Fractal Talk

Just installed the new beta firmware for Axe 3 where Cliff re-did the Big Muffs and they sound great! He added some Wicker switch which seems to open up the tone, and now I'm getting a way better Pumpkins style fuzz.

It's funny because I had a bunch of tabs open looking at fuzz pedals to possibly pick one up, and basically got new ones for free.

I'll have to keep my eye on when these cascade down because I'm kicking around an FM3 to run with the FR-12.
 
This guy has the ram's head sounding pretty good........
1thumb up.gif


forum.fractalaudio.com

Axe-Fx III Firmware 27.03 Public Beta

So spill the beans! What diodes did you use? Do we have them or something close? Honestly I don't recall cuz a few years have passed and I tried to open up the pedal but there's no code printed on them... They surely are germanium, my memory tells me D9E (we have them in the axe) but I'm...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
 
Rock Chalk said:
This guy has the ram's head sounding pretty good........View attachment 34303

forum.fractalaudio.com

Axe-Fx III Firmware 27.03 Public Beta

So spill the beans! What diodes did you use? Do we have them or something close? Honestly I don't recall cuz a few years have passed and I tried to open up the pedal but there's no code printed on them... They surely are germanium, my memory tells me D9E (we have them in the axe) but I'm...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
Click to expand...
This preset is awesome. It wasn't near as fuzzy until I added in the Octavia to my ears. Killer sounding either way \m/
 
Rock Chalk said:
This guy has the ram's head sounding pretty good........View attachment 34303

forum.fractalaudio.com

Axe-Fx III Firmware 27.03 Public Beta

So spill the beans! What diodes did you use? Do we have them or something close? Honestly I don't recall cuz a few years have passed and I tried to open up the pedal but there's no code printed on them... They surely are germanium, my memory tells me D9E (we have them in the axe) but I'm...
forum.fractalaudio.com forum.fractalaudio.com
Click to expand...

Dang that sounds great

D
 
Did a quick comparison last night between a few Deluxes.

Downloaded the demo of the UAD Dream 65, and that is really underwhelming. It's generally pretty lean and bright. Can't really dial in a thick tone. Not bad but lacking depth.

Then fired up NDSP Tone King and was really enjoying that. By default it has a massive low end thump which makes it feel pretty fun. Messed around boosting the treble and cutting the bass, it sounds really good. Kind of forget how good those plugins can be sometimes.

Lastly plugged into the Axe 3 and dialed in a Deluxe into a York Audio IR. Wanted to get that same big low end of Tone King, so dug through the pages and sure enough there's a "speaker thump" control. Turned that up from 1 to about 3 and there's the big bass.
 
Jarick said:
Did a quick comparison last night between a few Deluxes.

Downloaded the demo of the UAD Dream 65, and that is really underwhelming. It's generally pretty lean and bright. Can't really dial in a thick tone. Not bad but lacking depth.

Then fired up NDSP Tone King and was really enjoying that. By default it has a massive low end thump which makes it feel pretty fun. Messed around boosting the treble and cutting the bass, it sounds really good. Kind of forget how good those plugins can be sometimes.

Lastly plugged into the Axe 3 and dialed in a Deluxe into a York Audio IR. Wanted to get that same big low end of Tone King, so dug through the pages and sure enough there's a "speaker thump" control. Turned that up from 1 to about 3 and there's the big bass.
Click to expand...

I was surprised to learn that the Imperial was based on a Deluxe because new ones I’ve played don’t sound anything like a Deluxe.

I wonder how much the circuit/construction has changed since BAD took over. I’d be curious to try an original one to compare.

Do you know what version the NDSP plugin is based on?
 
Jarick said:
Did a quick comparison last night between a few Deluxes.

Downloaded the demo of the UAD Dream 65, and that is really underwhelming. It's generally pretty lean and bright. Can't really dial in a thick tone. Not bad but lacking depth.

Then fired up NDSP Tone King and was really enjoying that. By default it has a massive low end thump which makes it feel pretty fun. Messed around boosting the treble and cutting the bass, it sounds really good. Kind of forget how good those plugins can be sometimes.

Lastly plugged into the Axe 3 and dialed in a Deluxe into a York Audio IR. Wanted to get that same big low end of Tone King, so dug through the pages and sure enough there's a "speaker thump" control. Turned that up from 1 to about 3 and there's the big bass.
Click to expand...
I haven’t tried that one yet but I am actually enjoying the NDSP plug in stuff
I will check out the Toneking and Morgan suite likely next
Basically I decided to unplug the FM9 give NDSP a go for a month and see , then go back to the Fractal w fresh ears
 
Jarick said:
By default it has a massive low end thump which makes it feel pretty fun.
Click to expand...
I always thought the NDSP stuff was trying so hard to simulate that tube "squish" that it went overboard and made all their models sound like they had an additional compressor on the low end and low mids. While perfectly enjoyable at lower volumes or through headphones, the low-end thump always felt like a sign that NDSP was kinda lying to me (sounds crazy, but I don't know how else to put it). And god help me if I use a ribbon mic in their plugins...

