Fortin 33 Meshuggah signature pedal

[BaconBeardman]

What wakjob said. Also there is a difference between interest in (maybe) new concepts and just cloning the s*** out of something.

 

[mnemonic]

Is that a real argument if it turns out that it really is just a TC Electronic Integrated Preamp, with fixed treble / bass settings?

 

[BaconBeardman]

Let`s stop talking about the ethics of the pedal-business and back to the question: what are we going to find at the end of the 33 rainbows?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

Is that a real argument if it turns out that it really is just a TC Electronic Integrated Preamp, with fixed treble / bass settings?

This. If it really is just an IP, then I'm not sure the ethics argument passes.

 

[Jacksonluvr636]

Let`s stop talking about the ethics of the pedal-business and back to the question: what are we going to find at the end of the 33 rainbows?

A can of bees.

As one gear head to (probably) another, save your money.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

pssh someone is gonna open up the 33 and clone it anyways, may as well post the gut shot so we can see what's in there. I still kind of want one but the price point is really high for what it does compared to my 808x (which from the videos I've seen isn't enough to warrant buying one).

 

[Jacksonluvr636]

pssh someone is gonna open up the 33 and clone it anyways, may as well post the gut shot so we can see what's in there. I still kind of want one but the price point is really high for what it does compared to my 808x (which from the videos I've seen isn't enough to warrant buying one).

Honestly I would have but it's gone. And the guy I sold it to sold
It faster than I did lol.

I could ask the next buyer.

TBH I totally would have. I'm actually appalled with Fortin right now. Not Mike himself persay but the pedal is over priced and over hyped IMO.

But the main thing is I posted that I was disappointed on their FB page and I was attacked by fanboys and then the negative feedback was deleted.

That's no way to run a business but hey, look at who he has working for him. Not surprised.

I'll never buy another Fortin product again after that.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Honestly I would have but it's gone. And the guy I sold it to sold
It faster than I did lol.

I could ask the next buyer.

TBH I totally would have. I'm actually appalled with Fortin right now. Not Mike himself persay but the pedal is over priced and over hyped IMO.

But the main thing is I posted that I was disappointed on their FB page and I was attacked by fanboys and then the negative feedback was deleted.

That's no way to run a business but hey, look at who he has working for him. Not surprised.

I'll never buy another Fortin product again after that.

yeah he's got some good hypemen working for him. Plus the fb group is just a giant circlejerk, it's even worse than the kiesel page's fanboys.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

That's no way to run a business but hey, look at who he has working for him. Not surprised.

Who has he got working for him?

Pretty shitty that you were disappointed, voiced that, and it got deleted.

Honestly I would have but it's gone. And the guy I sold it to sold it faster than I did lol.

I'm curious what you didn't like about it. Or perhaps it was just that it didn't offer anything all that different from what you get from a tube screamer.

 

[lewis]

that reminds me of the guy who owns and builds the Axe fx units. 90% of people bum the product and he laps it up. The second 1 guy is like "well no, actually this, this and this should have been better" the owner and his minions, literally run the guy out of town with burning torches and pitchforks.

I saw that myself on the Fractal forum.
There seems to be a cult following for Fortin that if anyone naysays against, they come out in full force.

If companies are open to praise, they should also be open to criticism.
I liked the look of this pedal alot, but having read through this page and from people who actually bought one, I dont see how I couldnt just buy the TC Electronic pedal its clearly based off, pair it with my Boss GE7 EQ, and between them 2, dial in the exact same sound?
The only thing I would miss is the channel switching but then Im using Kemper/Pod HD Pro, so dont need that anyway.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

that reminds me of the guy who owns and builds the Axe fx units. 90% of people bum the product and he laps it up. The second 1 guy is like "well no, actually this, this and this should have been better" the owner and his minions, literally run the guy out of town with burning torches and pitchforks.

I saw that myself on the Fractal forum.
There seems to be a cult following for Fortin that if anyone naysays against, they come out in full force.

If companies are open to praise, they should also be open to criticism.
I liked the look of this pedal alot, but having read through this page and from people who actually bought one, I dont see how I couldnt just buy the TC Electronic pedal its clearly based off, pair it with my Boss GE7 EQ, and between them 2, dial in the exact same sound?
The only thing I would miss is the channel switching but then Im using Kemper/Pod HD Pro, so dont need that anyway.

