My Fractal FM-3 thread.

I had to search this thread for something this morning and realized that it's been months and many gigs since I've updated it.

After 8 months of almost exclusively using this rig I can safely say that I do not miss my amp/pedalboard rig. I have more consistent and usually better sounds and the convenience of this setup has massively made my life easier. I'm still tweaking with it pretty regularly and I can not wait until I can get my hands on an FM9 but this is one of the best guitar purchases I think I've ever made.

I just realized that I DO have to use my amp and a small pedalboard this weekend since I have two gigs back-to back on Friday and I need to preset the FM3 at the Blue Beet while I use my amp at a calypso gig a short distance away. I'm literally setting up at the club and then taking an Uber with my amp to the early gig (6:30-9:30) and then Ubering back to the club ASAP since that gig is supposed to start at 9:30 too. Oops.
 
Mark Wein said:
I had to search this thread for something this morning and realized that it's been months and many gigs since I've updated it.

After 8 months of almost exclusively using this rig I can safely say that I do not miss my amp/pedalboard rig. I have more consistent and usually better sounds and the convenience of this setup has massively made my life easier. I'm still tweaking with it pretty regularly and I can not wait until I can get my hands on an FM9 but this is one of the best guitar purchases I think I've ever made.

I just realized that I DO have to use my amp and a small pedalboard this weekend since I have two gigs back-to back on Friday and I need to preset the FM3 at the Blue Beet while I use my amp at a calypso gig a short distance away. I'm literally setting up at the club and then taking an Uber with my amp to the early gig (6:30-9:30) and then Ubering back to the club ASAP since that gig is supposed to start at 9:30 too. Oops.
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I was just talking to one of my friends about getting one. Mostly because of how much success you’ve had with it, but mostly because that Morgan patch you have sounds so freaking good. If I ever only used that, it would be worth it.
 
Chad said:
I was just talking to one of my friends about getting one. Mostly because of how much success you’ve had with it, but mostly because that Morgan patch you have sounds so freaking good. If I ever only used that, it would be worth it.
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It has so many sounds but I think that most people only really use a small handful on a regular basis. If I had to rank mine in terms of use it would be:

  1. '59 Bassman - base clean sound
  2. 1959SLP Plexi Marshall (I think it's actually the reissue, and not a model of an original) - slightly crunch rock rhythm
  3. Marshall Silver Jubilee - CRUNCH
  4. Morgan AC20 - Vox-y sounds
  5. 1966 Twin Reverb - dark jazz tone
  6. Soldano SLO-100 - my "fusion" lead tone
I play whole gigs with the '59 Bassman model and the RC Booster, TS 808 or Fuzz Face models in the drive block.

I'm in the process of reworking a bunch of stuff because my gigs have changed a bit and a few of my main presets have gotten a little mangled with on-stage tweaks. I should do some new videos soon but I'm just fucking swamped right now.
 
I'm so glad it's working so well for you.
:thu:
I'm still digging the GX-100, though I've only had a couple gigs with it.
 
micwalt said:
I'm so glad it's working so well for you.
:thu:
I'm still digging the GX-100, though I've only had a couple gigs with it.
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I never really thought that I would be this comfortable with the transition to modeling but I think that it was just the right moment in time for me. The tech has gotten so good.
 
Mark Wein said:
I never really thought that I would be this comfortable with the transition to modeling but I think that it was just the right moment in time for me. The tech has gotten so good.
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It's true--almost all the big ones sound absolutely great nowadays. And if you can find the one that feels right, with an interface that you're comfortable navigating, you're golden.
 
So I used the FM3 on all three gigs this weekend and actually got a little feedback on what it sounded like in the house on two of them. The FOH mixer at the Coach House had no idea that he was getting a direct sound and not a mic'd amp and said that it sounded great in the house during sound check snd show. He was a little shocked that I was running a modeler. Stage setup was run by the monitor mixer.

