The Poweramp

[Whizzinby]

The "flat" settings make it a resistive load. That tends to sound kinda crap unless you are already running it at very loud volumes in which case...why you using an attenuator?

Yeah I basically keep them set at deep and edge and then season the presence/depth to taste.

I made the painful/glorious mistake of putting the PS on bypass first before the amp last week, and got an immediate reminder of what the FB wants to do in its natural state. After a pants change, I was like “Holy shit this is amazing, I’m losing so much with the PS”. Then I did a volume match with the PS engaged but at the FB’s non attenuated level and it sounded just as awesome. lol Volume is king.

It was at least a worthwhile experiment to realize the PS is really keeping most of the awesomeness intact, raw volume aside.

 

[jellodog]

After a pants change

 

[Whizzinby]

You ain’t living until you mistakenly put your PS on bypass with a 100w ENGL’s master at 2 o’clock.

 

[laxu]

Yeah I basically keep them set at deep and edge and then season the presence/depth to taste.

I made the painful/glorious mistake of putting the PS on bypass first before the amp last week, and got an immediate reminder of what the FB wants to do in its natural state. After a pants change, I was like “Holy s**t this is amazing, I’m losing so much with the PS”. Then I did a volume match with the PS engaged but at the FB’s non attenuated level and it sounded just as awesome. lol Volume is king.

It was at least a worthwhile experiment to realize the PS is really keeping most of the awesomeness intact, raw volume aside.

Yeah the PS is not perfect because reactive loads are an approximation of the speaker impedance behavior anyway, but it's close enough with the right settings. I found that I had to change the switches based on the cab I was using, required a bit of trial and error.

My takeaway was also that volume is indeed king. I measured that I had to be at about 90 dB @ 1m for things to sound good and 95 dB @ 1m for it to sound as good as it gets. Which is starting to be pretty loud. Since I was using master volume amps anyway, I no longer bother with attenuators. I just don't care about powertube distortion.

For lower volume than that, I had better results running into cab sims and studio monitors because I could go down to as much as 10 dB less when sitting in a nearfield listening position hearing the sound in stereo. Since that's the situation for me most of the time, I ended up selling my tube amps and use an Axe-Fx 3 instead.

 

[James Freeman]

My takeaway was also that volume is indeed king. I measured that I had to be at about 90 dB @ 1m for things to sound good and 95 dB @ 1m for it to sound as good as it gets. Which is starting to be pretty loud. Since I was using master volume amps anyway, I no longer bother with attenuators. I just don't care about powertube distortion.

+1
Also, I've noticed that newer 'modern' tube amps have dual master volume (Channel + Global Master), ie. Friedmann BE Deluxe, Peavey Invective, Revv Generator, etc. it became an essential control in modern tube amp design.
You have more control over volume without accidentally breathing on the Master control the wrong way and blowing your head clean off.

Tube amps are home/studio bound 'retro' novelty items anyway, being able to use them without unnecessary pain is great.

 

[Mongillo19]

Thread revive. Any thoughts of Fryette Power Station vs Quilter 202? I'm using fractal gear. To tubes really provide that much of a difference for the size tradeoff?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Thread revive. Any thoughts of Fryette Power Station vs Quilter 202? I'm using fractal gear. To tubes really provide that much of a difference for the size tradeoff?

Yes, no, maybe, more likely on Tuesdays than Thursdays, full moon definitely warrants tubes.

 

[Stratzrus]

You'd hear and feel the difference in a quiet room playing alone, less so on stage with other players. I have a PS-100 and a Quilter (MicroPro 200) and definitely prefer the PS-100. Whether or not the cost and weight difference is worth it is a personal decision.

I personally wasn't in love with the 202 the time I played through one and really like the PS-100. You may feel differently.

 

[Orvillain]

Thread revive. Any thoughts of Fryette Power Station vs Quilter 202? I'm using fractal gear. To tubes really provide that much of a difference for the size tradeoff?

I had the Power Station. I couldn't get on with the high-frequency rolloff that they built into it, and which you cannot disable.

 

[Mongillo19]

I had the Power Station. I couldn't get on with the high-frequency rolloff that they built into it, and which you cannot disable.

Thanks everyone! Decisions decisions

 

[Stratzrus]

I had the Power Station. I couldn't get on with the high-frequency rolloff that they built into it, and which you cannot disable.

Isn't this more of an issue when using it as an attenuator than as an amplifier? I didn't notice any high frequency roll off when amplifying my FM9

I don't think this is a factor in a comparison with a Quilter 202,

 

[Orvillain]

Isn't this more of an issue when using it as an attenuator than as an amplifier? I didn't notice any high frequency roll off when amplifying my FM9

I don't think this is a factor in a comparison with a Quilter 202,

Nah. I was using Quad Cortex with it at the time. Definite noticeable high-frequency rolloff. Annoying enough where I just sent it back to the shop. I got a Powerstage 200 afterwards, and that just has it's own set of issues. Well ... the main issue being it doesn't feel like a valve amp at all, and kinda sucks, and also I fucking hate it since it destroyed my Helix Floor screen, and I've not spoken to it since.

 

[laxu]

I had the Power Station. I couldn't get on with the high-frequency rolloff that they built into it, and which you cannot disable.

Which PS version was this? Afaik the first one had a low pass filter feature, PS2 made it possible to toggle it and PS2A removed it and replaced that place in the back panel with a line out level knob.