So many people now do demos of analog gear using an Axe FX or Axe FX II as an "amp" + interface, and the thing sounds way too linear. At least to my ears, anyways. Like, the amp models might lighten up if you pick lighter, ie less gain, but it's still just as much compression and the same block of canned sound that doesn't seem to change much at all versus analog gear. That's what I'm hearing and how my ear is interpreting it in the demos anyways.

 

[lewis]

So many people now do demos of analog gear using an Axe FX or Axe FX II as an "amp" + interface, and the thing sounds way too linear. At least to my ears, anyways. Like, the amp models might lighten up if you pick lighter, ie less gain, but it's still just as much compression and the same block of canned sound that doesn't seem to change much at all versus analog gear. That's what I'm hearing and how my ear is interpreting it in the demos anyways.

yeah i got that with the axe. To my ears the kemper gets closer to the real amp sound and i mainly bought one for convenience.

If money and storage was not an issue i would keep the kemper in the studio and still buy tube amps tbh.

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

yeah i got that with the axe. To my ears the kemper gets closer to the real amp sound and i mainly bought one for convenience.

If money and storage was not an issue i would keep the kemper in the studio and still buy tube amps tbh.

I hear somewhat similar with the Kemper, but if a pod is at one end of the spectrum, and a tube amp is on the other, the Kemper is at least a step closer to the tube amp than the Axe FX is. That said, I hate the name of the unit [Kemper] because it reminds me of a local burger place that used to be in town where you could get a bag of burgers.

 

[mnemonic]

that reminds me of the guy who owns and builds the Axe fx units. 90% of people bum the product and he laps it up. The second 1 guy is like "well no, actually this, this and this should have been better" the owner and his minions, literally run the guy out of town with burning torches and pitchforks.

I saw that myself on the Fractal forum.
There seems to be a cult following for Fortin that if anyone naysays against, they come out in full force.

If companies are open to praise, they should also be open to criticism.
I liked the look of this pedal alot, but having read through this page and from people who actually bought one, I dont see how I couldnt just buy the TC Electronic pedal its clearly based off, pair it with my Boss GE7 EQ, and between them 2, dial in the exact same sound?
The only thing I would miss is the channel switching but then Im using Kemper/Pod HD Pro, so dont need that anyway.

I think that's just what happens I manufacturer forums. It's probably the same if you post critical kemper stuff on the Kemper forum or critical Bareknuckle stuff on the bareknuckle forum.

People get way into their tribe when it comes to that stuff.

The only argument against getting the TC Pre would be that they are rare and old. And as I've recently learned, electrolytic caps have a lifespan, and the TC Pre's are old enough at this point that they probably need replacing. Luckily this can be done and you can do it yourself if you can solder.

But there are clones out there, the schematic is there, printed PCB's are available (rullywow) and verified veroboard layouts are available. I've got most of the parts to build a clone and I'm gonna build one to see how close it is to my real one (which is now fixed).

So many people now do demos of analog gear using an Axe FX or Axe FX II as an "amp" + interface, and the thing sounds way too linear. At least to my ears, anyways. Like, the amp models might lighten up if you pick lighter, ie less gain, but it's still just as much compression and the same block of canned sound that doesn't seem to change much at all versus analog gear. That's what I'm hearing and how my ear is interpreting it in the demos anyways.

This is one of those tricky things, they may be easy to use these days but they're still not as easy to set up as a real amp. There's a learning curve and you have to work harder for that good sound.

I think people setting master volumes too high is a big problem, since you can set it high, compress the hell out of the poweramp at a bedroom volume (where the real life volume would be unbearable) and then complain it's too compressed.

Even clean and lightly driven tones, real life volume is still super important. Not long ago I figured that out because I was playing on a slightly-broken clean tone, at moderately loud level. I turned up the output level, not changing anything on the amp, just making it louder in my room, and when it got to levels where it was painful to hit the stings hard, the dynamics were insane.

I think it's partly due to how I was playing. When it didn't physically hurt my ears to dig in, I was picking hard the whole time. When it did, I was forced to use more dynamics with my picking hand.

All that being said, I still think fractal is not 100% there on poweramp modeling, which is why I bought a tube poweramp to run my axe fx into. I'm super happy with it now.

You wouldn't know that from reading the fractal forum though, they gush about how perfect everything sounds and how it literally can't be improved and how it's 99.999% accurate. They've said it's 99.999% for years yet over the years the sound has changed a lot as updates are made. So which is it, was it 99.999% two years ago, or now?

 

[Spaced Out Ace]

No modelling options really do power amp modelling all that well. Some, like the pods, actually sound like it's just a preamp model into a cab sim.

