The Fractal Thread

Roland · December 2022

The AxeFX screen tuner is very good. The FC12 only has a series of LED lines. I tend to use the screen between sets, and the FC12 if I want to check a string between songs.

The clever thing about the tuner is that it activates when I zero my volume pedal.

Jonathanthomas83 · December 2022

Roland said:

The AxeFX screen tuner is very good. The FC12 only has a series of LED lines. I tend to use the screen between sets, and the FC12 if I want to check a string between songs.

The clever thing about the tuner is that it activates when I zero my volume pedal.

Perfect, thank you!

That's the cool thing about fractal's use of expression pedals, isn't it, you can achieve most things. I'm still amazed that I can use the same exp pedal to freeze my reverb, whammy, wah or volume depending on what patch I'm on. Superb!

Jonathanthomas83 · January 2023

Any tips for either nice clean amps to use with a dirty JCM800? Or tips on best methods to clean the amp up outside of the obvious? As has been the advice on this forum recently, I'm determined to maintain the same IR across all scenes, assuming that I'd have scenes for clean, dirty, boosted dirty, saturated (using a JVM Orange for that) and possibly lead (I'm yet to gel with the JVM red for that, so experimentation continues).

I'm bloody loving it though!

Roland · January 2023

@Jonathanthomas83 How clean is clean? Band Commander clean, with Fender EQ, or just cleaning up the JCM800 and keeping the Marshall EQ?

If you like the Marshall sound then I’d focus on cleaning up the JCM by reducing the preamp gain and master volume, and compensating with the block output level. You could also increase the transformer rating.

Jonathanthomas83 · January 2023

Roland said:

@Jonathanthomas83 How clean is clean? Band Commander clean, with Fender EQ, or just cleaning up the JCM800 and keeping the Marshall EQ?

If you like the Marshall sound then I’d focus on cleaning up the JCM by reducing the preamp gain and master volume, and compensating with the block output level. You could also increase the transformer rating.

This is good advice, thank you! My original recordings were a failry bright and chimey Fender Twin, but it's jarring to go from that to a JCM 800 dirt. So my solution was to perhaps try the twin with the JCM IR. But I imagine it'll sound weird and my OCD will go a bit haywire! I like the idea of cleaning up the JCM and that transformer rating idea is a good thing to try. I might settle on a mix of the two amps for clean, perhaps. Thanks, Roland.

Roland · January 2023

I spent a couple of years juggling multiple amps, and matching IRs. I’ve found it much easier using one amp type, with a range of settings, and the same pair of IRs.

DavusPG · January 2023

What pair of IRs do you go for?
57 & 121?
I always use a mix IR so am possibly missing out on the opportunity to dial it in a little more....

FarleyUK · February 2023

DavusPG said:

What pair of IRs do you go for?
57 & 121?
I always use a mix IR so am possibly missing out on the opportunity to dial it in a little more....

Personally, I pretty exclusively use OwnHammer IRs (mostly the Marshall TV - one amp has the M25, the other the H30), and I always go for the OH3 mixes. These are 'liove' mixes designed for live use so suit me best. I *think* they're a 57 +121 mix....

firepaulmusic · February 2023

I've found recently that patches behave very differently depending on the volume you use them at. I have a little hotel gig where I have to keep the volume down. My patches don't sound half as lively as when I play with my rock covers band at volume. Obvious I suppose but I'm considering having a low volume patch EQ'd brighter just for this gig...

mrkb · February 2023

firepaulmusic said:

I've found recently that patches behave very differently depending on the volume you use them at. I have a little hotel gig where I have to keep the volume down. My patches don't sound half as lively as when I play with my rock covers band at volume. Obvious I suppose but I'm considering having a low volume patch EQ'd brighter just for this gig...

That’s the Fletcher Munson effect. Not as bad on modellers as it is on valve amps where turning down the volume affects both loudness and the way the amp is overdriving.

firepaulmusic · February 2023

Does anyone else look at these expensive delay and reverb pedals and just think “that’s nothing that my Fractal can’t do”?

Roland · February 2023

Yes, plus I can change those settings between verse and chorus

mrkb · February 2023

Yep, real pedals are often more limited than the fractal versions- I can put a reverb and delay in parallel to allow a main signal solo boost without increasing the reverb, etc as the quick rearrangement of the virtual wiring. I often try new effect types/positions out to see what I like and dont without cost and waiting for new stuff to arrive. Im hooked.

Beexter · February 2023

firepaulmusic said:

Does anyone else look at these expensive delay and reverb pedals and just think “that’s nothing that my Fractal can’t do”?

