Looks like hell is freezing over, I'm looking to replace my rig with the Fractal FM 9 :-)
I will keep the old Mesa rig, so I decided to part with the fretless Orion to fund this endeavor.

With the FM 9 you can have two total separate signal chains, each with it's own input, amp simulation and effects.
To a certain degree, there are some CPU restrictions. But as far as I can see, the possibilities are way beyond amazing.

With this unit I can recreate the rig Newsted used with his Series II basses in Metallica, without bringing the 3 fridge sized racks as he used.

The picture shows what I would like to do with the most complex signal chain, neck pickup goes through the clean path and the bridge through the overdrive path.
Both signal paths are stereo (true stereo) and are mixed together to the outputs, one stereo output goes to the FOH and the other stereo output to two powered floor monitors.
Note: The picture is a photoshop rendition of what I like to do, on the actual device it might look a bit different. (I think I don't need the mixer block at the end, CPU usage will be more than 12,7% etc) :-)
I used that picture to ask on the Fractal Facebook group if a chain like this was possible, they assured me I can do this and way more... :-)

Hey Flip,

That certainly looks like fun!  And I bet it will lead you to some great combinations of effects.  I might make one suggestion ... that would be to use a "mixer block" at the end only so you can send the FOH a mono signal.  Keep your true stereo going all the way to your powered speakers but think about how you want it to sound in the PA...  For instance, you probably wouldn't want it to be panned hard left and right.  You know what I mean?

Let us know what crazy sounds you come up with!

Jimmy J

I admire your commitment and look forward to the demo videos.  😎

My only regret is that I can't adopt that East-Meets-West Orion. It'll make someone a good one.

I have a Fractal, and love it.  And yes, you can make all kinds of signal paths.

Quote from: JimmyJ on May 09, 2026, 01:37:01 PMI might make one suggestion ... that would be to use a "mixer block" at the end only so you can send the FOH a mono signal.  Keep your true stereo going all the way to your powered speakers but think about how you want it to sound in the PA...  For instance, you probably wouldn't want it to be panned hard left and right.  You know what I mean?

Thanx! There will be a lot to do and consider indeed, great thing is it can be done without spending hours in solder vapor. :-)

I would want stereo for ping pong delay, stereo chorus etc, so that would be panned hard right and left. (at least for those presets)
Luckily we work with our own foh guy, so we will figure out what works best.
My backup bass is the Elan, so I will have to make dedicated (mono in) presets for that bass. For the Series II bass I can also make stereo and mono presets. So if my intended stereo use will work, but we play at a venue that doesn't have the capability (not enough foh channels fi) I can have all presets for that situation ready to go, looks like an extremely versatile unit. :-)

I'm liking this!  Yes, if you have your own FOH guy then you're all set.  And if you get into those moving L&R effects you could certainly use your Elan too. You're going to have some fun experimenting with all this.

Bear with me while I describe my basic stereo rig back from in the day.  I ran the neck pickup straight through clean to a pair of 15" EVs in Thiele boxes.  Bridge pickup was straight through clean to a pair of 12" EVs in the smaller Thiele boxes.  I wanted to add a chorus sound for soloing so I tapped off the bridge pickup signal and sent it into an ADA Stereo Tapped Delay.  That was a lovely sounding chorus with a mono in and stereo out.  I had it set up so it did not pass audio until I kicked it on and then it fed 100% effect L&R outputs summing to both my dry bridge p/u channel and my dry neck p/u channel.  So the dry bass sound was never interrupted but only added to when I turned on the chorus.  Gotta say, it was really fun to stand in front of.  A nice big swimmy sound which still had a solid fundamental.  Yum!

Keep us in the loop please.

Jimmy J

I don't like Fractal products, as they are almost completely hi-gain, guitar oriented products. And their "guts" are now old generation, obsolete DSP products. A double signal path can be recreated with any modern, double input processor, like the Line 6 Stadium XL.

I've been looking at a lot of units incl the Stadium XL. (have been using Line6 stuff for years)
The Ampeg model in POD Farm 2 sounds good, but I recently got the official Ampeg version and it sounds way better. The official Ampeg plugin was made using the Line6 system, so I guess the Ampeg model in the Stadium XL must be similar? (or the same)
I'm not sure what it was, but there's something that pulled me away from the Stadium XL.
I have the opportunity to try and compare the Fractal Ampeg model before I buy, our guitar player/singer has the FM3 and is very content with it.

FM3 also would be perfect for me size wise, but it only has one Amp block and less input/output possibilities... I will use the extra output on the FM9 to crate an effects loop, I will use some of the original stuff from the "old" rig (Morley PWF and maybe the Ibanez HD1500)

Fractal also has an amazing feature called "Tone match" you can feed it an isolated track and it will automatically match the tone.
It's not featured on the FM pedals (only on the AXE-FX) but tone matches created on the AXE-FX can be loaded into the FM pedals. So I guess/hope the Fractal community can be helpful there, I would love to have a tone match file of Newsteds clean solo sound.