 

[lewis]

No modelling options really do power amp modelling all that well. Some, like the pods, actually sound like it's just a preamp model into a cab sim.

this!
The Pod only sounds great running into a Tube poweramp and just using the preamp amp models.

The Kemper sounds great direct (because of getting much closer to capturing the pre and poweramp sections of an amp) but I would still prefer it into a real cab on stage with me even if the crowd just get the Direct signal.

Im just using my pod for effects and a clean tone, with my ENGL rack and different poweramp. Ive tried gigging with it relying on its amp models going direct, and it just wasnt for me. Thought the sound was garbage.

 

[exo]

Modeler---->tube power amp or FX RETURN of tube head----->cab of one's choice. It's the best all around "compromise". There is just an unidentifiable "something" about tube power that still eludes most modelers. I don't know what exactly it is, and some folks would tell me it's a psycho-somatic deal that doesn't actually exist, and I might not even be able to identify "it" 100% of the time.....but if Eric Johnson can tell the difference between a Duracell and an Energizer in his pedals, dammit, I can tell there is "something" different running they tube power.......

 

[lewis]

Modeler---->tube power amp or FX RETURN of tube head----->cab of one's choice. It's the best all around "compromise". There is just an unidentifiable "something" about tube power that still eludes most modelers. I don't know what exactly it is, and some folks would tell me it's a psycho-somatic deal that doesn't actually exist, and I might not even be able to identify "it" 100% of the time.....but if Eric Johnson can tell the difference between a Duracell and an Energizer in his pedals, dammit, I can tell there is "something" different running they tube power.......

it does absolutely exist.
You can hear and feel it.

recording? digital solutions are fantastic but they do miss certain aspects of a true tube setup.

getting back on topic.
Realistically could we just get the Spark booster and get pretty much in the ball park of this pedal?. (i heard the spark boost was a reissue integrated preamp?)

 

[mnemonic]

it does absolutely exist.
You can hear and feel it.

recording? digital solutions are fantastic but they do miss certain aspects of a true tube setup.

getting back on topic.
Realistically could we just get the Spark booster and get pretty much in the ball park of this pedal?. (i heard the spark boost was a reissue integrated preamp?)

Not the integrated preamp and not a reissue, but the previous marketing copy for the spark specifically mentioned the Boostet Line Driver & Distortion (BLD) unit TC used to make around the same time, with which you could select line driver/booster (same as integrated preamp) or distortion.

This isn't mentioned in the manual anymore though.

The frequencies are also different. The integrated preamp's bass and treble frequencies are 100hz and 10khz respectively, a really big shelving filter I think, whereas the spark is at 125hz and 2khz respectively.

So theoretically the treble knob would be more useful on the spark, as it's not super useful on the integrated preamp.

Though I don't know anything about the other specs- are the filters the same shape/width, can they boost/cut as much, etc.

Speaking of reissues, TC Electronic did reissue the BLD under the name 'Classic Booster + Distortion' a few years back along with some other old 80's pedals, but it was discontinued pretty quick. I've read reviews of multiple people who have both the original and reissue, and they don't agree if they sound the same. Some say it sounds identical, others say it's way off. Maybe there was a lot of variance in those old pedals, who knows.

 

[Jacksonluvr636]

Who has he got working for him?

Pretty shitty that you were disappointed, voiced that, and it got deleted.


I'm curious what you didn't like about it. Or perhaps it was just that it didn't offer anything all that different from what you get from a tube screamer.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this or not on here so my apologies. The person working for him is Zack Khoury. If you don't know who that is ask around.

He's a POS and known for getting gear, hyping it up and reselling for a profit. He was actually banned from here I'm pretty sure for that.

I posted about the pedal on FB, he and the fanboys got their torches just like stated about the Fractal page. It was literally the same thing. It even went as far as the profiteer making up lies about me and accusing me of making profits like he does.

I'm beyond disgusted with Fortin right now. I will absolutely never buy one of their products ever again regardless of how they sound based on principles alone.

But anyway, regarding the actual pedal. What I didn't like was that it sounded horrible to me. Upper high mid kerrang to the max, can of bees, whatever you want to call it. Sounded bad with my Bogner and even worse with my Peavey.

To each their own...really...but this is one of those cases where I literally couldn't believe how anyone could like the tones.

I guess I could see a purpose IF you use 8 strings and need to cut through but man...it was really, really bad for me.

Imagine your bass on zero and your mids and treble maxed out.