FM9 is the way to go as of right now for most people. It can play nearly all the same presets as the AxeFX III. The editor is nearly identical as well (not true of the under powered FM3.) The FM9 is a nice all-in-1 package with 9, count 'em 9 glorious foot switches!
Thanks for watching! Will do. Been using that layout for the past few weeks and making some tweaks here and there. Finally have it dialed in. I’ll post it in a video soon!
"Idealized", such a valid point. My Kemper Stage & FM3 are very representative of amps, but strangely, my HR Prime, with its more "idealized" tones in the modeling half of the machine (so huge and lush) is even more fun for me to play as the tones are so big, grand, and complex, but knowing its more Headrush's take on tones. Its a weird tug of war in me, to play the "true" Kemper or FM3 tones, or to play the kinda different, but probably even more inspiring tones from my HR Prime. I guess all gear has its own personality.
Some great viewpoints here. Thank you. I started with an FM3 and its a fantastic little unit. I built my own board out of scrap wood and found a case on Amazon. My board has the unit, and AIRSTEP midi controller, two expression pedals and my line 6 wireless. For me, it’s lugging this case, my backpack with cables etc, my headrush monitor, guitars, stand and mic stand. It’s def not a one trip from the car scenario for gigs. Now I’m looking at an axe3 that I could run as a similar setup to what you described as having. Adding an in ears system, rack wireless etc. This would eliminate my headrush monitor and doesn’t seem to be any more of a hassle (other than the weight) than what inhave in the fm3. Plus the rack could serve my studio and just be unplugged to take to gigs. I don’t think I’ll get rid of the fm3 as it’s a great backup AND fantastic for travel. I visit some friends out of state couple times a year and have taken the fm3 on my carry on. Simple and so nice to have that. Just feeling like I’m ready for a step up. Ah decisions decisions. Lol.
Yep, been there! FM3 (and FM9 - should be here tomorrow) for smaller shows where monitoring is provided and I just need a guitar and my unit. But for a larger show where I want to use my own monitoring and wireless it's hard to beat just pulling a lid off a rack the plugging in the power.
@@mathew_dale well I took the leap. Have the axe 3 and in process of building a 6U rack. Have the axe, a Furman, waiting on a patchbay and now trying to decide on a wireless and IEM. Running into a bit of a snag. I left 1U of space to house the wireless and IEM. Only I’m realizing I can’t run fhe antennas in the front. They will be in the back of the rack case. Hopefully I can figure something out. I didn’t want to go larger than 6U and thought I had it all planned out. But alas…..a kink in the chain. Lol. I’m hoping the units perform fine in the case with the antennas in the back. If not I don’t know what I’m going to do unless I go with units that each have one antenna. Then I can run them in the front. Just can’t run four.
I have a Helix and I love it. I'm thinking of getting a smaller gig so thinking either HX Stomp because I love the Helix, but the FM3 looks right up my alley too.
I also am going from a GT1000 to the FM3. I am shrinking my live setup. Consider this setup a on stage amp with the fm3 - the Bose L1 pro. Its light weight and covers the stage better thank any guitar combo amp I have. Also my full rig fits in my Toyota Prius!
I totally agree with you but I've come at it from the opposite perspective. I'm a UK home-studio musician who's looking to venture out. I bought the Axe-FX3 for my home-studio thinking that I'd never need anything else. Now I do... I'm looking for a simple rig that I can use - and this is the important bit - onto which I can migrate amp/cab/FX in limited way to play outside of my home-studio without having to learn a whole new eco-system like Neural. Certainly the FM3 has less than half the power of the FM9 which has half the power of the AxeFX3... but I just chuck it down to a usable-format. The Neural-DSP is probably better compared to the FM9 in terms of processing capabilities... but falls way-short of the Axe-FX3, and if I were to go the Neural-route I'd have to learn a new language for something that's not reached its adolescence. Fractal for me all the way and an AxeFx3 combined with an FM3. My only issue is that Fractal need to begin considering us Brits. We don't even have a UK distributor and have to pay massive import duties, so Fractal are giving market-share to Neural and us Brits find it almost impossible to source Fractal gear.
