Is anyone interested in the Fractal FM9?

  • I am on the waitlist - mainly out of curiosity, I would say. The KPA core amp tone is still better out of the box, IMHO, which is the reason for the moment I could only imagine to sell only one of my two stages, if at all. I will find out later this year...maybe...

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

  • But the Kemper UI (Stage, iPad app and MacOS RigManager) leaves much to be desired. The user experience - at least to me - is outdated and incomplete. Just my two cents.

    The sound of a 1974 Marshall or VOX AC30 is still not "outdated" IMO. I have those exact sounds stored in my Kemper. I don't need a UI to get that tone, just the right profile. I'm more interested in sound than looks. And ease of getting there.

    There are some really great profiles out there, but having to wade through all of the crap to get to them is a bit tiring.

    I agree. IMO 90% of the stuff is not great especially on rig exchange. It took me a bit, but I now have a handful of amps that nothing I have tried can beat. Making your own from an amp you love is the way to go or research before you buy and get some quality pro stuff. I can't see how my sound could be improved now after finding the profiles I'm happy with. I don't care about the interface, only sound because it was easy to achieve and save- Done.

  • I would like an FM9.


    I love my Kemper. I have a powered rack, but I never use the power amp (I thought I would use the KPA live, but digital still doesn’t do it for me) so I may trade it in for a Stage.


    Since I only use my digital solutions (KPA, Amplitube) for recording purposes and playing at home, I would like an FM9 to supplement. I sometimes find that profiles are not great for a song, and tweaking them too much starts to sound weird to me. In those instances the ‘modeling’ paradigm would make sense.


    Amplitube is great for this and I’m pretty happy with it, but I am Fractal curious.

  • I'm on the waiting list. I already have an FM3 and enjoy playing it at home and with one particular project. When I'm out doing bigger shows, I take the Stage and a couple of Kabinets; can't beat it for ease of use and set up. I also have an HX Stomp for jamming and putting down quick guitar lines at work. They're all great yet different solutions. I would probably be happy with just one of them, but where's the fun in that?


    For me, the Kemper is an amp and pedalboard replacement. It just sounds and feels more organic to me, whereas the likes of the FM3 is more like a studio rack set up, in both sound and routing possibilities. Horses for courses. I enjoy shredding 80's style on the FM3 more than the Kemper, though.

  • I'm on the waiting list. I already have an FM3 and enjoy playing it at home and with one particular project. When I'm out doing bigger shows, I take the Stage and a couple of Kabinets; can't beat it for ease of use and set up. I also have an HX Stomp for jamming and putting down quick guitar lines at work. They're all great yet different solutions. I would probably be happy with just one of them, but where's the fun in that?


    For me, the Kemper is an amp and pedalboard replacement. It just sounds and feels more organic to me, whereas the likes of the FM3 is more like a studio rack set up, in both sound and routing possibilities. Horses for courses. I enjoy shredding 80's style on the FM3 more than the Kemper, though.


    Can you explain why shredding is better on the FM3 while the Kemper sounds more like an amp? Because of better delays/effects?


    I recently tried the NDSP Petrucci and really it sounded better than my Kemper for Petrucci's tones. But it didn't FEEL as good.

  • I am not talking about the sound. I have no problem with that. On the contrary, I love the sound of the Kemper.

    SO what's so bad about the UI? I agree rig manager could be improved, but it's not horrible. And using the Kemper is pretty simple once you learn it.

  • SO what's so bad about the UI? I agree rig manager could be improved, but it's not horrible. And using the Kemper is pretty simple once you learn it.

    I think the Kemper is probably the easiest to learn of all of the units on the market for someone coming from an amp and pedal board. It all just made sense to me when I first got my hands on my Stage. It is laid out just like using a pedal board with an amp with an effects loop.

  • Can you explain why shredding is better on the FM3 while the Kemper sounds more like an amp? Because of better delays/effects?


    I recently tried the NDSP Petrucci and really it sounded better than my Kemper for Petrucci's tones. But it didn't FEEL as good.

    I just could quickly dial in those 80s/90s shred tones with little fuss (think Steve Vai on the Dave Lee Roth records etc.). I only had a couple of profiles that I liked on the Kemper that were kind of in the ballpark (not that the Kemper is incapable of doing those kinds of tones, just that I couldn’t be bothered to find/pay for such profiles, when it’s not actually that kind of music that I make a portion of my living with).


    Kemper just sounds more analogue than the Fractal and Line6 gear. Can’t really put my finger on it, but it’s just a little dirtier, grittier in some way, whereas the others are a little clinical.

  • Kemper just sounds more analogue than the Fractal and Line6 gear.

    I think the Kemper has a lot of musical "feel" that makes me want to use it more than the "real thing". For the sake of curiosity, when I think of 80's Shred tone the LAST person I think of Is Vai. I've always thought his tone was mediocre at best. Could you name 3 Vai songs where you thought his tone was to strive for? Maybe I need to take another listen.

  • I think the Kemper has a lot of musical "feel" that makes me want to use it more than the "real thing". For the sake of curiosity, when I think of 80's Shred tone the LAST person I think of Is Vai. I've always thought his tone was mediocre at best. Could you name 3 Vai songs where you thought his tone was to strive for? Maybe I need to take another listen.

    The whole of Eat 'em and smile and even though it's mixed pretty awfully to my taste, I love Whitesnake's Slip of the tongue for Vai's playing, too.

    I'm also a massive fan of Megadeth's Rust in peace (though technically a 90's album), and I can much more easily get tones close to Marty's.

  • I have the Axe III as well as the Kemper.


    I'm interested in the FM9 for a effects-only platform, as the Axe effects are vastly superior to every single effect on the Kemper. So pairing the two would be a pretty interesting match.


    The world of Axe III/FM3/FM9 is a lot different to the Axe II days. Axe II was a pain to use, with too many limitatons on controls and things. The new stuff doesn't have that problem, and with the introduction of the ideal/authentic panel options, it's really a doddle to get an amazing sound. I simply don't understand how people can claim the Axe III is horrible to use. It really isn't.


    The Kemper still doesn't have a decent effects browsing system - the two column with one button to change the filtering category is .... well... let's just say I don't like it. It's confusing and I constantly change effect type when I meant to change the preset, and vice-versa.

  • The Kemper still doesn't have a decent effects browsing system - the two column with one button to change the filtering category is .... well... let's just say I don't like it. It's confusing and I constantly change effect type when I meant to change the preset, and vice-versa

    Did you know once yo turn the browse knob you can use the 3 knobs underneath for each column? Once I found that out, it made things much better for me. My big gripe there is when you select a block that you want to edit, say that had a delay in it and I turn the browse knob, I have to start at the very beginning of the list. My wish is that would open the browse window with the same thing that was loaded in that block.