In praise of the Friedman Smallbox

[Ozopart]

Aaron, I was wondering if you could give an update on the Smallbox now that you have owned it for a while? I have an FM3 I bought in May 2022 which is now broken and I want to go back to the tube amp setup. I only play at home and lean towards warmer/clean tones, but am good with classic rock crunch and overdrive. Just no Metal or heavily distorted/breakup. I don't believe you play Metal, but not sure. I 100% understand and agree with your comments on volume. Lots of the great stuff from the 60's and 70's was recorded at very loud volumes. I want to be able to get good sound without relying on excessive volume.
I have been looking at various amps: Bogner Helios 35, Germino Lead 45LV, etc. but the Friedman Smallbox sounds like it might be a nice versatile amp. I just don't know if it is "good" at more moderate volumes.
Thanks!

 

[mayfly]

Not trying to sidetrack things, but what happened to the FM3? Those are pretty good devices; you should be able to get it fixed (if at least to sell it).

 

[Ozopart]

Not trying to sidetrack things, but what happened to the FM3? Those are pretty good devices; you should be able to get it fixed (if at least to sell it).

Long story. I have had it since May 2022 and it worked fine. All of a sudden recently it sounds terrible. Breaking up and sounding sort of like it has a ripped speaker. Crackly and distorted. Completely different than before the last week or so. Even my wife can tell the difference. It works OK on Preset 383, the Bypass preset. But anytime any gain is introduced it breaks up and sounds horrible. I have tried with Fractal support and on the Fractal forum. No help. Fractal says I can send it back but they likely won't find anything wrong. Why then does it sound so different? I did several firmware updates and did several factory resets and preset reloads. No luck. Apparantly I am just too stupid to realize that nothing is wrong. But I have ears and it just doesn't sound the same.
As to fixing it, first of all Fractal basically is saying they don't think it is broken, and second, a $1,100 piece of Made in China equipment doesn't warrant the $500 plus which is likely the cost if the logic board needs replacing. Had I realized all of this, meaning Made in China, and no real local support, I would never have bought it. I am just thankful I didn't spend more at Fractal.
Again, I am sure others will say I am wrong and just don't realize that it sounds great (it doesn't) and nothing has changed (it has). Now I am just trying to find a nice tube amp that will produce good sound at home playing volumes. That is difficult because so many nice amps are vintage geared and want to be pushed hard to get good, vintage classic rock tone.

 

[mayfly]

Interesting. To me it sounds like there is something wrong with the Analog signal path. I suspect that one of the power supply rails has collapsed, probably the negative rail. If you've got a DC volt meter, we could probably confirm that remotely.

 

[Ozopart]

Interesting. To me it sounds like there is something wrong with the Analog signal path. I suspect that one of the power supply rails has collapsed, probably the negative rail. If you've got a DC volt meter, we could probably confirm that remotely.

I don't have one, but I could get one if you could walk me through it. I just wish someone would say, "have you checked this setting?" and they would point out something dumb I am doing. But that just shouldn't be the case. I am not engineering proficient like you and others, but I know what it sounded like up until recently, and I know what it sounds like now.
Any suggestions as to what volt meter to get?

 

[mayfly]

Before we do that, does the unit have multiple output jacks? If so, could you try each of them and see if the problem persists in each one?

 

[Ozopart]

Before we do that, does the unit have multiple output jacks? If so, could you try each of them and see if the problem persists in each one?

It has a L and R XLR Output. I am using the L. I am atttaching a pdf of the back panel page from the manual.

 

[mayfly]

ok, try them all and see if it's distorting from all of them or no.

 

[Ozopart]

ok, try them all and see if it's distorting from all of them or no.

Same on all of them. I can get the tone closer to "normal" if I turn Gain waaay down, but I shouldn't have to do that.
On another note, are you familiar with the Soldano X88IR preamp? I don't know if it would provide good tone at a low volume but it interests me as it is sort of a marriage of old tech and new. One of my thoughts is iteratively building a rack setup as it would only be for home. Something like the X88IR, maybe a Fryette LX II power amp, with maybe a Soldano 2x12 cabinet, and of course a power conditioner.
I have been researching a lot and some amps that interest me are the Friedman Smallbox, Mesa Mark 5 35 head, Germino Lead 45LV. But the problem is amps like the Germino want to be pushed hard (loud) to get the optimal sound/tone.
As to the FM3 I can't articulate to anyone, but for two years it performed one way and now it is just completely different.

 

[TBurst Std]

Well being a Fractal user for a long time:

As you did total resets, there’s nothing in your patches causing this (you started from scratch).

I’d take Mayfly up on his offer.

Curious what might have happened at the point of “all of a sudden”. Any power spikes/ drops etc. these things don’t tend to flake out on their own without a cause.

Oddball chance: what to you use as amplification and speaker for it? Can you try the unit in a different amplification/ speaker system?

 

[Ozopart]

Well being a Fractal user for a long time:

As you did total resets, there’s nothing in your patches causing this (you started from scratch).

I’d take Mayfly up on his offer.

