What Prompted You To Buy A Fractal?

I bought a kemper because of the availability of the kemper stage, wanted an fm3 but couldn’t afford the waiting list thing at this time.

Kemper was only deception, countless hours of tweaking. Everything felt strange, over compressed, the feel was like a di layered with tones. Coked wha everywhere etc.

Received my fm3 few days ago and I didn’t want to except a lot more from the unit since I had been really disappointed with the kemper.

But, man I just can’t tell how this box is awesome. Everything sound fantastic, the feeling is like playing an amp.

And I’ve just played presets and barely try to create mine.

This little unit is just Marshall heaven
 
gearspace.com ....But I never gelled with the first fractal unit... sold it. AxeFx 2 I really started to like the tone and feel.
Still love my tube amps though
 
Watching several live rig rundowns with some guitar players whose I highly respect and their guitar techs who explained why they made the switch. The FM3 and FC-6 was available on sale and I figured with the money back guarantee I would try it out. To be honest I expected to send it back within a week. I had a massive pedal board with lots of great pedals, a boss es8, in an ata case. I wanted to run my Friedman and Fender Twin for the ultimate rock and clean mix but I sold my SUV and I am getting old enough. Playing gigs in small clubs in Chicago is no fun when you have a massive live rig; double parking on a busy street to load in gear and then hoping to find parking within four blocks. Try loading gear up the Subterranean stairs one time and I am sure you will agree a small rig is way better for one’s back. Well after a week of using the FM3 I was sold and played a live gig and the sound was consistent and fabulous. I ended up selling my massive pedalboard and my Bogner shiva and got an FX III and a new guitar and I haven’t looked back. I disliked every modeler previous to the fractal but what makes the fractal amazing for me is the massive tweakability to get the right sound, and more importantly a wide variety of amp sounds I couldn’t get with other modelers as easily as I can get with the fractal devices.
 
The AXE FX III MK II is my first Fractal purchase. I'm an automation programmer so I wanted something to really geek out with so I went for the full unit. I have managed to stretch out a Rocktron Prophesy II for many years for decent tone through a oversized Mesa cab and it's really just time to amp up the tone game beyond just jamming through VST's and occasionally my Mesa gear. Leon Todd & Frank Steffen Mueller are my personal two fav Fractal YTubers and they honestly pushed me to pull the trigger. This forum is legit as well. I will still keep my tube rig but the Rocktron stuff is going on Reverb and I do not plan on buying any more analog gear, the AXE FX III will provide everything I'll ever need for sure. Cheers!
 
my poor old brain can't remember where a bunch of knobs on a bunch of pedals should be set for a sound,
so I preferred multifx with presets. Got digitech 2101 back in late 90's for good sound and lots of programming
experience.
Watched Fractal and competitors for many years, then FM9 has the right combo of features and I was miraculously
able to afford it this year. I think the honeymoon phase will last a lifetime :}

Also like the company's attitude, excellent sound quality and little things like the analog delay emulations aren't limited to 600ms.

peace
mike
 
Back in the beginning of 2013, I needed to put my (half-refrigerator sized) rolling rack into my car for a gig... Nobody else was around the house and my bandmates were already on their way to the gig.

I almost couldn't get it into the car by myself and luckily didn't injure myself!

At that point, I decided something needed to change although I really loved the sounds of my rack mounted Budda amp, G-Major2 and various pedals on a shelf, all switched with a Voodoo Lab GCX loop switcher

I don't recall how I heard about the Axe Fx, but I started researching them (possibly it was @finleysound using one - our bands shared a rehearsal space).

I watched videos and read some reviews and it looked very promising.

I knew the potential from having owned and gigged a Johnson Millennium for some time, as well as an ART SGX-2000 before that and even a Boss ME-5 in the early days.

Then one day I was watching more videos and clicked on a review video by some guy named Tom Quayle (never heard of him before).

The opening piece of music in the video was amazing and then I realized it was the Axe Fx!

That sealed the deal and very soon I had placed an order for the Axe Fx II.

I read the manual twice while on a business trip to Manila so I'd be up to speed when I returned...

