I find the Plexi models all quite dark. Explanation inside. Any help?

Interesting experiment here;

So another reference of a great, less sizzly but big fat Plexi-style tone is from NAMM. Go to like 5:10.

I used the Plexi 100W High, dimed it and used the Friedman GB DynaCab, with a single 57 on it. Not bad at all... maybe DynaCabs are the way to go here. It’s not that it’s identical - especially in the low end - but it’s ballpark.
Ignore the random playing, it's whatever Lee played in the video that I'm trying to ape. And trying to ape someone's random noodling is.. tricky. It goes him/me/him/me.

 
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Another thought, especially if you’re more looking for the fractal to be as bright as the other modeler than to nail the YouTube tones, is to add some EQ after the amp. The Output EQ block of the amp works great or you can add a PEQ block after the amp or cab.

As a sound guy, I approach from the perspective of the IR including a microphone, with its own frequency response and coloration, so I like using EQ to get a more natural response. You can mess around with it by ear or look up a frequency response diagram for the microphone.
 
Thinking about this a little more, maybe the best thing to do is to try some of the other plexi models in the Fractal. Plexi 100W is the darkest sounding one, and I use that with my single coil strat to balance things out. Last time I messed around with other Plexi models, most of them were crazy bright in comparison to the Plexi 100W.

Other people would be better at giving recommendations on a brighter one to try. I have heard a lot of people say good things about the 6CA7 Plexi, though.
 
giantslayer said:
Thinking about this a little more, maybe the best thing to do is to try some of the other plexi models in the Fractal. Plexi 100W is the darkest sounding one, and I use that with my single coil strat to balance things out. Last time I messed around with other Plexi models, most of them were crazy bright in comparison to the Plexi 100W.

Other people would be better at giving recommendations on a brighter one to try. I have heard a lot of people say good things about the 6CA7 Plexi, though.
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The 1970 just got a tonestack rework for the very reason that it was too dark , try that one out , it’s a great amp and if you want the Marshall vibe but maybe just not a plexi the new 2203 HI is a pretty bright and punchy amp
 
Try this '87 G12T75 4x12 Silver Jubilee (8 ohm) SM57 IR I just made yesterday. Change the amp to 2203 JCM800. If it's still dark, there might be something going on in your setup.

It's matched to a real recording which is really bright, so don't be surprised if it sounds ice picky to you. I mix it with another impulse to balance the treble. That cab is one of the best cabs I've ever heard, at least in the room. Will have to shoot more impulses later.
 

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Random Hero said:
Interesting experiment here;

So another reference of a great, less sizzly but big fat Plexi-style tone is from NAMM. Go to like 5:10.

I used the Plexi 100W High, dimed it and used the Friedman GB DynaCab, with a single 57 on it. Not bad at all... maybe DynaCabs are the way to go here. It’s not that it’s identical - especially in the low end - but it’s ballpark.
Ignore the random playing, it's whatever Lee played in the video that I'm trying to ape. And trying to ape someone's random noodling is.. tricky. It goes him/me/him/me.

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Any NAMM video will be usually some camera mic or at very low volume. I wouldn't use them as a reference for anything.

To me the Fractal Plexis pretty much sound like they are supposed to. There's a whole bunch of them and none of them sound identical either, just like real Superleads.

I would look for your issues in your cab setup. For single mic DynaCabs I tend to like the Condenser best if you just want to keep it simple.
 
axes said:
I've actually used real Plexis and JCMs into a Suhr RL - tremendously bright
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But a reactive load will not sound the same because it's a different impedance curve... Did you compare that to one of the load box SICs in the Fractal?
 
Brit Brown or the FAS Brown. I like the Brit Brown better but the FAS Brown is brighter. I'm in a plexi search mode here lately over the past week or two. I get the tone I'm looking for out of the Brit Super but have been trying to match that by using the Plexi models. I've built a preset dedicated to all of the Plexi's and trying to make it work the Dyna Cab IRs. It's almost there. I found the Brit Brown gives you more options (and gain), IMO. The Dyna cabs are elusive to me. Lots of midrange but also lots of high end sizzle. Kinda like the real deal.
 
I have an Sl67 and spent a lot time trying to dial in the same level of cut with my fm3-ps170. Both the Suhr and fractal were a/b’d through my the same Scumback cab.

Adding definition in the input block really helped sharpen the pick attack.

In addition to adding high treble, playing with xformer match and speaker compression also helped.
 
unix-guy said:
But a reactive load will not sound the same because it's a different impedance curve... Did you compare that to one of the load box SICs in the Fractal?
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Yes, for sure. I also have an LB-2 and used that curve to compare it to the Plexi and actual LB-2 with similar results.
 
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