Yep. I picked up an FM3 a couple of months ago and the level of control and flexibility it offers is staggering, especially once you start diving into the modifiers and controllers. Absolute GAS killer for me - its only limitation is my imagination (and ability!)

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

I can't get excited about new pedal releases any more. So that speaks a lot about the journey I've been on to get to this point where I'm completely satisfied with the Fractal. The only time it'll come into question is if Fractal, for whatever silly reason, stop supporting it and don't keep up with the ingenuity that others, like Strymon, are putting out there. Right now, Fractal are ahead of the curve, and by a long way, IMO.

firepaulmusic · February 2023

Used IEMs for the gig last night. 100% room vibe on the cab block made it a totally immersive experience

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

Random, I know, but I wonder if we'll ever see any of the Victory amps happen in future FW updates. I'm a fan of the Copper and Kraken and would like to play them again. Same with the Mezzabarba MZero and a Lionheart. All a bit too niche, perhaps.

firepaulmusic · February 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Random, I know, but I wonder if we'll ever see any of the Victory amps happen in future FW updates. I'm a fan of the Copper and Kraken and would like to play them again. Same with the Mezzabarba MZero and a Lionheart. All a bit too niche, perhaps.

I hope so too. No more niche than Morgan and that’s a Fractal favourite…

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

firepaulmusic said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Random, I know, but I wonder if we'll ever see any of the Victory amps happen in future FW updates. I'm a fan of the Copper and Kraken and would like to play them again. Same with the Mezzabarba MZero and a Lionheart. All a bit too niche, perhaps.

I hope so too. No more niche than Morgan and that’s a Fractal favourite…

Ironically, the Morgan was mentioned as a sufficient alternative when I suggested this on the fractal forum. Pointless mentioning anything on that forum, does my head in.

mrleon83 · February 2023

In case you guys haven’t seen this/aren’t on the fractal forum (you should be) , Cliff uploaded a super awesome IR, I think they’re looking at a change to the cab block in the future, it’s here but you’ll need to login … https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

mrleon83 said:

In case you guys haven’t seen this/aren’t on the fractal forum (you should be) , Cliff uploaded a super awesome IR, I think they’re looking at a change to the cab block in the future, it’s here but you’ll need to login … https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/

[speculation]

Nothing explicitly mentions it (except a speculative comment), but I think it's inevitable we'll see the components that make up an IR/cab block will get decloupled and we'll have granular control over speakers, cabinets and microphones to catch up with competition. A welcome change, in my book. Can't wait!

[/speculation]

Gadget · February 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

mrleon83 said:

In case you guys haven’t seen this/aren’t on the fractal forum (you should be) , Cliff uploaded a super awesome IR, I think they’re looking at a change to the cab block in the future, it’s here but you’ll need to login … https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/

[speculation]
Nothing explicitly mentions it (except a speculative comment), but I think it's inevitable we'll see the components that make up an IR/cab block will get decloupled and we'll have granular control over speakers, cabinets and microphones to catch up with competition. A welcome change, in my book. Can't wait!
[/speculation]

The only concern will be who it is available to. Reading the threads, it seems all but the latest model won't have the memory space for such new features, and some even speculate a whole new piece of hardware might be needed.

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

Gadget said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

mrleon83 said:

In case you guys haven’t seen this/aren’t on the fractal forum (you should be) , Cliff uploaded a super awesome IR, I think they’re looking at a change to the cab block in the future, it’s here but you’ll need to login … https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/

[speculation]
Nothing explicitly mentions it (except a speculative comment), but I think it's inevitable we'll see the components that make up an IR/cab block will get decloupled and we'll have granular control over speakers, cabinets and microphones to catch up with competition. A welcome change, in my book. Can't wait!
[/speculation]

The only concern will be who it is available to. Reading the threads, it seems all but the latest model won't have the memory space for such new features, and some even speculate a whole new piece of hardware might be needed.

Oh, well that's a bit crap! That rules me out then! Good for the Turbo guys. I wonder if you have a link to those threads, please, @Gadget?

Let's be honest, they've needed an excuse to upgrade the hardware because without this improvement, I've got 20%-40% free on almost all of my presets and I expect most average users would be the same. My point being is that with so much headroom in CPU power, there's very little need for me to upgrade. Until such points as when they actively limit a particular new feature to new hardware. The day was always going to come, I suppose! :-)

Does seem odd that this should take more processing power though given that the Helix, for example, uses less CPU power for that particular new feature, to my understanding.

Gadget · February 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Oh, well that's a bit crap! That rules me out then! Good for the Turbo guys. I wonder if you have a link to those threads, please, @Gadget?

