Was headed towards Strymon but the $$ are adding up

geoangus

Inspired
In 2018, I decided to go back to a traditional amp set up, and thanks to Fractal’s Friedman models, I landed a BE-50 Deluxe right after Christmas. But, what to do with effects.

Until recently, my board layout was:
Guitar > Shure Wireless > ST-200 tuner > VFE Enterprise phaser > Suhr Koko Reloaded > Suhr Eclipse > Timmy > amp. In the effects loop of the amp, Cmatmods Analog Chorus > Strymon Orbit Flanger > Strymon Dig > Mad Professor Kosmos.

With the new amp, I pulled the Suhr pedals off the board. I also recently picked up a Strymon Timeline, but I’ve come to realize that I’ll need to upgrade the power supply. I’m also starting to look at the Mobius and finally going with one of the Boss ES switchers. And of course, patch cables.

Needless to say, it’s starting to add up and I wonder if it’s worth it compared to picking up an FX8. I’m confident that the FX8 will more than handle my bar band rock covers needs. But I’d been thinking this is “obsolete” gear. Now I’m starting to look at the Strymon gear, thinking while it’s great too, the Mobius and Timeline aren’t exactly the latest thing to come along either.

So here I am, leaning heavily back towards the Fractal camp. Pros are numerous: compact, lack of interconnects should mean quiet, more effects than I believe I’ll ever need, but ones I may use that I probably wouldn’t buy otherwise (harmonizer, wah, trem). Ability to create scenes/presets. Setting level equity between effects I believe is built in.

I’ll be running this in 4CM mode, but have one functional question, can the FX8 relays switch between the clean, BE and HBE channels?

For example, if I want to create a preset with:
a scene for clean channel/chorus/light delay
a scene with BE Ch/short delay
a scene for BE with 600ms delay
is that possible right out of the box? and how steep the learning curve to do this?

Finally, would you have any hesitation going the route I’m thinking, or would you go Helix or other? Pretty sure I know what answer to expect, but figured I’d ask.

I don’t know if any of this would be possible with 4CM with an AX8 or FM3, but I guess that would be good to know before I leap. While I’m not interested in the amp modeling side, it does offer immediate backup amp protection, so I’d have that going for me.

Thanks everyone

George
 
Fx-8 is now Vintage, you amp guys should be all over it! A friend of mine has an FX-8 with a friedman(I forget which model) and it works really well.
 
I have a full Strymon board and just bought an FX8. Hopefully it works out. I must have about $2500 tied up in my Strymon board.

I feel the $$$ pain. Sure, laying out boards and chasing tones is a lot of fun. But in my tiny musical, the audience really doesn’t care. If an FX8 can do what I’m asking, I can sell off most of the board and come out way ahead. Not to mention the benefits of a simplified signal path.
 
You should be fine using the relays to switch channels, there are other BE-50 users on here doing this. The example you give above would be no problem with the FX8, I do similar with my 3-channel Victory head. You could pretty much replicate your old board if you wanted, 4 FX in front of the amp and 4 in the loop.
I had the Line6 HX Effects for a while (similar type of thing to the FX8, no amp modelling just the Helix effects) but IMO the FX8 blows it away for sound, flexibility and features
 
I also compared the FX8 and the Helix FX units before getting the FX8. The thing two things that pushed me into the Fractal camp were Leon Todd's excellent videos where he demonstrates the power and flexibility of the Fractal effects (check out the one were he compares the Strymon Timeline and the AX8's delay block) and the fact that this unit was designed to be as transparent as possible in 4 cable method with no tone suck. I had become addicted to the feel that I get when plugging a guitar straight into my amps and I really didn't want to give that up. The FX8 is more transparent than my expensive tube buffer unit (VHT Valvulator 1), so that has made me a happy camper. The fact that it can switch my amp's channels and switch on / off multiple effects with scenes makes this thing one of my best gear decisions ever.
 
Prior to Fractal (AX8 and then III) I had a large pedal board with three Strymons, Gigrig G2, all the drives etc.

Looking back at videos sounded great, but weighed so much I needed a trolley to carry it, and was always tinkering with drive pedals etc.

