What should I buy first? A good guitar or the FM3?

A good guitar or even a 30K$ will not give you the sounds and inspiration for creativity the FM3 can give.
In the basic question "what is more important, a good guitar or a good amp", the amp wins hands down as again, the processing part is the most colorful.
So, to conclude, FM3 will give more options rather a good guitar.

BUT………………….

As many already pointed here, a good guitar doesn’t need to be a 30K$ guitar, you can find so many pieces under 800$, even 500$. Go ahead and explore Godin, Schecter, Sterling by MM, PRS SE's, if you are into strats you have a ton of Japanese ones, current Charvel San Dimas made by Fender are also nice and Ibanez make amazing pieces in a very affordable budget. The market is flooded with < 1K$ guitars.
I'm looking at my wall of fame in my studio, among all my guitars there is a Majesty ( > 3K$) hanged next to a Schecter (~1500$) hanged next to a Harley Benton LP ( ~ 270$!!!) and I love and play them all the same.
Good luck.
 
Hey there

Definitely a good guitar that plays comfortable for your standards is the first need in my opinion. Scale, pickups, neck radius, weight, shape, string hight(action), trem yes/no, position of volume, tone and switch selector all is going in favour of your playing. After that comes the tone. If you are comfortable playing YOUR instrument, the Axe will give it an amazing fractal boost 😁.

I would vote guitar first and that is a great journey by itself to find it.

Cheers
 
Roadrunner said:
A good guitar or even a 30K$ will not give you the sounds and inspiration for creativity the FM3 can give.
In the basic question "what is more important, a good guitar or a good amp", the amp wins hands down as again, the processing part is the most colorful.
So, to conclude, FM3 will give more options rather a good guitar.

BUT………………….

As many already pointed here, a good guitar doesn’t need to be a 30K$ guitar, you can find so many pieces under 800$, even 500$. Go ahead and explore Godin, Schecter, Sterling by MM, PRS SE's, if you are into strats you have a ton of Japanese ones, current Charvel San Dimas made by Fender are also nice and Ibanez make amazing pieces in a very affordable budget. The market is flooded with < 1K$ guitars.
I'm looking at my wall of fame in my studio, among all my guitars there is a Majesty ( > 3K$) hanged next to a Schecter (~1500$) hanged next to a Harley Benton LP ( ~ 270$!!!) and I love and play them all the same.
Good luck.
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Excellent summary!
 
Roadrunner said:
A good guitar or even a 30K$ will not give you the sounds and inspiration for creativity the FM3 can give.
In the basic question "what is more important, a good guitar or a good amp", the amp wins hands down as again, the processing part is the most colorful.
So, to conclude, FM3 will give more options rather a good guitar.

BUT………………….

As many already pointed here, a good guitar doesn’t need to be a 30K$ guitar, you can find so many pieces under 800$, even 500$. Go ahead and explore Godin, Schecter, Sterling by MM, PRS SE's, if you are into strats you have a ton of Japanese ones, current Charvel San Dimas made by Fender are also nice and Ibanez make amazing pieces in a very affordable budget. The market is flooded with < 1K$ guitars.
I'm looking at my wall of fame in my studio, among all my guitars there is a Majesty ( > 3K$) hanged next to a Schecter (~1500$) hanged next to a Harley Benton LP ( ~ 270$!!!) and I love and play them all the same.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Nearly same opinion.
If you got an amp or modeler that "equals" the sound of every guitar or can't transport the details a specific guitar or pickup or your attack gives to the tone it doesn't matter which guitar you use. OK it has to be playable at least.
And vice versa - with a good amp or modeler like the FM3 you really can hear the differences of guitar, pckup, your fingers and so on.
(Lin6 HD300 I once got can't do it)
The FM3 caused me to buy anew guitar and I took a Solar.
And now my guitars sounds really differnt and I like it.
Solar (650€), Jackson (once 1400DM - around 700€) , Ibanez (approx. 500€) and also a HB 8-string (230€ B-Stock) that really sounds cool and is good playable.
 
I’d go with a new guitar as well. Once you find something that you REALLY dig, you’ll be playing that much more…..just hang onto the feeling of the honeymoon period! You’ll find yourself saving for an FM3 that much faster because you’ll be a little more excited about what you’re playing on.

I also recently picked up a PRS SE, not sure what style of music/kind of guitar you prefer, but man, my SE is one of the best playing guitars I’ve ever played right off the shelf. Sounds fucking outstanding and is ridiculously beautiful for an $880 guitar.

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Those single cut 245’s are stellar, as well and can be found as low as $450 If you dig around enough!
 
I watched a Phil Collen interview a while back where he was talking about recording a few songs on one of their biggest albums - Hysteria, I think, on a cheapo Squire Strat. He said he loved it and it sounded great. This is a guy with his own line of 3-4k Jacksons. So Money isn't everything and a person can polish that proverbial turd. When it comes to guitars, as long as you are starting with a stable and comfortable platform, you can very easily turn a cheap guitar into a great guitar.

For that reason, I advise people who have asked me in the past, to spend a little less on a guitar and little more on a decent setup. You level and dress the frets, roll the edge of a fingerboard, and that neck feels completely different. I'll even reprofile thicker necks if I don't like them. It's not hard to do - you just need to take your time - or pay somebody for theirs if you are uncomfortable with that kinda thing, and, most people are I suppose..

