Fractal AM4

Brio

Well bugger me, that sounds good. That and a VP4 could be an amazing combination.
Over to the excellent Leon Todd for details.

https://youtu.be/EGrmLHBvcMQ?si=Omr59_Zl3WrJhv7L

Kebabkid

Oh no. That's all I need...:(

I can see GU66 UK have a UK price of £789 and they arrive in December and they're 'Sold Out', so presumably, there's a waiting list, as was the case for the VP4.

gearaddict

I was excited when I first saw this but for £789 it feels quite limited - no 4CM option, no pitch block, only 4 blocks. I suppose it's a slightly more affordable way into the latest Fractal modelling but given the limitations it's certainly not a no-brainer for me. I've gone from definitely getting one, when I first saw it, to probably not, now I know a bit more about it.

Zapple

Kebabkid said:

Oh no. That's all I need...:(

I can see GU66 UK have a UK price of £789 and they arrive in December and they're 'Sold Out', so presumably, there's a waiting list, as was the case for the VP4.

I appear to have signed up to the waitlist…oh GAS

gearaddict

gearaddict said:

I was excited when I first saw this but for £789 it feels quite limited - no 4CM option, no pitch block, only 4 blocks. I suppose it's a slightly more affordable way into the latest Fractal modelling but given the limitations it's certainly not a no-brainer for me. I've gone from definitely getting one, when I first saw it, to probably not, now I know a bit more about it.

Just to contradict the idiot that wrote this (who lets these people in?):
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/4-blocks-are-not-enough-see-this.216967/#post-2729466

menamestom

Looks great, I was eying up the VP4, but this could serve the role of live backup amp ,in addition to effects on my board and home recording modeller, rather than the effects only of the VP4.  And you can still use 4 blocks for effects if you need to.

The lack of pitch would mean I’d have to keep my HX One, which means I probably have power headroom issues, so it’s not a no brainer.  Also, neither of them have a looper which is another thing I use my HX One for.  Whilst they would pair well together, £1400 and still no basic looper is a bit of a pain.

But still seems good value, compared to say a Big Sky MX or H90 and the effects are probably better than their line 6 equivalents.  Many people complaining online a HX Stomp has more blocks but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal.  And I think most people think the Fractal effects and modelling is generally better than Line 6.  I really like my HX One, but none of the effects particularly blow me away.

octatonic

Looks great.

My initial thought is that if you are getting the VP4 and the AM4 then you are getting close to the price of the FM9 but my issue with using the FM9 is it is so damn wide- put a couple of expression pedals on the end and you are taking up half the stages that I play.

So an AM4 + VP4 in an XDM Schmidt Array case and you are getting a lot of capability.
I'd need a couple of external pedals- certainly my Hexe Revolver IV because nothing else does what that does, and maybe a couple of analogue drives, but this is a very compact set up.

I probably won't go for it though because of an issue, which is how do I monitor the guitar signal?

With the AM4/VP4 or the Kemper, Axe FX III, FM9, Tonex (which I already have) I either have to use an FRFR, a tube power amp or some sort of tube power amp.

I've spent a lot of time figuring out the optimal way for me to gig monitoring typically through a guitar speaker but with a direct out option and the best I've found is to use the Suhr PT15IR head in 4 cable method. I get a direct out and can run it without a cab for silent or near silent stages, or I can plug it into a cabinet if the backline supplies one or use the 1x12 greenback loaded Zilla cab that I always have with me.

menamestom said:

 but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal. 

In terms of a backup amp on my board, the Tonex One is the best option I've found because it is so compact, but the Kemper Player would possibly be an option too.

I'd love fractal to do a compact £200-300 amp sim only box that allows you to switch between a single amp/cab block using the 4 channels we currently get with the larger devices.

lateralus462

Both this and the VP4 look severely limited next to what was on offer with the FX8/AX8  - yes they're a ton smaller but they're also a lot lighter on the features - unless I'm missing something?

gearaddict

£360 cheaper than a FM3 I guess...

willo

menamestom said:

Looks great, I was eying up the VP4, but this could serve the role of live backup amp ,in addition to effects on my board and home recording modeller, rather than the effects only of the VP4.  And you can still use 4 blocks for effects if you need to.

The lack of pitch would mean I’d have to keep my HX One, which means I probably have power headroom issues, so it’s not a no brainer.  Also, neither of them have a looper which is another thing I use my HX One for.  Whilst they would pair well together, £1400 and still no basic looper is a bit of a pain.

