Fractal Audio
ARTICLES
Rig Rundown: Neil Zaza
March 25, 2020
Now that he’s ditched heavy amps for a digital rig, the melodic shredder shares his secrets for utilizing modern modeling tech.
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Rig Rundown: Opeth
March 11, 2020
The Swedish prog-metal sorcerers dish on their longstanding PRS ties and uncover why they traded traditional tube amps for swappable high-gain Synergy modules.
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Rig Rundown: Intervals
January 1, 2020
Prog-metal architect Aaron Marshall shows off a pair of dazzling Mayones prototypes before he explains using a small digital footprint for tons of tones.
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Rig Rundown: Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Joel Hoekstra and Chris Caffery
December 25, 2019
Huge arena-rock guitar tones meet heavy-metal Christmas jams on one of the year’s most successful tours. Go behind the scenes to see how the guitar tandem kick out the holiday jams.
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Rig Rundown: Mike Dawes
November 13, 2019
The acoustic alchemist shares the secrets to his massive, multi-dimensional tones.
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Rig Rundown: King Crimson's Robert Fripp
October 30, 2019
The veteran prog-rock hero continues his fearless forays into the future with a tubeless setup heavy on digital effects and MIDI capabilities that give him ultimate control.
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How Mikael Åkerfeldt Made Opeth’s New Album: “Big, Pompous, and Epic”
October 8, 2019
The outspoken frontman pushes the muse—moving his band’s sound beyond metal by blending vintage and cutting-edge instruments and sounds on their 13th studio album, In Cauda Venenum.
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Guthrie Govan: The Linguist
August 1, 2019
The Aristocrats guitarist talks about broadening the conversation on the prog trio's jaw-dropping new LP, You Know What...?
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Rig Rundown: Dream Theater’s John Petrucci and John Myung [2019]
May 22, 2019
The progressive metal band’s sultans of shred talk about the gear on The Distance Over Time tour, including John Petrucci’s brand-new Music Man Majesty Series signature models and Myung’s potential 2020 signature bass.
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Rig Rundown: Polyphia's Scott LePage
May 8, 2019
Aside from melting faces, these younglings don’t take themselves or much else seriously, but one-half of the wise-cracking guitar tandem dishes on his “dope” signature gear from Ibanez and DiMarzio.
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Fractal Audio Systems Announces the FM3
April 26, 2019
The compact floor unit captures the subtle sonic characteristics of real tube amps, with 265+ models offering an impressive range of clean tones, elusive “edge of breakup”, and everything from warm, touch-sensitive overdrive to face-melting modern distortion.
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Rig Rundown: Failure's Ken Andrews [2019]
April 3, 2019
The sonic sorcerer shows us how he builds walls of textures with an Axe-Fx III and his new signature Electrical Guitar Company offset.
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The Year in Gear 2018
November 20, 2018
Step inside Premier Guitar’s magical, miraculous time machine and revisit the gear that stood head and shoulders above the rest as Premier Gear Award winners in 2018.
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Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx III Review
November 20, 2018
Vast libraries of IRs and amp and effect models, as well as improvements in interface, memory, and connectivity, make the III tough to beat.
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Rig Rundown: Nine Inch Nails
November 7, 2018
Robin Finck and Alessandro Cortini create the perfect drug for NIN fans with a bevy of heavy-hitting custom guitars and basses and a high-tech hybrid setup that marries digital with analog.
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Rig Rundown: U2's The Edge
July 18, 2018
Strats, Explorers, Les Pauls, AC30s, and a healthy amount of delay help form some of the most iconic tones ever recorded. Famed tech Dallas Schoo walks us through the ins and outs of The Edge’s expansive setup.
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Feeling the Vertigo, Feeding the Vibe: Underøath’s Timothy McTague and James Smith
May 31, 2018
Swearing off solos and flash, the guitarists focus on songcraft, soundscapes, and soul, and strip down with digital modeling for Erase Me, their band’s first studio album in eight years.
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Rig Rundown: Propagandhi
March 21, 2018
Politically charged prog-punkers Chris Hannah, Todd Kowalski, and Sulynn Hago of Propagandhi take PG through their road rigs.
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Fractal Audio Systems Presents the X-Load LB-2 Reactive Load Box
March 2, 2018
The LB-2 provides both balanced XLR and unbalanced 1/4" line-level jacks plus a speaker thru for connecting an external speaker cabinet while using the DI outputs.
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Fractal Audio Launches the Axe-Fx III
January 31, 2018
The unit features a totally new user interface featuring a color display with five corresponding push knobs.
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