Curious what might have happened at the point of “all of a sudden”. Any power spikes/ drops etc. these things don’t tend to flake out on their own without a cause.

Oddball chance: what to you use as amplification and speaker for it? Can you try the unit in a different amplification/ speaker system?

I remember when we spoke about Fractal stuff in 2022. I should have listened to you then and ordered the AXE III. The FM3 has been good to me until these issues. Nothing changed at home in terms of spkes, drops, etc. And no changes in any of the components of my setup. The only thing that changed was I bought a VP4 for use with my old Blues Jr. I also hooked it up to the FM3 to test that out. That is the only thing that changed. I should mention here that I have since returned the VP4. I didn't see the value proposition for me. As a former IT person, and having responsibility for support I know the first question is always "did you change or do anything different". Often I would ask that and the user would say they didn't change anything. Then after a long time they would say something like "while working over the weekend I loaded a game for my kid to play while I was working". Well that is a change!
As to output, I have been using a EV PXM-12MP, a pair of studio monitors, and headphones. The issue persists on all of those outputs.
I tried with USB connected and disconnected, and with different laptops.
I just wish someone could point out something dumb I am doing. I would gladly accept responsibility if that were the case. I just want the FM3 to perform like it had been.

 

[TBurst Std]

As I ponder this more, I find it interesting that the issue diminishes as gain goes down. To produce gain in the unit, nothing works harder/more. The only thing would be your amplification and speaker. Please try it in a different amp/speaker system. If none is available, head to a music store with a self powered speaker or PA and try it there. The more I think on this, I’d look at the speaker.

More decades ago than iI’ll admit to, I had a lovely JTM45 that all of a sudden went south. After tube swaps with no help, I pulled apart the cab and I had a speaker cone starting to separate).

Feel free to PM me your number if you’d like to discuss live.

 

[TBurst Std]

Oh the other thing that has bit me over the decades as I chased gremlins, use different cords to connect everything. Let’s use differential diagnosis and eliminate everything else then than the FM unit it’s self.

 

[Ozopart]

Oh the other thing that has bit me over the decades as I chased gremlins, use different cords to connect everything. Let’s use differential diagnosis and eliminate everything else then than the FM unit it’s self.

I did try different cables, USB cables, instrument cables, and definitely different guitars. No luck.

 

[Ozopart]

FYI, I could be wrong but from reading the Fractal forum it seems as though my issues might be due to changes in the most recent firmware update.

 

[mayfly]

Interesting! I assume you've got access to an older load.

Waiting to see what the scoop is once you try it!

 

[Ozopart]

Interesting! I assume you've got access to an older load.

Waiting to see what the scoop is once you try it!

Sort of. I did not backup prior to the firmware update (stupid I know) because I never had a problem with the numerous firmware updates that preceeded this one. As a former IT support person I should know better! But I do have a backup prior to doing the several factory resets I have done since the problem arose.
I just asked Fractal to close my thread on their forum as all everyone wants to do is point the problem to user error, as if it couldn't possibly be due to software.
In my many, many years as an IT Development Manager, also responsible for support, qa testing, and infrastructure), I consistently saw that companies avoided fully qa testing. Developers unit tested, and then the new code was added to the existing code and the new features were tested. I essentially never could get companies to functionally test the existing functionality also to see if the new code broke some existing functionality. I know it is expensive, but for the code base I supported I worked with my qa testers to develop test cases that focused on both existing and new functionality. Obviously you can't test everything, everytime, but you can design test cases to at least test the existing functionality most directly impacted by the new code.
I don't know, but I am guessing, Fractal doesn't do much testing on existing code when introducing new code. Hopefully I am wrong. It is just far easier to always blame the user.
End of rant.

 

[mayfly]

We tried our best to automate the existing feature tests and then run them on a load we submitted to QA - we called it 'doing a sanity'. My dream was to actually build the automated tests in to the software build process so that it would run them when you built a load, but I never got there.

 

[Ozopart]

We tried our best to automate the existing feature tests and then run them on a load we submitted to QA - we called it 'doing a sanity'. My dream was to actually build the automated tests in to the software build process so that it would run them when you built a load, but I never got there.

I got part of the way there. I worked with my QA tester to develop a script which pointed to the scripted test case. For planning QA you could enable a box next to the test case. It still required the tester to run the test case, but it provided a script which could easily be followed, if that makes sense. We never got to the hit a button and automatically run things, but we did at least get to the ability to properly determine dependencies and priority for test cases. Meaning what code it touched, and whether when it touched that code the test case would be considered low, medium or high priority (impact).
For whatever it is worth, I was the only Development Manager at that company that never introduced a priority 1 defect into production. But of course that didn't mean I wasn't called in at all hours and on the weekend to fix and test because someone elses code broke mine.
Put simply, for code as for humanity, the head bone is connected to the neck bone, the neck bone is connected to the .....

 

[stratamania]

Sort of. I did not backup prior to the firmware update (stupid I know) because I never had a problem with the numerous firmware updates that preceeded this one.

Try here

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