AX8 replaced the whole lot, I made a multi-thousand £/$ profit in selling all the pedals, switcher, power supplies etc. and have something I can easily carry and use both at home and out.

Fractal is the first product which has let me do that - love it
 
Can kind of relate to this thread. A friend of mine built a board for a client, the heavy hitters on the board are Strymon: Big Sky, Timeline, Mobius and a, Eventide H9. There is also a Mesa Boogie amp switcher involved “Head Track” (in a separate rack). There is also an assortment of a few different drive pedals, I believe phaser, flanger, compressor and so on. (Allot of this is from memory) The whole thing is going to be controlled with a RJM, PBC/10 (this thing is a beast! There again RJM product no surprise!). I have been brough in for the midi end.
The cost of this thing completely blows away a FX-8, even blows away the cost of the flagship processor the Axe Fx III and a FC-12. And if you were to go the Axe Fx III route or even the Axe Fx II you can have way--- more routing options.

Have always maintained even back to my Standard (I would pay the price for an Axe Fx even if it didn’t have amp and cabinet modelling. The effects are stellar and the routing allows you to really create pretty much anything.

And on to Glenn Flicker—(as recent as last week) Still fresh in my mind. Ha ha
Although I like Glenn and his channel this is the one thing I disagree with him about, have heard him say a few times (lately) the Axe Fx is to expensive. But to do the same thing in the analog world or even the digital world (other devices), at the same level of quality. What’s your alternative?? I can’t think of anything. On the flip side, he has made some comments concerning this forum, and I’ll just say he is not wrong. People are way to defensive, about justifying their purchase. He might be a little defensive himself.
 
Interesting thread, which I'm late to, but none the less I'll contribute!

I had a board with the big three Strymons, a loop switcher and a bunch of preamp pedals. I wanted a more integrated solution as it felt cumbersome hauling all that gear around.

So I bit the bullet and sold the lot and got a B Stock FX8 from G66. I had some dosh left over so bought an Audio Technica Wireless too. I set it up and was really pleased with the simple 'looking' set up.

I got home from a rehearsal one night after really struggling with the drive sounds on the FX8, they all sounded sterile and felt hard work to me. So, the Saturday after I set my gear up at home and just for comparison I plugged my guitar straight into the front of my amp. OH MY WORD, what a difference. My guitar just came alive. Turns out the combination of the wireless AND the FX8 before my amp was making a huge detrimental difference to my sound. Tried the FX8 only (I.e.no wireless) and I still struggled with it.

So I moved away from 4CM and just ran the FX8 in the FX loop of my amp, using the MIDI to control a Morningstar ML5 to run some drive stuff on and off in front of my amp. My tone was significantly better - to my mind the drives and compressors in the FX8 simply do not compare to real analogue devices, regardless of what others say to me I can hear and feel the difference - it's night and day to me.

Now I'm back to a part way set up, but that's about to change. I'm selling the FX8. One of the primary reasons being the faff with levels etc when creating parches - It really bugs me the amount of ways a level of a patch can be altered. Time after time i've sat in a rehearsal room and levelled my patches up only to get to a gig to find they need more changing, then you think you're right and get to the next gig and one patch is way louder. Largely because of the different FX and the way they interact. I want my volumes on my amp to be the thing that change my volume and NOTHING else.

This is not actually the fault of the FX8 as such, it's me thinking I need to use all the different delay types etc and being unfamiliar with them and how they change patch levels.

This all got me thinking - the reason I wanted the FX8 was operational, the 'all-in-one" do it all with one button solution, NOT the amount of different delays/reverbs etc. it offers. I realised I never need more than one reverb, as long as it's nice that'll do me. Delays: I just need to be able to recall specific times and rhythmic subdivisions, not have 20 different delay types.

So, I'm getting a Free The Tone or Volante, an MXR M300 reverb which will just stay on, a Wazza CE2. Gonna use a Morningstar MC6 to control the delay and my ML5 and switch amp channels via a Voodoo Labs Switcher.

The FX8 is amazing if you want to tinker, but it's simply not for me - This is the second time I've realised this!!! Silly me!

Good luck in your endeavours!
 
Interesting thread, which I'm late to, but none the less I'll contribute!

I had a board with the big three Strymons, a loop switcher and a bunch of preamp pedals. I wanted a more integrated solution as it felt cumbersome hauling all that gear around.