Then I got appendicitis and had an emergency appendectomy in the Philippines so it had to wait a few weeks before I was healthy enough to use it :)

I've never looked back and that old rig was torn down and sold off.
 
Aaaages ago (early 90's IIRC), I hooked up on an email distribution list that was created by and for Mesa/Boogie enthusiasts. I participated in that for years, and every so often we'd have a Pacific Northwest gathering where we'd get together in a big space where we could blast our assorted tube amps and other toys. One time (maybe the last time we got together IIRC), about half the guys showed up with original Axe-FX and Axe-FX Ultras. This was a crowd that was seriously into booteek tube amps and they'd owned and shared some real sweethearts over the years. I was toying with some variety of Line6 Pod at the time, so I wasn't unfamiliar with modeling, but clearly the Fractal units were the Real Deal. I got serious about buying one about the time that the Axe II was first announced, so I took the plunge by signing up for that wait list. I'm running the Axe-III these days and it gets about 90% of my playing time, though I reckon I still have half a ton of tube amp gear sitting around.
 
1st purchase (Ultra):
Scott Peterson ---> Mark Day ---> Peter Autschbach
Subsequent AxeFx's:
Danielle Chase ---> Cliff Chase --> Matt Picone ---> Dweezil Zappa ...
 
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It's been fairly clear to me for the past probably decade that, for people who don't have roadies and do have neighbors, modelers were more or less The Way™. Between the online demos, getting to work with a band whose guitarist had an Ultra (it was a long time ago), and a very trusted friend telling me that the AxeFX II was "the real deal", something from Fractal's been on my to-get list for a long time. I was in the middle of trying to decide between abandoning my desire for a dual-amp rig with the FM3 or saving up more for an AxeFX III when the FM9 was released.
 
I spent many many years playing Line 6 products because of the affordability. The rigs were always less than ideal and I had to have outboard gear to fill in gaps or because there wasn't enough effect blocks I could use. Switching to Axe FX 3 years ago allowed me to make my entire rig just the axe fx with foot controllers and expression pedals. i stopped chasing tone anywhere that doesnt exist in the box (aside from my large IR collections :D ). I can't find any reason to get rid of my Axe Fx unless its being replaced with a newer Axe Fx.

Coming from a Line 6 camp for a long time, the updates were non existent or spaced out years apart. The Axe Fx is the first and only piece of musical equipment i've purchased that has actually gotten more features and sounds over time. If there is a sound in my head, I can findit in the fractal. This is all I've every really wanted.
 
For me, it was an experience with a Kemper that got me to purchase the Axe-FX III.

I got to use a Kemper for a theater gig, and while the sound was really, really, good, it lacked the sort of flexibility that I generally need for those shows.

So, I started to research my options. I found that I didn't like the sound of Helix, and while I like the sound of Kemper, I need the multiple inputs and MIDI flexibility that only Axe-FX III provides. Add to that the FX capabilities that Fractal has, and it convinced me to take the plunge. What amazes me is that I have only used a tube rig on one gig since I got the Axe FX III - I really didn't expect it to sound good enough to become my primary rig.

So far, so good, and it's now been a couple of years on this path.
 
666was999 said:
In 2008 the Ultra did not sound as good as the iii today, but good enough to get rid of a heavy weight 4x12 and that tube heating on top of it.
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Indeed. It was the Ultra in 2009 for me.

I don’t exactly remember what drew me, but it was related to my loooooong history with Line 6 products. Loved and used all the Line 6 heavyweights, until they felt like retreads. I believe I saw an ad in a guitar mag for the Axe-FX, so that’s probably where my interest started. Since then, I’ve gone rogue several times, believing I could Fractal without Fractal… and always came back. “Fractal, to whom shall I go?” Once the sweet nectar had been tasted, everything else is trash… or at least not as sweet.
 
TSJMajesty said:
Idea came from @Chewie5150 over in the Gift of Tone thread where he said Mark Day's videos inspired him to enter into the Fractal world.

What was yours? Was it one of the main artists using the gear, or a video, or..., something else?

