Atomica for heavy metal

Hello Everyone!
I have really been enjoying this amp model. From what I have read here and on the wiki, It is considered more of a brown sound amp. I have been using it for a bit heavier stuff.
The one that says Atomica matrix is for a clean power amp and guitar cabinet and the other is frfr.
They are probably kind of primitive compared to some of the stuff I've seen posted but they sounded good to my ears.
I was playing an explorer with emg's and a matrix power amp through a mesa 412.
The frfr's were yamaha dxr 12's.
 

Attachments

  • ATOMICA FOR MATRIX.syx
    12.6 KB · Views: 75
  • atomica.syx
    12.6 KB · Views: 84
Hello Everyone!
I have really been enjoying this amp model. From what I have read here and on the wiki, It is considered more of a brown sound amp. I have been using it for a bit heavier stuff.
The one that says Atomica matrix is for a clean power amp and guitar cabinet and the other is frfr.
They are probably kind of primitive compared to some of the stuff I've seen posted but they sounded good to my ears.
I was playing an explorer with emg's and a matrix power amp through a mesa 412.
The frfr's were yamaha dxr 12's.

I've recently been doing the same thing! Its become my main heavy preset actually. I'll have to check these out when I get home to see how they compare to what I've been trying out. Have any sound clips by any chance?
 
I mean...the HBE is considered a hot-rodded Marshall and that's what Misha uses for Periphery....
 
I've recently been doing the same thing! Its become my main heavy preset actually. I'll have to check these out when I get home to see how they compare to what I've been trying out. Have any sound clips by any chance?
Not yet Guitarfreak. I'm supposed to make some demos with the band soon. If we go with the atomic sound, I will post it up.
 
I mean...the HBE is considered a hot-rodded Marshall and that's what Misha uses for Periphery....
Valid point! I guess when I got the ax8 I thought I was going to be more into Engls, Diesels and other high gain stuff which are awesome but so far I really dig the Marshall based amps. The Splawn, HBE, and Atomica are my go to's currently.
 
After reading this thread for grins I created a new blank preset. Loaded the Atomica and my current fave IR/CAB. Man, this amp is the easiest amp to set up. Add your gain from either the input drive or the master and both sound good. I like to top everything off with a pedal boost, in this case a trusty 808. It's really a smooth distorted, well balanced sound. But it doesn't clean up particularly well using the guitar volume knob, which is what I like to have in the bag. But I could see this as a X amp rig on a preset or two. It really sounds good without doing anything to it. And the tube screamer isn't really needed. Old habits are hard to break.

I made a couple of clips: One with the Atomica and one with my Marshall preset tricked out some tricks from Cliff's tech notes section (filter block, character frequency, negative feedback...all tweaks). The Atomica gets closer to the tone without all the in-depth tweaks. I'd post them but for some reason Logic Pro isn't connect to my SoundCloud account. I'm not sure if it's a one-off thing or not. I haven't had the problem before and I'm logged in thru Safari and through a desktop app. I'll try again to post them if someone is interested in hearing the difference.
 
Last edited:
After reading this thread for grins I created a new blank preset. Loaded the Atomica and my current fave IR/CAB. Man, this amp is the easiest amp to set up. Add your gain from either the input drive or the master and both sound good. I like to top everything off with a pedal boost, in this case a trusty 808. It's really a smooth distorted, well balanced sound. But it doesn't clean up particularly well using the guitar volume knob, which is what I like to have in the bag. But I could see this as a X amp rig on a preset or two. It really sounds good without doing anything to it. And the tube screamer isn't really needed. Old habits are hard to break.

I made a couple of clips: One with the Atomica and one with my Marshall preset tricked out some tricks from Cliff's tech notes section (filter block, character frequency, negative feedback...all tweaks). The Atomica gets closer to the tone without all the in-depth tweaks. I'd post them but for some reason Logic Pro isn't connect to my SoundCloud account. I'm not sure if it's a one-off thing or not. I haven't had the problem before and I'm logged in thru Safari and through a desktop app. I'll try again to post them if someone is interested in hearing the difference.
That would be an interesting comparison if you get around to it, Bman. If not, don't sweat it.

