The Fractal Thread

AndyJP

@welshboyo and @roland thx for tips!

Love the Princeton Reverb in this unit. Getting the best tones I've ever had from the FM3.

Will be onto a monitoring solution next, after i sell sell more stuff. The Fender fr10/12 fits the bill if the build quality is ok. Wanting lightweight 12-13kg max, loud and something that doesn’t sound spikey.

The Laney FR112 look great apart from the weight. 19kg isn't really heavy but it is at 2am after a gig. The Fenders are 7kg lighter at 11/12kg.

@welshboyo agree the FM3 is less fiddling than the Helix. At least for my needs.  I also love the onboard Helix UI.

Roland

@AndyJP I was tempted by these: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/257162/. Long journey for you though

AndyJP

Thx for the link!

Have got a cheap Alto TX308 that's decent for home and rehearsals.  It's got an 8 inch speaker and it's 5kg.  It's feather light.   The Headrush looks similar to it. I read the Headrush is a rebadged/tweaked Alto?

One thing about the Alto speaker is it's super bassy when you put it on the floor. It's ok up on a stand tho.

Nerine

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/257199/fractal-fm9-turbo-1699-ship-fractal-ev-1-110-ship-pics-now-added?new=1

I've updated pricing and added pics to my FM9 For Sale listing should anyone reading be interested in one. Link above.

FarleyUK

For those with an AFX 3, beta for FW 25 is out. Being touted as an 'amazing' FW update; personally, it made all my amps flubby and farty, and much harder to dial in....!

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-iii-firmware-25-00-public-beta-cygnus-x-3.202659/

Beexter

@AndyJP ; - I can vouch for the Fender FR10. I've still got a DXR 10 and an Alto 308 but prefer the FR10. I've only used it with the FM3 at home but really like it.
There are some reports of the early ones having a bit of hiss and Fender have done a bit of a stealth update with some different opamps. Search for Fender FR-12 preamp mod: the hissterectomy on the Fractal forum for the full story...
For what it's worth, mine doesn't have the mod and the hiss is hardly noticeable and is quite a bit less than most of my valve amps.
I was strongly considering a Redsound MF10 but not anymore- I'm really happy with the sound and form-factor of the Fender.

ZenRigsMan

FarleyUK said:

For those with an AFX 3, beta for FW 25 is out. Being touted as an 'amazing' FW update; personally, it made all my amps flubby and farty, and much harder to dial in....!

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-iii-firmware-25-00-public-beta-cygnus-x-3.202659/

Hi! It's a big update with significant modelling changes - as Cliff's says it will change your sounds and they'll likely need tweaking.

Haven't tried it yet - but looking forward to taking it for a spin!

Roland

With such a big update I’ll wait for the final release, and then another week at least for any further bugs to crawl out. 

sweepy

Hopefully the FM9 version won’t be far behind but running the FM9 into a power amp and cabs with cab modelling off sounded way better than any FRFR setup I’ve tried 

FarleyUK

FW25 for the AFX3 has been released - https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/axe-fx-iii-firmware-25-00-release.203482/

DavusPG

I wonder how long til it reaches the FM9? I'm more than happy with the tones I'm getting right now. I'll update of course but it sounds like it'll mean tweaking every preset I use. 

I think the effects and utility updates are of more use - gapless switching was a great addition.

I'm don't really buy into the night and day tone differences many people on the Fractal forum claim to hear with these updates. I think the modelling has sounded brilliant for years, yet the way some react you'd think they were going from a 1st generation Pod to the AxeFx 3. Maybe my ageing ears just can't hear it!

FarleyUK

Yeah, I call that 'the Cliff effect'; there's a LOT of odd behaviour in the forums, and the amount of brown-nosing is insane. Can't deny they make amazing products, but the way a lot of people act you'd think they created World peace or something.

Kultschar

FarleyUK said:

Yeah, I call that 'the Cliff effect'; there's a LOT of odd behaviour in the forums, and the amount of brown-nosing is insane. Can't deny they make amazing products, but the way a lot of people act you'd think they created World peace or something.

Agree - also quite a highly censored forum!   Dare mention a sniff of other competing products

ToneControl

I hardly switch on my AF3 these days, very happy with FM9

Roland

DavusPG said:

I'm don't really buy into the night and day tone differences many people on the Fractal forum claim to hear with these updates. I think the modelling has sounded brilliant for years, yet the way some react you'd think they were going from a 1st generation Pod to the AxeFx 3. Maybe my ageing ears just can't hear it!

Some people will hear a difference because of the way they play. I used to think it was all Fractal fanboy comments until there was an update which affected cleanish sounds. That was somewhere about v15 on the AxeFX II. All the metal head fanboys were saying they couldn’t hear a difference, and the clean players were saying “Wow”.

However, in general, I agree about diminishing returns. I’ve just watched Leon Todd’s video about firmware 25, and he doesn’t have much to say. I’m tempted to upgrade now just to see if I notice any difference, but I think I’ll hang on for a week to see whether any bugs crawl out.

ToneControl

Roland said:

DavusPG said:

I'm don't really buy into the night and day tone differences many people on the Fractal forum claim to hear with these updates. I think the modelling has sounded brilliant for years, yet the way some react you'd think they were going from a 1st generation Pod to the AxeFx 3. Maybe my ageing ears just can't hear it!

Some people will hear a difference because of the way they play. I used to think it was all Fractal fanboy comments until there was an update which affected cleanish sounds. That was somewhere about v15 on the AxeFX II. All the metal head fanboys were saying they couldn’t hear a difference, and the clean players were saying “Wow”.

However, in general, I agree about diminishing returns. I’ve just watched Leon Todd’s video about firmware 25, and he doesn’t have much to say. I’m tempted to upgrade now just to see if I notice any difference, but I think I’ll hang on for a week to see whether any bugs crawl out.

I got sick of having to retweak all my presets every time there was an update back on the AF2.
I tend to leave it a year or so, unless there is some major new feature that everyone thinks is ace

Roland

A lot of recent updates haven’t had much effect on my sound. They’ve been about new or updated features, so I’ve been happy to take them. It’s been several years since I changed Amp types and settings.

FarleyUK

FW 7.00 beta released for FM9...

mrleon83

And fw8 for the fm3, absolute game changer ! 

Beexter

The gift that keeps on giving!
I recently moved up to an FM9 (thanks Wazmeister!) from an FM3 and have been setting it up ready for a band audition tomorrow night so will hang fire on updating to the latest firmware until after that. It already sounds ace as it is anyway.
Whilst I appreciate these are not cheap units, almost every update brings additional amps and effects which I think represents pretty good value over the long term - I can't remember the last time I bought a pedal since getting the Fractals