My First Fractal Product

BeZo

BeZo

Well-known member
I got my FX8 MKII today. For the same price as the others selling everywhere, mine came on a board with an expression pedal and a gig bag. Plus, when I looked in the bag, a giant 12 foot snake jumped out at me. I took a test drive on the previous owners presets, and then got to work. I guess the reason it was so cheap was that it had tape and writing all over it. The tape peeled right off, and all the sharpie came off with a little alcohol. Took 5 minutes to clean.

So far, it's been pretty easy to get good sounds out of it. I dialed in some compression and a boost pretty quick, and got lost in the Phaser. Once I figured the relay and started setting up scenes, I was good to go. I was worried about option paralysis, but approaching it with goals kept me on track. This thing might be a useful tool.
 

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I have had the original since they first came out. I’ve done tons of gigs with it and it’s never failed me. I had Reco make me up a cable snake with 4CM and humbuster cables. It does all the channel switching on my BE Deluxe and couldn’t be happier.
 
I am always going to keep an FX8 around since there is always something cool you can get out of the unit and the effects are stellar!!

Plus there is no tone suck unlike other devices out there.

I recently tested the tone suck by going straight into the FX8 (no effects in the FX8 internal pathway) and out into the front of an amp and it didn't color the tone or take anything away from it, then I did the same thing with 5 other similar devices, and I found there was some tone suck and coloration of the tone.

Definitely a GREAT unit and a real keeper for me!!
 
Also have an original since early. Use it with my JVM and it’s terrific. It’s a great product we were asking for and it’s a winner!
 
Do the humbuster cables make a big difference? Should I get some now, or wait to see if I have a problem? I'm sure I'll definitely need them if I end up running 2 amps in stereo.
 
BeZo said:
Do the humbuster cables make a big difference? Should I get some now, or wait to see if I have a problem? I'm sure I'll definitely need them if I end up running 2 amps in stereo.
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They definitely make a difference and you can make them yourself
 
Fractal stuff is awesome. Everything they make is built like a tank, sounds amazing, and gives you just about as many options as you could ask for in both what gear is modeled and how you're able to route and tweak it.
 
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My FM3 arrived Wednesday. I haven't had a modeler since a Line 6 Pod X3 Live over a decade ago, so I've been way behind the times.

Reading all the chatter on the modeler messageboards, I was getting a CrossFit, strict vegan, campus ministry vibe of 100% devotion and an implied commitment that I now had to turn others to the light. Was hoping for the FM3 to be delivered on bicycles by two young men in short-sleeve white dress shirts, asking me: "Have you heard the good news about our Lord and Savior, Cliff from Fractal?", but it came by UPS instead.

Pass me the Kool-Aid. I'm blown away.

Initially bought the FM3 to use effects-only in 4CM with an amp, but so far I've only had time to use it with headphones and tweak some presets. Sticking point for me with multi-effects in the past was that I never felt the modulation effects were as good as the better stand-alone pedals, but this sounds great. I'm not looking to sell my amps, but I could practice, play live, and record with only the Fractal stuff and be completely happy. I thought this would sound good, but it has exceeded my expectations.
 
scriptphase said:
My FM3 arrived Wednesday. I haven't had a modeler since a Line 6 Pod X3 Live over a decade ago, so I've been way behind the times.

Reading all the chatter on the modeler messageboards, I was getting a CrossFit, strict vegan, campus ministry vibe of 100% devotion and an implied commitment that I now had to turn others to the light. Was hoping for the FM3 to be delivered on bicycles by two young men in short-sleeve white dress shirts, asking me: "Have you heard the good news about our Lord and Savior, Cliff from Fractal?", but it came by UPS instead.

Pass me the Kool-Aid. I'm blown away.

Initially bought the FM3 to use effects-only in 4CM with an amp, but so far I've only had time to use it with headphones and tweak some presets. Sticking point for me with multi-effects in the past was that I never felt the modulation effects were as good as the better stand-alone pedals, but this sounds great. I'm not looking to sell my amps, but I could practice, play live, and record with only the Fractal stuff and be completely happy. I thought this would sound good, but it has exceeded my expectations.
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My modeling journey went from the original Line 6 POD... to like 20 years of real amps... to finally saying "ok, let me give this a shot again" and getting a Fractal FM3 a couple years ago. I was blown away, too. So much so that within a few months I sold it and got an Axe FX3.

