A lot of people will disagree with my hardware modeler ranking

[Vic Winters]

I see a mix of a lot of different stuff…for bigger bands there’s a lot of Fractal units (Metallica, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins). I haven’t seen as many QC’s or Helix but it’s likely just the bands I’m seeing. Still see a lot of tube amps and pedals though.

Mark from Blink is using a QC. Tom uses Fractal.
Jeff from Pumpkins was using Helix for effects before his departure.

 

[Baba]

Yes “local” is the reason.

In all fairness, one of my best friends has an Axe III, and I've played it, and I'm sure there are countless others, "locally" who have Fractals, but for whatever reason, you don't see them in live rigs. They all seem to stay home.

 

[sashimi]

Maybe because a rack unit defeats a big advantage to going digital for a lot of people, which is to carry less stuff on stage.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Helix sounds too line 6...

Won't claim this has never been true, but if it were true today, it'd be measurable and repeatable. Too many 3rd-party shootouts have proven this false, even after accounting for YouTube compression.

However, when we perform double-blind listening tests, 100% of us can reliably call out two particular competitors; one because of its squirrels and other artifacts, and the other because it never sounds anything like the real amp—multiple EQ (and perhaps multi-band compression?) stages seem to be baked in in order to, I dunno—approximate what they believe their customers think the amp should sound like? It doesn't sound objectively bad per sé (especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix), but it sucks that you can't dial it out.

Cliff knows who I'm talking about; he's alluded to something similar.

I've seen loads more bands using Helix than anything else.

Yeah, I think some of these naysayers must only go to dad-friendly metal shows, where yes, Fractal is very common. Kemper still appears to be king in mainland Europe, and QC is appearing in more places, but Helix/HX is everywhere. It was all over Lollapalooza, which is decidedly non-friendly to dad-friendly metal, although Deftones played, who happened to be on Helix.

One particular company has seeded (given away) hundreds of their modeler to artists and influencers in the hopes of gaining traction. Not sure what the user contract said, but I'm guessing we'll see a bunch of those hundreds show up on Reverb once the no-resell date is up.



And this is purely anecdotal, but 5 of my top 10 favorite bands in the world are on Helix/HX (and I've heard rumors a 6th just switched over, but they're not touring this year).

 

[Vic Winters]

Won't claim this has never been true, but if it were true today, it'd be measurable and repeatable. Too many 3rd-party shootouts have proven this false, even after accounting for YouTube compression.

However, when we perform double-blind listening tests, 100% of us can reliably call out two particular competitors; one because of its squirrels and other artifacts, and the other because it never sounds anything like the real amp—multiple EQ (and perhaps multi-band compression?) stages seem to be baked in in order to, I dunno—approximate what they believe their customers think the amp should sound like? It doesn't sound objectively bad per sé (especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix), but it sucks that you can't dial it out.

Cliff knows who I'm talking about; he's alluded to something similar.

Yeah, I think some of these naysayers must only go to dad-friendly metal shows, where yes, Fractal is very common. Kemper still appears to be king in mainland Europe, and QC is appearing in more places, but Helix/HX is everywhere. It was all over Lollapalooza, which is decidedly non-friendly to dad-friendly metal, although Deftones played, who happened to be on Helix.

One particular company has seeded (given away) hundreds—perhaps thousands—of their modeler to artists and influencers in the hopes of gaining traction. Not sure what the user contract said, but I'm guessing we'll see a bunch of those hundreds/thousands show up on Reverb once the no-resell date is up.



And this is purely anecdotal, but 5 of my top 10 favorite bands in the world are on Helix/HX (and I've heard rumors a 6th just switched over, but they're not touring this year).

Is there any chance for some Deftones based amps/effects in an upcoming update?

 

[Digital Igloo]

Is there any chance for some Deftones based amps/effects in an upcoming update?

It's Around the Fur and White Pony-era, but I've been bugging the team to model the Marshall JMP-1 for years.

 

[Frodebro]

I think that the important part is that digital units are showing up more and more on stages everywhere. It doesn’t really matter which make or model (other than the “My dad can beat up your dad” thing).

 

[sashimi]

However, when we perform double-blind listening tests, 100% of us can reliably call out two particular competitors; one because of its squirrels and other artifacts, and the other because it never sounds anything like the real amp—multiple EQ (and perhaps multi-band compression?) stages seem to be baked in in order to, I dunno—approximate what they believe their customers think the amp should sound like? It doesn't sound objectively bad per sé (especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix), but it sucks that you can't dial it out.

Can we just name some names here? I want to know what modelers to hate without trying them all and forming my own opinions

 

[timbuck3]

Won't claim this has never been true, but if it were true today, it'd be measurable and repeatable. Too many 3rd-party shootouts have proven this false, even after accounting for YouTube compression.

