Bumping this as I finally purchased one.
This is my first proper FRFR and first impressions are kinda meh. I've only played the FM3 through phones, and a few times through my Bose S1.
negatives:
- I do think this cab sounds more like a guitar cab for sure. It's kind of dull, boxy, rolled off, yet somehow harsh and muddy at the same time. Very weird considering how amazing it sounds through my ATH-M50's. I know it's apple/orange and you are supposed to dial in frfr/high volume tones separately but I truly didn't expect such a difference.
- Amps through the GR seem to have less gain, and less punch. There is this kind of "sheen" over the top of it with what seems like a pretty strong limiter/compressor. When I roll the volume down with my phones it gets quieter and cleans up. When I roll the volume down with the GR, it cleans up and maintains pretty much the same level until I'm at 0.
- Very directional top end, way more than my closed back guitar cabs. Move a few inches to one side and you are out of the sweet spot.
- rockridge98 is right, the stereo spread is indeed nonexistent. I tried messing with stereo IR's and bumping them to mono/mute/sum and it really didn't make much of a difference. If I try another system I will probably go the mono route and just sum the outputs. Save stereo for phones and recording.
positives:
- Incredible packaging. I've not seen a piece of gear better protected.
- Included padded cover is a nice touch.
- Comically light. The box it came in is heavier.
- Insanely tight speakers. No matter how much bass I added they kept up no problem. No sag or flub here.
- It sounds quite good on clean/eob tones.
- Good noise floor. Can't hear any hiss or electrical noise until your right up to the speaker.
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I plugged into my S1 just for a comparison (bass down to 9 oclock, and treb down to 11 oclock) and I think it sounds better. There just seems to be a lack of top end as stated in one of the posts above comparing to a CLR. I do think this would excel at higher volumes/live settings as top end from a guitar is usually just harshness and pain. This kind of has a built in LPF.
@rockridge98 do you have any tips on setting a global EQ for this cab?
I'm going to try the EQ curve that
@gitfruit posted earlier.
I think I'm goona rent one of the ToneMaster FRFR's and do a shootout. Now I'm curious to try a woofer/tweeter to see if it improves spread and definition.