Fractal Talk

[State of Epicicity]

 

[la szum]

More obstacles to playing music and enjoying ourselves. Man, these massive
obstructions just keep getting in our fucking way.

 

[Stratzrus]

On a real Plexi (same with a 2203 with master on 10 for that matter) when I crank the treble and high-ish Presence settings and zero the bass and mids I hear a certain 'squish' when I play hard two or more notes on the higher strings like an open D chord or 7th fret on the G+B strings together.

Do you play using those settings? It's hard for me to imagine that sounding good on the real amp or the Axe FX/

 

[la szum]

 

[James Freeman]

Do you play using those settings? It's hard for me to imagine that sounding good on the real amp or the Axe FX/

I do, but also that's not the point.
Something in the interaction between the clipping PI and NFB isn't quite right yet.
Sometimes a test signal can't cause the system to reveal a certain behavior but two intermodulating strings on a guitar can.
Thats why you read that Cliff found a new test method or signal that helps him the reproduce these nuances and eventually model them.

 

[duzie]

Does anyone look at the headroom meter on the amp block in fractal-edit?
If so what are you looking for and do you have a target zone you are trying to reach.

 

[Orvillain]

Does anyone look at the headroom meter on the amp block in fractal-edit?
If so what are you looking for and do you have a target zone you are trying to reach.

For me, I want to make sure that on palm mutes I'm never pinging the shit out of the meter. Always looking for 2-5dB headroom on a drop-B or drop-C palm mute. I want the power section giving the tonal shaping benefits, but I don't want outright power amp distortion. Sounds gash to me.

 

[duzie]

For me, I want to make sure that on palm mutes I'm never pinging the shit out of the meter. Always looking for 2-5dB headroom on a drop-B or drop-C palm mute. I want the power section giving the tonal shaping benefits, but I don't want outright power amp distortion. Sounds gash to me.

what parameters affect the meter the most ?
Is it mainly the guitar volume knob and picking style?

 

[Orvillain]

what parameters affect the meter the most ?
Is it mainly the guitar volume knob and picking style?

The master volume of the amp, usually. I pretty much turn that down until I get the right range on the headroom meter, and then I turn up the block level parameter to compensate for the volume loss.

 

[duzie]

The master volume of the amp, usually. I pretty much turn that down until I get the right range on the headroom meter, and then I turn up the block level parameter to compensate for the volume loss.

Thanks for your “input”
Up till now I’ve not really paid any attention to the meter
I’m always attempting to learn more

 

[metropolis_4]

Does anyone look at the headroom meter on the amp block in fractal-edit?
If so what are you looking for and do you have a target zone you are trying to reach.

I look at it sometimes when I’m setting up clean tones. If I’m setting up something for heavy funk strumming or jazz comping where I want to make sure I’m not clipping the amp when I hit it the hardest I’m gonna play.

 

[Orvillain]

Of course you could just run a Boogie Mark V into a loadbox and then into the Axe3 and not worry about the models!

 

[TSJMajesty]

Does anyone look at the headroom meter on the amp block in fractal-edit?
If so what are you looking for and do you have a target zone you are trying to reach.

Absolutely! I check all the blocks.

I noticed in the Petrucci Rig factory preset, the clean scene was actually clipping. The preset was made using the same guitar I use, so it seemed quite odd. Once I located the offending block, I was able to dial it down to eliminate the distortion, although I can't remember which block it was now, or how I fixed it. (Maybe the compressor...?)

But ever since that happened, I'll page over to the 'meters', and look for any signal that's too hot.

And btw, it wasn't my input settings causing that clipping. I have to set mine extremely low (~4%) to keep the warning from popping up, so I know that wasn't the cause.

 

[DrewJD82]

Just catching up now on the new III update, watching Leon's vid. That TC Integrated Pre is exactly what I wanted out of the Fortin 33 pedal I bought for $190, plugged in for 30 minutes and found every possible way to dislike the pedal the longer I had it turned on.

 

[la szum]

The master volume of the amp, usually. I pretty much turn that down until I get the right range on the headroom meter, and then I turn up the block level parameter to compensate for the volume loss.

Yup. 100%. I don't generally like to run out of headroom on real amps, or on the Fractal models.

