nicolasrivera
Roadie
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- 394
Fractal Audio Systems VP4 - Virtual Pedalboard
- Thread starter laxu
- Start date
Baba
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,299
That's exactly how I'm using my IR-X/Stomp XL. IR-X in the Stomp loop and controlling the IR-X via midi, etc.
I can't imagine a "better" rig for me, at this point.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,130
Took the VP over to my guitarists house for a bit last night. Ran it up front of his JTM60 combo. The FX quality is just stunning. It's just dumb how good this stuff sounds. We did get some good stacked drive combos that were eluding me in front of the Stealth clean channel. I think that channel just straight up sucks. It's not a good clean channel and it doesn't crunch up to do really anything layered with drives on top. Waste of circuit space imo. Anyway; I continue to be super impressed by the VP.
Baba
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,299
Yeah, I liked the (non-stealth version) clean channel for straight up clean, but it definitely lacks a bit of personality (when compared to the best of the best clean amps), and I wouldn't call it a pedal platform at all.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,130
The Stealth clean is VERY spiky yet simulatenously dull somehow. Just not a good clean channel at all. I am assuming it was an afterthought and it's not like I need clean tones. But trying to work with distortions that aren't the baked in super modern tones; it would be nice if it was better and could help serve that purpose.
likitlikeyoulikeit
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,580
Dude ..I almost hate to say this.....as I know you go through some gear cycles....
You need to give a Laney GH or similar a shot. They are exactly what you are looking for...and amazing value. Amazing cleans..... awesome gain character... so tasty.
I would also say this...so take it with a grain of salt. I just think you may fall in love.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,130
I\ve had the GH, the VH and the IRT. The IRT was the only el84 amp I've ever played where I liked the tone. The GH needed a boost and at the time, I was not a fan of stacking drive pedal gain on an amp. Add a 212 with fresh V30s and it wasn't exactly a pleasant tone match
The VH I had high hopes for but mine had problems. Not near as impressive on the gained up side of things and was horrendously noisy. I like the idea of Laney probably about 100x than I actually like Laney.
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The Lionheart L20H has me curious.
likitlikeyoulikeit
Rock Star
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- 3,580
Tis sweet....there is a user on here....I know it's in the Laney thread....
They purchased a used L50.....and says it's a ripper!!!
Not modern....but amazing.Talk to me about the Laney Lionheart L50H
I knew of these amps but never took a good look at them until the other day. I didn't realize it was a 50 watt Class A amp. This has my interest now. I've only come across a couple of helpful reviews and sound clips. From what I can tell it sound pretty good and seems like it would be a good...
thegearforum.com
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- 6,398
I'd probably love it then, I tend to be more in the vintage-voiced camp.Tis sweet....there is a user on here....I know it's in the Laney thread....
They purchased a used L50.....and says it's a ripper!!!
Talk to me about the Laney Lionheart L50H
I knew of these amps but never took a good look at them until the other day. I didn't realize it was a 50 watt Class A amp. This has my interest now. I've only come across a couple of helpful reviews and sound clips. From what I can tell it sound pretty good and seems like it would be a good...
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 5,211
From Fractal VP4 forums when someone asked for a separate wishlist forum like there's for the other products:
While I understand Fractal's stance...it also means I won't buy the VP4 when it becomes available in Europe.
There's still a good chunk of inconveniences that I listed earlier in this thread. I'll be better off waiting to see what kind of updates Fractal does to it. I've learned my lesson from the QC to buy only when you are happy with what the product does right now instead of what you hope it'll be after updates.
While I understand Fractal's stance...it also means I won't buy the VP4 when it becomes available in Europe.
There's still a good chunk of inconveniences that I listed earlier in this thread. I'll be better off waiting to see what kind of updates Fractal does to it. I've learned my lesson from the QC to buy only when you are happy with what the product does right now instead of what you hope it'll be after updates.
TubeStack
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,873
Very positive review from Guitar Player magazine.
“Stunningly deep, great sounding and highly functional. Editors' Pick Award? Do you even have to ask?" Fractal's VP4 delivers much of what's in its big-brother powerhouse, the Axe-FX III, in a compact and price-friendly unit”
Nice review form the famous Dave Hunter.
(Although I don't think the Shimmer Drive model represents Voodoo Lab's Sparkle Drive.)
udi9
Newbie
- Messages
- 10
So, I've had the VP4 for a couple of weeks now and I love it.
It replaced a couple of pedals on my board (sold the H90 today) and it sounds fantastic. I'm also very impressed with how clear, quiet and "colorless" the signal is. Latency is also very low which is an added bonus, I measured 1.33ms with no drive blocks. The Drive block, which I don't use, adds around 0.55ms.
