Plexi Models Sound Dark - A different perspective (I tried EVERYTHING)

Denny99 said:
The SV20 model sounds a little darker, but nothing drastic.
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Not as noticeable on single notes, but on open chords or powerchords that'd be much more apparent.

Denny99 said:
Does this sound dark with humbuckers on your FM3?
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Definitely not as dark - thanks for sharing! For sure, this preset has very bright IRs chosen (not a bad thing at all).

What I learned so far is that SV20H through my Boss TAE is very bright (and works very well with my choice of IRs). What was throwing me off is that if I feed line signal from SV20→TAE into FM3, then with same IR the model would be much darker. Same way around, if I load something like Leon Todd's LT TV Mix 2 IR into TAE, SV20 would be very very bright, overly so.

So seems like it's just a combination of factors: my preferred brightness is higher than many people's preference, TAE is a bright loadbox as it is, and many people use bright IRs to compensate for how FM3 sounds (or, the other way around, I am using dark IRs to compensate for how bright my TAE is? But it's an Ownhammer (r)Evolution pack which is renowned for its quality).

Proper test would be to buy something like LB2 or Suhr reactive load, but it's damn expensive for just an experiment which doesn't prove anything and honestly, I like how FM3 sounds better now than the real amp. Yeah, hardware amp has a little more definition and is a little more 3d of some sort, bass response is nicer, but then 1987x sounds better than SV20 overall and is a more pleasing sound. With some EQ I can get better results and definitely faster.

Probably it would only make sense for me to have a hardware amp if it's a handwired plexi or something, if it even would make any sense in a studio-like setting.

TL;DR This thread and help of others here made me think I need to sell my hardware amp.
 
Thank you for your information. I made the same expericence with my Axe FX III Turbo. Since 30 years I played 90s Reissue Marshalls 1987x and JTM45 with THD Hot Plate 16 ohms incl. Bass+Treble Boost switched on (to achive AC/DC crunch sound on low volume) and in comparision all Axe Fx Marshall Plexis sound really much too dark. You feel that it's made for metal guys ;o) But now the sun rises and everything is fine. I also got good results with ToneStack and the usage of Plexi or Active. But your solution is much better. But for this price this shouldn't be necessary. Bright Cap (e.g. 4000pF) should be active for Treble Channel. Also don't forget the 500pf for Power Amp Master Volume. Currently you need a bit of knowledge about the Marshall schematics to get good results. But this way is still better than no Plexi available. Just search for old Metroamp 50 Watt Plexi Kit Assembly Instructions. That helps a lot.
 
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Can we revive this and say I’m experiencing them as a bit dark and middy too? The new 1970 and 1959SLP are better but they lack the kerrang and high end clank for me.

Any ideas?
 
Random Hero said:
Can we revive this and say I’m experiencing them as a bit dark and middy too? The new 1970 and 1959SLP are better but they lack the kerrang and high end clank for me.

Any ideas?
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I listened to some songs I’ve recorded in the past with various tube amps and finally found what’s missing.

it’s not really that the tones are dark but it misses the little « sparkle » thing in the highs that brings some clarity and make the sound more dimensional.
The little thing that make your pick attack shine a little bit more.

Don’t really know how to say it but I’m sure you understand.

It’s not specific of Marshall sims in my fm3. All the amps have this in the unit but it’s more obvious on the plexis.
 
Random Hero said:
Can we revive this and say I’m experiencing them as a bit dark and middy too? The new 1970 and 1959SLP are better but they lack the kerrang and high end clank for me.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
After a long time trying to understand what it is that I was experiencing, I came to a conclusion that Fractal is designed for live performance and that way it will sound exactly like a Plexi should sound if it's VERY loud. Make it low volume - and it's going to be mid-forward and kind of muddy. Same thing happens if I record my SV20 through a reactive load into an interface. This is basically Fletcher Munson curves at work.

Then if I compensate with a graphic EQ after the amp, then it is easy to achieve this kind of brightness in a recording. Many people are using very bright IRs with mid dip baked into them, which is the same thing essentially.

That's the kind of EQ I am using with my (r)Evolution pack of IR's from Ownhammer:

Screenshot 2024-02-26 at 10.50.57.png
 
I achieved that bright sound in past with my full volume 1987x and my THD Hot Plate attenuator with Push Bright Switch on. I think it's true what you think. Refer my signature too. DynaCabs are the game changer.
 
But the other great thing is that I have the speaker specs and I could try to compensate the bad high frequencies of one speaker which sounds together much better on low volume.
 
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