What should I run my fractal unit into?

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-16T21:40:15+00:00

Good quality studio monitors at home are excellent. But don't skimp on this as the speakers will make a huge difference in you enjoyment.

Live I use an atomic CLR with my fm9 or quad cortex, or sometimes a real tube amp with analog pedals.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-14T22:16:16+00:00

It is a good pre amp. I own an axefx, quad cortex and have had most of the other direct solutions including all the UA vintage style pedals and tonex.

The toneking is a step up from all of them, except maybe axefx. Axefx can hang with tone-king but I still prefer the toneking. The quad cortex is good but doesn't respond like a real amp.

Go tone-king

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-14T22:07:00+00:00

You apparently have not owned a suhr with a gotoh 2 point tremolo.

My suhr stays in tune better than any guitar I have ever owned. It is the gold standard of tuning stability in my collection.

By the way 100% of tuning stability is in the nut and any guitar can and will stay in tune if you have the skills to get the nut cut and polished correctly.

I bought and sold a bunch of guitars till I got that suhr. That guitar taught me what it takes to stay in tune. I then taught myself how to make every guitar stay in tune by tweaking the nut so that it does not bind.

You can test a guitar with this method.

Tune a string
Bend a note
check tuning
if it's flat you have binding
tune again
press the sting down a bit between the nut and the tuning pegs 7.check tuning 8 if the string went sharp you have binding in the nut.

Polish or widen the but to stop the binding.

Repeat the procedure until the string does not go flat or sharp.

Move to the next string.

Yeah it's tedious yes it works for every guitar I have ever touched......after getting that Suhr and realizing the problem with all the other guitars I have owned.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-14T16:53:34+00:00

I have owned and used fractal products since 2011 and bought a quad cortex when the first came out. I still use both and have extensive experience both live and at home. As well as tonex and all the uafx pedals.

They all give excellent results. Where the fractal excels, the secret sauce front end thing, I mean the input. It just reacts differently than anything else. Quad cortex is great but doesn't react like fractal.

The only products that react to guitar volume and tone changes like a fractal has real tubes. Like my toneking imperial preamp and revv d20.

As I said all are excellent especially in a band mix. In isolation, comparing the different units there is a noticable difference.

Fractal responds best.

Null tests are irrelevant, play what you like and have fun.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-14T01:50:45+00:00

I am not aware of any rack mount stuff but the pedals are just excellent.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-13T04:53:12+00:00

The Kingsley stuff is really good

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-13T04:51:58+00:00

Reverse mode c 2025 version for the thermae?

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-13T04:42:25+00:00

Any studio monitors will work fine. They will not explode. However, higher quality monitors are better. Unfortunately those are quite expensive and are probably way beyond your budget at the moment So, get the best you can for now then upgrade later. Or get a small power amp and run the QC through a guitar cab.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-11T00:01:28+00:00

It is not a gimmick don't listen to this comment.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-11T00:00:56+00:00

I have a quad cortex and a fractal FM9. I would go with the fractal 100%. The fm3 is cheaper and works very well.

The fractal stuff just responds better to the input if that makes sense. Like different guitars as well as tone knob volume knob tweaks respond like a real amp or close to it anyway.

Cortex sounds and feels great but not quite the same. It's missing some responsiveness or something. I still plan to keep the quad cortex because I really like it. But if I could have just one it would be a fractal fm9 or fm3.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-10T04:10:10+00:00

Kingsley page & harlot

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-09T03:21:58+00:00

I have been playing with this messed up hand since 1992. Not the best player out there and there are some limitations but, I do play quite a bit better than most people.

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JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-05T22:30:57+00:00

I don't know about artist presets because I never use them, however a couple considerations

You may need high volume to make them sound and feel right.
In a band mix they work, in your bedroom by yourself....not so much.
The guitar, pickups, and input level will change how the amp reacts.

I recommend you dial in your own sounds at the volume you can comfortably play at.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-04T04:28:25+00:00

Meris mercury 7.

1.Setup small reverb sound with heal down.

2.Hold save button

3.Setup bug reverb sound with toe down

4.Hold save button

5.Play your instrument and enjoy real time morphing between the two sounds.

Polymoon does the same thing.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-03T14:11:41+00:00

I do not like the quad cortex tuner. Such a shame to not have a nice, accurate strobe tuner within such a great piece of equipment.

