Yeah, my issue with the Fractal is that you have to try very hard to avoid an overly warm, compressed, rubbery tone. The useable range of the virtual master volume is very narrow.Both sound good in different ways. I prefer A, at least through the iphone recording. Though B would be good for leads as it seems more compressed sounding. I probably only prefer A because I like more dynamic heavy rhythm sounds.
isn't it funny tho, how through a real cabinet, that it makes a noticeable difference, even though technically it should be the same "real life impulse response"?
Yeah, my issue with the Fractal is that you have to try very hard to avoid an overly warm, compressed, rubbery tone. The useable range of the virtual master volume is very narrow.
I assume they do this because it makes people immediately think Oh This Modeler Is So Warm and Thick Sounding! But if you end up playing next to a real amp, I've found it sounds like a blanket is over the Fractal tone unless that master volume stays down pretty low. And even then, you can tell I wasn't able to get entirely to the real amp tone.
That's what I would have guessed. B just had a slightly fuzzy/slightly bloated tone and A was lean and mean and noticeably less gain.Oh, and FWIW, A was the real amp and B is the Axe FX III.
I don't do any deep editing other than matching the virtual impedance curve to the cab I'm using.I'm borrowing my buddy's FM9, and the thing is amazing. It takes some googling and watching a few Leon Todd videos because out of the box it sounds like ass through a poweramp and cab.
I knew I was doing something wrong because no amount of tweaking the tone controls could fix the issues I was having with it. Turns out you just need to tweak it in other ways first.
I've A/B'd it through the same cabs using an amp switcher, and I've had a similar experience where it's been able to get close enough to a Splawn QR, Bogner Goldfinger, and Mark V.
The biggest difference I've noticed is in the "punch". I might just need the right poweramp, but it doesn't thump like a tube amp. It has plenty of low frequencies, but they're the kind that shake the house vs punch you in the chest.
Still, it's amazing how great it sounds, and there's times where I've preferred the tone of the FM9 vs the real amp. I wouldn't 100% ditch tube amps for it, but would definitely go down to just a couple favorites and this thing.
I agree with this sentiment.That was exactly my experience with the axefx stuff. It's good quality, but for a use-case I don't fall into.
If I got one it would strictly be for the effects, ironically, not the amp models.
I think they could have gotten closer to the real sounds, but wanted that "whoa it's so tube like" reaction from people and figured that would help.
Either way, cool post - the IR thing does drive some of us nuts, and it's interesting hearing real-life testing.