High end too polite?

P

ptgold

Inspired
Although Ive been loving the feel of the new firmwares Ive started noticing that the treble on alot of my favorite amps have lost its teeth! Im guessing this is what they sound like in real life but for example the Bogner XTC sounds naturally like theres a blanket over the speaker somehow, a bit too dark for my tastes unless I take the treble and presence to extreme settings and even then its just "normal" as opposed to dark. Are there some tiny kinks still being worked out with the modeling or is this just how these amps sound?
 
With the new firmware I agree you need to dial in a lot more treble/presence than before. But I'm not having an issue getting more then enough to fry small woodland creatures in local the area. It's a given that the modeling will continue to evolve. I cant tell you how many times with my Ultra I heard the phrase "the modelling is almost indistinguishable from the real thing" then 10-20 firmwares later and a new box we are still getting it more accurate and more dynamic. So I wouldn't fret. It will change, and continue to change, but I don't think that stops anyone from getting great tones right now at this moment. Dial with you ears and not your eyes and just get it to where it sounds like "your" sound, and don't look back ;)
 
I noticed this too, but I'm cranking the master volume. Are you doing that too? Would you be maxing out the master volume on the real amp? What if you start lowering the master? Does that change it? I notice that rolling back my guitar's volume knob seems to lower the high end fold back effect.
 
have you guys tried the bright switch and presence??
if you've not done this already, it'll make your hi's more aggressive

I like a bright aggressive high end on my riffing tones so I set bright on and a highish presence almost by default now
 
Personally I've always found that putting a mic in front of an amp has that effect. For recording I've always had to set my amp up much brighter than I would normally.
 
clarky said:
the whole fizz / sizzle thing seems to have become a "can't please everyone any of the time" thing.. lol..

fwiw: I'm really liking what I have..
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This was my first reaction to this thread - exactly - word-for-word. :)

My second thought - as I have just spent a solid month trying to shake out any kind of hmm, noise or sizzle instead of working on Cab Lab and my new shiny MFC MKIII and label/preset layout - is how thought provoking this and many other Fractal Forum threads are. I love edgy tones that bristle - its becoming more and more obvious to me that hmm, noise and or sizzle is a key component ( :lol reeeeally hard to accept).

You Fractalites and FAS are just fantastic - thank you all for helping me learn to stamp out preconceived notions about certain things and grow and as an amateur tone meister and state of the art modeler user! :encouragement:
 
gitrbldr said:
I was thinking the same thing it took me a while to get used to the Sizzle now I kinda miss it.
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I don't. I love where we've ended up.

I just moved back to my PRS 513 after spending a few months exploring P90's again. I noticed right away that I prefer single coils over the "clear humbucker" mode. That's flipped a couple of times as we've iterated firmware over the years. Last time I had the 513 was in the rotation I preferred hums. The highs seem to be in the right spot now for me, having enough presence, yet not so much bite that I find my single coils too cutting. They are clear, and stand out in the mix, without being piercing.

Terry.
 
I don't mind the fizz of my real amps that have it.
I DO notice a difference between that and the modeled fizz in the Axe II, that I'm not crazy about.

I am looking forward to trying the new, final release version of the FW 13.
Still the best complete DI tone I've had with my Axe II with FW 12.03.
Glad Cliff's never quite done tweaking!
 
I personally much prefer where we are now vs the excess sizzle. It seems more realistic to me and I like a smoother high end. You can always get aggression with an Axe, it's been harder to get a more smooth/tame singing lead tone in the past.
 
Having some trouble getting the right sparkle back.
It is the first FW update I have had some issues with and I have been an Axe user since 2007.
Sure it will work out though as I don't want to downgrade, wanna keep up to get new features and stuff :)
 
smcrosby said:
This was my first reaction to this thread - exactly - word-for-word. :)

My second thought - as I have just spent a solid month trying to shake out any kind of hmm, noise or sizzle instead of working on Cab Lab and my new shiny MFC MKIII and label/preset layout - is how thought provoking this and many other Fractal Forum threads are. I love edgy tones that bristle - its becoming more and more obvious to me that hmm, noise and or sizzle is a key component ( :lol reeeeally hard to accept).

You Fractalites and FAS are just fantastic - thank you all for helping me learn to stamp out preconceived notions about certain things and grow and as an amateur tone meister and state of the art modeler user! :encouragement:
Click to expand...

I think the biggest mental hurdle to overcome is the realisation that amazing tones heard in isolation do not often translate well to a mix..
so it's kinda counter intuitive..
 
Powers of Ten said:
Having some trouble getting the right sparkle back.
It is the first FW update I have had some issues with and I have been an Axe user since 2007.
Sure it will work out though as I don't want to downgrade, wanna keep up to get new features and stuff :)
Click to expand...

Try dialing the amp sag back - IMHO I think you can bump up the sparkle and chime that way.
 
I think the general difficulty in this area is due to the complexity of variables under which we all play..
the style of music.. your guitar / pups of choice.. being in a single or dual guitar line-up.. or with / without a keys player..
the nature of tones, performance styles and approaches of the other musicians around us..
all of this determines the amount of tonal 'space' available that we can reside within, or must step up and fill..

the principle thing that is glaringly obvious is that one size can never fit all..
so you have to listen to yourself in your performance environment and ask yourself if you're consuming too much space, or not occupying enough..
sometimes this is easy.. others not so.. it varies from band to band etc..
I'm certain I've got this wrong as many times as I've got it right.. and will no doubt continue to get it both right and wrong..
there's no magic button…
the trick is simply to listen to the band mix as a whole and be honest about what you hear with respect to your place within it
and then try your best to make what you think are the best choices for the band overall tonally that best satisfies the feel you need for a good performance..
so sometimes there's a little trade off going on..
 
clarky said:
I think the general difficulty in this area is due to the complexity of variables under which we all play..
the style of music.. your guitar / pups of choice.. being in a single or dual guitar line-up.. or with / without a keys player..
the nature of tones, performance styles and approaches of the other musicians around us..
all of this determines the amount of tonal 'space' available that we can reside within, or must step up and fill..

the principle thing that is glaringly obvious is that one size can never fit all..
so you have to listen to yourself in your performance environment and ask yourself if you're consuming too much space, or not occupying enough..
sometimes this is easy.. others not so.. it varies from band to band etc..
I'm certain I've got this wrong as many times as I've got it right.. and will no doubt continue to get it both right and wrong..
there's no magic button…
the trick is simply to listen to the band mix as a whole and be honest about what you hear with respect to your place within it
and then try your best to make what you think are the best choices for the band overall tonally that best satisfies the feel you need for a good performance..
so sometimes there's a little trade off going on..
Click to expand...

+1 to 100% of these pearls of wisdom from Brother Clarky. :)
 
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