I never found that the PS2 or PS100 would roll off high end. Multiple amps, multiple modelers, worked fine with all of them.

I don't love the PS stuff if the volume is low though. The fan is a bit annoying and I preferred using my BluGuitar Amp 1 as a poweramp instead because it was lower noise overall while soundwise only slightly different.

 

[Eagle]

Tried pretty much everything and gone back to a GT100FX still not 100% happy . Rig is AXE3 ~ GT1000FX2U ~ Xitone passive with F12 X200 speakers. Best so far.

 

[Orvillain]

PS100

Was this one. 100% it rolled off highs.

 

[laxu]

Was this one. 100% it rolled off highs.

Strange because that's not my experience at all as long as the reactive load switches are in up/middle position. Plugging a modeler into the line in I also didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I've tried the QC, Helix, FM3 and Axe-Fx 3 in this scenario.

Cabs used were a 4x10 with 10" Greenbacks so a bit darker voiced cab to begin with and a 1x12 with Alnico Gold which on the flipside could be very bright. For reference I also have a Bluetone Loadbox which is a simple 3-step attenuator + lineout. Using it vs using the Fryette I noticed no difference in highs other than what you get with the Fryette switch settings.

I wonder if there was something faulty with your unit?

 

[Orvillain]

Strange because that's not my experience at all as long as the reactive load switches are in up/middle position. Plugging a modeler into the line in I also didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. I've tried the QC, Helix, FM3 and Axe-Fx 3 in this scenario.

Cabs used were a 4x10 with 10" Greenbacks so a bit darker voiced cab to begin with and a 1x12 with Alnico Gold which on the flipside could be very bright. For reference I also have a Bluetone Loadbox which is a simple 3-step attenuator + lineout. Using it vs using the Fryette I noticed no difference in highs other than what you get with the Fryette switch settings.

I wonder if there was something faulty with your unit?

It was a brand new unit. I did a/b comparisons with the QC and Helix at the time, and it was noticeable enough for me to send it back.

 

[JiveTurkey]

The confusion over "does it or doesn't it?" shave off the highs in the PS-x units is one of the most irritating gear mysteries of the past few years. I have read all sorts of people say everything under the sun as well as owned the PS-100 and can't honestly give an accurate answer

 

[laxu]

The confusion over "does it or doesn't it?" shave off the highs in the PS-x units is one of the most irritating gear mysteries of the past few years. I have read all sorts of people say everything under the sun as well as owned the PS-100 and can't honestly give an accurate answer

My take is that when Fryette stuff works, it works fine, but I'm not particularly impressed with the support and some particularities in their products. The PS2 fan was quite noisy, the PS100 was much better in this regard but the device itself had a low frequency hum that Fryette tried to pass off as normal. I'm not the only one who has reported a similar issue yet some people don't seem to encounter it on their units. IMO there was nothing normal about it when my amps were whisper quiet at idle in the same circuit.

I managed to drop my PS100 in exactly they same way they demonstrated the durability of their Pitbull Ultralead chassis (sans headshell) in a recent video on the Fryette YT channel. Like a small drop on its feet. The PS100 just stopped working and a tech could not figure out what was wrong with it as nothing was physically visibly broken. Meanwhile Fryette was in COVID lockdown exactly at this time so they could not provide schematics and after that just plain forgot to answer my multiple support emails.

Obviously the COVID stuff isn't something they can do anything about but then not making sure you answered all support stuff is just doing a bad job. Getting their support to answer has been previously a problem too. They could have also listed something like "we are in COVID lockdown, sorry for the inconvenience" on their website. Poor communication just seems all too common in the guitar industry overall.

I still have a PS100 where the load works but the poweramp doesn't pass audio, tubes are fine and everything. Home insurance paid for it so I don't care too much about spending more money to repair it as I was going to sell it before my mistake. I don't think I will buy anything Fryette again though. I really want to like them but they need to have better support.

 

[JiveTurkey]

My take is that when Fryette stuff works, it works fine, but I'm not particularly impressed with the support and some particularities in their products. The PS2 fan was quite noisy, the PS100 was much better in this regard but the device itself had a low frequency hum that Fryette tried to pass off as normal. I'm not the only one who has reported a similar issue yet some people don't seem to encounter it on their units. IMO there was nothing normal about it when my amps were whisper quiet at idle in the same circuit.

I managed to drop my PS100 in exactly they same way they demonstrated the durability of their Pitbull Ultralead chassis (sans headshell) in a recent video on the Fryette YT channel. Like a small drop on its feet. The PS100 just stopped working and a tech could not figure out what was wrong with it as nothing was physically visibly broken. Meanwhile Fryette was in COVID lockdown exactly at this time so they could not provide schematics and after that just plain forgot to answer my multiple support emails.

Obviously the COVID stuff isn't something they can do anything about but then not making sure you answered all support stuff is just doing a bad job. Getting their support to answer has been previously a problem too. They could have also listed something like "we are in COVID lockdown, sorry for the inconvenience" on their website. Poor communication just seems all too common in the guitar industry overall.

I still have a PS100 where the load works but the poweramp doesn't pass audio, tubes are fine and everything. Home insurance paid for it so I don't care too much about spending more money to repair it as I was going to sell it before my mistake. I don't think I will buy anything Fryette again though. I really want to like them but they need to have better support.

Ah man that stinks! Good to hear your home owners insurance covered it but otherwise, ugh.