Fractal Audio Systems AM4 - Amp Modeler

[JiveTurkey]

This is my analog board for my band that's practiced once in a 2 month time period. Imagine how much more productive we could get if I had an AM4 in the FM3's place

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Kinda irrelevant. Freely routable loops are a standard on each and every other modeler. And something plenty of people are making use of.

You don’t find me hopping into a thread about each and every one of those modelers and asking “why don’t they have channels like Fractal? Why do you have to use a separate tremolo effect rather than actually modulating amp bias like Fractal? Why don’t…”

with European pricing, the value proposition for this thing IS bonkers unless it is exactly what you need. As is the case with all Fractal products. Honestly, if I were in Europe I’d probably be happily using a Stomp and some pedals.

In the US it sells for less than a Stomp. Some folks will need the effects loop, pitch block or whatever of the Stomp, others will favor having channels, modifiers, greater tweak ability of everything, etc. of the Fractal. And folks that REALLY want Fractal and an effects loop can consider stepping up to the FM3.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Seriously; they have to hit a pricepoint somehow. You may have qualms/problems with it but it is what it is after a certain point.

We could talk about pricepoints all day long, I have an opinion about that which would result it "at this pricepoint, a single mono loop should be doable without adding much cost. You may not agree with that - so it is indeed what it is and neither of us will never know whether we're correct.

And you're missing out!

I'm not. I'd be missing out on a loop if I was to purchase an AM4.
It should by now be sufficiently known round these parts that my primary focus is on user friendliness rather than on the last minutiae regarding amp tones and what not.

Kemper Player
Nano Cortex

Oh, you're right. They're pretty much toys in terms of user friendliness, though.

 

[Lysander]

I might be an idiot. Is there no tuner in this thing? I’m not seeing it in the manual.

There is. You even get Fractal's trademarkawesome always-on mini tuner!

 

[LP59]

Kinda irrelevant. Freely routable loops are a standard on each and every other modeler. And something plenty of people are making use of.

I suppose if you define "plenty" as "more than zero", you might be right. Otherwise, the ability to put a pedal in front of the AM4 or in the loop at the end of the digital chain covers a huge percentage of the use cases for an fx loop.

 

[dk_ace]

In all seriousness; I would take the AM4 over the FM3 for most things. The size is Analog wah and modulations up front.

This x1000

And the bellyaching over the insert design is BS. An analog insert is a better design than a placeable converted loop for this kind of device.

If you want a simple, great sounding, powerful hybrid rig option that easily fits on a pedalboard this is a stunningly good device.

I love huge presets and tons of options. But I could totally gig with this and a volume pedal and nothing else and sound truly amazing. The power and sonics of this thing in that footprint is jaw dropping.

D

 

[BenIfin]

I'm a Fractal dummy, so, please indulge. So, in any given preset, you only have 1 amp model loaded up in that channel/block, is that correct?

Yes

1 x AM4 Amp Block has the Amp and Cab in the same Single Block so you have the Amp Block which contains the Amp and Cab + the 3 other EFX Blocks.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I suppose if you define "plenty" as "more than zero", you might be right.

Oh, so you've never heard of people running things in 4CM? Or adding their favourite analog drives to their modelers utilizing a loop?
Well, more power to you then.

 

[Sascha Franck]

And fwiw, I will now unsubscribe from this thread, so please don't quote or tag me anymore.

 

[JiveTurkey]

This x1000

And the bellyaching over the insert design is BS. An analog insert is a better design than a placeable converted loop for this kind of device.

If you want a simple, great sounding, powerful hybrid rig option that easily fits on a pedalboard this is a stunningly good device.

I love huge presets and tons of options. But I could totally gig with this and a volume pedal and nothing else and sound truly amazing. The power and sonics of this thing in that footprint is jaw dropping.