Just picked up another Charvel recently. Great value for money. But, there was a bunch that needed adjustment when I got it. Even had to replace the trem-claw screws as they were stripped. Great guitar now though. But they all take a little work. If you're not putting it in, then you are paying somebody else to do that work and it's included in the price-tag.

But, if Phil Collen can record hit songs on a Squire, and he has the option to choose any guitar you can dream of to do that job... It's something to think about.
 
There are some excellent cheap guitars out there. Better to actually play them before buying though. They need to sound good yes. But they have to play nicely. I have expensive guitars and a couple of cheap ones. One of them plays and sounds as good as my best guitar, and it cost me $300. If you don’t have a good guitar then absolutely buy a guitar first. I’m just pointing out you don’t need to spend a ton to get a nice piece. Save some for your FM3 and speaker. Action should be good without buzz and rattle and bends should feel smooth, sustain needs to be good, and it needs to sound good unplugged. It doesn’t cost $3k to get a good guitar. You can easily get a decent guitar in the $1000-1500 range. That leaves you $$ for the FM3. Im not sure about using FM3 as strictly a processor. I use mine with a speaker, FC6 and one exp pedal, and that’s my whole setup. Pretty happy with it! My tube amps are getting dusty. Why buy just one thing? Buy both.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I’d go with a new guitar as well. Once you find something that you REALLY dig, you’ll be playing that much more…..just hang onto the feeling of the honeymoon period! You’ll find yourself saving for an FM3 that much faster because you’ll be a little more excited about what you’re playing on.

I also recently picked up a PRS SE, not sure what style of music/kind of guitar you prefer, but man, my SE is one of the best playing guitars I’ve ever played right off the shelf. Sounds fucking outstanding and is ridiculously beautiful for an $880 guitar.

View attachment 89186

Those single cut 245’s are stellar, as well and can be found as low as $450 If you dig around enough!
Click to expand...
I 2nd that on the PRS SE, they are great guitars for the money. I have a PRS Custom 24 (American) and a Gibson Les Paul Axcess, both very expensive and the SE is right up there with them for quality and playability. Check them out...
 
I recommend the PRS SE series. I have a few Les Pauls and other higher end guitars and bought the PRS SE Tremonte on Craigslist for 200 as a knockaround guitar( I still take great care of it just would feel bad if I had a few beers and knocked a 3k LP off a stand lol). It is a very good playing and sounding guitar. imo
 
If you like the sound and feel of the guitar you have then go for FM3. If you dont like the guitar you have, invest in something nice.
 
An Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty at $3K+ is an extravagance I could never personally justify affording (at a bare min I'd suggest buying used, IMHO with sig guitars you are paying a premium for the name which doesn't really equate to a specific quality level).

Given it feels like you're more into metal, at ~$2K I feel confident you could pick up an FM3 and find a number of Ibanez, Charvel, PRS, or ESP guitars which are fantastic playing/sounding guitars.
 
Sgrim said:
Hi guys!
I've been playing guitar for over 15 years. During all this time I always used the same guitar, which is a low cost guitar, which has a terrible construction, but after changing the pickups for a pair of dimarzio crunch lab and liquid fire, I achieved a reasonable result, especially in high gain tones. As for effects, I always plugged my guitar into an m-audio fast track and used VST's, like Helix Native, on my PC.
After thinking a lot, I decided to invest more in my setup, in order to get a good guitar (probably an Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty) and get a good effects processor, which will be the Fractal FM3.
However, I don't have enough money to make both purchases at the moment, so I need to decide which of the two products I should purchase first and would like your feedbacks.
Due to the fact that I can't find FM3 tests on Youtube with low cost guitars on the internet, I'm afraid of not getting good results by plugging the fractal into my current guitar.
Thank's, guys.
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Quality Guitar.

then

Quality Processor - used (AX8). It's still an amazing sounding piece of gear. And if you're on top of things, should be able to buy for around $600-700.... if not, hold out for the FM3 as you said. The AX8 used the same tech that a lot of professional touring musicians use (AFX 2). Just because a new product came out doesn't mean those tones suddenly suck.
 
I'd get the FM3 first but remember that it's only half the battle. To make it sound great you are still going to need a good output system.
 
Mark-B said:
But, if Phil Collen can record hit songs on a Squire, and he has the option to choose any guitar you can dream of to do that job... It's something to think about.
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Steve Vai: “There was a time back in the 90’s that I wanted to buy a vintage Strat. I saved up and visited all the vintage shops on Hollywood Blvd to check out dozens of old Strats and at the end of the day, I settled on this Japanese Strat for $500 because it had the best feel and sounded like the Strat that I always wanted. I used it on various recordings, but most notably, it’s tone can be heard on 'The Boy From Seattle' off of Alien Love Secrets. After a while I changed the pick ups to stacked DiMarzio humbuckers."

The issue as you go lower in price isn't necessarily that the guitars are bad, it's that the quality is less consistent (though MIJ Fender stuff was actually very, very good rivalling their MIA stuff).
 
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