So I bit the bullet and sold the lot and got a B Stock FX8 from G66. I had some dosh left over so bought an Audio Technica Wireless too. I set it up and was really pleased with the simple 'looking' set up.

I got home from a rehearsal one night after really struggling with the drive sounds on the FX8, they all sounded sterile and felt hard work to me. So, the Saturday after I set my gear up at home and just for comparison I plugged my guitar straight into the front of my amp. OH MY WORD, what a difference. My guitar just came alive. Turns out the combination of the wireless AND the FX8 before my amp was making a huge detrimental difference to my sound. Tried the FX8 only (I.e.no wireless) and I still struggled with it.

So I moved away from 4CM and just ran the FX8 in the FX loop of my amp, using the MIDI to control a Morningstar ML5 to run some drive stuff on and off in front of my amp. My tone was significantly better - to my mind the drives and compressors in the FX8 simply do not compare to real analogue devices, regardless of what others say to me I can hear and feel the difference - it's night and day to me.

Now I'm back to a part way set up, but that's about to change. I'm selling the FX8. One of the primary reasons being the faff with levels etc when creating parches - It really bugs me the amount of ways a level of a patch can be altered. Time after time i've sat in a rehearsal room and levelled my patches up only to get to a gig to find they need more changing, then you think you're right and get to the next gig and one patch is way louder. Largely because of the different FX and the way they interact. I want my volumes on my amp to be the thing that change my volume and NOTHING else.

This is not actually the fault of the FX8 as such, it's me thinking I need to use all the different delay types etc and being unfamiliar with them and how they change patch levels.

This all got me thinking - the reason I wanted the FX8 was operational, the 'all-in-one" do it all with one button solution, NOT the amount of different delays/reverbs etc. it offers. I realised I never need more than one reverb, as long as it's nice that'll do me. Delays: I just need to be able to recall specific times and rhythmic subdivisions, not have 20 different delay types.

So, I'm getting a Free The Tone or Volante, an MXR M300 reverb which will just stay on, a Wazza CE2. Gonna use a Morningstar MC6 to control the delay and my ML5 and switch amp channels via a Voodoo Labs Switcher.

The FX8 is amazing if you want to tinker, but it's simply not for me - This is the second time I've realised this!!! Silly me!

Good luck in your endeavours!
This is my second go around. First was AX8 but I figured out I do not want to do amp modeling. So I sold it, went back to my pedal board & amp. But still the same tap dancing and limited choices on the pedal board. SO I'm making another run at it with an FX8. Keeping it simple this time.
 
This is my second go around. First was AX8 but I figured out I do not want to do amp modeling. So I sold it, went back to my pedal board & amp. But still the same tap dancing and limited choices on the pedal board. SO I'm making another run at it with an FX8. Keeping it simple this time.

Good luck with it, I hope it works for you. The FX8 is fantastically powerful, I'm just a simple chap who prefers to tweak a dial - less choice is better for me!!!
 
I'm selling the FX8. One of the primary reasons being the faff with levels

It should be noted that since the FX8 was created, there have been many improvements to our products in this area.
Axe-Fx III and FM3 owners should be able to attest to the fact that levels are easier to control -- and require less knowledge to get right. There are new meters, new default settings, and new tools to make leveling easier.
 
It should be noted that since the FX8 was created, there have been many improvements to our products in this area.
Axe-Fx III and FM3 owners should be able to attest to the fact that levels are easier to control -- and require less knowledge to get right. There are new meters, new default settings, and new tools to make leveling easier.

While I’m sure this is true, I’m not looking for amp modeling, but I do need the relay switching that allows me to bounce between the three channels of my BE50. This is why the FX8 appeals to me.
 
Interesting thread, which I'm late to, but none the less I'll contribute!

I had a board with the big three Strymons, a loop switcher and a bunch of preamp pedals. I wanted a more integrated solution as it felt cumbersome hauling all that gear around.

So I bit the bullet and sold the lot and got a B Stock FX8 from G66. I had some dosh left over so bought an Audio Technica Wireless too. I set it up and was really pleased with the simple 'looking' set up.

