Gear crisis over (or just started...) - FM9 Incoming

dk_ace

Roadie
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866
I started the checkout process on Friday, sticker shock got to me - thinking I could buy a pretty sick guitar for just a little more than this processor and I already have lots of awesome effects stuff.

Spent Saturday justifying why I should get a Stomp XL to run in my Helix Floor along with the Ventris to add the DSP and footswitches I'm wanting. I'm fully aware of just how ludicrous that sounds, but I can't help myself. If my local GC would have had one in stock yesterday, that would have already happened. After gigs this weekend I realized that it was going to be a really big footprint and overkill for what I really need to do outside of a rehearsal.

Who knows, this may not really be the answer to what I need, Fractal stuff may be fussier than what I want to mess with or ultimately not able to achieve the things I want to do easily, but I'm always going to be wondering until I just buy one and spend the time setting it up and gigging it. Today I decided to quit kicking the tires and just order the thing. I'm starting with just the FM9, an FC6 might be around the corner too though if I find I'm doing too much layout switching or tap dancing at rehearsals as I try to find the right thing.

Order placed... Now watch me spend two weeks dialing in loads of awesome stuff to roll into the next gig and basically do the same things I always do.

If this doesn't scratch the itch, a ridiculous/epic Gigrig G3 build is probably imminent.

D
 
Happy Parks And Rec GIF
 
I started the checkout process on Friday, sticker shock got to me - thinking I could buy a pretty sick guitar for just a little more than this processor and I already have lots of awesome effects stuff.

Spent Saturday justifying why I should get a Stomp XL to run in my Helix Floor along with the Ventris to add the DSP and footswitches I'm wanting. I'm fully aware of just how ludicrous that sounds, but I can't help myself. If my local GC would have had one in stock yesterday, that would have already happened. After gigs this weekend I realized that it was going to be a really big footprint and overkill for what I really need to do outside of a rehearsal.

Who knows, this may not really be the answer to what I need, Fractal stuff may be fussier than what I want to mess with or ultimately not able to achieve the things I want to do easily, but I'm always going to be wondering until I just buy one and spend the time setting it up and gigging it. Today I decided to quit kicking the tires and just order the thing. I'm starting with just the FM9, an FC6 might be around the corner too though if I find I'm doing too much layout switching or tap dancing at rehearsals as I try to find the right thing.

Order placed... Now watch me spend two weeks dialing in loads of awesome stuff to roll into the next gig and basically do the same things I always do.

If this doesn't scratch the itch, a ridiculous/epic Gigrig G3 build is probably imminent.

D
I've been gigging an OG FM9 for over a year. For what we play, I need a Plexi crunch, a nice chorused clean, a JCM-800 high-ish gain, and an acoustic. It's covered all that with aplomb. And when I'm at home and playing the stuff I REALLY want to play, it's got that covered too. I bought Austin Buddy's Live Gold pack, and if there's not multiple tones in there you can work with, I'll eat the hat I was saving for when timbuk3 gets off the pot.
 
I've been gigging an OG FM9 for over a year. For what we play, I need a Plexi crunch, a nice chorused clean, a JCM-800 high-ish gain, and an acoustic. It's covered all that with aplomb. And when I'm at home and playing the stuff I REALLY want to play, it's got that covered too. I bought Austin Buddy's Live Gold pack, and if there's not multiple tones in there you can work with, I'll eat the hat I was saving for when timbuk3 gets off the pot.

It definitely has the processing power to do the kind of things I want to do inside one preset (another forum member was nice enough to confirm that for me). Accessing all that power via 9 fooswitches is gonna be the trick of it. I’ve paid close attention to what I use and how live over the last month to come up with an approach that I think will work without an FC6. But without a real unit here to program and make sure I haven’t overlooked something it’s hard to say.

Basically on the main layout I’ll have the stuff that I reach for ALL the time using hold functions in some semi-clever ways, and then on layout two I’ll have the stuff that’s less often used like odd modulations, alternative ambient delay and reverb sounds, etc. Hard to polish the plan for some of that stuff without having a unit to play with.

The goal is to have all the stuff I’ll need and enough stuff I don’t necessarily need but want to keep me from getting bored dialed in and readily available with 1-3 footswitch presses. Seems doable at the moment.

Then to figure out how to quickly set up for a live gig with automated switching, but it seems like that’s gonna be easy enough it’s more just a matter of figuring out which of the various approaches to that I like best.

D
 
FM9 is a beast. You shouldn't need an FC6 or anything other than expression pedal.

I think if you run the three left switches as "Scenes" "Presets" "Stomps" and the right six as the options for those, it should all be good. You could even do a tap/tuner switch on the left and change one of the above to hold or something.
 
Don't you have all the parts to piece this together? Or did you sell the G3?

Check it out, Chet!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: JT

Check it out, Chet!
Sry, can't keep up. Looks great! The tube head will likely be the least cumbersome part of your load-in!! :rofl :beer:guiness
 
  • Haha
Reactions: JT
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