All higher gain distortion amps sound flubby/tinny

[JD Elliott]

I've had the FM3 Turbo for the last 6 months and the clean tones and every effect block make the device worth getting rid of my lush sounding Fender amp. However, I was really hoping to also have a solution to play high gain distortion amp sounds at respectable levels. All of the Amps and Cab IR's FM3 offers seem like they would be amazing but all I hear is my Crate Amp from 1987 with the gain at 4 and level (master vol) at 3. It all sounds flubby and tinny. Power chords played on strings 5-3 have a decent crunch but any single notes (especially low E) with sufficient picking attack sound weak and pathetic. I've watched and tried tricks from Leon Todd, Rosh Roslin, lots of other folks on You Tube. I've added various drives, EQ pre and post, done high and low cuts, tweaked the amp and the cab variables but it all sounds like shiite.
I play Les Paul Standard with SD Distortion in bridge, then into Fender ToneMaster. Sounds the same into Tone Master as does my studio monitors.
Are the FM3 high gain amps just not going to come close to playing a true amp and I'm just a fooling myself?
Thanks,
Nate

I uploaded one of my high gain lead presets below and recorded me playing some random nonsense with the 4 high gain lead scenes within the preset. Obviously its the sort of lead sound I go but if you like similar lead tones then the preset might be a good template to use for your own lead preset. I don't have the turbo version but I do have a Gibson LP Standard I'm playing with. You'll need to have the latest v9 beta firmware.

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/fm3-high-gain-leads-with-dynacabs.206541/#post-2580115

 

[Karl Houseknecht]

my amp levels (which I tend to set at 0db) are pushing the speakers too hard.

Bring up the preset leveling tool in FM3 Edit and use that to set your amp output level so that your total output level of the preset is something around 0 dB. I can imagine that just arbitrarily setting the amp level to 0dB is just far too hot.