Fractal Talk

[metropolis_4]

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.

Definitely depends on the amp and the style.

The flip side of that though is sometimes it’s nice when you can increase or decrease the amount of distortion without changing the volume level. Instead of getting louder it just gets more saturated. If you have too much headroom you can’t push the amp into overdrive without big jumps in volume.

It’s also way easier with modelers because you can add some type of post-amp volume boost as needed.

 

[la szum]

Definitely depends on the amp and the style.

The flip side of that though is sometimes it’s nice when you can increase or decrease the amount of distortion without changing the volume level. Instead of getting louder it just gets more saturated. If you have too much headroom you can’t push the amp into overdrive without big jumps in volume.

It’s also way easier with modelers because you can add some type of post-amp volume boost as needed.

That's exactly why I like Plexis and 800s so damn much for live/real time playing in a full band.
They just do that better than any other amp I have ever used. And the cleans you can get with
the volume rolled back on the guitar are just some of the best out there in all the land.

 

[OrganicZed]

That's exactly why I like Plexis and 800s so damn much for live/real time playing in a full band.
They just do that better than any other amp I have ever used. And the cleans you can get with
the volume rolled back on the guitar are just some of the best out there in all the land.

I totally agree. The clean tone of a plexi with the guitar volume rolled back a bit is amongst my favorite clean sounds. Marshall amps are under rated for their clean tones. Then, turn the guitar volume on 10 and youre in rock rhythm tone heaven. It is glorious.

 

[la szum]

And that behavior/characteristic related to Marshalls is what blew my mind when
I first played/tried a Fractal. I could not get that exact same behavior out of an Helix
or a Kemper. The feel and responsiveness was just next level for me. It made playing
the Fractal just as fun as playing actual amps.

Yup. I said it.

And...... it still blows me away!

 

[metropolis_4]

That's exactly why I like Plexis and 800s so damn much for live/real time playing in a full band.
They just do that better than any other amp I have ever used. And the cleans you can get with
the volume rolled back on the guitar are just some of the best out there in all the land.

I couldn’t agree more. I was late to the game with Plexis and 800s and they were a game changer when I discovered them.

Fractal is what led me to love Marshalls. I had two bad experiences with real Plexis that made me think I didn’t like them, and then until Fractal the digital Marshall models never did that lower gain thing where they actually clean up. So until Fractal I didn’t get it, but once I started trying them in my AxeFX I realized what it was all about. Now I’m obsessed with them.

 

[la szum]

That's awesome!

I really do enjoy getting those stellar tones at a friendlier and more manageable volume.

I love Plexis and 800s, but man oh man, if I had to choose at this point in my life I'd take
the library of Marshalls in the Fractalverse.

Sorry, Jim.

 

[la szum]

I totally agree. The clean tone of a plexi with the guitar volume rolled back a bit is amongst my favorite clean sounds. Marshall amps are under rated for their clean tones. Then, turn the guitar volume on 10 and youre in rock rhythm tone heaven. It is glorious.

I mostly dial in my tones with my volume and tone rolled back on the guitar (7 to 8)
just a bit. That's my core/base tone, and then I can go up or down from there in
volume and saturation with the controls on my guitar. Such a fun (and lazy/easy!)
experience.

 

[FuzzyAce]

That's awesome!

I really do enjoy getting those stellar tones at a friendlier and more manageable volume.

I love Plexis and 800s, but man oh man, if I had to choose at this point in my life I'd take
the library of Marshalls in the Fractalverse.

Sorry, Jim.

I'm pretty much there myself, except I do like lower watt amps which can still get loud.
But I've said before, the main reason I have tinnitus is because a bandmate's JCM800.
I'm ok without one.
Although a 1959 Marshall stack would be cool but I'm not on the hunt for one.

 

[metropolis_4]

That's awesome!

I really do enjoy getting those stellar tones at a friendlier and more manageable volume.

I love Plexis and 800s, but man oh man, if I had to choose at this point in my life I'd take
the library of Marshalls in the Fractalverse.

Sorry, Jim.

That’s sort of where I’m at too. I thought about a JVM, but a Fractal is like having a 4 channel Marshall where you get to pick what each channel is

 

[SillyOctpuss]

That's awesome!

I really do enjoy getting those stellar tones at a friendlier and more manageable volume.

I love Plexis and 800s, but man oh man, if I had to choose at this point in my life I'd take
the library of Marshalls in the Fractalverse.

Sorry, Jim.

Oh Jim didn't take that well at all.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Once I added the purple faceplate, my X88 toans went through the roof!!

 

[la szum]

 

[la szum]

Right on cue.

Fractal Audio - On Sale

Fractal Audio - On Sale, B-Stock, and Close-Out

shop.fractalaudio.com

 

[metropolis_4]

Fractal should seriously consider custom colors like Line 6 does

 

[blandified]

Does anyone have settings for the virtual capo that allows for better tracking?

The Line 6 HX Effects that I was using with my tonex pedalboard had a polyphonic pitch shifter that had perfect tracking. I could play the weirdest chords with every interval imaginable and it would sound great. With the virtual capo, it tracking gets confused sometimes and causes weird artifacts.

 

[iaresee]

Fractal should seriously consider custom colors like Line 6 does

Didn't Misha Mansoor have a white face plate made for an AF2 at some point? It was some djenty person.

Edit! Blue, not white! And yea, Periphery. Link.

 

[State of Epicicity]

Does anyone have settings for the virtual capo that allows for better tracking?

The Line 6 HX Effects that I was using with my tonex pedalboard had a polyphonic pitch shifter that had perfect tracking. I could play the weirdest chords with every interval imaginable and it would sound great. With the virtual capo, it tracking gets confused sometimes and causes weird artifacts.

I've created a wishlist request for this on the Fractal Forum. If people comment on that post, hopefully it will get some traction and maybe it's something Cliff can implement.

Wish - Virtual Capo Virtual Jeff Algorithm

This is a request to implement something close to the drop tuning algorithm of the Virtual Jeff Pro. I've been hoping to be able to play with clean and edge of breakup tones with transparent sounding downtuning, and I've never quite been able to pull it off with the Virtual Capo. When you try...

forum.fractalaudio.com

 

[James Freeman]

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.

Bumping my own report, and sorry for Shull but I hear the same 'squish' in the 1959HW when Rhett plays the 9th 10th fret on the G and B strings at the end of the riff.
That 'squish' is important mkay, it's what makes the notes bouncy and chewy, I want to hear that squish in the AxeFx Plexi models too.

Timestamped:




My 72 Spec 1987x

 

[DLC86]

Bumping my own report, and sorry for Shull but I hear the same 'squish' in the 1959HW when Rhett plays the 9th 10th fret on the G and B strings at the end of the riff.
That 'squish' is important mkay, it's what makes the notes bouncy and chewy, I want to hear that squish in the AxeFx Plexi models too.

Timestamped:




My 72 Spec 1987x

This is a Fractal thread so it's kind of OT but... have you tried capturing that with NAM? Cuz I've heard some captures do something quite similar, e.g. the "CRANKY_C" one in this pack: https://tonehunt.org/SlamminMofo/a232f8c9-3b01-425f-9172-3bb33d1b3a93

PS: crank the gain

 

[Joshual-L]

Will never as good as a real mic’s plexi but I’m really enjoying the slp59 on my fm3.
I’m on a journey of trying to get closer and closer to the real deal.

Would love to get more of than « in your face » tone quality but hey pretty impressive to me for a modeler.

59slp, solodallas ir mix, mahogany telecaster


The only thing I don’t appreciate is that compression when I switch to the humbucker, but that’s maybe because the fm3 does not have that secret sauce input.