Let's be honest, they've needed an excuse to upgrade the hardware because without this improvement, I've got 20%-40% free on almost all of my presets and I expect most average users would be the same. My point being is that with so much headroom in CPU power, there's very little need for me to upgrade. Until such points as when they actively limit a particular new feature to new hardware. The day was always going to come, I suppose! :-)

Does seem odd that this should take more processing power though given that the Helix, for example, uses less CPU power for that particular new feature, to my understanding.

I think it's the extra memory storage space for the functionality that might be needed, not an issue with per-preset CPU headroom. In fact, there's speculation that these new cabs might use less CPU.
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/post-2376579

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

Gadget said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Oh, well that's a bit crap! That rules me out then! Good for the Turbo guys. I wonder if you have a link to those threads, please, @Gadget?

Let's be honest, they've needed an excuse to upgrade the hardware because without this improvement, I've got 20%-40% free on almost all of my presets and I expect most average users would be the same. My point being is that with so much headroom in CPU power, there's very little need for me to upgrade. Until such points as when they actively limit a particular new feature to new hardware. The day was always going to come, I suppose! :-)

Does seem odd that this should take more processing power though given that the Helix, for example, uses less CPU power for that particular new feature, to my understanding.

I think it's the extra memory storage space for the functionality that might be needed, not an issue with per-preset CPU headroom. In fact, there's speculation that these new cabs might use less CPU.
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/conference-championships-gift-of-tone.191228/post-2376579

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the link, mate, I'll check it out! :-)

DavusPG · February 2023

Always nice to have new toys, but this will be marginal gains at best I expect.

Let's face it, we could all never upgrade firm/hardware again and it's still going to sound the dog's danglys

Having spurned them ever since having an AX8 I gave a couple of the factory presets a whirl at gig levels at rehearsal the other night. Seriously impressive, so much so I'm going to use a modded version of the Corncob preset at our next gig

Gadget · February 2023

DavusPG said:

... Having spurned them ever since having an AX8 I gave a couple of the factory presets a whirl at gig levels at rehearsal the other night. Seriously impressive, so much so I'm going to use a modded version of the Corncob preset at our next gig

I had a MkII vII XL and was surprised just how mich better I've found the Axe Fx III.

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

DavusPG said:

Always nice to have new toys, but this will be marginal gains at best I expect.

Let's face it, we could all never upgrade firm/hardware again and it's still going to sound the dog's danglys

Having spurned them ever since having an AX8 I gave a couple of the factory presets a whirl at gig levels at rehearsal the other night. Seriously impressive, so much so I'm going to use a modded version of the Corncob preset at our next gig

I think the Helix crew really would disagree with it being a marginal improvement. Apparently it sounds better than ever and by all accounts, it seems that Fractal's implementation, assuming it includes a similar feature set, is going to sound good too.

Gadget said:

DavusPG said:

... Having spurned them ever since having an AX8 I gave a couple of the factory presets a whirl at gig levels at rehearsal the other night. Seriously impressive, so much so I'm going to use a modded version of the Corncob preset at our next gig

I had a MkII vII XL and was surprised just how mich better I've found the Axe Fx III.

100% agree with this.

DavusPG · February 2023

Jonathanthomas83 said:

I think the Helix crew really would disagree with it being a marginal improvement. Apparently it sounds better than ever and by all accounts, it seems that Fractal's implementation, assuming it includes a similar feature set, is going to sound good too.

I've never played one, but maybe the Helix crowd are a fair bit behind the Fractal crowd? Not saying it won't be better, but by your own admission, honestly how much better can the Fractal get:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

They'll have to do some pretty groundbreaking stuff to warrant forking out for an Axe FX IV, I mean there's absolutely nothing left to desire with this unit as far as I'm concerned.

I wholeheartedly agree with your comment above. Was just saying that I can't see this being enough to warrant forking out on new hardware.

Jonathanthomas83 · February 2023

DavusPG said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

I think the Helix crew really would disagree with it being a marginal improvement. Apparently it sounds better than ever and by all accounts, it seems that Fractal's implementation, assuming it includes a similar feature set, is going to sound good too.

I've never played one, but maybe the Helix crowd are a fair bit behind the Fractal crowd? Not saying it won't be better, but by your own admission, honestly how much better can the Fractal get:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

They'll have to do some pretty groundbreaking stuff to warrant forking out for an Axe FX IV, I mean there's absolutely nothing left to desire with this unit as far as I'm concerned.
I wholeheartedly agree with your comment above. Was just saying that I can't see this being enough to warrant forking out on new hardware.

Touche! :-) I completely agree (with myself?!) But as we're used to seeing, they seem to be raving over it on the Fractal forum. Perhaps things could get better, who knows. But I will definitely admit that I've got very little appetite to spend more on a new unit.

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