But still seems good value, compared to say a Big Sky MX or H90 and the effects are probably better than their line 6 equivalents.  Many people complaining online a HX Stomp has more blocks but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal.  And I think most people think the Fractal effects and modelling is generally better than Line 6.  I really like my HX One, but none of the effects particularly blow me away.

As an HX Stomp and FM9 owner the reality is that I'll be able to do in one Fractal amp block what I need 4 blocks to do on Stomp:

Pure amp
+ Boost
+ Saturation 
+ EQ

(Even more if I think about the cab (Vs separate IR block), the room setting and the output compression. That'd be all eight blocks on my Stomp...)

And that's all in one channel of the same block - I'll have four channels on the AM4. It's actually quite impressive but obviously four blocks sounds like less functionality than eight blocks.

Kebabkid

willo said:

menamestom said:

Looks great, I was eying up the VP4, but this could serve the role of live backup amp ,in addition to effects on my board and home recording modeller, rather than the effects only of the VP4.  And you can still use 4 blocks for effects if you need to.

The lack of pitch would mean I’d have to keep my HX One, which means I probably have power headroom issues, so it’s not a no brainer.  Also, neither of them have a looper which is another thing I use my HX One for.  Whilst they would pair well together, £1400 and still no basic looper is a bit of a pain.

But still seems good value, compared to say a Big Sky MX or H90 and the effects are probably better than their line 6 equivalents.  Many people complaining online a HX Stomp has more blocks but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal.  And I think most people think the Fractal effects and modelling is generally better than Line 6.  I really like my HX One, but none of the effects particularly blow me away.

As an HX Stomp and FM9 owner the reality is that I'll be able to do in one Fractal amp block what I need 4 blocks to do on Stomp:

Pure amp
+ Boost
+ Saturation 
+ EQ

(Even more if I think about the cab (Vs separate IR block), the room setting and the output compression. That'd be all eight blocks on my Stomp...)

And that's all in one channel of the same block - I'll have four channels on the AM4. It's actually quite impressive but obviously four blocks sounds like less functionality than eight blocks.

Thanks for that and as a recent HX Stomp owner who initially planned to use it for FX and explore the modelling side for Guitar & Bass later, this is a great explanation/summary and makes it sound more promising and I've always preferred Fractal sounds to other modellers I've heard, or experienced, but that UI and it's not helped by me not reading the manual (yep, I know)!!! Well, it looks a little simpler now and I'm liking this.

welshboyo

Well, I have been looking for something as an easy transportable fx for a short Cyprus Tour next year and was looking at a used FM3 but this AM4 changes things - it might also (here’s hoping!!) knock the FM3 prices a bit - ok, not the same power as an FM3 but the AM4 has a lot going on in a nice easy to use package.

willo

Kebabkid said:

willo said:

menamestom said:

Looks great, I was eying up the VP4, but this could serve the role of live backup amp ,in addition to effects on my board and home recording modeller, rather than the effects only of the VP4.  And you can still use 4 blocks for effects if you need to.

The lack of pitch would mean I’d have to keep my HX One, which means I probably have power headroom issues, so it’s not a no brainer.  Also, neither of them have a looper which is another thing I use my HX One for.  Whilst they would pair well together, £1400 and still no basic looper is a bit of a pain.

But still seems good value, compared to say a Big Sky MX or H90 and the effects are probably better than their line 6 equivalents.  Many people complaining online a HX Stomp has more blocks but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal.  And I think most people think the Fractal effects and modelling is generally better than Line 6.  I really like my HX One, but none of the effects particularly blow me away.

As an HX Stomp and FM9 owner the reality is that I'll be able to do in one Fractal amp block what I need 4 blocks to do on Stomp:

Pure amp
+ Boost
+ Saturation 
+ EQ

(Even more if I think about the cab (Vs separate IR block), the room setting and the output compression. That'd be all eight blocks on my Stomp...)

And that's all in one channel of the same block - I'll have four channels on the AM4. It's actually quite impressive but obviously four blocks sounds like less functionality than eight blocks.

Thanks for that and as a recent HX Stomp owner who initially planned to use it for FX and explore the modelling side for Guitar & Bass later, this is a great explanation/summary and makes it sound more promising and I've always preferred Fractal sounds to other modellers I've heard, or experienced but that UI!!! Well, it looks a little simpler now.

Definitely read the manual before buying. There are pros and cons to how Fractal handles certain things VS Helix - I, for one, preferred Snapshots in Helix to Scenes in Fractal. And even with my ideas above, there are limitations to the boost, saturation and EQ settings available in the amp block! But if you do decide to try, my experience with G66 has been very positive and I think they have a good returns policy - worth checking.

