Who uses external pedals alongside FM3?

Y

Yerbluesrob

Member
Trying to decide on a case/board/travel solution, but I haven’t decided whether I’m going to want to add in external pedals when needed or if the FM3 + FC6 + exp pedal will be all I will ever need. So wanted to poll those who’ve been using the FM3 for a decent amount of time and whether you find yourself needing (or wanting) to add external pedals or not. I don’t want to get a pelican type case with foam and then realize I am consistently wanting to use pedals with it so I really needed a pedalboard and case, but also don’t want to deal with removing the rubber sides/feet to attach to a board if I’m never gonna need extra pedals.

I’m a little worried about running out of CPU and maybe having an octave or modulation pedal in the external loops could help with that, but so far it hasn’t really been a problem (although I’ve only had it for a couple of weeks so hard to say with limited experience with it).
 
I have basically three setups:
1) The big one: A larger Pedaltrain board with my FM3, an MC6 midi controller, a Specular Tempus reverb, expression pedals, and several insert boxes hooked up to a Disaster Area midi loop selector. By itself, it's a powerful board with some extra CPU afforded by offloading the reverb to the Specular Tempus, but I can also patch in other pedals in several spots. I use this setup for my wedding band where every gig is the same setup of gear (with in ears) and songs/tones. Consistency is great for this.

2) Another FM3 that I keep by itself for simpler gigs. When all I need is a basic patch with very little effects switching or maybe a single expression pedal. This is what I use on jazz gigs where I'm really just using amp modeling and not much else.

3) The same as 2 but I bring along a small pedalboard with some basic comp/boost/drive/delay effects. I use this on most gigs because I like to bend over and tweak things quickly on the fly. This is great for everything else where I'm not sure what to expect and I can quickly dial in sounds to fit the room and the songs, both of which are always different.. I usually leave the FM3 on the amp tone controls page for quick amp tweaking. Even on this small board I have an insert junction box so I can patch in additional pedals if I think I might need a unique one for a gig, or if I simply just bought a new toy and want to try it out.
 
Poparad said:
I have basically three setups:
1) The big one: A larger Pedaltrain board with my FM3, an MC6 midi controller, a Specular Tempus reverb, expression pedals, and several insert boxes hooked up to a Disaster Area midi loop selector. By itself, it's a powerful board with some extra CPU afforded by offloading the reverb to the Specular Tempus, but I can also patch in other pedals in several spots. I use this setup for my wedding band where every gig is the same setup of gear (with in ears) and songs/tones. Consistency is great for this.

2) Another FM3 that I keep by itself for simpler gigs. When all I need is a basic patch with very little effects switching or maybe a single expression pedal. This is what I use on jazz gigs where I'm really just using amp modeling and not much else.

3) The same as 2 but I bring along a small pedalboard with some basic comp/boost/drive/delay effects. I use this on most gigs because I like to bend over and tweak things quickly on the fly. This is great for everything else where I'm not sure what to expect and I can quickly dial in sounds to fit the room and the songs, both of which are always different.. I usually leave the FM3 on the amp tone controls page for quick amp tweaking. Even on this small board I have an insert junction box so I can patch in additional pedals if I think I might need a unique one for a gig, or if I simply just bought a new toy and want to try it out.
Click to expand...
Interesting, I guess I could do a small auxiliary board that if needed could plug into the loop. I actually already have a small board/case that I’m not using that would be good for this purpose.
 
I have a Sunlion, KOT, and Vemuram ODS-1 on my board. To be honest, the only one I really "need" is the Sunlion as it does the germanium Fuzzface cleanup thing that modeled fuzzes can not and it also has the Beano Boost side that I'm addicted to. The KOT and Vemuram can be easily covered in the drive blocks. But I own them and love them, so why not put them on the board, right? It does save on a bit of CPU space to not use drive blocks and/or frees up the drive blocks for more oddball stuff like octave distortion.
 
I use a Lehle Volume that has a boost and a buffer I believe, peterson strobostomb, again a buffer, and then an analog delay. Just to give the signal some "warmth," though yes you could not use any of those things.

As far as extra reverbs, which I have 5 or so big boxes, even as a reverb, delay etc junkie, the FM3 is ENOUGH.
Could I use the extra stuff in the 9? Sure... but megatap, plex, and reverb, plus TWO delay blocks.... thats a lot...

If you havent seen the NUX BUMBLEBEE (LARGE) it is a pedalboard and gigbag that was MADE for the FM3, fits it and a pedal like a GLOVE.... incredible thing. Look it up.
 
If you havent set up the switches, rememeber you can tapON/OFF, OR hold-ON/OFF a switch. I have mine all set to effects, so I have 6 pedals in front of me at the tap, or hold-ON/OFF of a switch.
 
Xcdchdchjjf said:
If you havent set up the switches, rememeber you can tapON/OFF, OR hold-ON/OFF a switch. I have mine all set to effects, so I have 6 pedals in front of me at the tap, or hold-ON/OFF of a switch.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually set up my FC-6 so that switch 1 and switch 6 can toggle to scene 7 and 8.
 
Many use an external Reverb/Multi-FX and/or Fuzz to extend the FM3, often powered by the FM3's FASLink port.

Do a search here for more info and check the FM3 Rigs thread.

Personally I use HV tube preamps with my Axe II and FM3, along with the modeled preamps, plus with various Fuzz's up front as needed.
 
I sometimes have a GT1000 Core in the loop as a sort of programmable Boss pedal emulator. Use it to get the Terra Echo, the Multi Overtone or the Sitar for instance. Could even use it to get a second (and third) amp into the mix, but the difference there between the Core amps and the FM3 amps is just way to big qualitywise…
 
I use a couple of kingtone pedals and a kot in front, and a belle epoch deluxe in the fx loop. The fm3 takes pedals really really well. Couldn't be happier with the results I've gotten.
 
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