Best thing to amp your Fractal FM3 up at home with?

WhiteShadow

WhiteShadow

Active member
I want to use the IRs and turn the volume down rather than run it into my Marshall tube amp at home.

I've been running it into my Mackie CR3 monitors, but to me they don't really sound good, and they're just way too woofie with the bass. Was wondering if there was something better that would give me killer sound at home?
 
I’m kind of in the same boat. I normally bypass my cab block and run through a Duncan 170 into a regular guitar cab. I just grabbed one of the Celestion “full range live response” speakers for cheap and I’m going to throw together a cab for it based on the Celestion drawings. I’m curious how that will work out.
 
A good pair of Studio monitors work great. That can get expensive, for a cheaper route you could go with a 10” or 12” stage monitor. I used to use an EV-12 (Electro Voice) and I had a QSC K-12 (a little pricier than the EV) a while. They work good and you can sometimes find one at a good price on Craigslist. Or maybe even 2 so you can go stereo if you want.

Just note that with the Power amp sim and IR’s captured with a mic and preamp coming out of the FM3, it’s a finished product recorded type sound. It’s not going to have a push air in the room Guitar cabinet sound that is not mic’d and ran through a Preamp.
 
Simon Dorn said:
Or good Headphones.
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Nothing sounds better than Fractal through headphones.

Getting that tone to the room is hard but from my experience with cabs, power amps, amp loop returns and FRFR... monitors are the best option. You have to treat the monitor a little like a regular guitar speaker and get it away from you and crank it up a bit. Too close and it will hurt your ears and you'll miss out on some frequencies. I have 3", 5" and 8" Mackie monitors and the 5s have a really nice, sweet midrange. The 8s sound like 2 4x12s when cranked up a bit. They are loud and aggressive and really thump in a good way. The 5s can thump too.
 
FWIW, if you start looking at studio monitors I’d suggest not going the cheapest route just to get something that’ll make do. If you have a Guitar Center nearby they should have a monitor demo area where they let you plug your phone in to check mixes/songs on the monitors in the store. Just listening to the differences between KRK’s, Yamaha’s and Adam’s is pretty damn eye opening, even when you’re comparing the same speaker size.

I’ve got Yamaha HS-5’s and the HS-8’s, while I rely on them for mixing more than I do just playing guitar through them, I really wish I would have upgraded to the 8’s sooner. There’s an incredible amount of detail, particularly low mids and bass, that just aren’t there with 5” speakers that has a big effect on playing guitar through them.
 
RevDrucifer said:
FWIW, if you start looking at studio monitors I’d suggest not going the cheapest route just to get something that’ll make do. If you have a Guitar Center nearby they should have a monitor demo area where they let you plug your phone in to check mixes/songs on the monitors in the store. Just listening to the differences between KRK’s, Yamaha’s and Adam’s is pretty damn eye opening, even when you’re comparing the same speaker size.

I’ve got Yamaha HS-5’s and the HS-8’s, while I rely on them for mixing more than I do just playing guitar through them, I really wish I would have upgraded to the 8’s sooner. There’s an incredible amount of detail, particularly low mids and bass, that just aren’t there with 5” speakers that has a big effect on playing guitar through them.
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I'd probably take the 7" Yamahas, or the Genelec 8040BPM.
 
jchrisf said:
Nothing sounds better than Fractal through headphones.

Getting that tone to the room is hard but from my experience with cabs, power amps, amp loop returns and FRFR... monitors are the best option. You have to treat the monitor a little like a regular guitar speaker and get it away from you and crank it up a bit. Too close and it will hurt your ears and you'll miss out on some frequencies. I have 3", 5" and 8" Mackie monitors and the 5s have a really nice, sweet midrange. The 8s sound like 2 4x12s when cranked up a bit. They are loud and aggressive and really thump in a good way. The 5s can thump too.
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I like the real deal better. Always.
 
If you want to keep the expense down the Headrush 108s work fine. Yes people are going to say there's much better out there but for the price it's hard to beat these the 12s are great also but the 108's are insanely loud if you're in your home. I actually just ordered the Fender FR12s to run in stereo. The guys on the fractal forum say they sound excellent.
 
Simon Dorn said:
I'd probably take the 7" Yamahas, or the Genelec 8040BPM.
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I’d love to try some Genelecs. I’m not going to upgrade again until I’m in a legit, treated room. The 7’s didn’t have the bass response I was looking for, which was my primary reason for upgrading to begin with. Quite surprising what that 1” will add.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I’d love to try some Genelecs. I’m not going to upgrade again until I’m in a legit, treated room. The 7’s didn’t have the bass response I was looking for, which was my primary reason for upgrading to begin with. Quite surprising what that 1” will add.
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The 7" is more about "better" mids.
 
I pair my Axe FXIII with Yamaha HS7s and I was blown away when I first set it up. I'd like to move up a bracket and get some better monitors but these are great value monitors in my opinion. But then again i'm always chasing for the next best thing jsut for the sake of it.
 
I have a pair of Yamaha HS8 at my workstation, and an EV PXM-12MP for when I need something portable. I think they're both great monitors. They're what let me finally go from amp-in-the-room to FRFR.
 
romanianreaper said:
I'm getting a Fender FR-12 eventually
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So..... I get a bit confused about this stuff. Is this type of cab meant to act like a normal cab that you would use to amplify your guitar to play with a band, or is it just meant to monitor yourself onstage while you run your Fractal/Helix through the PA?
 
WhiteShadow said:
So..... I get a bit confused about this stuff. Is this type of cab meant to act like a normal cab that you would use to amplify your guitar to play with a band, or is it just meant to monitor yourself onstage while you run your Fractal/Helix through the PA?
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Oh yeah, it is like a guitar cab but is flat response, so doesn't color the tone like a regular cab would. It is like a P.A. speaker and amplifying whatever tone you put into it and not coloring it too much. Modelers need these so you can have different amp and cab emulations. If you used a guitar cab, everything would sound like that one cab. FRFR cabs allow you to have a Fender sound, Marshall, etc, etc.
 
romanianreaper said:
Oh yeah, it is like a guitar cab but is flat response, so doesn't color the tone like a regular cab would. It is like a P.A. speaker and amplifying whatever tone you put into it and not coloring it too much. Modelers need these so you can have different amp and cab emulations. If you used a guitar cab, everything would sound like that one cab. FRFR cabs allow you to have a Fender sound, Marshall, etc, etc.
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Yeah I get that. I guess I just mean, are you supposed to take this cab and crank it up to play with a band, or is it just meant to be like a monitor onstage, but your actual amplification is coming from the PA?
 
A local buddy of mine racked his with a Crown power amp and loaded a quad of the Celestion F12-X200 FRFRs into a 4x12, and honestly it sounds pretty damn good & on some amp models even pushes air. It's the best version of this I've heard.
 
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