Crushes/kills any potential dynamics, too.

 

[holoholo]

Well 2 weeks in. I think I got my first set of presets dialed in. Going to try them at a festival show I got this week.

Tones are killer. I went thru some of them that caught my eye - jvm, plexis, friedmans, some dumbles. All are great but I later went to the FAS models and I should’ve just started/ended there. Pretty much sound great when pulled up as-is but almost every model I usually like the fat on (maybe because I’m playing a Strat and also maybe cuz of my cab settings) and sometimes with a boost or saturation switch on. For cleans/EoB I really like the AC-20 EF86 with my Strat, which is weird for me cuz I don’t gravitate to vox irl. The ods100 clean is amazing too. I’m sure there’s more than enough amps that I’ll never be bored exploring.

I took the advice of Igor from line 6 and spent 80% of my time finding the right cab/mic setup just like irl. There’s no shortage of awesome cabs in the box. The cab preamp is sweet to fine tune the eq as well as the adjustable cut slopes.

With the grid, layouts, and channels, I actually have condensed the number of presets I have compared to hx land. I’m glad I jumped in now that there’s gapless. That helps as well. I guess because of the nature of the ecosystem, I’m much more primarily using scenes as opposed to hx land pedals and snapshots.

I really like the little conveniences that are littered all over the unit. The eqs in the drive block, the amp ideal tab knobs, preamp boosts, post amp eq. I wish there were things I could do on the unit itself (copy/pasting channels, reordering presets,…) but I’m happy overall.

This is all old, recycled news for most of you but maybe someone out there is reading that this may help.

I’m sure there’s more I’ll discover as this is only the beginning for me.

 

[metropolis_4]

Yup. 100%. I don't generally like to run out of headroom on real amps, or on the Fractal models.

Crushes/kills any potential dynamics, too.

There are times when that is a good thing though! Sometimes for leads I love using that really compressed sound where the amp seems to be imploding on itself.

Power amp distortion can be

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Something doesn't sound quite right with the Plexi models compared to my reference amps.

On a real Plexi (same with a 2203 with master on 10 for that matter) when I crank the treble and high-ish Presence settings and zero the bass and mids I hear a certain 'squish' when I play hard two or more notes on the higher strings like an open D chord or 7th fret on the G+B strings together.
This does not happen on the AxeFx no matter how I tweak the Power Supply and Pwr Tubs, Power Amp settings.
I have a PPIMV on my 1987x, I can hear this 'squish' with very low PPIMV settings like 1 or when cranked through a load box, so maybe it is something related to the blocking distortion of the phase inverter grids than the power tubes.


If someone with a Plexi/2203 and a Load Box can confirm that would be great.
@FractalAudio I hope your Plexis are not too far away.

EDIT:
settings and clip
View attachment 32599




AxeFX
View attachment 32600



---


It's close but still no cigar.
The real amp also feels more dynamic to play, the amp has '72+ metal panel spec (2.7k+0.68, no V2a cap, 100k from 4ohm tap) in case anyone wonders.

Master on 10 you say…

 

[la szum]

There are times when that is a good thing though! Sometimes for leads I love using that really compressed sound where the amp seems to be imploding on itself.

Power amp distortion can be

For me it depends on the amp, style of music, and the player. Owning multiple vintage Fender
amps I tend to like them when they are still open and where the power amp compresses, starts to
clip, and squishes with max attack and pick pressure. Same for modellers.

It can be hard to get a bump in volume and SPLs when you are maxed out like that, though, and
that is why I tend to prefer headroom over no headroom in the power section.

Unless it is a Neil Young Nad Crazy Horse Tribute show.... and then I want it all the time.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Thanks for your “input”
Up till now I’ve not really paid any attention to the meter
I’m always attempting to learn more

I use it sometimes as a check when putting a pedal in front of an amp to see if the pedal is adding its own clipping and/or character, or if it's mostly just acting as a level boost. This in the context of non-master volume amp models. There have been times when I've thought an overdrive was really adding magic fairy dust, and then if I take it out and just bump up the amp level to where I'm seeing the same headroom reading as I was with the pedal...all of a sudden most of that magic fairy dust is back. i.e., the only thing special about the pedal was the level boost it was giving.