Fractal Audio Systems AM4 - Amp Modeler

[yek]

Nah I just meant if you had say Drive Chorus Amp Reverb, if you wanted to make it Chorus Drive Amp Reverb could you move the blocks around (and you can)

Yes. Hold ENTER, then turn the knob to move the block.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Why couldn't it work like generally in synthesizers? You set a baseline value with the parameter knob and then you assign a modulator to change that value. You can freely change the baseline value. Modulators will modulate around that value.

Works fine in synths, where you can often have by far more complex modulation than FAS products.

I'm not gonna lie, that would be really hard for me to wrap my head around.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Out for delivery

 

[Los-D]

Out for delivery

Some woodworking to follow then?

 

[yek]

awkward sequencing to get to the amp/FX list and back to edit mode.

Press Amp Mode* to get to the amp controls to edit.
Press Page Left to see all types, and select if desired.
Press Page Right to return to the amp controls.

* Amp Mode can recalled through a two-switch combo, or by holding a switch.

Or is this not what you mean?

 

[FuzzyAce]

Out for delivery

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Some woodworking to follow then?

I've decided against. The idea was fairly minimal, but current plan is to either just use the AM4 standalone with pedalboard alongside in my music room and then for outside the music room I can just take the AM4 on its own, or both the AM4 and the pedalboard

OR

Mount AM4 and a 2-button switch onto their own little board and use alongside pedalboard.

Despite all my FM0 fussing I'm honestly kinda over the whole "make my modeler a combo amp" thing

 

[JiveTurkey]

Ax8 shift button

Circling back to this. The AX8 was nightmare fuel to edit on. There is no other way you could frame that thing. Good lord.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Circling back to this. The AX8 was nightmare fuel to edit on. There is no other way you could frame that thing. Good lord.

BUT IT HAD DEDICATED AMP KNOBS!!!!!!!!

 

[JiveTurkey]

BUT IT HAD DEDICATED AMP KNOBS!!!!!!!!

To it's credit; it was pretty much perfect form factor. And it sounded great. But talk about a device you PRAYED didn't need adjusting on the live front. I'm getting PTSD thinking about it

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

I've got a gen1 Atomic Amplifirebox that I'm gonna stick on the "this area is for playing around" pedalboard for times when I wanna run dual amps in stereo.

Speaking of UI nightmare products. These "amps and a bit more" boxes have come a looooooooooong way.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

So I did get my unit. It's nice, light and compact and boot-up.is instantaneous. However, I find the on-unit interface frustrating. It just doesn't make sense, even with repeated use. Hard to build muscle memory as there's awkward sequencing to get to the amp/FX list and back to edit mode.

So much could be improved with push-encoders. Otherwise, it's page back, enter, page right, enter change etc. A touch screen could also work.

I don't quite get this -- it defaults to taking you to the second page of the editor for that block when you hit "enter". Are you saying you'd rather have it default to going to the first page of the editor (the pick list) instead? I don't really see how having push-encoders would change that process at all - you'd push the encoder and it'll still take you to the second page of the edit screens.

Overall, I like the choice -- in general I'm a lot more likely to want to edit the parameters of the currently chosen model than I am to want to select a different model. I can see it being a bit frustrating for the NPD experience of wanting to try out all the models, but for real world use (i.e., after a month of ownership), I'd rather have to hit page to get to the pick list than to always have to hit page to move on past the pick list page.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Is there a way to see what firmware is loaded on the hardware itself? I don't see anything on boot up and can't find anything. Obviously there is only one firmware currently, but wondering for future use.

 

[BROCKSTAR]

TIP: You can bypass the amp section and have the cab section basically as a IR player. If you have a IR player that you enjoy better and want to use it with AM4, you can bypass the cab section only as well.

On the editor: Highlight the amp block and then go to "Extras" tab and there you'll see AMP SECTION and you can bypass it. Also has CAB SECTION there as well that can be bypassed.

On the hardware: Use select knob and highlight amp block and hit enter and then page > three times to get to the CAB SECTION (to engage or bypass) and page > four times to get to the AMP SECTION (to engage or bypass).

 

[BROCKSTAR]

Is there a way to see what firmware is loaded on the hardware itself? I don't see anything on boot up and can't find anything. Obviously there is only one firmware currently, but wondering for future use.