I got home from a rehearsal one night after really struggling with the drive sounds on the FX8, they all sounded sterile and felt hard work to me. So, the Saturday after I set my gear up at home and just for comparison I plugged my guitar straight into the front of my amp. OH MY WORD, what a difference. My guitar just came alive. Turns out the combination of the wireless AND the FX8 before my amp was making a huge detrimental difference to my sound. Tried the FX8 only (I.e.no wireless) and I still struggled with it.

So I moved away from 4CM and just ran the FX8 in the FX loop of my amp, using the MIDI to control a Morningstar ML5 to run some drive stuff on and off in front of my amp. My tone was significantly better - to my mind the drives and compressors in the FX8 simply do not compare to real analogue devices, regardless of what others say to me I can hear and feel the difference - it's night and day to me.

Now I'm back to a part way set up, but that's about to change. I'm selling the FX8. One of the primary reasons being the faff with levels etc when creating parches - It really bugs me the amount of ways a level of a patch can be altered. Time after time i've sat in a rehearsal room and levelled my patches up only to get to a gig to find they need more changing, then you think you're right and get to the next gig and one patch is way louder. Largely because of the different FX and the way they interact. I want my volumes on my amp to be the thing that change my volume and NOTHING else.

This is not actually the fault of the FX8 as such, it's me thinking I need to use all the different delay types etc and being unfamiliar with them and how they change patch levels.

This all got me thinking - the reason I wanted the FX8 was operational, the 'all-in-one" do it all with one button solution, NOT the amount of different delays/reverbs etc. it offers. I realised I never need more than one reverb, as long as it's ni

The FX8 is amazing if you want to tinker, but it's simply not for me - This is the second time I've realised this!!! Silly me!

Good luck in your endeavours!
This is my second go around. First was AX8 but I figured out I do not want to do amp modeling. So I sold it, went back to my pedal board & amp. But still the same tap dancing and limited choices on the pedal board. SO I'm making another run at it with an FX8. Keeping it simple this time.

When I had an AxeFX XL, I slowly whittled down the number of presets and amps I used, fighting that same consistent volume issue. When I found myself only using two amp models, I decided to just go back to an amp

Now the amp I bought was very much influenced by Fractal. The Friedman BE50 model knocked my socks off, and now that I own and gig one, I now I made the right choice. And while having a “traditional” pedal board, I realize I need a pedal switcher with amp channel switching capability. And I’m also looking to upgrade the modulation. Swapping it all out for an FX8 would definitely save money in the long run, and if I can approximate the Mark Day presets, I’ll be really stoked.

As for the drive pedal models, I don’t really plan to use them, and while I’ll audition them, the Friedman delivers pretty much everything I need in terms of drive. I’m still leaning towards 4CM, as some effects are still better in front of the preamp.

I still haven’t pulled the trigger, as I’m just not keen on spending the 700-800 most are asking for a piece of gear that I know Fractal blew out for 600, iirc.
 
While I’m sure this is true, I’m not looking for amp modeling, but I do need the relay switching that allows me to bounce between the three channels of my BE50. This is why the FX8 appeals to me.

yep, that’s one if the reasons I liked it. worked fine with my Victory V100.
 
When I had an AxeFX XL, I slowly whittled down the number of presets and amps I used, fighting that same consistent volume issue. When I found myself only using two amp models, I decided to just go back to an amp

Now the amp I bought was very much influenced by Fractal. The Friedman BE50 model knocked my socks off, and now that I own and gig one, I now I made the right choice. And while having a “traditional” pedal board, I realize I need a pedal switcher with amp channel switching capability. And I’m also looking to upgrade the modulation. Swapping it all out for an FX8 would definitely save money in the long run, and if I can approximate the Mark Day presets, I’ll be really stoked.

As for the drive pedal models, I don’t really plan to use them, and while I’ll audition them, the Friedman delivers pretty much everything I need in terms of drive. I’m still leaning towards 4CM, as some effects are still better in front of the preamp.

I still haven’t pulled the trigger, as I’m just not keen on spending the 700-800 most are asking for a piece of gear that I know Fractal blew out for 600, iirc.

this is why I’m going down the MIDI switching route. I get all the “one button” control but with the ease of use of dedicated pedals.

where are you based?
 
Back
Top Bottom