D

The split mode where you send one (cab-less) out your onstage power amp and cab and one to FOH with cab emulation is

 

[nicolasrivera]

Here's what AMP expert edit looks like, but of course different parameters will change depending on the amp model etc. Take note of the different tabs at the top

View attachment 55445

The only downside is that my 850+ amp block library that i have meticulously buitl is not compatible.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

The only downside is that my 850+ amp block library that i have meticulously buitl is not compatible.

probably won’t take too long to make a preset around the only three that you actually use…

 

[JiveTurkey]

probably won’t take too long to make a preset around the only three that you actually use…

 

[TSJMajesty]

I read a fair amount of the manual, watched Burg's video, and I gotta say, this thing is seriously impressive. It shares SO much functionality with the flagship AXE III... It's amazing that it includes all those same deep-editing parameters for starters.

And it seems to me, having the sheer number of amps and effects being able to be included would say something about the way Cliff handles his coding- organized!

Yeah, there's a few things not here, but ffs, it's seven hundred dollars!!

Well done @FractalAudio!

I'm trying to convince a buddy rn who just inherited an 82 LPC, and wants to use that as a springboard to get back into playing guitar, that he should BUY THIS! To me, it's a no-brainer!

If I didn't already have the III, I'd have already ordered this. And if I was smart, I'd sell the III, buy this, and use the money to help push me to buy that JP15 Baritone. (Although, that's gonna happen regardless, hehe)

 

[JiveTurkey]

I read a fair amount of the manual, watched Burg's video, and I gotta say, this thing is seriously impressive. It shares SO much functionality with the flagship AXE III... It's amazing that it includes all those same deep-editing parameters for starters.

And it seems to me, having the sheer number of amps and effects being able to be included would say something about the way Cliff handles his coding- organized!

Yeah, there's a few things not here, but ffs, it's seven hundred dollars!!

Well done @FractalAudio!

I'm trying to convince a buddy rn who just inherited an 82 LPC, and wants to use that as a springboard to get back into playing guitar, that he should BUY THIS! To me, it's a no-brainer!

If I didn't already have the III, I'd have already ordered this. And if I was smart, I'd sell the III, buy this, and use the money to help push me to buy that JP15 Baritone. (Although, that's gonna happen regardless, hehe)

This x inifinty. Our other guitar player has an Ultra and never plays it anymore as he didn't have the patience. When we do our casino gigs; he has his pedalboard into the absolute dregs of SS combo amp humanity on hand for us. He would be soooooooooo much better with this working as his base tone in that scenario.

 

[LP59]

Oh, so you've never heard of people running things in 4CM? Or adding their favourite analog drives to their modelers utilizing a loop?
Well, more power to you then.

Of course, but those people aren’t going to be using a device like the AM4, where the whole point is the amp sim, in 4cm. Fractal knows what the use case is for the AM4 and they designed it for that purpose.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Of course, but those people aren’t going to be using a device like the AM4, where the whole point is the amp sim, in 4cm. Fractal knows what the use case is for the AM4 and they designed it for that purpose.

He said not to quote him

 

[JiveTurkey]

AM4=gateway drug if you aren't already there. Or the best backup rig you will get in the digital realm.

 

[HotRats]

Of course. I’m just suggesting that if one thinks about it as a design choice to not include an effects loop, it might put one in a better headspace than thinking about it as “argh, why did they choose to make the effects loops so limited!”

An effects loop would have required an extra set of converters adding to the price. It wasn’t in the cards to get to that price point. They WERE able to include this insert. And chose to call it an insert instead of a loop probably in hopes to make the distinction clear.

It’s fine if the product doesn’t meet his needs, and given EU pricing on Fractal I get that this thing is not nearly the value there as it is in my world - I’m not trying to convince him to buy it. But the “why is everyone else such an idiot” arguments do get tiresome.

I don't argue about Fractal reasoning behind a choice they made but I understand why someone can be "pissed off" by that choice.
Beware that "pissed off" usually means "I'd love to buy that piece of gear and I'm sad because is missing a subjective deal braker feature".

I'm one who was interesetd in the VP4 from factor untill I discovered there's no amp control out, meaning you need a midi box for switching channels,

On a funny side note. There's no distinction between insert and fx loop. An fx loop is an insert, is a made up name made for us dumb guitarist who won't understand the standard standard language (Just like 4 cable method...wich simply means inserting the pre amp in another box sighal path).

 

[HotRats]

AM4=gateway drug if you aren't already there. Or the best backup rig you will get in the digital realm.

100% this.