For me it was seeing @Cooper Carter demo'ing all 263 amps (at the time) with a song clip using each one. And then when I saw that John Petrucci used one as a replacement for his big 3 rack unit effects (Eventide, TC Electronic, & Lexicon), that sealed the deal and I just had to have one!
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I've been watching the digital world for years, and have taken the plunge a couple of times. It has not been quite there, yet. I saw a buddy play locally with the axe-fx 3 and was blown away. I got the FM3, it sounded great. I needed more power, however. Sold it and my amp to get the axe-fx 3 mkii turbo. Wow. Found myself needing something smaller for practices and smaller gigs. Got the FM9 turbo. Man it is a good place to be. Thanks to everyone at fractal!
 
I started playing guitar/taking lessons when I was 17 or 18 in the early 2000's. I knew next to nothing about music other than I always enjoyed basically everything but country. At the time the whole nu-metal thing was happening and I liked the riffs.

Like a lot of people in my situation, I relied heavily on my teachers recommendations for gear (straight up 80's rocker dude, long hair, leather jacket every day even in summer, you know the guy). I ended up with a Strat, and eventually a Tele with humbuckers into a Line 6 Spider. My first experience with modellers was my teacher having a Line 6 Pod, the red kidney beans one. I remember thinking at the time what a cool idea it was, but like my Spyder, it didn't make the sounds I wanted it too.

Fast forward a couple years, and some long hair at work introduced me to Metal. Like real metal, not just the occasional Metallica song I would hear on the radio. I upgraded the Spyder to a SS Marshall half stack because that was supposed to be metal. I was getting better as a player even though I wasn't taking lessons anymore (I was a shitty student at the time) because of being in a garage (basement) band with previously mentioned long hair and a bar owner who wanted a house band for his large bar/venue. I was playing his bass equipment at the time even though I was the better guitar player. Nonetheless, I still couldn't make my guitar sound good. That all fell through and I didn't really play much for over 10 years.

A few months before COVID, I sold my rig. A few months after lockdown, I impulse went to GC because I was sick of the blank space on my wall and bought a Schecter and a Peavey Bandit. That purchased made me realize I shouldn't compromise, I should get what I want. A friend introduced me to Reverb and I returned that rig. I always wanted to try a 7, a Floyd, a tube amp, and a pedal board so that's what I got (adult guitar is much more fun than young adult guitar).

I was committed to actually finishing what I started as a young man. That sent me on a journey of buying and selling a lot of gear to figure out what kind of player I was, and what gear sounded good to me. I started taking lessons from a guy with a degree in music theory and composition.

So now even with all this fancy stuff and proper direction, I could only get so far tonally. I didn't want to keep buying and selling pedals constantly. I started to consider modelling and ended up buying a Headrush and matching 112's because I got a good deal. I knew what Fractal was at this point, but wasn't sold on my modelling yet remembering my old teachers POD. I was pretty happy with the results so much so that I sold all my analog gear. Until about a month ago.

I was talking with my teacher about how to get some specific tones. I tried to build a SRV blues sound, loaded up a Fender amp and it had... two parameters, tone and MV. That was the moment I realized I had compromised and began to seriously research and follow Fractal. I got on the FM9 wait-list, put the FX3 in my reverb feed, but was still hesitant. The decently priced ones were selling in literally hours. I saw one come up that I snagged for $1900.

I have owned my FX3 for less than two weeks. I'm still a noob that hasn't made my own preset, I'm still working on leveling presets and importing stuff without overwriting anything important. I'm still lurking the the forums daily and watching YouTube tutorials. I've got a long way to go. But just scrolling through the presets made me literally smile. I was finally there.

TLDR: I'm just a living room player with no aspirations other than to be a good guitar player. FAS gave me the piece of gear that can let me do anything in one unit, and have the ability to progress to playing out or recording without missing a beat.

Axe FX3 into Mission Engineering Gemini 2, probably grab a FC in the future once I'm more comfortable with the unit.

Thank you FAS and thank you FAS community.
 
I bought fractal gear to stop gear acquisition syndrome. And I keep buying fractal gear because I still have gear acquisition syndrome. I no longer buy pedals and amps. But I have the fm3, fm9, and axe fx 3. As well as a bunch of frfr monitors. 🤷‍♂️
 
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