FW 7 & FAS Amp(s) Love

Perdikament

Perdikament

Power User
Something that doesn't seem to get a whole lot of attention but I feel, especially now after FW 7, is just how good some of these FAS Amps are.
I'm guilty myself of often overlooking them, but from time to time I always go back and end up creating a killer patch with one of them. Usually i always gravitate towards the FAS Hot Rod. Which is described as, "Cliffs version of the Ultimate Modded Marshall." And it definitely rips.
Today, I spent time with the FAS Lead 1. And, wow, this, IMO is a gem of an amp. I almost wish it were renamed to something that didn't give a preconceived notion of what it should be, cause it can cover a lot of ground. Very dynamic.
With some fairly minimal tweaking to the gain stages between Input Trim, Input Gain, Master Vol & Saturation Drive I had a killer patch that with guitar vol could go from a really, really nice clean with Vol about 1/2 way down to crunchy breakup and searing lead all with vol & pickup selection. Great stuff.
Two factory cabs I found work well together in a Stereo Ultra Res config (and they both work well alone as well) #166 4x12 Rumble L 121A & #108 4x12 Petrucci V30 Mix , and I turn on the low cut on the amp & then set your low & high cuts like ya normally would in the cab block.
Anyone else have some favorite FAS Amps? Or discovered anything new with the new FW?
 
The problem is the number of hours in a day vs the number of options on offer. It's not a fair fight.
Yesterday I woke up, got a cup of tea and turned on the tv to watch my favourite Sunday morning TV......except it was Tuesday. Too many late nights playing guitar scrambles your brain!

The FAS Wreck is IMO better than the real Wreck models, I guess that's the point of them though right!
 
HarrySound said:
The problem is the number of hours in a day vs the number of options on offer. It's not a fair fight.
Yesterday I woke up, got a cup of tea and turned on the tv to watch my favourite Sunday morning TV......except it was Tuesday. Too many late nights playing guitar scrambles your brain!

The FAS Wreck is IMO better than the real Wreck models, I guess that's the point of them though right!
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So true.. there's still Amps I haven't tried after years.. My line of thought is, these amps are creations of the creator.
My original intention was to create a FAS Patch - FAS Wah, Drive(s) & Amp(s) & I wound up loving the FAS Lead 1 model, which has pretty much zero info regarding what it is. If I had to try & describe it I'd say it's like a hybrid of the USA Pre LD2 & Bogfish Strato.. somewhere in there.
 
Perdikament said:
Something that doesn't seem to get a whole lot of attention but I feel, especially now after FW 7, is just how good some of these FAS Amps are.
I'm guilty myself of often overlooking them, but from time to time I always go back and end up creating a killer patch with one of them. Usually i always gravitate towards the FAS Hot Rod. Which is described as, "Cliffs version of the Ultimate Modded Marshall." And it definitely rips.
Today, I spent time with the FAS Lead 1. And, wow, this, IMO is a gem of an amp. I almost wish it were renamed to something that didn't give a preconceived notion of what it should be, cause it can cover a lot of ground. Very dynamic.
Click to expand...
I like the FAS Hot Rod. Thanks for bringing this up. I've been spending so much time using the Mark IIc+ that I forgot there's a whole untapped universe in there. I will have to reexplore the entire FAS lineup.
 
Desmo808 said:
I like the FAS Hot Rod. Thanks for bringing this up. I've been spending so much time using the Mark IIc+ that I forgot there's a whole untapped universe in there. I will have to reexplore the entire FAS lineup.
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Yeah, I'd say if you like the Hot Rod & IIc+ definitely give the FAS Lead 1 a whirl. Pretty much all I did was lower Input Trim to .225, put the master vol at 10 turned on the Saturation Drive set at 4 and Ideal and Bass cut on Turned up the Prescence. Obviously, those are just starting points, but that's given me some really great dynamic control via guitar vol pot & pickup selection.
 
Always took me about 8 days to get a mark IIc+ up and running & sounding good... today, I load it up and have a face melting rock tone with justin york 2x12 mesa 57 IR in about ..... 7 ... no, 6 seconds. Just changed the preamp tubes to JJ's, cranked the OD and input trim a bit more, made a slight V w/ the EQ(not the huge one that you usually make for \m/ , I like me a decent amount of mids..) turned depth up a smidge, done. Now it's on my bands new record. wooo
 
I tend to skip over them but there are some gems. I ought to give them more consideration.

I've been using the Recto 1 Mdrn for ages, but flipped to the FAS Modern III on a whim. With some creative eq'ing it seems to get the recto chunkiness and heaviness but with more clarity. It has a ton more mids (kinda Mark-like in that regard) and with the treble/presence settings I have to make sure the top end is opened up and clear its a bit fizzier than a recto, but a gentle low pass filter took care of that, no problem.
 
fromthebark said:
Always took me about 8 days to get a mark IIc+ up and running & sounding good... today, I load it up and have a face melting rock tone with justin york 2x12 mesa 57 IR in about ..... 7 ... no, 6 seconds. Just changed the preamp tubes to JJ's, cranked the OD and input trim a bit more, made a slight V w/ the EQ(not the huge one that you usually make for \m/ , I like me a decent amount of mids..) turned depth up a smidge, done. Now it's on my bands new record. wooo
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Too bad the Depth control doesn't actually do anything on any of the IIc+ or USA Lead amp models. :rolleyes: :p
 
might not do a damn thing, just a thing I do mindlessly, I do hear it quite a bit on the amps it does work with, so It's just by habit.
 
One great thing about the FAS amps is they are not as deeply affected by FW updates. They just get updated algorithms but they are not going to get all the tweaks the the physical ampo models get when they get remeasured/analyzed for new values and or schematic mismatches. My FAS amp presets rarely need redials on new FW.
 
I've been really digging the FAS Class-A paired with the 2x12 Class-A Tom's Mix Left/Right as a stereo ultra res cab setup - from chime to gritty honk. Little bit of tweaking depending on single coils versus bucker's, but always Vox'y and tasty.
 
The Quantum7 firmwares are absolutely excellent, aren't they?

For all you guys with a Tele and the stock vintage p.u.s try the following:
Dweezils's B-Man, drive @ 7.10, don't touch tone controls.
Stick an FAS Boost in front, Drive 2.43, Level 4.40.
Use factory cabs 22 and 54.
Add any delay you like.
Very nice.
 
When i was researching the amp models of Quantum for the AxView graphical interface i read about the FAS amps so i tried them and FAS Crunch was my favorite it sounds great!
 
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