Simple QC Board and My Less Simple FM9 Board

Whilst I am now very happily gigging a FM3 running CX3 and am stoked ..... I have always thought the Achilles Heel of Fractal Floor units is there *stupidly* big size for what they are.

I get that several years ago Fractal had to commit to a consistent floor size box for the FM and FC units for economy of scale savings / production-overlapping etc..... etc..... .... but they are -relatively speaking .... f%cking huge for what they are ..... add and Exp Pedal and its ..... well ...... even f%cking-er huge-er.

This new upcoming product - if it is a "guitar box" [not any sort of high end load box] *could* mark a new form factor turning point (?)

Ben
 
Ohhhh I've been to Flagstaff. Pretty cool place. I did NAMM in 2012 and then had a week off afterwards travelling around with some of the old FXpansion crew. Anaheim to Vegas to Flagstaff if I remember rightly. Vegas fucking sucked, I could literally feel my soul dying the entire time I was there - but Flagstaff was awesome. Grand Canyon was awesome. Did the whole helicopter over the canyon thing. Dope AF !
 
deadpool_25 said:
I've had my FM9 since it released (I did upgrade to a Turbo). I detailed the FM9 build on the Fractal forum and I still love it. I'm in the middle of a massive downsizing though and got curious about the QC again. I went ahead and ordered a QC, a Temple Solo 18, and a Boss EV-30 and put together a little pedalboard. Here are the two boards side by side and a few more detailed pics of the QC board.

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Obviously there's a huge difference in size here (also weight, though I haven't actually weighed them both yet). It's a bit misleading to just look at the sizes without some discussion, but regardless the QC does have a a much smaller form factor.

The FM9's tones are absolutely amazing (and apparently about to get even better). I love Cliff's commitment to making the models as accurate as possible. The QC also sounds amazing. The effects are better on the FM9, no question, however the QC's effects are plenty good enough for what I need, so for me both are definitely are top shelf in terms of quality of tones overall.


Specifically on the QC board:

I already had a DC7 and Crux on hand so I used the Crux instead of daisy chaining some of the DC7's jacks together.

I mounted the Shure wireless under the board to save on real estate. I left an opening on the right side of the board so if the wireless goes out I can just run a guitar cable into the wireless receiver.

I found some vinyl at a fabric shop and glued it to the top of Temple board for a cleaner look. The QC, wireless, and expression pedal are secured using 3M Dual Lock. I used a combination of 400 and 250 for what is apparently the strongest bond. The Dual Lock is metal to metal; I cut holes in the vinyl to facilitate this. The Cioks units are secured with bolts.

Both of these units/setups are awesome. Though it pains me, I will probably sell off the FM9 setup. This is driven almost entirely because of my downsizing. There are certainly things I prefer about the FM9 and I LOVE fractal as a company, but the QC seems to fit my specific needs a little more right now. With that said, I'll be keeping a close eye on what Fractal does in the future and I expect that I'll be back on the Fractal bandwagon as soon as Gen IV comes around (if not sooner).
Click to expand...

Dead - Love the simplicity of the QC board ! Practical & compact. I am considering a similar setup for my QC.
 
shanesiegle said:
I just got an fm9 and was seriously considering the Quad cortex for the reasons you stated. In the end the lack of effects quality (at least reported) steered me back to fractal.
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Fractal is awesome. I'm definitely struggling with the thought of selling my FM9. The damn thing is awesome. They both are. The QC just has a few aspects that fit me a little better right now.
 
deadpool_25 said:
Fractal is awesome. I'm definitely struggling with the thought of selling my FM9. The damn thing is awesome. They both are. The QC just has a few aspects that fit me a little better right now.
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How are you liking the QC so far tonally? I was leaning towards selling my Fractal and just sticking with the QC until the latest firmware update...now the Fractal just sounds like magic.
 
Jarick said:
How are you liking the QC so far tonally? I was leaning towards selling my Fractal and just sticking with the QC until the latest firmware update...now the Fractal just sounds like magic.
Click to expand...
The one time I a/b'd the FM9 and QC, I had to grudgingly admit the QC sounded as good. And that was before I bought mine. A friend brought his QC over and we both were using FR-12s. I feel like the tones on the QC are just a little behind Fractal, but still absolutely top shelf. I can also acknowledge that I'm still biased by my love for Fractal.

The things I definitely like better about the QC:
1. Form factor
2. Weight
3. Ease of use
4. Fun factor

In terms of the amp tones I guess I'd say it's kind of a wash. With a gun to my head I'd give Fractal the edge here but I'm getting fantastic sounds out of either. If I did a deep dive a/b with both I suspect I might prefer the Fractal but I'm so over a/b's at this point. It's not fun anymore. I just wanna plug in and enjoy and I can do that with either.

It's not close on effects imo. The QC has some excellent effects, but Fractal's effects are amazing. If your needs are relatively simple where you need just some very good delays and reverbs, again the QC will do quite well (apparently unless you need a really nice spring reverb; I haven't even tried it on there because I almost always go for a hall or plate). Not really sure about the other stuff like compressors and drives and modulations.

I have an FM9 so I don't have access to the newest Fractal firmware yet. I am definitely torn about selling the FM9. It's so good already and, as you say, the reviews on the newest AxeFX firmware sound like it's even better. I definitely have a little FOMO going right now if I sell the FM9. I should though--trust the plan, right??
 
I was absolutely loving the AC20 tone in the Fractal and bummed I didn't have something analogous in the QC. Then I downloaded the free Amalgam AC20 capture and I'll be damned if it's not just as awesome. Different roads that get you to the same destination I suppose, right?
 
Jarick said:
I was absolutely loving the AC20 tone in the Fractal and bummed I didn't have something analogous in the QC. Then I downloaded the free Amalgam AC20 capture and I'll be damned if it's not just as awesome. Different roads that get you to the same destination I suppose, right?
Click to expand...
Yeah. We get caught up in which is better but I think when you get to this level of quality it's really just down to use-cases, priorities, and personal preferences.
 
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