Stratoblaster
Fractal Fanatic
I auditioned Cygnus last night for a couple of hours and my immediate impressions after about 2 minutes into the session:
-Cygnus is absolutely magnificent...stunning; I was astounded within seconds after the first few chords/notes I played...literally. It's everything everbody has said it is, and the difference is immediately noticeable and not subtle.
-there is so much 'body' to the tones now, and this is especially noticeable on individual notes with cleaner amps. It's like your hearing more of the 'wood' and depth of the guitar itself come through. I'm not sure how to describe this but man, there is just so much heft, weight, and overall body that was not there before.
-the notes just jump of the strings like never before; there is an articulation and attack that is immediate and reacts with changes in picking dynamics in a most satisfying way...it's really hitting the spot for me.
-the range between clean/overdrive/distortion is very wide and extremely nuanced; the sense of overall dynamics and touch sensitivity is out of this world.
-there seems to be more separation between individual strings/notes/harmonics and the overall 'mix' of harmonic distortion is smoother, richer, and detailed.
-the low end and punch is tight and the sense of hammering the low E string and power chords is astounding; there is a 'clang' and a rude, in-your-face 'brrrrang' that is so tube amp like it's stunning.
As time progressed and I started really tweaking/auditioning some amps I noticed:
-every amp I tried sounded and felt better then ever, including some amps I never bonded with at all previously. Dynamic feel, overdrive/distortion/ attack characteristics and individual personalities/colors of each model are now revealed like never before. Just crazy...
-one of the biggest, and most rewarding, discoveries was how the separation of the preamp and power amp distortion characteristics are now so easy to hear and feel. Amps with a Master Volume have a much wider range of 'effectiveness' as bringing up/down the MV definitely has more latitude in 'mixing' the two stages. I noticed that I can run the MV much less in general to get the required contribution of the power amp I like and again, cranking the MV seems to not have the amp 'fall apart' as abruptly. Even with non-MV amps the Input Drive has an amazing 'tweakability' to fine tune the power amp's contributions to feel/overdrive.
-the Class A/Fender/Vox amps are out of this world; the words that kept coming up again and again were body and fullness; again, the 'wood' of the guitar comes though like crazy. Single notes on a Strat in the upper registers on a clean amp are just so full with a depth not heard/felt before on FAS devices.
-similarly, my lead sounds are that much more fatter as well and have a dynamic articulation that is amazing...
-I tested out the various amps after resetting the block and found I only needed to tweak the basic settings for about 15 seconds to reach tonal bliss...wow.
-Cygnus is rude and barks like a sweating, cooking tube amps does....outstanding.
I'm incredibly inspired by this release and can't wait to dig into Cygnus more...it's almost ridiculous to have this level of 'connection' in a modeling rig lol, and since the various amps have more individual character it's like we've gotten an entirely new device. There is so much to explore here...very exciting.
Fantastic job Cliff and FAS...truly amazing stuff here...you guys have really, really upped the ante for modeling.
-Cygnus is absolutely magnificent...stunning; I was astounded within seconds after the first few chords/notes I played...literally. It's everything everbody has said it is, and the difference is immediately noticeable and not subtle.
-there is so much 'body' to the tones now, and this is especially noticeable on individual notes with cleaner amps. It's like your hearing more of the 'wood' and depth of the guitar itself come through. I'm not sure how to describe this but man, there is just so much heft, weight, and overall body that was not there before.
-the notes just jump of the strings like never before; there is an articulation and attack that is immediate and reacts with changes in picking dynamics in a most satisfying way...it's really hitting the spot for me.
-the range between clean/overdrive/distortion is very wide and extremely nuanced; the sense of overall dynamics and touch sensitivity is out of this world.
-there seems to be more separation between individual strings/notes/harmonics and the overall 'mix' of harmonic distortion is smoother, richer, and detailed.
-the low end and punch is tight and the sense of hammering the low E string and power chords is astounding; there is a 'clang' and a rude, in-your-face 'brrrrang' that is so tube amp like it's stunning.
As time progressed and I started really tweaking/auditioning some amps I noticed:
-every amp I tried sounded and felt better then ever, including some amps I never bonded with at all previously. Dynamic feel, overdrive/distortion/ attack characteristics and individual personalities/colors of each model are now revealed like never before. Just crazy...
-one of the biggest, and most rewarding, discoveries was how the separation of the preamp and power amp distortion characteristics are now so easy to hear and feel. Amps with a Master Volume have a much wider range of 'effectiveness' as bringing up/down the MV definitely has more latitude in 'mixing' the two stages. I noticed that I can run the MV much less in general to get the required contribution of the power amp I like and again, cranking the MV seems to not have the amp 'fall apart' as abruptly. Even with non-MV amps the Input Drive has an amazing 'tweakability' to fine tune the power amp's contributions to feel/overdrive.
-the Class A/Fender/Vox amps are out of this world; the words that kept coming up again and again were body and fullness; again, the 'wood' of the guitar comes though like crazy. Single notes on a Strat in the upper registers on a clean amp are just so full with a depth not heard/felt before on FAS devices.
-similarly, my lead sounds are that much more fatter as well and have a dynamic articulation that is amazing...
-I tested out the various amps after resetting the block and found I only needed to tweak the basic settings for about 15 seconds to reach tonal bliss...wow.
-Cygnus is rude and barks like a sweating, cooking tube amps does....outstanding.
I'm incredibly inspired by this release and can't wait to dig into Cygnus more...it's almost ridiculous to have this level of 'connection' in a modeling rig lol, and since the various amps have more individual character it's like we've gotten an entirely new device. There is so much to explore here...very exciting.
Fantastic job Cliff and FAS...truly amazing stuff here...you guys have really, really upped the ante for modeling.
