M
MistaGuitah
Well-known member
I got to spend about 2 1/2 with my new FM3 and was rather surprised at a few things so I thought I'd share. I'll start by saying that even with their lowest price unit, it's still shares top spot with Kemper. It's still better in sound quality and dynamic response compared to Line6 (which I also like). The Quad Cortex, in my opinion, didn't impress me enough to want to buy it over Fractal or Kemper to be honest. I just didn't think it was any real improvement in terms of relative real amp sound and feel quality. In fact, I thought there was a little something kind of sterile in the high frequencies and sort of a less lively dynamic compared to Kemper and Fractal so I can only conclude that the respectable youtube names venerating the product do so because they benefit from it. Anyway, I loved my AX8 and AxeFx II so I'll explain how this stacks up.
Here are some things that surprised me:
1. The interface is great as far as readability, room time work, vivid display, but navigation is not intuitive, and a bit tedious. I think they could have done a better job of presenting the controls in a way that's easy and intuitive so that more advanced configuration can be accessed from there. It's a greatly improved display but not greatly improved user interaction.
2. The default feel is a bit firmer than I expected, and not as lively or saggy as I expected. If I can remember right, the AX8 was similar before a firmware update but still needed a small tweak somewhere. I just don't remember if it was a global setting or needed to be done individually (I'll explain my willful ignorance shortly). It's almost like there's a bit of resistance in pick dynamics, and when you couple that with the saturated effects, I have to slow down a little to pick and mute very precisely in order to get an articulate sound. You can tell it's in there somewhere so I hope this is something that can be tweaked.
3. I was surprised that they did such a bad job of leveling the patches. I can remember this being a common complaint before so I'm surprised Fractal wasn't more mindful of it this time. Some patches can barely be heard if you turn the output all the way up, while others are significantly louder. If you don't turn the monitor output down while browsing, you'll end up having your ears blown by some patches. If I can remember correctly, Austin Buddy might have fixed that. Aside from the desired realism and uniqueness of amp models, you just can't use a brand new unit live or in the studio without significant patch-by-patch adjustments. It's enough hassle adjusting things just to practice or noodle around.
4. There are two small plastic knobs behind the display that are rather flimsy compared to the solid build of the unit in general. I think you have to be mindful not to accidently step on one or knock it against something.
5. Most of the stock patches do not sound spectacular - especially the clean amps and the delays. This is kind of a 3-facet issue:
A. It seems like cab selection could've been much better across the board. I even scratched my head wondering about a few cab settings. Some patches are very woofy, others sounded like some speaker dampening effect, while others sound like the classic amps aren't paired with he right speakers. I don't know if it's the IRs or just cab selection. You'd figure with all the fancy names getting evaluation units before release that they would have gotten it more right than wrong.
B. Some effects, especially delays, sound washy, not clean and brilliant as I remember them on my AX8 &, AxeFX II. The effects are often too saturated or muddy, so that leaves a whole lot of patches needing to be tweaked. Comparing stock effects settings, I think Kemper sounds better. I don't know what they did to the reverbs but they sound more like older Line6 reverb. I did play with a few of them and was able to clean some up but whatever they did makes the stock effects sound less brilliant and clear than before. I'm inclined to just remove all the effects and add them back individually.
6. The amp models overall sound and feel more similar or less unique than before. It seems some of the uniqueness of each amp model has been dulled somehow. They also sound generally more compressed or something. Also, some of the amp models are super bass or thin and not characteristic of that particular amps well-known sound.
Well, I purposely tried to avoid listening to demos or reading anything before playing with the new unit so that my initial impression wouldn't be influenced by preconceived ideas or expectations. All I went on was my use of AxeFX II and AX8 for a few years.
I don't know if the modeling and effects quality have diminished, or just needs more tedious tweaking than ever, or if it might have something to do with being the most affordable unit with least processing power, but I'm less impressed in various ways than I ever was with previous units. It seems like the tonal improvement and modeling quality is in there somewhere waiting to be unleashed. However, I'm not so optimistic about the effects because I did try adjusting some and replacing others but just couldn't get back to the lushness I always appreciated from Fractal.
