Where to start .... and where to end a new Dilemma

recharger

New Member
Little bit of background from me first as this is my first post:
Like many of the people around here (i guess) i have a pretty solid history of buying guitar related gear. Amps , pedals , switchers, cabinets,OX Box, Fryette PS1, modelers (HX Stomp, Kemper Rack),Plugins, tubes... you name it.
Lately i decided to add a FM3 to my setup so i can stop buying more and more pedals and use the FM3 to address most of my pedal needs for the future and to clean things up in some way. Don't know why i didn't pull the trigger earlier.
I have one basic and one larger pedalboard (including switcher) at home i built for myself and reorganized more than enough times.

When the FM3 arrived i had zero in hand experience with FAS products.
I got things running and about 1,5 hours later i realized that this product will change my home studio setup rather quickly and dramatically.

Normally when i played at home i used to hook up my amps to the Ox, when recording or silent playing when the kids sleep or to the PS1 , when i just want to knock down some db's. I think the Fryette is a much more transparent attenuator/reamper than the OX.

So i connected one FM3 output to the Fryette and from there to my cabinet (cab Sim off) and it instantly felt like a better way to play at any given volume than knocking the amps volume down in the first place. Playing via headphones and a good IR in the FM3 also gives me at least the same quality in tone as i got with the OX Box. I still think the OX has some great capabilities for recording.
Nonetheless, having seen some of the capabilities of the FM3 i made a decision.... the FM3 has to go.
I needed an AXE FXIII, asap! Not because the FM3 is worse , but the AXE III is now the centerpiece of any string related instrument in my home studio and won't be going on the road.A FC 6 on the ground for switching ....workflow heaven.
The routing options are everything i could need, the sound is "THE SOUND"!

While the UI might not be self explaining for many people from the beginning, i think it is intuitive enough to start. I have read elsewhere on the forum that this is professional gear and not developed as consumer gear and i find this to be pretty on point.

I am not a big manual reader most of the time, and while i read the axeIII manual for the biggest part, i did not for the FC 6.
So i went ahead and tried and within less than an hour i had the FC6 configured with something like a Master Layout, footswitches for presets, tuner, scenes, effects and got a looper setup and running. I think that says something how incredibly intuitive everything is arranged.
When i later actually read the manual for the FC6 i cleared my FC6 and started again with the default configuration for the FC6, rearranged it a little for my needs and it is now pretty much perfect (for me).

So where is the Dilemma then?

Sitting next to my Axe III with FC6 and in front of several very nice tube amps and a shitload of pedals i dearly love i have to confess that my sound has never been better than now with the Axe III . Everything is easier accessible, rearanging pedal layout is just some clicks away instead of rebuilding everything from scratch.
I love using and looking at my 1959 SLP HW, but honestly why should i ? i get better and more consistent results with the AXE. Meanwhile i route a DI signal to my interface and another signal through a cab sim in stereo also to my interface.i don't even have to stand up to change parameters or unplug to change the setup to my Princeton Reverb or get a metal tone.
I think i will wait some months till honeymoon is over and then i will have to decide which of my amps and pedals will stay with me. The Kemper will be long gone by then.

Some other digital solutions may be easier to use for the first two hours, but from my experience none of them are as good to use as the Axe after the initial setup.
After just some days of ownership it feels like home allready.

A big Thank You to the Fractal Team for building a stellar product.
 
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