Dave Merrill
Axe-Master
Yeah, 68 here
+1 - deconstructing others' shared presets is a great way to learn.There are a slew of great presets; copy one to a new slot, and explore it. Modify it.
This is a great take. I am not well versed in more than a couple amps, cabs, effects, etc so for me it's overwhelming the choices you get in the modelers available. I had another modeler that I sold and probably never gave it the chance and time I should have. I just got my AFiii this week and lets say....it does a LOT! I paid form the CC classes I'm glad I did. Just slow down, watch the videos over, and ask question on the forum. I think what can get frustrating is trying to decide what everything is, paralysis by analysis if you will.A couple of things that I've been doing as a new Fractal user to find my way:
- I don't have a background in using tube amps, so I found much of my lack of understanding was in the terminology and usage of amps themselves, not so much the modeler. I read Dave Hunter's book "The Guitar Amp Handbook" and that helped a lot. I would read something in the book and then go the Fractal to see how it relates to the real world amps.
- Next, I look at actual amp manuals. For example, the Mesa Lonestar is one I found helpful. The Fractal models the authentic controls, so you can go step by step through the Lonestar manual and learn how it maps to the Fractal.
- Another process I've found helpful is to choose an amp and make a preset - amp and cab only (say scene 1). Tweak the amp using authentic controls to get some sound you find OK. It doesn't need to be ideal. That scene is now "done" so don't touch it again. Copy scene 1 to scene 2. Go to scene 2 and change the amp to a different type - any type you're curious about will work for this. Now try to tweak the new amp to sound just like the first one. I found this process really revealing. I discovered things like one amp has tons of gain so it's hard to get it to clean up, one might be more midrangy, one might be harsh, and so on. It's not about getting a perfect tone but an exercise in manipulating the controls and listening.
- Once you have a handle on tweaking the amps in this way, you can try similar experiments with the other block types - drives, reverbs, etc., one at a time to build things up.