Well, I think a lot of you guys said things that were spot on. This is not really a negative review but just that it's easier to articulate what seems wrong than what seems improved at this point - having only used it for 2.5 hours. Let me know what you guys think or if you were able to get your FM3 up to par somehow.
Here are some things that surprised me:
1. The interface is great as far as readability, room time work, vivid display, but navigation is not intuitive, and a bit tedious. I think they could have done a better job of presenting the controls in a way that's easy and intuitive so that more advanced configuration can be accessed from there. It's a greatly improved display but not greatly improved user interaction.
2. The default feel is a bit firmer than I expected, and not as lively or saggy as I expected. If I can remember right, the AX8 was similar before a firmware update but still needed a small tweak somewhere. I just don't remember if it was a global setting or needed to be done individually (I'll explain my willful ignorance shortly). It's almost like there's a bit of resistance in pick dynamics, and when you couple that with the saturated effects, I have to slow down a little to pick and mute very precisely in order to get an articulate sound. You can tell it's in there somewhere so I hope this is something that can be tweaked.
3. I was surprised that they did such a bad job of leveling the patches. I can remember this being a common complaint before so I'm surprised Fractal wasn't more mindful of it this time. Some patches can barely be heard if you turn the output all the way up, while others are significantly louder. If you don't turn the monitor output down while browsing, you'll end up having your ears blown by some patches. If I can remember correctly, Austin Buddy might have fixed that. Aside from the desired realism and uniqueness of amp models, you just can't use a brand new unit live or in the studio without significant patch-by-patch adjustments. It's enough hassle adjusting things just to practice or noodle around.
4. There are two small plastic knobs behind the display that are rather flimsy compared to the solid build of the unit in general. I think you have to be mindful not to accidently step on one or knock it against something.
5. Most of the stock patches do not sound spectacular - especially the clean amps and the delays. This is kind of a 3-facet issue:
A. It seems like cab selection could've been much better across the board. I even scratched my head wondering about a few cab settings. Some patches are very woofy, others sounded like some speaker dampening effect, while others sound like the classic amps aren't paired with he right speakers. I don't know if it's the IRs or just cab selection. You'd figure with all the fancy names getting evaluation units before release that they would have gotten it more right than wrong.
B. Some effects, especially delays, sound washy, not clean and brilliant as I remember them on my AX8 &, AxeFX II. The effects are often too saturated or muddy, so that leaves a whole lot of patches needing to be tweaked. Comparing stock effects settings, I think Kemper sounds better. I don't know what they did to the reverbs but they sound more like older Line6 reverb. I did play with a few of them and was able to clean some up but whatever they did makes the stock effects sound less brilliant and clear than before. I'm inclined to just remove all the effects and add them back individually.
6. The amp models overall sound and feel more similar or less unique than before. It seems some of the uniqueness of each amp model has been dulled somehow. They also sound generally more compressed or something. Also, some of the amp models are super bass or thin and not characteristic of that particular amps well-known sound.
Well, I purposely tried to avoid listening to demos or reading anything before playing with the new unit so that my initial impression wouldn't be influenced by preconceived ideas or expectations. All I went on was my use of AxeFX II and AX8 for a few years.
I don't know if the modeling and effects quality have diminished, or just needs more tedious tweaking than ever, or if it might have something to do with being the most affordable unit with least processing power, but I'm less impressed in various ways than I ever was with previous units. It seems like the tonal improvement and modeling quality is in there somewhere waiting to be unleashed. However, I'm not so optimistic about the effects because I did try adjusting some and replacing others but just couldn't get back to the lushness I always appreciated from Fractal.
Well, I think a lot of you guys said things that were spot on. This is not really a negative review but just that it's easier to articulate what seems wrong than what seems improved at this point - having only used it for 2.5 hours. Let me know what you guys think or if you were able to get your FM3 up to par somehow.