I’m in similar boat. Inhave an FM3 and really looking at getting an axe 3. Inhave a board I made with my fm3 that I just take out of a case and set up pretty quickly. I’m thinking about the axe3 and how that would be for gigs. In a small rack case, I don’t see it as being any more of a job to transport and setup from what I have now. I may actually ditch the frfr and get an in ear system and throw that in the rack. The FM3 will be great for any travel. I have already taken that on my carry on and it’s been a great unit for that. Idk. The axe3 just seems like the logical step up from an FM3. Even bypassing the FM9 if the wallet allows.
@@mathew_dale I was wondering if I could use those 3 switches on the FM3 as clean, crunch , lead sounds... and then use the FC6 to toggle on/off individual effects - chorus, delay etc? Also - I need to run acoustic guitars through the FM3...maybe as a different preset? Then 2 separate outputs to K12's for my personal monitoring and also FOH. Do you think this would work or do I need the full AxeFX111 to do something like this? Thanks.
This should all be possible with the FM3! For the switching, just set up the clean, crunch, and lead as scenes 1,2, and 3. Pull up the scenes layout on the fm3 and then the effects layout on the FC. That will give you individual control. Then you can either set up a separate chain for your acoustic through input 2 or if you need some pre-amping, use the remaining channel D in the amp block with the “tube pre” model. You can set out 2 to copy out 1 for simplicity. Out 1 to FOH, out 2 to K12s. This sounds like a good video idea for me as well if you’d like me to go in depth…
@@mathew_dale Awesome response Mathew! Thanks so much. A detailed video would be killer! I should have made one part more clear. When we play live we also have videos running. So I have to have rapid guitar changes all night long and that includes changing from electrics to acoustics. I go from guitar into a single wireless, which then goes to a Polytune tuner. It then goes to a Radial A/B switcher which splits the guitars off to completely separate acoustic and electric rigs which are "real" amps, cabs etc. Nothing is direct to FOH. The key to doing this very fast is there's only that one wireless - so I just unplug my electric, plug in an acoustic to that same wireless, hit that A/B switcher and instantly I'm over to the acoustic rig... and vice versa. In the Fractal could I do the same thing? Wireless into the Fractal and then either set up 2 independent presets (one for electric and the other for acoustics) both of which would have scenes inside for effects or would I use one preset or "line" that splits off somewhere? The key is there's just one input at the front end of the Fractal. I need 3 outputs... acoustic to FOH, electric to FOH seperate from the acoustics, and then a third out (or 4th?) going to the K12 on stage for my monitoring. Both electrics and acoustics need to be in that single K12 (mono rigs here). I assume I could level match those outs between acoustics and electrics so they're relatively the same volume in the K12? Thanks so much for the help Mathew. Much appreciated!
Just got my AxeFXIII last Friday…now..I gotta get an FC…..what’s your opinion using the FC-6 vs FC-12 with the AxeFXIII?…I do have a couple of those dual footswitches that you can use with the Fractal controllers….I was thinking using those,I could set up an OMG-9 rig with the FC-6..
Awesome! Having only the FC-6 myself, I find that it does everything I need just fine, however, it does require more taps to get more places. I still kind of want a 12 just for the benefit of having it all under my feet at the press of a single switch. Having the 6 with an external switch might be a great workaround though if you want to save some cash.
Your guitar tone is only 1/3rd generated by the amp, another 1/3rd is down to the specific speaker and 1/3 your guitar pickups and signal chain. Studio Monitors by design are flat lifeless and best used for mixing/mastering not playing, I have a pair of Adams and whilst great monitors do nothing for me when playing. To get the most from a modeller/sim you really still need proper guitar drivers like G12T, V30 or Greens/Blackbacks driven by a decent quality clean power amp. Then you get to venue PA Systems which all to often sound as bad as Studio Monitors do, so who is going to care what you throw at them, its going to sound bad no matter what !! The reason so many bands use modellers is that on stage they use in ear gear long gone are the days of stacks of cabs at the back of the stage, musicians now care about their ears and roadies care about their backs !! But then gigs are now more about the show and plenty of bands also use discrete backing tracks so the whole experience is a charade
It depends what you'r using the Axe for. I use mine to replace traditional amps and cabs and FX, so naturally I'll use FRFR outputs and select the appropriate amps/cabs. If you're only using the FX, then tailor your output chain exclude amps/cabs otherwise you'll get some strange hybrid-sound coloured by your amps/cabs.