I don't have any pictures of us playing so here are a few of Oingo Boingo Former Members so you can see what the stage and hall looked like:

IMG_3855.JPG


IMG_3864.JPG



IMG_3859.JPG


I was subbing my second gig on Saturday for someone who was using my cover band as his rhythm section anyway and he came to the second half of our gig so I got him up to play a couple of songs and I got to hear one sound (the Silver Jubilee crunch) through the PA and I was pretty happy with that in context.
IMG_3887.JPG
 
I spent some time reorganizing sounds today - If I get a spare morning this week I might just do a video update.
 
you've got me so close to snagging one of these. If I can sell a thing or 2 on craigslist, I may grab one. Is there a way to export a sound and import it to another one?
 
Chad said:
you've got me so close to snagging one of these. If I can sell a thing or 2 on craigslist, I may grab one. Is there a way to export a sound and import it to another one?
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Yep. I can email you all of my presets easily. Or you can get sounds from the Fractal Axechange. When I get my FM9 I'll export my existing presets from the FM3 as a starting point.
 
I installed the FM3 6.0 beta firmware update yesterday. I didn't get a ton of time to play with it but already it feels like a new amp.
 
Mark Wein said:
I installed the FM3 6.0 beta firmware update yesterday. I didn't get a ton of time to play with it but already it feels like a new amp.
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I've heard you can rub dryer sheets on the impulse responses to break them in.
 
My first actual problem after nearly a year of daily use and it's my own fault for loading a beta firmware (copied from my post on the Fractal forum):

After a week and a half of using my FM3 with Beta 6.03 every day (and one four-hour bar gig) with no problems and fantastic sound, I showed up at a rehearsal last night to pretty much the same problem. Luckily I was in a studio where I could plug into the computer, download FM3 edit, discover that all of my layouts were erased and reload the OMG9 set so that I could get on with rehearsal but even that was kind of broken with the scribble strips on the FM3 not showing text and the color rings not working on the FC6. I'll go through it all today but I'm a little nervous about tomorrows gig. I guess I'll have my amp and pedalboard in the car, too...
 
Mark Wein said:
My first actual problem after nearly a year of daily use and it's my own fault for loading a beta firmware (copied from my post on the Fractal forum):

After a week and a half of using my FM3 with Beta 6.03 every day (and one four-hour bar gig) with no problems and fantastic sound, I showed up at a rehearsal last night to pretty much the same problem. Luckily I was in a studio where I could plug into the computer, download FM3 edit, discover that all of my layouts were erased and reload the OMG9 set so that I could get on with rehearsal but even that was kind of broken with the scribble strips on the FM3 not showing text and the color rings not working on the FC6. I'll go through it all today but I'm a little nervous about tomorrows gig. I guess I'll have my amp and pedalboard in the car, too...
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As someone who has worked in IT for nearly 25 years, never download beta anything on production equipment.

Hopefully you can get it all sorted out without a huge headache.
 
First, IT mojo sent.

Second, query without me digging back through the thread. Do you use or have you used the FM3 in front of one of your amps, when you could not go direct to a PA? Did it work well?
 
Chad said:
As someone who has worked in IT for nearly 25 years, never download beta anything on production equipment.

Hopefully you can get it all sorted out without a huge headache.
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Yeah - the bassist that I was playing with runs large medical equipment in his real job and gave me a rash of shit about putting beta ANYTHING on my amp. I reinstalled the backup system file I made before I upgraded and its good as new (for now).
 
sunvalleylaw said:
First, IT mojo sent.

Second, query without me digging back through the thread. Do you use or have you used the FM3 in front of one of your amps, when you could not go direct to a PA? Did it work well?
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You can use it in front of an amp if you turn off the cabinet modeling and run it into the effects return of an amps effects loop. I usually just bring my own PA monitor wedge regardless of the gig though. I always have my own speaker on stage which makes it more usable for the stage mix. I hate going all in ears or using just the PA vocal monitors.
 
Mark Wein said:
Yeah - the bassist that I was playing with runs large medical equipment in his real job and gave me a rash of shit about putting beta ANYTHING on my amp. I reinstalled the backup system file I made before I upgraded and its good as new (for now).
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Glad it was a pain in the ass to get it back to normal.
 
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