(UPDATED for new FW!) EVH amp vs Axe Fx, QC and TMP...

[eggpl@nt]

I feel like every time someone talks about something they don’t like over there suddenly a new member with no posts comes in raving about how much they love that thing in the TMP

One of the Fender reps did say that they were in the midst of training their support team. Maybe jumping into forum threads to praise the product is part of the training??

 

[JiveTurkey]

I feel like every time someone talks about something they don’t like over there suddenly a new member with no posts comes in raving about how much they love that thing in the TMP

Be careful or someone who has spent the last 11 years using a $300 digital SS combo amp will take you to school!

 

[ejecta]

Looks like they don't all sound the same after all

They sure don’t here in this demo. The Snax Fx and the TOP favorite the Mod Cortex sounded the best but the winner, for me was the real amp.

 

[jellodog]

Be careful or someone who has spent the last 11 years using a $300 digital SS combo amp will take you to school!

Ouch!

 

[JiveTurkey]

They sure don’t here in this demo. The Snax Fx and the TOP favorite the Mod Cortex sounded the best but the winner, for me was the real amp.

The QC did do good in this test.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Ouch!

I was just being frank with him.

 

[Lysander]

I feel like every time someone talks about something they don’t like over there suddenly a new member with no posts comes in raving about how much they love that thing in the TMP

*cries in Neural DSP*

 

[DrewJD82]

It’s also a bit humorous seeing it’s very clearly some of these guys first foray in the modeling world and not having a grasp on specifics that have been discussed in the modeling circles for a while. That definitely works in Fender’s favor at this point, because now they’re all thinking this was the result of an impedance curve.

 

[ejecta]

I was just being frank with him.

Jive Turkeys don’t lie.

 

[ejecta]

It’s also a bit humorous seeing it’s very clearly some of these guys first foray in the modeling world and not having a grasp on specifics that have been discussed in the modeling circles for a while. That definitely works in Fender’s favor at this point, because now they’re all thinking this was the result of an impedance curve.

Wait until they see the graphs…. that’ll learn ‘em.

 

[jellodog]

That definitely works in Fender’s favor at this point, because now they’re all thinking this was the result of an impedance curve.

Exactly. No impedence curve in the world is going to fix that lack of definition and detail, or clear up the smeared mud.

 

[DrewJD82]

Wait until they see the graphs…. that’ll learn ‘em.

At some point we’re going to find out that Fender was just waiting for Cliff to stop posting at TOP before they released the TMP.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I don't even think they are ready for the graph stage yet

 

[metropolis_4]

Be careful or someone who has spent the last 11 years using a $300 digital SS combo amp will take you to school!

Me:
This JCM800 sounds terrible

5 posts later:
Hey everyone, just stumbled on this place while looking for something about my new TMP. My name is John Cougar Marshall, I invented the JCM800, I’ve been using one every day of my life for the past 50 years, and I can’t believe how amazing the JCM800 in this TMP sounds! It sounds indistinguishable from every real JCM800 in my JCM800 room. Fender has finally achieved the ultimate vision of the sound I had in my head when I created the real amp.

It’s amazing that for the first time in history we now have digital devices that can give us the sounds of amps in small portable boxes! This is a game changer! Thank you Fender!

 

[GuitarJon]

100% agree, and you've been consistently making really good and unbiased comparisons for years IMO.

Fender TMP sounds off. Doesn't sound like a little different circuit, it sounds completely off. That's on them, not on you and other users.

+100. @GuitarJon has probably been the best source of leveled, unbiased shootouts for years now. I really enjoy his content.

Hell, the fact that he took the time to note that all clips were level-matched puts him above of about 93% all gear "reviewers" out there.

Thanks guys! Also, I don't enjoy making gear sound bad, I don't get a kick out of it. In fact, whenever stuff like this happens it's kind of a bummer. I'm always rooting for the gear to sound good even if I dont like the company per se. I'm not a huge NDSP fan but the QC sounded really good here and that's all that matters. (Where's my free plugin though ndsp?)

For me it's a fairly subtle change, sometimes moves the EQ of the highs and lows a little but it's not drastic.

Exactly!

 

[FractalAudio]

Good question! I left all of that at the default position but I don't know what those are because I didn't take a look. In any case, the Fractal sounded really good! Next time I'll definitely keep that in mind. I used the standard 5153 impedance curve as well.

I've never heard of that load box before so I looked it up. Given its size I'm guessing it's one of those Two Notes-style loads with just a capacitor and a small inductor. In this case I would try the Double Notes or Oxbow impedance curves.

An amp like the 5153 is sensitive to the impedance curve at low frequencies because it has a fixed Depth circuit. On the OG 5153 the red channel has a 150K resistor in parallel w/ a 6.8nF cap which reduces the feedback considerably at low frequencies. This makes the power amp sensitive to the impedance at those frequencies. As those Two Note-style load boxes don't have an LF resonance but rather a shelving response the real amp into a load like that will have more low frequency content.

Also FWIW I could've sworn that I read that the red channel of the Stealth was the same as the OG 5153. It was only the blue channel that was different.

 

[duzie]

I was just being frank with him.

I don’t believe that guy even owns a TMP.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I don’t believe that guy even owns a TMP.

or a Gibson

 

[SeeD]

are the quad cortex models generally not accurate? I’ve only used the plugins (besides quickly messing around on my mates QC) but the plugins have always been pretty dead on to me. I figured because their models are more like ML captures (across every setting and mode) they’re always fairly close, so long as the amp they captured from was in good condition and survived the long capture process.

Most of the amp models sound real and feel grate to play. And if some are `off ` we can capture, and share that capture. So take a JCM800, we have a model of that amp and it sounds good. But I also have 20 captures of other JCM800`s that folks own and have captured, some with Jose mods, and other mods

 

[the-trooper]

Most of the amp models sound real and feel grate to play

That doesn't sound grate at all!