestly I don't know which ones I prefer, but I think I'm going to end up using multiple. the A,B,C,D channels on blocks are awesome too - the flexibility seems it can likely accommodate literally anything I'm going to want to do as far as on-the-fly parameter switching.

5: IR slots - it may seem like overkill, but when you get a cab pack they have so many variations, so it's amazing having the number of User slots for IRs (on the AX8 I'd have to delete some to add any more).

6 construction - feels solid AF - do wish it had a handle or some way to more easily pick it up. Fits in my existing case so is good for air travel. Footswitches are easier to access now too - the downside of the metal bar on the AX8 was it would sometimes obstruct using the top row of switches. I am a little concerned about protecting the knobs on it so might look into a protector of some kind. They look and feel solid enough, but anything that sticks out and isn't steel makes me nervous. the footswitches themselves are as good as one could imagine form a feel/construction point of view- no surprise there.

7 I/O - love it - so much flexibility, makes so much sense how they've set it up!

8 last but not least - tone - ok so I haven't had nearly as much time to play it as I would like to be able to speak too much on this, but so far the biggest thing was how chunky the Plexi models are now - wow! Just makes me want to play AC/DC all day long. Just sounds SO legit. Also the new factory IRs are way better than before - specifically the Vibroverb and Super Reverb ones which is what I spent the most time with. I'll have to do a review of it once I've had a chance to really play it and dial in some tones. I never bother with factory presets so can't really offer an opinion on those :)

Overall I'd say thus far I'm super-impressed, lots of things I was looking forward to, but also tons of solutions to problems I didn't even realize I had lol It's really well thought out from a player's perspective. Tons of little touches like having a mini-tuner displayed at the top of the screen are pleasant surprises. As I've been going through it to learn it I just keep saying "this makes so much sense"

I was worried when I first got it and plugged it in and it was so much quieter than the AX8 - was thinking "omg this won't work for live!" and then RTFM to find out it defaults to -10 dBV output. Once I switched that to +4 dBu it was all good! So yet another lesson to RTFM

Super-pumped to get this thing dialed in for my patches and start using it live!
 
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