I still have a bunch of pedals, but I basically never use them. The Fractal effects are outstanding and so easy to implement. All the cables and routing headaches are gone. Fractal isn't quite there with fuzz yet, though... not even close, really... so I still use real fuzz from time to time. And certain pedals, especially modulation, are just designed in a way that makes it simpler or more fun to mess around and get sounds. Even if Fractal will somehow get the same sound, it's not always obvious how to get there. Sometimes a pedal is just easier and quicker.

And I still have some real amps, but I'm always considering selling them. Again, the Axe is just so much quicker and easier and sounds great. And I don't have to drop $hundreds on tubes. I was missing the "amp in a room" thing a bit, but Axe > Fryette Power Station > cab is pretty damn great, too.
 
BeZo said:
I just got color coded nuts and did up some humbuster cables. I'm getting the cable snakes together and hopefully I'll start really using it soon.View attachment 228475View attachment 228478
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I have mine mounted to a board which gets stored in a hard case. That way I’m able to leave the cables attached to the FX8 and just unplug the ends that connect to the amp. I just coil up the snake, lay it on top of the FX8 and stick it in the case. It’s very efficient for gigs
 
I've had my 2nd Gen FX8 for couple of years now. Have it setup in 4CM with my Splawn Nitro. Also use it to change channels and engage solo boost. Even use it for Wah effect.

Hands down one of the best investments.
 
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I had an Axe-FX Ultra when they were top of the line; enjoyed it compared to my Vox Tonelab table top. Sold it, I think next was a Boss GT-100 or Helix LT, both sold; then Boss GT-1000 (sold), and SY-1000 (still have it). Also have an HX-Effects that I use in 4CM, made a simple snake that connects the HX Effects to my amps with effects loops. Works great.

I'm doing more with plug-ins now, Helix Native and PolyChrome DSP McRocklin Suite; I use Blue Cat Audio's PatchWork as plugin host, and KMI SoftStep2 for MIDI floorboard.

For now, I'm done investing in hardware modelers / processors, the plugins are working great for me, cost less, get upgrades, etc.
 
jaycal6 said:
My modeling journey went from the original Line 6 POD... to like 20 years of real amps... to finally saying "ok, let me give this a shot again" and getting a Fractal FM3 a couple years ago. I was blown away, too. So much so that within a few months I sold it and got an Axe FX3.

I still have a bunch of pedals, but I basically never use them. The Fractal effects are outstanding and so easy to implement. All the cables and routing headaches are gone. Fractal isn't quite there with fuzz yet, though... not even close, really... so I still use real fuzz from time to time. And certain pedals, especially modulation, are just designed in a way that makes it simpler or more fun to mess around and get sounds. Even if Fractal will somehow get the same sound, it's not always obvious how to get there. Sometimes a pedal is just easier and quicker.

And I still have some real amps, but I'm always considering selling them. Again, the Axe is just so much quicker and easier and sounds great. And I don't have to drop $hundreds on tubes. I was missing the "amp in a room" thing a bit, but Axe > Fryette Power Station > cab is pretty damn great, too.
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Very much agreed on the fuzz stuff. While my general take on the Drives in the current Fractal stuff is “Different, not better/worse, just different”, I can’t say the same for the fuzz stuff. Fortunately, they all take fuzzes really well. Cliff should just throw a bank of transistors into the units with some Fractal-esque switching function to have unlimited, legit fuzz tones.

Gilmour and EJ are the two guys who I try recreating particular tones from as a ‘hobby’ within my hobby, I’m still using actual pedals to get a lot of those tones, namely a Mojohand Iron Bell, Germanium Dover Drive and an EJ Fuzz Face. I’ve gotten closer with some Gilmour tones in Fractal and for the most part, unless you’re A/B’ing back and forth you’ll ‘forget’ how the pedals sound, but once you do it’s hard to ignore them.
 
I've never been a big fan of fuzz, so I'm not lost there. I'm just using the boost up front and it seems to work all the same.
 
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