Fractal Audio Systems AM4 - Amp Modeler

[Boudoir Guitar]

What if I wanted trem before reverb?

This is why I don’t have a Stadium (yet).

THEN YOU WOULD WANT TO LIVE IN A WORLD OF LIES AND FAKES!!!

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

The couple of threads I dug up on them I had to do a double take and look at the oddball workarounds and routing/tweaks required vs. just dropping in a Boss or Fractal rotary block dead stock into a series signal chain.

Blah blah blah "But we modeled them in a way that is different than anything you've ever used before and a way that you've never asked for them to be modeled, and so sounds different than anything you've ever used before, too. So we're act chu alleeeee better...even if you you can't get the sound you want when using a rotary effect"

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

With the reverbs; I am verrrrrrrrrry lucky I am a know nothing about them. I just find something in the list of availables that sits right with my ears and adjust the mix value. It's definitely a bit more difficult with the Stadium but I do find myself grabbing some combinations in the factory presets that sound nice to my ears and adding those to favorites then tweaking there.

So, uh, I had typed up that stuff about verbs, rotary, etc., and then thought "nah, I ain't gonna post that" and then forgot I still had that text active in the box when I went and replied about channels being different than blocks...

 

[JiveTurkey]

Blah blah blah "But we modeled them in a way that is different than anything you've ever used before and a way that you've never asked for them to be modeled, and so sounds different than anything you've ever used before, too. So we're act chu alleeeee better...even if you you can't get the sound you want when using a rotary effect"

I mean; by my usual tastes...I should have ZERO care about whether or not a rotary effect sounds good with a Dual Rectifier. But I do. So here we are


In the interest of beating a dead horse; you also forgot Marks as far as things the HX gets completely pummeled by FAS on. Slaughtered would probably be the best word I dialed up IV mode on a MK V model in the FM yesterday in probably 30 seconds and it was CRUSHING.

 

[JiveTurkey]

So, uh, I had typed up that stuff about verbs, rotary, etc., and then thought "nah, I ain't gonna post that" and then forgot I still had that text active in the box when I went and replied about channels being different than blocks...

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

All the ones of him I found in my quick search were too on-the-nose, but this is utter perfection.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The couple of threads I dug up on them I had to do a double take and look at the oddball workarounds and routing/tweaks required vs. just dropping in a Boss or Fractal rotary block dead stock into a series signal chain.

Absolutely. The HX rotaries are just plain useless. Almost had to rediscover the beauty of that effect when switching to the GT.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Absolutely. The HX rotaries are just plain useless. Almost had to rediscover the beauty of that effect when switching to the GT.

I know I gripe on the GT stuff but the rotary block is GREAT. I think in the Helix' case it was a time where they were trying to "be authentic" when they should have just settled for sounding good instead.

 

[ChordlaguID]

Thats a cool review, thanks a lot!

 

[Sascha Franck]

I know I gripe on the GT stuff but the rotary block is GREAT.

Well, at least for live, pretty much all effects are just doing fine without much tweaking. And once you feel like tweaking, they offer at least some interesting options. At least regarding all the standard FX (phaser, flanger, chorus and possibly u-vibe, tremolo and vibrato, too), I prefer them over most HX counterparts. Might be a little bit of a historic experience, though.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Well, at least for live, pretty much all effects are just doing fine without much tweaking. And once you feel like tweaking, they offer at least some interesting options. At least regarding all the standard FX (phaser, flanger, chorus and possibly u-vibe, tremolo and vibrato, too), I prefer them over most HX counterparts. Might be a little bit of a historic experience, though.

The HX greasy effects have really surprised me this go round. I'm really loving the amps that I am loving but the greasy effects I like to the degree where it makes it abundantly better to play so I just leave them on.

My delay tastes lean HEAVILY towards Boss style where it's meat and potatoes and not the esoteric things L6 seems to focus on effects wise.

Flangers are ok but phasers definitely need work compared to the FAS and Boss alternatives.

Reverbs are better than I give historic credit for but L6 still needs some other algos in the box. They kind of sit where the Boss GT verbs sit where they can sound surprisingly good in combination with other effects (probably better than the Boss stuff if I am being honest?) but no candle compared to the FAS stuff.

 

[AlbertA]

 

[yek]

Awaiting your Halo Delay and Space Echo replicas. :)

 

[AlbertA]

Awaiting your Halo Delay and Space Echo replicas. :)

Hah!

Well if a FW update bumps up the delay block instances to 2 we can do it :) or you know <cough> let us have theMTD block <cough>

 

[yek]

Doesn't the Dual Delay type in the Delay block provide enough material?

 

[Los-D]

Awaiting your Halo Delay and Space Echo replicas. :)

 

[AlbertA]

Doesn't the Dual Delay type in the Delay block provide enough material?

For halo we need 4 delay lines (details here)

 

[mikah912]

I mean; by my usual tastes...I should have ZERO care about whether or not a rotary effect sounds good with a Dual Rectifier. But I do. So here we are


In the interest of beating a dead horse; you also forgot Marks as far as things the HX gets completely pummeled by FAS on. Slaughtered would probably be the best word I dialed up IV mode on a MK V model in the FM yesterday in probably 30 seconds and it was CRUSHING.

Yeah, hard for Line 6 to compete there when they have almost no entrants in the category. Looks like the new firmware will change that. I don't expect to see an y other Mark amps before Proxy drops, but who knows? The Mark IIC is THAT tone.

As for the rotaries, I have no dogs in that fight. Are the HX ones bad because they all include the speaker cabinet?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

As for the rotaries, I have no dogs in that fight. Are the HX ones bad because they all include the speaker cabinet?

When my food tastes like shit, I don't ask whether it's because they added real shit to it, or just artificial tastes-like-shit flavoring (yes, I've tried them in parallel with cab block; on their own, etc.).

 

[mikah912]

When my food tastes like shit, I don't ask whether it's because they added real shit to it, or just artificial tastes-like-shit flavoring (yes, I've tried them in parallel with cab block; on their own, etc.).

Any actual qualities about the rotaries that you want to specifically describe?

I'm not here as some blind Line 6 defender, but rather genuinely seeking to understand why it's so bad. Not a big rotary user, but for when I might need one down the road....I'd love to know what to look for.