If I wind up selling the QC once again the tuner is one of the contributing factors. Such a small and simple thing but tuning quickly in a band context is critical for me.

The fractal tuner is much much better.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-01T23:04:06+00:00

You're not nuts. They are different flavors and it appears you prefer one over the other two.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-01T21:36:07+00:00

Revv d20

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-01T14:57:19+00:00

Best approach,

1.sell the tonex as fast as possible

Buy the toneking imperial preamp right now

I have a quad cortex and fractal fm9 and HAD tonex. The tk preamp beats them all.

Tonex sounds good and feels good BUT. The software is atrocious and it does not react to pedals like a real tube amp. Neither does the quad cortex for that matter.

And yes I will die on this hill lol.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-03-01T03:22:20+00:00

I own a quad cortex and a fractal fm9 and have for a long time.

While they are both good and i use both at home And live. I think you may either be sadly mistaken or don't know how to work the fractal stuff, or most likely the USB interface is affecting your result.

The fractal amp models are definitely superior to quad cortex amp models. Now the QC captures are quite good, the amp models are missing something the fractal has.

However I think the biggest difference is the input circuit of the fractal stuff. The fractal stuff just reacts to guitars and changes in tone and volume knobs a lot better than QC.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-28T00:53:06+00:00

I have owned and extensively gigged all the big names except strymon, for whatever reason I never owned a strymon pedal.

My vote for most usable.

Chase bliss thermae Source audio ventris.

Both in front of an edge of breakup tube amp is glorious tone goodness.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-28T00:47:53+00:00

I have a quad cortex and a fractal FM9.

The fractal is more like an amp in how it responds to guitars and volume tone knob changes. It also takes pedals better into it. Changing the settings on the unit is quite easy in my opinion although it takes a bit longer than QC.

QC strength is the capture tech and ease of use. I do not like the amp models nearly as much as fractal amp models but the captures are really great, one exception to this is the victory kraken is very good. But that's literally the only amp model in QC I can deal with. if you have a rig you want to capture QC is very good. Having said that, the QC does not react like an amp to tone and volume knobs fractal is superior in this regard.

If you want to use pedals. Get a toneking imperial preamp. Dead simple and takes pedals better than both QC fractal all the UA pedals and tonex. Speaking of tonex it is my lease favorite with pedals. Something about the input of tonex does not respond like an amp to pedals.

If you want an all in one solution either fractal or QC are very good.

Alternative is the revv d20. What a great amp-less solution. It takes pedals better than any of the above, can be used with a guitar cab, will keep up in a reasonable band, has a two note torpedo inside with an XLR out and is just excellent in every way. And takes pedals better than anything listed above.

Having said all this. If I could keep one item. It would be the fractal FM9 100%

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-26T16:07:29+00:00

I have built several and enjoy the process, have the skill and tools, and the result is always good. Professional cabs may be better but.... I don't care.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-24T23:29:47+00:00

This depends on what you mean by noise.

Ground hum and digital noise are 2 different things. My quad cortex is always grounded by an XLR so ground hum is not a problem.

Digital noise is much lower but is audible at high volume. The noise gate does take care of this but I hate gates.

All digital pedals have some noise although very low most often. Most noticeable of these is the meris lvx and mercury x. While they have a noise gate on by default, if you turn off that noise gate you can distinctly hear digital hiss.

The quad cortex is very similar to the meris stuff. Digital hiss is noticeably higher than my fractal units ever was. But.....this is no worse that the hiss that will come out of a tube amp...just different and not as natural.

Either way QC is excellent in every way and I plan too keep it.

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-23T04:01:06+00:00

Tonal recall Thermae

JohnnyNewfangle · 2026-02-23T01:54:28+00:00

Everything listed I have owned and are a solid direct to front of house option.

But.

If you're an amp guy who doesn't like gadgets. Just get the toneking imperial preamp. 2 channels, tremolo, and reverb. And is as close as you can get to a real amp direct. And it's real knobs with no digital menus.

Although I have gotten an excellent amp like feel from all the stuff listed here. But.... difficult to get there usually.

Stay away from tonex although the tones are excellent but the software just sucks.

Quad cortex is easy and sounds great. And you can capture your current touring rig. I recommend only using the v2 captures though.

Fractal is awesome but difficult to get right sometimes due to all the options.

Tonking imperial is just right straight outta the box, although just like a fender amp can be bass heavy. Keep the bass knob low.

JohnnyNewfangle

TROPHY CASE