Rob Chapman: "Gear has reached a level where it's good enough." Whaddya think?

[Shask]

How does the ISP Theta pro compare to the fractal? I have tube amps and the fractal axe fx. I struggle to get a good gain tone from the fractal that doesn’t sound so digital and thin compared to my real amps. The cleans are great but every gain preset I hear and play sounds so fake. Might be on my end, but I’m not sure

I would give ToneX and NAM a try. I have used Fractal for years for chugga tones, but always fought over tweaking it. Over the last year ToneX has blown me away to the point where I am playing into the computer more than my tubes. Making your own IR helps a lot also.

 

[Philosophy prof]

I would give ToneX and NAM a try. I have used Fractal for years for chugga tones, but always fought over tweaking it. Over the last year ToneX has blown me away to the point where I am playing into the computer more than my tubes. Making your own IR helps a lot also.

Thanks! A friend of mine swears by ToneX. I’ll likely get one soon. At the moment I’m selling off gear I don’t use much anywhere. It’s crazy how quick and easy it is to accumulate nonsense

 

[Shask]

Thanks! A friend of mine swears by ToneX. I’ll likely get one soon. At the moment I’m selling off gear I don’t use much anywhere. It’s crazy how quick and easy it is to accumulate nonsense

I have multiple rooms of gear, lol.

I have bought several sounds for ToneX, but my #1 sound is where I loaded my 5153 with a loadbox reamped through a poweramp into a cab and I took a capture of it. Now I basically have a copy of that sound and feel I can run into my real cabs, or through an IR through my computer.

I love Fractal also, but I always struggle with getting the feel correct. It is like it is always too smooth, or cocked- wah. Ir is hard to just get a punchy quick attack. It is part of thier sound. Even using it for effects in the loop of a tube amp still has that impact to the feel.

However, to use the Fractal, I would recommend making your own IR to use, and cut 500hz. Use the output compressor in feedback mode.

 

[rsm]

How does the ISP Theta pro compare to the fractal? I have tube amps and the fractal axe fx. I struggle to get a good gain tone from the fractal that doesn’t sound so digital and thin compared to my real amps. The cleans are great but every gain preset I hear and play sounds so fake. Might be on my end, but I’m not sure

I think the ISP Theta is easier to dial in than Fractal and Helix; it's not a modeler.

it's a solid state preamp with effects; the cab simulation is limited, I use the 4x12 cab and it sounds very good; sounds even better going into my Engl power amp and cabs; I have a solid state ISP Stealth power amp, and use it to go into a Mesa 2x12, which also sounds good.

While there are many possible sounds, I call it my- "'80s hair/thrash in a box" and it works great for that.


In addition to no IR support, there isn't a software editor, or software firmware upgrade path; it's back to '80s/'90s tedious editing on a small screen, with the pre-3-band semi-parametric EQ and post-5-band semi-parametric EQ, it can get very precise tone shaping...but tedious. Reminds me of my ADA MP-2.

This is a good example:

 

[CoreyW]

What speakers are you using with the fractal?

My home set up I’m using Adams T7V monitors, though they are next on the upgrade list.

My FM3 hotel room rig I use the iRig iLoud monitors.

 

[Fusionbear]

How does the ISP Theta pro compare to the fractal? I have tube amps and the fractal axe fx. I struggle to get a good gain tone from the fractal that doesn’t sound so digital and thin compared to my real amps. The cleans are great but every gain preset I hear and play sounds so fake. Might be on my end, but I’m not sure

What would you say of this:



Ignore the singing. I used Chris Brightwell's Quad Cortex with a Mark IV capture. He plays the Lead stuff in the Metallica tribute: Damage Inc.

I get similar results with my FM9T. I never find it thin or lacking...

 

[CoreyW]

I dont have any issues with my fractal sounding thin. Does it sound different than an amp cab sitting next to me? Yeah... but if I took that same cab and mic'ed it, the mic sound would sound different than the amp sitting next to me.