Newsteds setup in the early 90's: Series II basses into two wireless systems - rackmounted Soundcraft 200B mixer with Effects on the aux channels (chorus, Mesa Triaxis, Morley wah) - DBX 160A compressors - foh and a couple of Ampeg SVT 2's + an insane wall of Ampeg cabs.
I assume his bridge and neck pickups were going separated into the foh, not 100% sure (though I'm sure there were two signals going to the foh)

So that's where me setup would differ, I'm mixing the pickups together before the outputs.
I'm also not sure if the Ampegs were miked, Zach Harmon (Metallica's bass tech since the 80's) said the Ampegs were only for Newsted to hear himself onstage.
However, with the new Ampeg plugin I come scaringly close to his '92 live sound. (vids pending, all that's on our YouTube channel now is recorded with Line6)

I will always bear with you Jimmy, great stuff thanx! I will try to recreate that rig when I get the Fractal, sounds like fun! Also need some content for my "non Metallica tribute" YouTube channel, this might be perfect for that. Do you have any isolated tracks, so I can try to tone match? :-)

Btw: Our Lead guitar player uses a Kemper, he's also very happy with it. The last gigs they both were comfortable enough to leave the Mesa stacks in the practice room.
I plan to have a pedalboard and two powered monitors, all units individually under 20 Kg. (about 44 Pounds) The amount of weight saved is pretty insane, not a bad thing since I'm going over half a century next week :-)

I do agree on the "hi-gain, guitar oriented products." From what I've seen, Fractal is lacking any of the classic solid state bass amps. (SWR, Trace Elliot, Eden etc.) Could use some updating in that area.
They do update their hardware, the new FM9 MkII Turbo has 10% more CPU power than the original FM9 pedal. (10% IIrc)
I'm not sure how they're comparing software wise, but the stuff is sounding so good right now.
The last software update for the fractal included the Boss CEB2, which I think is the chorus pedal Newsted used. So that's a win there, though I'm not sure if it has a Stereo option. 

For the weight saving bit: It will be replacing this rig (see pic)
The amp rack is about 60 Kg, the effects rack feels heavier... My current pedalboard weights a ton (mostly because of a solid metal Mesa midi footswitch)
The cabs are 29 Kg each, for me comfortable enough to lift for a decent distance.

I have yet to have the opportunity to play one of these newer units. I want to. I do have a m5 on my board with a midi controller and expression pedal. Effects are great for an older unit (Trey currently has 2 on his board). Its simplicity is key. My midi pedal has 10 buttons with potential to add two expression pedals. I spent a lot of time learning to setup the midi. Correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't I use this setup in conjunction with a stand-mounted, non CPU limited, tablet/laptop and DAW to setup similar high quality effects signal chains, not limited to any particular companies effects, and would not have to be replaced as technology advances over the years? I can set the midi buttons and limitless expression pedals to control any parameter of any effect, combination of effects, or anything my computer offers, forever. I could even sync it with a metronome so things automatically turn on and off in time with a band. Midi and expression pedals are relatively inexpensive.
However, the simplicity of the modern units touch screen interface might outweigh all of it. Likely other advantages I'm not considering as well.
Just a thought from a tinker-er haha

Quote from: FC Bass on May 10, 2026, 05:08:11 AMFrom what I've seen, Fractal is lacking any of the classic solid state bass amps. (SWR, Trace Elliot, Eden etc.) 

Uh oh - I may be getting old; none of your "classics" existed when I got out of the biz......
"Classic solid state bass amp" makes me think Kustom, G-K, and Yamaha.

As to modeling gear, I saw (and passed on) meme on the subject:  Left side says "Tube amp", with a pic of a lovely young lady in some very nice lingerie.  Right side says "Fractal, Line-6, Kemper, etc." - and a pic of a hand......

Peter 

Quote from: matbard on May 10, 2026, 12:48:36 AMI don't like Fractal products, as they are almost completely hi-gain, guitar oriented products.

I have an Axe Fx II. I don't agree that it is high gain orientated. I am a guitar player besides a bass player. While it is orientated towards guitar you can use it very well for bass also. I almost never use high gain sounds on guitar, more like mild overdrive and clean sounds and some distortion sound for lead lines. You can basically get any sound out of it. And it sounds better than Line 6 stuff to me.

It's pretty amazing what you can do with modern multi effects. I've really been enjoying my Line 6 HX Effects. It's strictly stomp box models - no amps or cabs. For amp sim, I use a Tech 21 VT Bass DI. I recently discovered the ability to run two separate signal paths, and even though I run everything mono/full range, it's still a very handy option. As a side note, I also discovered that the foot switches can be used as MIDI triggers set to whatever notes you want. So now I can play "bass pedals" by running the MIDI out on the Line 6 to whatever synth I want.