IMO, Stadium here just sounds noticeably like a modeller and that’s not a description I really like to use. Feels more distant, less lively, more flat. The adjusted one doesn’t really help, it just goes a bit weird.
Have you compared with Fractal?
I thought Agora compared very well to Fractal for some of the models.
The thing is... I quite often hear the exact same thing in Fractal modelling.
I found the cleans like the Essex , Princeton , Deluxe , Bassman were all really good and comparable where the issue was is the high gain stuff ,
That’s perfectly valid. I’m really struggling to think of many like for like comparisons where the Agoura models sound like the real thing. That of course has no bearing on actually liking how the models currently sound, or any kind of preference with feel.
I think Fractal does have some characteristic qualities across its amps, and I also can’t think of a single Fractal amp that sounds more bright than any real world equivalent I’ve compared against - 100% of the time they are darker. The main difference is Fractal expose enough deep parameters to do what you need to do. It doesn’t seem like Hype or Z Pre Post can do enough to make the difference up and there’s no easy SIC adjustments either
Yeah I do agree. But there's been a few cases where on Fractal I might have to adjust 20 parameters to get a sound ... and occasionally I'll turn Hype up... and it'll be like "that's the spot!" ... but it is quite rare.
That’s why I mention it , in the older firmware 100% the dreaded blanket on speaker or low mid buildup was always present that said over the past year or 2 I think Cliff has made huge strides in getting the raw amp a lot of people complain and don’t like it but I find it way easier to get a bright cutting sound out of the Fractal now than previously
Yep, got an Axe III. To me, they are on a par at the very least. But I really like the Agoura Plexi and AC30 - the AC30 is the best digital sim I have yet heard of that amp. It crunches and chimes exactly like the amp.
