Agreed.Great reply...but I'd like to expand on a couple of things that us beginners are looking for:
"Topology" would be the other thing to add; when you just have an array of knobs to work with, it's not at all obvious where those parameters sit in the signal flow.
- "schematics" -- it's not like we want to look at wiring diagrams, but we don't know which things are related -- a lot of times various knobs interact with others, and it'd be good to have at least an awareness of that. When people learn an amp, I think this is a big part of what they're internalizing....
- "derived from" -- it's obviously important to understand a given amp's lineage since so many amps start with existing designs and tweak them. Again, I get the impression that most people build up this knowledge over time, but with 300 amps, it'd be great if there was a tree or something illustrating the genealogy of amps.....(Yes, I've looked for exactly such a thing and still haven't found it.)
All that said, I love that Fractal modeling has advanced to where us newbs can just focus on the authentic tab (or whatever it's called now); even without any real understanding of what I'm doing, I can usually come up with something I like pretty quickly.... With apologies to the OP, I think what we're looking for is a way of actually learning this stuff....
An amp family tree would be really cool.
This has a post that gives some on the lineage of Fender amps. It's a fun read: https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44211
Up to a point, Marshalls were very close to HP Twins or Bassmans (which are almost the same amp except for the # of power tubes and the OT), except that the tone stack ends up sapping less voltage from the signal and the knobs do less as you turn them away from flat, which is the same bass & treble off mids all the way up setting. The biggest difference (in the tone stack) is that the mid control on a fender is almost just a gain control and the mid control on a marshall actually affects the high-end more than anything else....if you're starting from flat.
It really is worth playing with Tone Stack Calculator.
But, you can also just play with the knobs until it sounds good. A lot of people have been really successful with that approach.
Thanks. And, yes....You hit the nail on the head. I didn't know how to ask concisely for the guidance I wanted but what you wrote is pretty much it. I think the way forward for me is: pick an amp to dig deeper into, find what I can find about the way the tone stack works (non-trivial), and try to emulate notable sounds like @Tahoebrian5 suggested (coincidentally, I was just looking at some of those that Marshall has on YT).
If there's a downside of Fractal (or any modeling), it isn't really even option paralysis but just getting so buried in the options that you don't give something really cool its chance because there's always something else really cool to play with.
If it were me...I'd see if I could find some guitarist you really like who did a Rig Rundown (or similar) or start with a preset that jumps out at you. I'd either replicate the rundown or strip the preset down to the essentials (e.g., amp, cab, maybe reverb) and dig into it from there.
That's basically what I did. Out of the ~300 amps in the Fractal, I haven't even tried to play ~290 of them. Of the ~10 that I have played, 95% of my playing is on 3 of them and about 85% of my playing is on just one. Somehow...I don't feel like I'm "missing out" or not taking advantage of it. I just really like that amp.