Fractal Talk

[Stone]

Man, I promised myself I wouldn't become a Fractal fanboy, but GOTDANG does its Princeton sound !

Eat your heart out, Tone Master Pro

This tone is just my strat, the Princeton Reverb amp model, one of the stock IR cabs, and a reverb block with the studio reverb. No gimmicks, no pedals, no compressors, no EQs, zilch nada nothin zip.



(feel free to relentlessly mock the drums)

 

[DrewJD82]

Serious question: anyone know how Cliff and Co go about acquiring an amp to be modeled? I’m assuming it’s a case by case basis, but do they borrow amps, or do they have to completely acquire them to be modeled?

Quigs donated his 6505 to the cause, if I remember correctly.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Quigs donated his 6505 to the cause, if I remember correctly.

As much as I’d love to donate one, it’s too expensive for me to do that with a Badlander

 

[GTR37]

Quigs donated his 6505 to the cause, if I remember correctly.

I wonder if Cliff signed the chassis before returning

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

From memory, I think Cliff owns tons of amps. But has also borrowed some Like Mark Day's BE-100.
If I had something that Cliff was willing to model, I'd ship it to him despite the risk of damage.
Once in the Fractalverse, I'd be immortal...

 

[paisleywookiee]

I wonder if Cliff signed the chassis before returning

I don't think he returned it.

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

I don't think he returned it.

What happens in Plaistow, stays in Plaistow.

 

[GTR37]

I don't think he returned it.

Lol unlike NDSP who probably does a capture then returns the amp to the store

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Lol unlike NDSP who probably does a capture then returns the amp to the store

 

[saarangnarayan]

This discussion makes me wonder how some of the more rare/borrowed amps get matched for major firmware updates. For example, did Mark Day ship his BE back to Cliff during the Cygnus re-design? Did Steve Vai send in his Legacy head to Fractal HQ? Maybe I'm missing something but wouldn't FAS need to have access to the amps to confirm that there newer firmwares accurately model the all the amps?

 

[hemmelight]

I know that Mark Day works at Fractal (or atleast did for a few years). Not sure if that was before of after his amp was modelled, though.
Probably before, as it has been around for a long time in Fractal land.

 

[DrewJD82]

This discussion makes me wonder how some of the more rare/borrowed amps get matched for major firmware updates. For example, did Mark Day ship his BE back to Cliff during the Cygnus re-design? Did Steve Vai send in his Legacy head to Fractal HQ? Maybe I'm missing something but wouldn't FAS need to have access to the amps to confirm that there newer firmwares accurately model the all the amps?

Good question in regards to the unicorn amps. I’d be willing to bet Cliff gets some good recordings of them if it’s something he’s got to return to an artist. Or it could be a case of “Well, I just updated 100 different amps, I’ve got a REALLY good idea of the differences in versions so for the last 30 or so amps I can do it by ear without pulling it off a shelf or asking the artist for it”

 

[FractalAudio]

I own almost every amp that we've modeled. I have a Dumble, Trainwreck, Ruby Rocket, multiple Carol-Anns, a Mark IIC+, a Mark IV, a Mark V, a JP2C, (2) Triaxis, about a dozen Marshalls, at least a dozen Fenders, etc., etc. I have two BE 100s: an original Purple one made when Dave was just a little shop and a newer one with all the latest changes.

We have a room with a pool table. You can't use it because there are amps stacked all around it and then more in the hallway and probably another 20 or so in my office. It's kind of ridiculous.

I'd love to model the Badlander and I would simply buy one but AFAIK schematics are not available. I can model simple PTP amps and turret-board amps without a schematic because the circuits are fairly easy to trace but modern PCB amps with lots of features are nearly impossible to trace.

I circuit traced a couple Bogners and that was a nightmare. Took me days/weeks. OTOH I traced a Dr. Z in a few hours.

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahahahha imagine tracing a Road King without the schematic.

