Great Tone is Great Tone

JoKeR III

JoKeR III

Fractal Fanatic
I know most of us are passionate about Fractal gear, and rightfully so, but there is no 'one size fits all'. I was reminded this past weekend that other modelers/profilers are more than capable of producing great tones as well. A friend of mine is part of a project called Carmen Jane that is gaining some traction and had a local show Saturday night.

He's using the Quad Cortex with a 7 string tuned to drop E and a short scale bass. All of his tones were incredible; cleans were clear, fat and cut through the mix and his high gain tones were simply massive! I knew what he was using before the show, we've talked gear quite a bit, and had a somewhat critical ear ready to say the Axe III could do better but I couldn't find any fault with any of his tones.

I will continue to tout the quality, tone and support of Fractal gear and encourage those I talk gear with to consider trying one of their products. I will also give kudos to and applaud those who use other products and get fantastic results. At the end of the day, they're all tools but we don't need to be one just because we think something else is 'better'.
 
I agree. I have a friend who gigs with a Helix. I consider him a better player than me, but his sound is kind of meh. But I suspect it'd be the same regardless of which modeler he's using. Another friend uses a Headrush and gets impressive tones. Here again, I suspect he'd sound good regardless of the tools he's using.

I get compliments on my tone and I'm a big Fractal advocate, but I'm pretty sure I'd still sound like my sloppy ol' self on any of the modern modelers.
 
You see guys getting incredible tone with an old Princeton on stage. Low tech, but high quality tone. I heard Lincoln Brewster tearing it up on a POD pedalboard. His sound wasn't lacking!

However the good tones are happening, I'm all about it. I love the variety.
 
There is a lot of discussion on separate forums about modelers vs. tube amps. Like a moth drawn to the flame, I cannot resist engaging in these discussions, even though knowing full well if I do I'll get burned somehow.

So the debate continues...which is better? Tube amps or modelers? In the end, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that your tone and sound is what you want, not dictated by someone else's viewpoint. Unless you're tone-deaf and can't hear how ice-picky or nasally your tone is, your ears are theoretically good guides as to what your tone should sound like.

Some guitarists (myself included) are gravitating towards warmer, wooly tones that are diffused and don't project too much top-end. There's a fine balance between dynamics, compression, clean, and gain. Finding an amp config that checks all the boxes for you isn't always easy.

Yet, at least with modelers, we are not confined to a narrower range of choices. With modelers, we have under our fingertips the accessibility and power to create most any amp rig we can think of. Perhaps that might be my only point of owning a modeler. By stark contrast, tube amps afford only a narrow range of possibilities.

In conclusion, it may not be how we view what tool we use. A hammer is designed for one purpose. An entire workshop and toolbox is a separate story in itself.
 
JoKeR III said:
I know most of us are passionate about Fractal gear, and rightfully so, but there is no 'one size fits all'. I was reminded this past weekend that other modelers/profilers are more than capable of producing great tones as well. A friend of mine is part of a project called Carmen Jane that is gaining some traction and had a local show Saturday night.

He's using the Quad Cortex with a 7 string tuned to drop E and a short scale bass. All of his tones were incredible; cleans were clear, fat and cut through the mix and his high gain tones were simply massive! I knew what he was using before the show, we've talked gear quite a bit, and had a somewhat critical ear ready to say the Axe III could do better but I couldn't find any fault with any of his tones.

I will continue to tout the quality, tone and support of Fractal gear and encourage those I talk gear with to consider trying one of their products. I will also give kudos to and applaud those who use other products and get fantastic results. At the end of the day, they're all tools but we don't need to be one just because we think something else is 'better'.
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Are you kidding me here bud? Do you even remember what forum you're on? You should be drawn and quartered for even mentioning such a thing!! Oh....my.......gosh!! mad.gif



Ha ha, but really, when someone knows how to play, they can make about any of these rigs sound glorious....more power to em' !!yes.gif
 
Years ago I saw the Victor Wooten band with his older brother (and teacher of the other Wooten siblings) Regi on guitar.

He was using an old black and silver Peavey 2x12 combo that had a QuadraVerb sitting on top. It looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

His tone was excellent... And loud!
 
unix-guy said:
Years ago I saw the Victor Wooten band with his older brother (and teacher of the other Wooten siblings) Regi on guitar.

He was using an old black and silver Peavey 2x12 combo that had a QuadraVerb sitting on top. It looked like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs.

His tone was excellent... And loud!
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That sounds like an old Peavey Classic 2x12 with Black Widow speakers, my first amp way back when...that thing had 6L6 tubes I think I changed once the entire time I owned it...which was 23 years...built like a tank it was...
 
Back in the late 80's I saw Steve Morse at the Double Door in Charlotte destroy every ego in the room (including mine) with a Peavey Bandit through a Marshall 4x12.
 
I think we're at the point where you can get great tone from most modelers. It largely comes down to what you're comfortable with.

I still don't think anyone can touch FAS's amp modeling. Would anyone else notice? Maybe not, but I do.

I'm surprised that I've started to prefer the FAS UI. I really like the grid layout, it just makes a lot of sense. You also have to consider customer support. The amount of communication from FAS to the customer base is unheard of.
 
fcs101 said:
I'm surprised that I've started to prefer the FAS UI. I really like the grid layout, it just makes a lot of sense. You also have to consider customer support. The amount of communication from FAS to the customer base is unheard of.
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When you look at everything that Fractal stuff can do — the depth and complexity of what it's capable of — the user interface starts to make a lot of sense.
 
Rex said:
When you look at everything that Fractal stuff can do — the depth and complexity of what it's capable of — the user interface starts to make a lot of sense.
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This is something that so many never seem to grasp. Editing a Fractal unit solely with a Helix/Boss/QC UX would be miserable.

Having said that, it would be handy to have an edit experience on the grid like you get with other devices. Being able to navigate the grid and adjust the most common parameters of the selected block via the ABCDE knobs would be a welcome addition.
 
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