Click enter + exit at the same time to enter setup menu and then press page > all the way to the end

 

[dk_ace]

So I did get my unit. It's nice, light and compact and boot-up.is instantaneous. However, I find the on-unit interface frustrating. It just doesn't make sense, even with repeated use. Hard to build muscle memory as there's awkward sequencing to get to the amp/FX list and back to edit mode.

So much could be improved with push-encoders. Otherwise, it's page back, enter, page right, enter change etc. A touch screen could also work.

On the tones and feel - excellent. The Fenders are gorgeous and done right for a change. Very smooth.

However, one thing I'm noting is that there's a 'sameness' to all the amps. Yes, the overall gain, feel and break-up characteristics change...and some may ask what else I'm expecting given that a lot of amps have similar topologies...but it all feels like it's built on one underlying core model. It's like the base tonality doesn't change.

Kinda like listening to Shawn Tubb demo an amp - everything sounds the same.

I'm playing through real guitar cabs so that part stays constant...but I don't quite get this sense with other modelers.

But I will say it's all gorgeous to play. That Vibro King, the Vox AC30 Brilliant, the XTC....I could play on any one of these models all night. Just one's needed...

Regarding the ‘sameness’ of the models, are you running all of the models through the same cab?

Ime, that is what drives sameness, the cab is way more responsible for the sound and feel than most people realize. If you keep the cab constant, different amps start to feel really similar and the differences between them get subtle.

I haven’t run that test with real amps as I don’t have a switching rig that would allow me to do it the right way (simple blind switching of heads at matched volumes and the same listening position uninterrupted), so I can’t say with 100% certainty that this is exactly how it would be with the real amps. I have found it to be the case with all modelers though.

D

 

[BROCKSTAR]

 

[LScottK]

For consolation, you can join the "We Want Our Viscous Homologater Diode Reverse Leakage Gamma Flux" group here.

Smells like a "Rick Roll" to me. I'm resisting . . .

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Haven't played through it yet (but...I mean, I have an Axe Fx III...it is what it is) but thoughts on setting it up:

(1). Definitely feels waaaaaaaaaaaay more refined than FM/FC products and quite a bit more refined than Axe Fx III. Those all felt like you were ordering specialized lab equipment to be used by engineers for testing procedures that are only referred to in acronym form. This feels like a consumer electronics product to be used by any guitarist, at any level. When you start access deep power user portions some of the "am I working from a DOS prompt? fonts return, but nothing like when the III boots to a screen that looks like "wow, we're high resolution...but seemingly intended to be used with a dot-matrix printer?". Having basic parameters only in standard editor but also having deep parameters immediately available by secret handshake double-button feels sooooooooo much better than "pick now: authentic or deep mode?".

(2). Related, the intuition level has gone up SIGNIFICANTLY. From having prompts about what to push to do what, to not having multiple ways to do different things, etc. While I knew that it was possible to get to deep parameters, I didn't remember how it was done, but I didn't have to think long at all to intuit the double press was going to get me there with no need to go to the manual. Kudos.

 

[GTR37]

Haven't played through it yet (but...I mean, I have an Axe Fx III...it is what it is) but thoughts on setting it up:

(1). Definitely feels waaaaaaaaaaaay more refined than FM/FC products and quite a bit more refined than Axe Fx III. Those all felt like you were ordering specialized lab equipment to be used by engineers for testing procedures that are only referred to in acronym form. This feels like a consumer electronics product to be used by any guitarist, at any level. When you start access deep power user portions some of the "am I working from a DOS prompt? fonts return, but nothing like when the III boots to a screen that looks like "wow, we're high resolution...but seemingly intended to be used with a dot-matrix printer?". Having basic parameters only but also having deep parameters available by secret handshake feels sooooooooo much better than "pick now: authentic or deep mode?".

(2). Related, the intuition level has gone up SIGNIFICANTLY. From having prompts about what to push to do what, to not having multiple ways to do different things, etc. While I knew that it was possible to get to deep parameters, I didn't remember how it was done, but I didn't have to think long at all to intuit the double press was going to get me there with no need to go to the manual. Kudos.

Even the things like how they arrange models lists ,alphabetical sounds like a great idea until you have 100+ reverbs

Much easier having categories
Like Cloud, Spring , Pitch , Large ,SFX
Simple but effective