 

[laxu]

I own almost every amp that we've modeled. I have a Dumble, Trainwreck, Ruby Rocket, multiple Carol-Anns, a Mark IIC+, a Mark IV, a Mark V, a JP2C, (2) Triaxis, about a dozen Marshalls, at least a dozen Fenders, etc., etc. I have two BE 100s: an original Purple one made when Dave was just a little shop and a newer one with all the latest changes.

We have a room with a pool table. You can't use it because there are amps stacked all around it and then more in the hallway and probably another 20 or so in my office. It's kind of ridiculous.

I'd love to model the Badlander and I would simply buy one but AFAIK schematics are not available. I can model simple PTP amps and turret-board amps without a schematic because the circuits are fairly easy to trace but modern PCB amps with lots of features are nearly impossible to trace.

I circuit traced a couple Bogners and that was a nightmare. Took me days/weeks. OTOH I traced a Dr. Z in a few hours.

What has so far been the most challenging amp to model? Is something with a particularly unique sound more difficult than something that just has a lot of switches and knobs (e.g Friedman BE and all its mode switches)? Or maybe something with a circuit that differs the most from existing ones?

 

[timbuck3]

Man, I promised myself I wouldn't become a Fractal fanboy, but GOTDANG does its Princeton sound !

Eat your heart out, Tone Master Pro

This tone is just my strat, the Princeton Reverb amp model, one of the stock IR cabs, and a reverb block with the studio reverb. No gimmicks, no pedals, no compressors, no EQs, zilch nada nothin zip.



(feel free to relentlessly mock the drums)

swirly..you having fun with this thing yet?

 

[MirrorProfiles]

Mesa schematics aren’t exactly known for being very accurate either, and lots of their own PCB’s aren’t really labelled well. And sometimes parts are fixed below other parts so you have to remove components to access them. Newer ones aren’t so bad but there’s a reason a lot of techs either refuse to work on Mesa, or charge at least double for all the extra work involved. They also use tons of tantalum caps that are sensitive to heat, filter caps that are extremely close to their voltage limit, LDR’s that always go bad and resistors that’ll drift if you look at them funny.

I’m a big fan of mesa amps too, they sound killer and it’s just part of what you get with them.

 

[James Freeman]

I'd love to model the Badlander and I would simply buy one but AFAIK schematics are not available.

And gibson don't like sharing.

 

[SwirlyMaple]

swirly..you having fun with this thing yet?

Ha, yes indeed. Seriously, you should get one. I know we've all been teasing and prodding you, but in all sincerity, it sounds killer. I don't think any other modeling platform matches it in terms of absolute realism without having to use profiles.

Everything I've tried in it so far sounds gorgeous, from the amps to the reverbs to the legacy cab IR library and the DynaCabs. The only thing that made me go :/ was the spring reverb, and hopefully the new ones (which sound great based on beta clips) will be in the FM9 soon.

 

[FractalAudio]

What has so far been the most challenging amp to model? Is something with a particularly unique sound more difficult than something that just has a lot of switches and knobs (e.g Friedman BE and all its mode switches)? Or maybe something with a circuit that differs the most from existing ones?

The most challenging amps are Engls because their schematics are intentionally wrong. If I have an accurate schematic I can model an amp in a short time. It's just a matter of plugging in the data. But when the schematic is wrong it becomes a chore.

Another challenging amp was the latest Diezel that I did (Herbie 3). I traced this one even though it's circuit board amp. I just couldn't get the preamp to match. Then I discovered a part hidden on the control PCB. Obviously this part was put there, and not on the main PCB, so that people wouldn't see it and make it hard to copy the amp. I remember saying at the time "Peter you sneaky b!@#$".

Bogner did something similar with the Uberschall. There's a component for the negative feedback circuit located in a completely different location. I forget exactly but it's on the fx loop PCB or something weird like that. Again this was done to dissuade people from copying the design.