Today I have a great moment playing with the 1959SLP Normal preset using the lead scene. So responsive and inspiring...
However I find the clean scenes on most presets very low in volume. I tried to increase the volume with the amp level (I know I could use the scene leveler too) and found what I believe is a bug. The knob response is really unpredictable and the real volume changes depend more on the “speed” I turn the knob than on the value. Can someone confirm this?
Other thing is I had to use a filter block on all presets (basically a low and high cut). Maybe the atomic neo are designed with more focus on the mids due to it being directed to guitar players? Or are supposed to be frfr and neutral?
Let me try to address.
The clean preset LEVEL is usually set playing a bridge humbucker; if you switch to a neck humbucker you will see on your levels the signal get noticeably louder. If you are playing the clean on a single coil it will be lower in volume a good bit - and that's what scene 5 is for, with the 5.1db boost.
If on Scene 1 and your clean is too low, just click on the MicroBoost in Drive2 channel A and your clean will get louder, or turn on the Filter Block chn B before the Amp in scenes 1-4 that adds 3.5 db.
What I've learned in playing the 250+ amp models for ten years in Fractal products: amp cleans will differ from amp to amp in responsiveness to incoming signals. Clean amp channels can sometimes make more transients and dynamics than gainier amps. Other amps compress it and you don't get the wider dynamics.
So the problem is, if I set the clean level a bit high on a preset and you WHACK it, you can cause a spike and digitally clip.
For this reason some amps are harder to LEVEL precisely for cleans -- like the Shiva or Tweed Princeton. Very different reaction to single coils than humbuckers, very different reactions to playing hard versus soft -- the preamp reacts dynamically, and the LEVEL range gets very wide.
But now that you have YOUR guitar in hand, and know how you will use a Clean, no worries -- just set the Channel Amp Level up by 1db to 2.5db if you think it's too low with your own.
Just keep in mind, if you then add CS2 or a Drive of Filter or stack them on a clean and it then digitally clips -- then you'll know why. Hope that helps.
On the bass end/lows -- that is what "real amp in the room" will do in terms of bass -- you would feel it more than hear it. I made sure that "amp bottom" was present, and gave you a Bass CUT on CS6 if you need to tame it.
My CLRs run flat with no Global Out EQ adjustments. But on my Mission Gemini 2 2X12 FRFR, I will use the Global Out2 to chop out almost all lows under 63z and above 16kHz, with slight db dips if needed at 125hz and 8kHz. There isn't much guitar frequency stuff in those frequencies anyway. As I've said in the tutorial videos, you may have to "tune" your own FRFRs slightly using the Output2 Global EQ because they are not all identical sounding or perfectly flat.
My CLRs tend to have very detailed guitar mids, best I've heard so far in FRFRs (and I love that about them, and also for just listening to albums -- I can really hear all the individual instruments distinctly in a mix), and that translates great for DAW recording especially for sitting in a mix.
Love that guy! How about showcasing some Classic Rock Royalty in the next AustinBuddy video (AC/DC, Sabbath, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, KISS, Bad Company, etc...) I’m getting my credit card ready... When I play live again, I’ll be playing through the Atomic CLR and a Friedman ASM12 and ASC12. Are these tones optimized for this platform?