The VP4 actually helped me achieve 3 things I wanted to do for a long time with my setup:
1. place the effects after the amp and cab (like you'd do in a studio). I always felt that running studio grade effects into guitar cabs is not ideal.
2. Play in stereo with only one amp.
3. play direct without a cab.
My current signal chain is: guitar>>couple of pedals>>amp>>Suhr RLIR>>effects in stereo direct to the console (with a DI when necessary).
I still have the option to run the stereo effects signal into my Fryette LXII with 2 cabs if I want to, but I'm tired of bringing 2 cabs tbh.
Before getting the device I thought I'd probably want some more UI options/flexibility, but now that I've used it for a while and did a couple of rehearsals with it I must say that the interface is very well thought out. Fractal did a great job making it super easy to navigate on the fly and also dive deep when you want to, without ever needing the computer editor (which is also great, btw).
The only thing I'm missing is the ability to name the channels within a block. The long press to bring the channels picker while in Effects mode is awesome, but when I have 4 channels of a mono delay with different settings, I get a list of Digital Mono x4 and it sometimes hard to remember what they do in each preset. Hopefully Fractal will add that in the future.
All in all the device is quite phenomenal, with stellar sounds as expected, beautiful screen and overall construction, easy to use UI and great versatility.
It replaced a couple of pedals on my board (sold the H90 today) and it sounds fantastic. I'm also very impressed with how clear, quiet and "colorless" the signal is. Latency is also very low which is an added bonus, I measured 1.33ms with no drive blocks. The Drive block, which I don't use, adds around 0.55ms.
The VP4 actually helped me achieve 3 things I wanted to do for a long time with my setup:
1. place the effects after the amp and cab (like you'd do in a studio). I always felt that running studio grade effects into guitar cabs is not ideal.
2. Play in stereo with only one amp.
3. play direct without a cab.
My current signal chain is: guitar>>couple of pedals>>amp>>Suhr RLIR>>effects in stereo direct to the console (with a DI when necessary).
I still have the option to run the stereo effects signal into my Fryette LXII with 2 cabs if I want to, but I'm tired of bringing 2 cabs tbh.
Before getting the device I thought I'd probably want some more UI options/flexibility, but now that I've used it for a while and did a couple of rehearsals with it I must say that the interface is very well thought out. Fractal did a great job making it super easy to navigate on the fly and also dive deep when you want to, without ever needing the computer editor (which is also great, btw).
The only thing I'm missing is the ability to name the channels within a block. The long press to bring the channels picker while in Effects mode is awesome, but when I have 4 channels of a mono delay with different settings, I get a list of Digital Mono x4 and it sometimes hard to remember what they do in each preset. Hopefully Fractal will add that in the future.
All in all the device is quite phenomenal, with stellar sounds as expected, beautiful screen and overall construction, easy to use UI and great versatility.
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,920
Just shouting into the vastness of the internet and didn’t read 46 pages. As a FAS Wh*re myself, I do not understand why someone wouldn’t just buy an FM3. Sorry if this was discussed for 20 pages and I’m late. The FM3 is only a few bucks more and just has more of everything. Plus it’ll serve as a great backup for your amp should you need it in a pinch.
Boudoir Guitar
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,819
Except I/O optimized for 4cm (and a bunch of other stuff in terms of how many of different kinds of blocks you can run, etc.)...
Desertdweller
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,055
This is why. To quote Fractal themselves: "The FM3 isn't expressly designed with 4CM in mind like the Axe-Fx III. It can do it but it's not as easy and may not have the same level of fidelity."
Source:
Is Fractal planning an FX-only floor unit?
My company uses a hybrid agile methodology. It's just waterfall with extra steps. Worked in Fortune 500 software dev for many years. Any change in methodology or management practices just added busywork and reduced (or in some case completely crippled) productivity. What actually got things...
www.thegearpage.net
TubeStack
Rock Star
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- 2,873
Jarick
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,253
I think the hard part is coming from a digital modeler mindset rather than a pedal mindset. There seems to be a lot of people who will drop $1500 on three Strymon pedals to run post effects that wouldn’t touch a digital modeler. So this is bringing the effect functionality of the Fractals to that user in a size and format they prefer.
I think the HX Stomp was really the first pedal to do that and it ended up being a gateway for a lot of people into modeling. VP4 won’t blur those lines as much but could be great for many pedal people.
I still would love to see an expanded version with loop switching. That would be awesome to be able to run the Fractal for effects with analog pedals and something like a Friedman IRX, and have the Fractal do all the switching too.
I think the HX Stomp was really the first pedal to do that and it ended up being a gateway for a lot of people into modeling. VP4 won’t blur those lines as much but could be great for many pedal people.
I still would love to see an expanded version with loop switching. That would be awesome to be able to run the Fractal for effects with analog pedals and something like a Friedman IRX, and have the Fractal do all the switching too.
