How do you choose an Amp?

Bill-RTP

Bill-RTP

Inspired
Hey all,

I'm curious, how do you all choose which Fractal Amps to use? Do you find one (or more) that your favorite guitarists use and go with that, or do you go through them all and determine what sounds and feels best to your ears? Do you just frequent the forum and try amps based on conversations?

I love the fact that we have so many options to choose from and I'd rather have too many versus not enough, but I think we'd all agree that it often becomes a significant rabbit hole when choosing an amp or a handful of amps to regularly use. The poll that was put out (https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...7-amps-in-order-select-your-favorites.206368/) was a great idea, and I find the results really interesting, but everyone has different tastes. Also, @yek's guide to the amps has always been a great resource and one I visit often.

I was recently envisioning some sort of AI flow where you'd either describe what you're after or input an actual sound your after, and then the AI would limit the amps and come back with "you may want to try these 15 amps" or something along those lines.

These are great problems to have, and I love the guitar tones I can build, but it always seems like I run into the scenario where "this is perfect" until "no, this is better", etc etc.

Thanks!
 
Don't overthink it. Start with an amp you're familiar with IRL. You can then try other amps in that family to see if one suits you better. You could also try models of amps that you know another guitarist uses IRL and try those.

I would also get a backing track playing of something you like and pin the amp page in Axe Edit and start scrolling through until one hits you just right.
 
For many years I have been choosing the amps that my favorite guitarists used, mainly the JS2450. But since the latest beta firmware release I am stuck with the Wrecker Liverpool. And I don't even know who is using it. I love how it responds to the playing nuances, and how it cuts through the mix with the appropriate EQ without the need to play too loud.
 
There are really 3 parts to that answer.

I start with the type of sound and style of music I'm looking play! Classic rock or a Blues style JMP Marshall or the like! Modern metal, Modded Marshal or the millions of variants that have a heavier sound. Funk something really clean like a Fender Twin. Something more specific that requires a Vox type of sound ala Mike Campbell (Tom Petty) Or Brian May!

The other part of the amp recipe that you have to take into consideration are the cabs. Those will really fine tune the outcome of what you are looking to hear!

Guitars come into play as well Les Paul, Strat, Tele, Hollow body are the other third of that equation and have an impact!
 
I started by using the same type of Mesa Boogie that my favorite guitarist used, but then I played the Energyball/Angle Severe from the preset shared here, and now I play these amps almost exclusively. I find them easier to dial in than the Boogies and they sound killer.

I think choosing the right IR is a lot harder than choosing an amp. It's all too easy to get stuck down that rabbit hole. And then there are the Speaker Independence Curves. You can tinker with those two and drastically change the feel of an amp.
 
When I first got mine. I started with the amps I own(ed), and then to the ones I wish I owned. Which is most of them.
 
i know what my favourite bands use, but Im not trying to sound like them.

I like marshalls and marshall inspired, “british” amps most of the time. Easy enough to start there. I built a copy of my old band sounds, but i dont use it at all lol.

Knew what i liked and went from there.

Imo the IRs are the rabbit hole. Same deal there, for me.
 
I played through all of them lol. It took me a while but I did. I basically pick the ones I known I will like. Like High gain, Revv, Engl, Friedman, 5150 etc. And just go from there.
 
1) started with amps I know well.
2) listened to a ton of YT demos to find others I might like.
3) tried stuff.
 
Find a recorded tone you like and figure out what amp(s) were used to create it. That can usually give you a decent starting point. Beyond that it's pretty much trial and error. Over time you'll learn which amps work well for various tones.
 
I just started with Fractal a few months ago. However I just started at the first amp and started walking through them all. I will continue to do so until I have a dozen I really like narrowed down. Then it will get tricky.
 
Just make a basic preset and use it to cycle through the type of amps you want. You can mark them off in the library to remind you which ones were good.

In the case of IRs which will be your next rabbit in the headlights moment, include a looper and record something, keep it playing and cycle through them. Your neighbours may commit suicide after a few evenings of that, but you'll find the cabs you need 😉
 
Paulzx said:
Just make a basic preset and use it to cycle through the type of amps you want. You can mark them off in the library to remind you which ones were good.

In the case of IRs which will be your next rabbit in the headlights moment, include a looper and record something, keep it playing and cycle through them. Your neighbours may commit suicide after a few evenings of that, but you'll find the cabs you need 😉
Click to expand...
You know I never thought of that! I was so excited to get started I just started running through presets! Ok ok now I need to finish this run through factory presets and start over as suggested!
 
I have started with the amps I knew, and owned. Then my dream amps, and after that I just started discovering more and more.

Sometimes I do this random amp model Tuesdays thing for fun, just put 1-328 in a random number generator and create a preset with the amp model that I’ve got.
 
Problem with that is that the cab has such a huge effect on the result, and it's not like there's a universally * better * one you can use as an audition setting.

Upshot is that you can have a really different impression of any given amp depending on the cab you have going.

There's no shortcut to trying a lot of combinations, except recommendations of one sort or another -- factory presets, posts here, real world tales from players you like, etc.
 
Paulzx said:
Just make a basic preset and use it to cycle through the type of amps you want. You can mark them off in the library to remind you which ones were good.

In the case of IRs which will be your next rabbit in the headlights moment, include a looper and record something, keep it playing and cycle through them. Your neighbours may commit suicide after a few evenings of that, but you'll find the cabs you need 😉
Click to expand...
I suppose you could use some headphones, but maybe those neighbors were already on a list? 🤔😜
 
Dude456 said:
Sometimes I do this random amp model Tuesdays thing for fun, just put 1-328 in a random number generator and create a preset with the amp model that I’ve got.
Click to expand...

I like the RNG idea. I've been trying to find a way to slowly sample every amp (just in small bits of time here and there) and this feels like a nice way to do it!
 
I tend to go by what mood I'm in.
Angry _ Hi Gain
Cheery _EOB
Happy_ Clean
Ecstatic_ANYTHING!

Sometimes I'll play a riff into looper & pin manage amps page, then scroll through them (with a moderate volume at first).
 
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