Apart from Tweed amps, I have never experienced that kind of blob-y thump in any real-world tube amps I've played through (which is only around a dozen, tbh). Fractal does an excellent job of giving the same effect of weight and thump with the right settings but for some reason it feels much more natural and "realistic" (for the lack of a better word).
 
metropolis_4 said:
I was surprised to learn that the Imperial was based on a Deluxe because new ones I’ve played don’t sound anything like a Deluxe.

I wonder how much the circuit/construction has changed since BAD took over. I’d be curious to try an original one to compare.

Do you know what version the NDSP plugin is based on?
Click to expand...

No clue on either of them. I heard the Imperial had something to do with a Deluxe and that's usually my go to clean amp. And the sound depends on the modeler, some of them just make a generic Fender clean tone, some of them will be more mid focused, some just thin, etc. I'm guessing the Tone King is more like an idealized Deluxe with a bigger sound especially in the low end.

GTR37 said:
I haven’t tried that one yet but I am actually enjoying the NDSP plug in stuff
I will check out the Toneking and Morgan suite likely next
Basically I decided to unplug the FM9 give NDSP a go for a month and see , then go back to the Fractal w fresh ears
Click to expand...

Curious what you think!

The NDSP stuff to me is perfect for when you need a quick tone for tracking ideas.

saarangnarayan said:
I always thought the NDSP stuff was trying so hard to simulate that tube "squish" that it went overboard and made all their models sound like they had an additional compressor on the low end and low mids. While perfectly enjoyable at lower volumes or through headphones, the low-end thump always felt like a sign that NDSP was kinda lying to me (sounds crazy, but I don't know how else to put it). And god help me if I use a ribbon mic in their plugins...

Apart from Tweed amps, I have never experienced that kind of blob-y thump in any real-world tube amps I've played through (which is only around a dozen, tbh). Fractal does an excellent job of giving the same effect of weight and thump with the right settings but for some reason it feels much more natural and "realistic" (for the lack of a better word).
Click to expand...

The Imperial plugin is the only one to me that has that massive borderline unrealistic low end push. The rest of the models I'm not as sure. But I wouldn't be surprised if Fractal is a lot more accurate. I think NDSP is better for that quick ballpark thing.
 
saarangnarayan said:
I always thought the NDSP stuff was trying so hard to simulate that tube "squish" that it went overboard and made all their models sound like they had an additional compressor on the low end and low mids. While perfectly enjoyable at lower volumes or through headphones, the low-end thump always felt like a sign that NDSP was kinda lying to me (sounds crazy, but I don't know how else to put it). And god help me if I use a ribbon mic in their plugins...

Apart from Tweed amps, I have never experienced that kind of blob-y thump in any real-world tube amps I've played through (which is only around a dozen, tbh). Fractal does an excellent job of giving the same effect of weight and thump with the right settings but for some reason it feels much more natural and "realistic" (for the lack of a better word).
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with the amp models in the QC. It was a great sound for instant-gratification for high gain metal sounds, but it drove me crazy when trying to dial in things like Vox amps.

It felt like a fake sheen they added to every amp model.

Jarick said:
No clue on either of them. I heard the Imperial had something to do with a Deluxe and that's usually my go to clean amp. And the sound depends on the modeler, some of them just make a generic Fender clean tone, some of them will be more mid focused, some just thin, etc. I'm guessing the Tone King is more like an idealized Deluxe with a bigger sound especially in the low end.
Click to expand...

That sounds about right. To me they just sound like a really dark and kind of dull Deluxe. I’ve been really disappointed every time I’ve tried a real one.
 
Jarick said:
No clue on either of them. I heard the Imperial had something to do with a Deluxe and that's usually my go to clean amp. And the sound depends on the modeler, some of them just make a generic Fender clean tone, some of them will be more mid focused, some just thin, etc. I'm guessing the Tone King is more like an idealized Deluxe with a bigger sound especially in the low end.
Click to expand...
Afaik the Tone King Imperial is basically a Blackface and Tweed circuit thrown into one box, with a different speaker. It's been years since I've tried the real thing, but I really liked it. To me the plugin sounds similar at least.
 
laxu said:
Afaik the Tone King Imperial is basically a Blackface and Tweed circuit thrown into one box, with a different speaker. It's been years since I've tried the real thing, but I really liked it. To me the plugin sounds similar at least.
Click to expand...

That’s what I recall too. Haven’t played one myself though. Tweed ain’t my thing..

D
 
metropolis_4 said:
Here you go, a quick sound test of some Ride the Lightning era Metallica with the Silverface Twin preset I made

This is all my black Strat -> sd-1 -> Twin -> 2x12 lead 80

Click to expand...


Important safety reminder when recording:

I was really struggling with timing when I was recording this (you can hear the guitars are off especially in the second time through).

I was just recording something else and realized I’ve got my monitor headphones on a Bluetooth connection! :facepalm

I wondered why it seemed like I was always playing behind the beat! :rofl :rofl:rofl
 
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