However, when we perform double-blind listening tests, 100% of us can reliably call out two particular competitors; one because of its squirrels and other artifacts, and the other because it never sounds anything like the real amp—multiple EQ (and perhaps multi-band compression?) stages seem to be baked in in order to, I dunno—approximate what they believe their customers think the amp should sound like? It doesn't sound objectively bad per sé (especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix), but it sucks that you can't dial it out.

Cliff knows who I'm talking about; he's alluded to something similar.

Yeah, I think some of these naysayers must only go to dad-friendly metal shows, where yes, Fractal is very common. Kemper still appears to be king in mainland Europe, and QC is appearing in more places, but Helix/HX is everywhere. It was all over Lollapalooza, which is decidedly non-friendly to dad-friendly metal, although Deftones played, who happened to be on Helix.

One particular company has seeded (given away) hundreds of their modeler to artists and influencers in the hopes of gaining traction. Not sure what the user contract said, but I'm guessing we'll see a bunch of those hundreds show up on Reverb once the no-resell date is up.



And this is purely anecdotal, but 5 of my top 10 favorite bands in the world are on Helix/HX (and I've heard rumors a 6th just switched over, but they're not touring this year).

Don’t understand why you can’t just name the companies that had squirrels or artefacts in the paragraph he just wrote above. I mean who cares? Right? But it would be nice to have some context with which companies you’re talking about.

 

[norminal]

Don’t understand why you can’t just name the companies that had squirrels or artefacts in the paragraph he just wrote above. I mean who cares? Right? But it would be nice to have some context with which companies you’re talking about.

Search the Fractal Forum and you’ll figure it out.

 

[la szum]

Don’t understand why you can’t just name the companies that had squirrels or artefacts in the paragraph he just wrote above. I mean who cares? Right? But it would be nice to have some context with which companies you’re talking about.

 

[OrganicZed]

Don’t understand why you can’t just name the companies that had squirrels or artefacts in the paragraph he just wrote above. I mean who cares? Right? But it would be nice to have some context with which companies you’re talking about.

People who work for corporations are bound by their obligations to their employer when representing that employer online. Nobody wants to get the lawyers involved.

 

[sashimi]

Search the Fractal Forum and you’ll figure it out.

People who work for corporations are bound by their obligations to their employer when representing that employer online. Nobody wants to get the lawyers involved.

Well maybe one of you non-corporate unbound and unobligated folks who already did the digging on the fractal forum can shed some light on this for lazy fucks like Tim and I?

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

It's Around the Fur and White Pony-era, but I've been bugging the team to model the Marshall JMP-1 for years.

I couldn‘t care less about Deftones, but IIRC Paradise Lost (which is my favorite band) used the JMP-1 on Icon (which is my favorite album). So yes, please, bring it on!

A JVM model would also make me a very happy Helix user.

 

[Eagle]

I couldn‘t care less about Deftones, but IIRC Paradise Lost (which is my favorite band) used the JMP-1 on Icon (which is my favorite album). So yes, please, bring it on!

A JVM model would also make me a very happy Helix user.

The Axe 3 has a great JVM

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

The Axe 3 has a great JVM

Yep, it‘s in my FM3, too. I still want a Helix version, though.

 

[OrganicZed]

Well maybe one of you non-corporate unbound and unobligated folks who already did the digging on the fractal forum can shed some light on this for lazy fucks like Tim and I?

I'm not 100% sure (I don't read minds), but my guess is NDSP and Kemper. Here's some suggested reading if you want to dig into the vague details.

Ooooh... Charts and Graphs

Since the days of the original Axe-Fx I've been obsessed with the aliasing performance of modelers as I think this is one of the things that separates the good from the not-so-good. I believe that a target goal for a "high-gain" amp should be a minimum of 60 dB of what I call...

forum.fractalaudio.com

Ooooh... Charts and Graphs Redux

Latest measurements. Purple is Axe-Fx III. Blue is a new thing. Aliasing is especially poor in the high frequencies. Usually the aliasing spectrum is sort of flat (like the Axe-Fx). With this product the aliasing increases with frequency which is odd. Model used was JCM800. All controls...

forum.fractalaudio.com

 

[Orvillain]

(especially if you love gacked-out producers going ham on a djent mix

No sir, I don't like it.

 

[timbuck3]

People who work for corporations are bound by their obligations to their employer when representing that employer online. Nobody wants to get the lawyers involved.

isnt it just a bunch of guys opinions? So what sue me for my opinion now?

 

[Frodebro]

isnt it just a bunch of guys opinions? So what sue me for my opinion now?

You’re new to this stuff, aren’t you…