Kebabkid

willo said:

Kebabkid said:

willo said:

menamestom said:

Looks great, I was eying up the VP4, but this could serve the role of live backup amp ,in addition to effects on my board and home recording modeller, rather than the effects only of the VP4.  And you can still use 4 blocks for effects if you need to.

The lack of pitch would mean I’d have to keep my HX One, which means I probably have power headroom issues, so it’s not a no brainer.  Also, neither of them have a looper which is another thing I use my HX One for.  Whilst they would pair well together, £1400 and still no basic looper is a bit of a pain.

But still seems good value, compared to say a Big Sky MX or H90 and the effects are probably better than their line 6 equivalents.  Many people complaining online a HX Stomp has more blocks but for people like myself who just want 4 effect slots at their feet and a backup amp on their board, it is ideal.  And I think most people think the Fractal effects and modelling is generally better than Line 6.  I really like my HX One, but none of the effects particularly blow me away.

As an HX Stomp and FM9 owner the reality is that I'll be able to do in one Fractal amp block what I need 4 blocks to do on Stomp:

Pure amp
+ Boost
+ Saturation 
+ EQ

(Even more if I think about the cab (Vs separate IR block), the room setting and the output compression. That'd be all eight blocks on my Stomp...)

And that's all in one channel of the same block - I'll have four channels on the AM4. It's actually quite impressive but obviously four blocks sounds like less functionality than eight blocks.

Thanks for that and as a recent HX Stomp owner who initially planned to use it for FX and explore the modelling side for Guitar & Bass later, this is a great explanation/summary and makes it sound more promising and I've always preferred Fractal sounds to other modellers I've heard, or experienced but that UI!!! Well, it looks a little simpler now.

Definitely read the manual before buying. There are pros and cons to how Fractal handles certain things VS Helix - I, for one, preferred Snapshots in Helix to Scenes in Fractal. And even with my ideas above, there are limitations to the boost, saturation and EQ settings available in the amp block! But if you do decide to try, my experience with G66 has been very positive and I think they have a good returns policy - worth checking.

Cheers and I've dealt with ZenRigsMan (good chap) as I had a VP4 from them that I returned as I shortsightedly couldn't justify the price for what it did, but you said the magic works 'Read the manual' which I never do and I'm lazy like that, but if I can't get to the basics on my own, I do tend to switch off. As such an FM3, VP4, both a HX Stomp and the XL version, a Tonex One and Boss IR-2 have come and gone very quickly, and now I'm back on the HX Stomp and watching vids and reading the manual, but I have gone back and forth in the last 24hrs with the AM4 info and so as more stuff comes in, we'll learn more, but as I said, your summary was very helpful and the John Cordy vid was good

Brow

I've been eyeing up FM3s for a while, whenever I find 1 at a price I can afford (ie cheaper than 100quid less than a new 1), they get snapped up.

This may make sense for me as I'm not a massive FX user. 1 thing I'd wished they'd done though is have a standard 'Modulation' block rather than individual, Chorus/Phaser/Flanger blocks.

I know they have 4 channels to each block, but 4 channels of Chorus (for example) is useless to me  whereas a channel of Chorus, 1 for Phase, 1 for Flange and 1 for Univibe would've been far more useful to me.

In an FM3 I could have a block for each, but with the 3 block limit on the AM4 it makes it more complicated imo.

maharg101

I've been thinking the same about the modulation @Brow - gapless switching between presets / scenes should make it doable.

ZenRigsMan

I have fleetingly had one in my possession and can say... it's uncompromised fractal quality tone in a small box that sounds and feels just like my Axe-FX III. That's pretty cool, plus it's just fun to use.

There was a great explanation earlier of how the '4 block thing' is not much of a thing at all (thanks for sharing the link to the forum!), and as long as you're not expecting this to be an FM3 or FM9 at this price point, I don't think you're going to feel restricted.

The FM3 and FM9 will ALWAYS be more powerful - hence the price, but this is full fat Fractal quality for the masses; a great entry point into the Fractal world and a great backup unit for those already in it (like me!). Some interesting videos on the way over the next few weeks from a few great folks - watch this space...

Brio

Not at all biased there then. :-)

And I could be seriously tempted to try one.

ZenRigsMan

Of course biased, but seriously cool little box :-)

Brio

I know.
I really need to spend time with one but being honest I am more likely considering a VP4 to go with my Nano Cortex and then selling my Kemper Player, waiting to see how the Mk2 profiling works.

gearaddict

ZenRigsMan said:

this is full fat Fractal quality for the masses

I was on board until this statement