Fractal Audio Systems AM4 - Amp Modeler

[Ed DeGenaro]

Wouldn't be the most clever way to handle things.

They woukd've to buy an insane amount.
But sure it's possible they get it by the container.
But then it shoulda landed in Europe sooner than it did.

And if you wanna get technical, they're distributor as well as dealer.

My experience with European dealers (and distributors) is that they want to make at least 15 points net each.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

 

[Sascha Franck]

Why oh why aren't those switch encoders? That'd make editing a whole lot easier.

 

[EOengineer]

I finally had a chance to dive into the expert amp parameters for a few mins last night. For giggles, I dialed up a 1987x that I was pretty sure didn’t have its bright cap. A few clicks later and it has a 4700pf bright cap and sounds exactly as expected. Experimentation with more aggressive bright caps on the Mesa Rectifier also yielded cool results.

What a helpful set of parameters. Definitely interested in playing with the other parameters. Anyone have any favorite adjustments?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I finally had a chance to dive into the expert amp parameters for a few mins last night. For giggles, I dialed up a 1987x that I was pretty sure didn’t have its bright cap. A few clicks later and it has a 4700pf bright cap and sounds exactly as expected. Experimentation with more aggressive bright caps on the Mesa Rectifier also yielded cool results.

What a helpful set of parameters. Definitely interested in playing with the other parameters. Anyone have any favorite adjustments?

Not an AM4 user but my favourite Fractal tweaks are:

Bright cap
SIC (sometimes exaggerating values a bit)
Bias
Negative Feedback
Turning cab/speaker dynamics to minimum
Removing (or setting them to max) filters in the preamp black

There’s some cool stuff you can do with swapping tone stacks, and some important stuff is in there for switching modes on amps like the JVMS and ENGL that I forget about.

Tone Stacks aside, I think those controls can fine tune things nicely without going too weird. Adjusting tone stacks needs you to know a little more about specific circuits but it allows you to get very close to certain amps that don’t have full models in there.

 

[EOengineer]

Not an AM4 user but my favourite Fractal tweaks are:

Bright cap
SIC (sometimes exaggerating values a bit)
Bias
Negative Feedback
Turning cab/speaker dynamics to minimum
Removing (or setting them to max) filters in the preamp black

Ha! We’re approaching this very similarly, basically recreating common mods with bright caps, negative feedback, depth, etc.

The cab and speaker dynamics parameters sound exciting. I’ll give those a look as well.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Ultimate “Play With Myself” Rig?

 

[Shask]

Not an AM4 user but my favourite Fractal tweaks are:

Bright cap
SIC (sometimes exaggerating values a bit)
Bias
Negative Feedback
Turning cab/speaker dynamics to minimum
Removing (or setting them to max) filters in the preamp black

There’s some cool stuff you can do with swapping tone stacks, and some important stuff is in there for switching modes on amps like the JVMS and ENGL that I forget about.

Tone Stacks aside, I think those controls can fine tune things nicely without going too weird. Adjusting tone stacks needs you to know a little more about specific circuits but it allows you to get very close to certain amps that don’t have full models in there.

I have an FM3, but the absolute best control in the amp block is the output compressor. Set it to "Feedback" mode and turn up the output compression to about 1.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

Ultimate “Play With Myself” Rig?

View attachment 56220

 

[GTR37]

Stupid question when setting bright cap do you enter 220 and 470 for value or 2200 4700

Also is the Tonestack frequency modelling the slope resistor

 

[banned]

Why oh why aren't those switch encoders? That'd make editing a whole lot easier.

The Pod Go interface is perfect for a non-touch screen. They just need to copy that.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Ultimate “Play With Myself” Rig? […]

Well, we haven't talked about Fleshlights for a while, so it's good that you're bringing up this very important topic again. Thank you!

 

[totoleheron]

700$ in USA, 900 euros (1055 $) in Europe.

Bye bye fractal !

 

[laxu]

Stupid question when setting bright cap do you enter 220 and 470 for value or 2200 4700

From what I remember the value is in pF so if you want a 4700 pF you'd type in 4700.

 

[Richard_G]

Yeah - my AM4 is on its way!

 

[BROCKSTAR]

 

[EOengineer]

Today was the end of week one with the AM4 and I’ll freely admit this is one of my favorite digital device purchases in a while. It could be the newness of it all but I’m finding so much to love on the Marshall and Mesa front. I’ve heard there are other amps in there but…who cares.

Christmas break is coming up in another week and I’m so pumped to start tracking with this thing.

 

[banned]

What are some good delays and reverbs on the AM4? Any recommendations? Any good 2-in-1s to save a block?

 

[BROCKSTAR]

What are some good delays and reverbs on the AM4? Any recommendations? Any good 2-in-1s to save a block?

There's 5 echo, reverbs you'd enjoy as a combo

echo, hall
echo, plate
echo, room
echo, pitch plate
echo, fields of pyrite

I also love all the Cloud verbs and SFX verbs and the Huge models too.

 

[GTR37]

Today was the end of week one with the AM4 and I’ll freely admit this is one of my favorite digital device purchases in a while. It could be the newness of it all but I’m finding so much to love on the Marshall and Mesa front. I’ve heard there are other amps in there but…who cares.

Christmas break is coming up in another week and I’m so pumped to start tracking with this thing.

It honestly my favourite piece of gear in a while too
It my favourite Fractal floor unit by a good margin