How to use the Fryette Power Station as a shit tier amp comparison system

[Deadpan]

IME, there PS100 can sound slightly different in bypass vs an amp with only one cable connected directly to the cabinet.

Probably not a big issue if the main reason is to lower the volume while pushing the amp.

 

[fetishfrog]

My PS1 sounds transparent enough that I don’t care at all to sweat the very small differences at unity gain.

And of course I don’t use it for unity gain so there are always small changes, which can easily be accounted for with eq.

 

[ax84ch]

To help understand all the following, here's the block diagram of the Fryette PS-100:



So yesterday I wanted to see how the Fractal AM4 compares to the amps I have. Naturally putting them through the same real cab and using the Fryette PS-100 as a poweramp for all of them is a good way to go about it, to reduce variables. You don't want to just mic it up, record and swap gear because that's not the same as hearing and feeling it right there in the room.

But then you get into complications. Your favorite tube amp is hooked up to the Amp In jack on the Power Station, so how the hell do you switch between things?

This is how you connect it:

1. Fryette PS Speaker out -> Cab.
2. Tube amp speaker out -> Fryette Amp In.
3. Modeler direct, or another tube amp through a separate loadbox -> Fryette Line-in.
4. Guitar -> A/B box or splitter -> Amp + modeler.

The way it works is that when the Line-in is connected, the Amp input is not in use. Then you just need a splitter to run your guitar into two devices, and can just pull the line out cable from the PS to switch.

Well...kinda. I found that part of the Amp In signal can bleed into the sound anyway with the Line-in connected.
If someone has a Fryette PS and can test if the Line-in truly overrides the Amp-In, then please report back. It's possible mine is just busted - this is after all my "pile of issues Power Station".

To get around this, you need a way to mute the input signal into one of the connected devices.

• The easiest way to do this would be an A/B box, but I don't have one so instead I used a Lehle P-Split to run the signal to my amp and the AM4.
• I then used the AM4 tuner mode and the Mute switch on my Mesa Mark V.
• If you don't have this sort of functionality, but your amp has multiple channels, you can set one of the channels to zero gain/volume and switch to that channel to mute.

But pulling the line-in cable to switch is not very practical, right? Well, there's another way: using the Fryette Operate/Bypass switch.

1. When set to Operate, the Fryette's poweramp is in use. You will now hear the Line-in signal.
2. When set to Bypass, the Amp In gets connected straight to the speaker out, so you hear the tube amp.

With this, just flicking that switch lets you switch between the line-in signal amplified by the Fryette poweramp, and the direct sound of the tube amp connected.
Obviously, you should not crank your tube amp in this scenario as it would be really loud.

There was a long discussion at TGP where I and others went back and forth with Fryette support about making a comparison this way and why it was OK to put a tube amp with its ability to react to a load into the powerstation with its tube power amp that will react to the speaker... but it was not OK to put a modeler that had the reactivity baked into it into the same tube poweramp via the fx in. The advice was always that you had to do something about the double reactivity with the modeler but not the tube amp .

The very unsatisfying answer was that modelers aren't accurate. While that is true at some level, I dont buy it as THE answer in this situation. Particularly since I can run a friedman amp into an Xload out into the fm3 OR run a fractal model with the load impedance curve and they sound remarkably similar. The powerstation should be similar using a fractal if you Bypass the load and go fx in but it is not. Instead, the fractal is hyped sounding due to the double reactivity.

My suspicion is that the powerstation load is made to complement the powerstations power amp and that the FX in misses part of the total equation. maybe the load is only mildly reactive where rhe modeller has a full reactivity. I have no idea.

In any case, you probably need to adjust the reactivity on the fractal if you're using the powerstation. You can disable the power amp modeling entirely as one extreme, but you can also dial down the speaker impedance curve (is that available on the AM4?)

None of this takes away from the powerstation as an amp louderer or quieter which is of course what it is sold to do.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

To get around this, you need a way to mute the input signal into one of the connected devices.

Use the amp standby switch.

 

[laxu]

n any case, you probably need to adjust the reactivity on the fractal if you're using the powerstation. You can disable the power amp modeling entirely as one extreme, but you can also dial down the speaker impedance curve (is that available on the AM4?)

I have found no need to do this with a modeler connected. The more important thing is picking a speaker impedance curve on the modeler that matches the cab you are using. E.g on my AM4 I used the 2x12 Recto curve when using my 2x12 with Vintage 30s.

To me that's what gets it closest in feel to how a real amp through the cab would behave.

The modeler doesn't know what it's connected to so nothing the Power Station does is reflected on the modeler end, so there will always be this combination of the two in effect. You just want to minimize the effect of the poweramp and I find just turning the presence/depth down and picking a suitable impedance curve on units that have that feature works pretty well. Obviously even without it doesn't sound bad at all!

Use the amp standby switch.

Not all amps have one, and I would prefer not flicking that back and forth as it will turn the high voltage off to the tubes.

It's easier to do the channel mute trick, even better to use an A/B box.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’m thinking I’d have to get up to a higher volume level before I started noticing anything unusual sounding with my Fractal/PS100. While there’s some boominess and maybe a little darker sound to what I’m hearing, I’m also playing a 4x12 at conversation volume and I would expect that to entirely dissipate when cranked, like it would if there an amp plugged into it just the same.

That said, the extent of my accuracy desire is ‘Does that sound like a Mark IIC+ or a 5150 coming out of a Marshall 4x12? Yep. Good to go”, subtle changes in feel or tone just come with the territory of using amps/cabs in general and the chase to make them sound/feel 100% the same at all times regardless of the context it’s in has never been a goal.