Fractal used for real amp design!

Wow, the gear page.. Reading just a bit of that thread reminded me why I don't go there anymore. It's obvious that many of the people expressing negative opinions about modelers have never tried them. My favorite, one post stated that new generations of guitar players that learn on modelers would have to relearn how a tube amp works if they wanted to play one. Well I played real tube amps for over 20 years and I've learned more about how they work in the last few years on the Axe then I ever did back then. Some people refuse to see what's right in front of them.
 
A amp designer's ear for sound and instinct for feel are what makes a legendary tone. The method to achieve final result (analog or digital) is secondary to the art itself.

IMO, there are some real opportunities for innovation and pushing beyond conventional design. I'm guessing it's possible today to design amps that go far beyond the limitations of physical components and schematics. In the near future we could have amps that bear little to no resemblance to the physical world and in fact, would be impossible to create physically.

There's probably a few Fractal amps like this already.
 
I remember a PM I sent to Cliff in 2008 or 2009 suggesting this possibility.

It just made sense to me that if I were designing an amp I'd rather change a value in a simulation than resolder or breadboard a different component. What a time saver.
 
....You can.....Change the tone stack...change tubes....change all kinds of internal component parameters...

Swapping a Bandmaster tonestack into the Hiwatt, for example, can get you in the Pink.

Alan is one of the few designers actually trying to do new things rather than rehashing old designs and claiming that certain brands of capacitors are what gives their amps "mojo".

Its great that FAS facilitated the Triptik 2. Truly.

The AxeFX/AX8 has all the capability I need to be a capable armchair amp tech. Conveniently out of the way, since most of the time they don't need to be accessed (like a real amp): but when mischievous or adventurous (not sure which): tweak 'em to sonic taste without a volt/ohm meter (I do miss the smell though: why hasn't some merchandiser come up with a hot amp scented "air freshener"? Now available in vintage or beer & cigarette!).

IME, a major inspiration for a designer is that something of artistic value can be created with their device. So, I'm focusing my effort on keeping up that end.
 
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Wow, the gear page.. Reading just a bit of that thread reminded me why I don't go there anymore. It's obvious that many of the people expressing negative opinions about modelers have never tried them. My favorite, one post stated that new generations of guitar players that learn on modelers would have to relearn how a tube amp works if they wanted to play one. Well I played real tube amps for over 20 years and I've learned more about how they work in the last few years on the Axe then I ever did back then. Some people refuse to see what's right in front of them.

I've never been able to own a 'proper' tube amp, I've learnt so much now about them from the Axe.
It's not just a great-sounding device, it's like an interactive educational tool that covers all eras of rock music, and you don't need a soldering iron either.

Gracias for putting this up, Nicolas, it's a fascinating thread.
I'm glad someone put up a link, I gotta go and check out the jackassery for a laugh. ;)
 
No doubt I've learned more about amps in the last 5 years than the first 35.

Bandmaster into the Hiwatt, eh? Careful with that Axe...
 
I like turtles.
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:D
 
It's cool to see new tube amp designs developed in the virtual world, and the synergy of FAS and Carol-Ann amps. That synergy is a win-win for the companies and will advance both 'real' amps as well as virtual ones. This is the kind of forward thinking that will usher in the next generation of devices/amps for both platforms.

My Orange Rocker 30 doesn't exist in the AFX (it's a cathode biased single ended amp) but it's awesome to be able to tweak the advanced parameters of another Orange amp (push pull, fixed bias, etc.) and bend it into a single ended/cathode biased amp, as well as tweak the input/gain to the preamp to clean it up a bit and open up the range of the Input Drive control. I love the virtual world, but only when it's done right like Fractals' modelling accomplishes.

I've no doubt that real and virtual tube amps will improve upon each other in the future; both of those worlds can feed off of the other and advance the state of the art for each...
 
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I like this concept. Amp design is all about math. Customization that after is all about art. This is a meld of both.

I didn't read the TGP thread...been there, know the crazies.

As an aside, I believe that most amp makers don't really know what's fully going on in their amps. They start with a concept (an educated concept, since these people are not dumb!), then solder one thing, try it, try another cap, try it, larger transformer, try it, etc. When they hit something that has their 'aha' moment, they figure out a way to sell it and actually make money. Many can get *mostly* understand what's going on there, but a deep level of understanding is not necessary (do you REALLY need to know exactly what is happening when you find that tone in your head? No, you just know it works and can repeat it.)

That amp designers are starting to work closely with folks who are deep diving into these aspects is encouraging. It will benefit both sides greatly.
 
Why wouldn't a tube amp designer use "reamping" techniques? One has a library of guitar input samples (a few dozen?), runs a whole bunch of amp models (SPICE) on them, in parallel, listens to the results, and iterates?

Regarding computer performance, it doubles around every 18 months, so I have no idea if SPICE can be real-time (today) on circuits the size of what one sees in a guitar amplifier, with a mere handful of tubes. If one had experience in SPICE a decade ago, it will be 100 times faster today, one would have to try it again. Even if the latency is down to a few seconds, that would be "fast enough," I suspect, to use it to design tube amps quite interactively... then again, it sounds like the people designing tube amps want to have something on their bench, and that's cool, too.

Its seems that, today, Fractals Amp emulation tools serve as a more efficient tool for amp designers/
 
Regarding computer performance, it doubles around every 18 months

Moore's Law has run out because there is no way to scale down existing semiconductor architecture much further. The last three generations of Intel chips have all used a 14nm process with tweaks to clock speed and performance optimizations. Once we arrive at 10nm and optimize that we'll need to start implementing architectures other than 2D silicon.
 
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