I think I used that character frequency tweak as well. I try it most of the time.
 
It’s not a problem at all...it’s done bit for some reason I can’t share to SoundCloud thru logic. I’ve been trying to trouble shoot it the last two evenings. I’ll poke around to find an alternate way.
 
Same here, when I first got my AX8 I tried the typical high gain amps, 5153, engl, dual rectifier and so on. Month later I tried the Friedman BE C45 with an Fortin Grind shaped EQ as a clean boost and that's my 99% preset since today.
 
Last edited:
In the clips I posted I feel the Atomica has a more gain and a tighter sound. The Tubescreamer block’s set up with Drive at about 2 and level at 7.5, not quite maxed. The Marshall is a bit more open and I prefer it because it’s more dynamic. It cleans up nicely with the guitar vol. It’s also tweaked with a filter block, mid boosted (from Cliff’s Tech Notes), the Character has also been tweaked again from Cliff’s notes. It has the a FET boost block not quite maxed. If I could get the Atomica to clean up as well as the Marshall preset I’d probably go with that.
 
Oh can you please post the links to the mentioned Cliff's Tech Notes?

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/the-power-of-pre-eq.80951/page-3

Page @FractalAudio gives a recommendation on setting up pre-eq filter block
“Try this:
Put a Filter block before the amp block set as follows:
Type: Peaking
Freq: 2000 Hz
Q: 0.5
Gain: 8 dB (adjust to taste)
Lowcut: 60 Hz
Hicut: 3500 Hz
Level: Adjust to taste

Works great in front of Plexis and other old non-MV amps to add chime and boost.”

https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/my-secret-formula.85426/

Secret Formula - Character Parameter
 
Thx a lot - I will try this out asap.

For comparison the attached screenshots shows my fortin grind boost - simulated with the 10-band eq.
 

Attachments

  • 2019-04-15 16_26_44-Start.jpg
    2019-04-15 16_26_44-Start.jpg
    33.5 KB · Views: 24
Thx a lot - I will try this out asap.

For comparison the attached screenshots shows my fortin grind boost - simulated with the 10-band eq.

I don't find myself using the Filter Block from's Cliff's Pre-EQ on the Atomica. It's such an easy amp, IMO. I might try to dig into the dynamics advanced parameters to see if I can get it to come clean using the guitar knob.

It looks like your 10band EQ functions a bit like the Pre-EQ but with a wider band of boost, more like one of the boost pedals, which I suppose is what you are saying when you refer to it as your fortin grind boost.
 
Marshall:


Atomica:

I don't know Bman, that Marshall is pretty nasty.(In a good way) Sounds like Back for the Attack Dokken! Which Marshall is it? There is something about the Atomica that is smoother and more modern I guess. Maybe just more gain.
 
I don't know Bman, that Marshall is pretty nasty.(In a good way) Sounds like Back for the Attack Dokken! Which Marshall is it? There is something about the Atomica that is smoother and more modern I guess. Maybe just more gain.

FWIW I’m still using the Marshall. It’s got the clean to mean thing going for it. It’s the Brit Super, FET Boost, a Mid boosted Filter Block, and a tweak to the Character and Negative Feedback. The Filter Block affects the sound the most for that preset. The Atomica doesn’t need much tweaking, although I did create a newer one and adjusted the Output Compression...all from the Tech Notes section. It sounds less dark.

Dokken/Lynch was my guy growing up so my tone is based off the Back for the Attack and Under Lock and key albums. That and based on my ‘73 Marshall w a tube screamer. I’ll post the preset a little later. It probably won’t sound the same for you. I never get the same tone on someone else’s preset. But the Filter Block is handy on the Marshall amp blocks.
 
Back
Top Bottom