I wanted to love the helix, I really did but I struggled with it, the more I tweaked the worse it sounded for me. I know the fractal is "harder" to edit, but I dont have to edit that much. If I want to build a patch after I select the amp and cab, its already most of the way there in its default settings, add whatever effects I want to add, that takes care of probably 80-90% of the sound I am after, the rest is small eq tweaks, or try a different cab or IR. You could most definitely get lost in the amount of stuff you can edit, but I havnt found a need yet to get that deep with it.

 

[skoora]

What would you say of this:



Ignore the singing. I used Chris Brightwell's Quad Cortex with a Mark IV capture. He plays the Lead stuff in the Metallica tribute: Damage Inc.

I get similar results with my FM9T. I never find it thin or lacking...

Is that just QC to the board? Sounds pretty good.

 

[Fusionbear]

Is that just QC to the board? Sounds pretty good.

Yep, a feed to FOH and a couple of Fender FR12's on stage for monitoring behind me and a Atomic CLR in front of me.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

I dont have any issues with my fractal sounding thin. Does it sound different than an amp cab sitting next to me? Yeah... but if I took that same cab and mic'ed it, the mic sound would sound different than the amp sitting next to me.

I wanted to love the helix, I really did but I struggled with it, the more I tweaked the worse it sounded for me. I know the fractal is "harder" to edit, but I dont have to edit that much. If I want to build a patch after I select the amp and cab, its already most of the way there in its default settings, add whatever effects I want to add, that takes care of probably 80-90% of the sound I am after, the rest is small eq tweaks, or try a different cab or IR. You could most definitely get lost in the amount of stuff you can edit, but I havnt found a need yet to get that deep with it.

I've been considering trading my FM9 for a Helix rack setup, mainly for the effects, cause its so much cheaper, but the interface and routing seems so limited compared to the Fractal. Instead I might just bite the bullet and go whole hog on an FX3.

 

[Fusionbear]

I've been considering trading my FM9 for a Helix rack setup, mainly for the effects, cause its so much cheaper, but the interface and routing seems so limited compared to the Fractal. Instead I might just bite the bullet and go whole hog on an FX3.

I love my Fractal FM9T. I think Fractal is the most versatile and has the best feel and sound of what is currently available. I'm sold....

 

[GreatRedDragon]

I love my Fractal FM9T. I think Fractal is the most versatile and has the best feel and sound of what is currently available. I'm sold....

I love it too. I do bump up against the CPU limit quite a bit though. Right now I’m starting to integrate more analog gear back into my rig, and transitioning into a rack rig in general. Hence, I figured a Helix rack would be an economical alternative running IRs and post-FX but I just don’t think it has the horsepower.

 

[Philosophy prof]

What would you say of this:



Ignore the singing. I used Chris Brightwell's Quad Cortex with a Mark IV capture. He plays the Lead stuff in the Metallica tribute: Damage Inc.

I get similar results with my FM9T. I never find it thin or lacking...

That sounds awesome. I’d kill for that tone with my fractal

 

[Corey James]

This is 100% fractal:

 

[Philosophy prof]

This is 100% fractal:

Sounds incredible. Great playing. What are you using for speakers?

 

[Shask]

I love it too. I do bump up against the CPU limit quite a bit though. Right now I’m starting to integrate more analog gear back into my rig, and transitioning into a rack rig in general. Hence, I figured a Helix rack would be an economical alternative running IRs and post-FX but I just don’t think it has the horsepower.

The VP4 could work well now that it can load IRs. If you are OK with a pedal.

 

[GreatRedDragon]

The VP4 could work well now that it can load IRs. If you are OK with a pedal.

I didn’t know it does IRs now!

 

[Shask]

I didn’t know it does IRs now!

They just added it a week or 2 ago in the most recent firmware update.

 

[Fusionbear]

This my FM9T into QSC CP8's

 

[Corey James]

Sounds incredible. Great playing. What are you using for speakers?

Are you asking about the studio monitors or the IR?

Ir I don’t remember right now

Dynaudio core 47
And they are so good with the firmware update that recently happened