Wish Pre-amp and Power Amp distortion meter

[Hatata]

I’m not sure if this is already in the unit somehow but when dialing in certain amps it would be great to see how hard each section is being driven and what is contributing to the overall sound if possible. Dialing in a Marshall vs a Mesa you want different sections to be contributing to the distortion obviously and it would be great to see how your settings contribute to the backend interaction between the power and pre amp sections.

I’m not even sure if there is a way to quantify and display this but thought I would share my idea with the world

 

[FractalAudio]

There's already a meter for the power amp. That's all you need really.

 

[Hatata]

There's already a meter for the power amp. That's all you need really.

Got it .. thanks for the quick response ! Not sure why I never noticed it. I spend way you much time on the ideal tab and not enough in the others.

 

[unix-guy]

The Headroom Meter on the bottom of the Amp block Tone page is for the power amp.

See page 11 here:

https://www.fractalaudio.com/downloads/manuals/fas-guides/Fractal-Audio-Blocks-Guide.pdf#page73

 

[unix-guy]

@FractalAudio - the Blocks Guide says the meter shows voltage at the power tubes.

What's the right way to interpret that meter in regards to how much the power tubes are distorting?

 

[FractalAudio]

When the meter nears maximum the power tubes are clipping.

 

[unix-guy]

When the meter nears maximum the power tubes are clipping.

Thanks... It's what I thought, but nice to get confirmation.

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

So you’d suggest to stay well under near maximum (below ~-3db) to avoid power amp clipping and just crank the level up to compensate for volume loss?

is it an arbitrary thing to look at and judge whether the power amp is clipping when you’re looking at the waveform ?

Is that why you can’t say 0.0=power amp IS exactly when it’s clipping?

Modern real amplifiers should have an LED indicator of this feature , it’s really useful IMO

 

[unix-guy]

So you’d suggest to stay well under near maximum (below ~-3db) to avoid power amp clipping and just crank the level up to compensate for volume loss?

is it an arbitrary thing to look at and judge whether the power amp is clipping when you’re looking at the waveform ?

Is that why you can’t say 0.0=power amp IS exactly when it’s clipping?

Modern real amplifiers should have an LED indicator of this feature , it’s really useful IMO

You're assuming that power tube distortion == bad... I don't think that's necessarily true, especially on older amps.

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

You're assuming that power tube distortion == bad... I don't think that's necessarily true, especially on older amps.

I never said that , I said if I wanted to completely avoid it it’d be nice to have a really accurate indicator

 

[unix-guy]

I never said that , I said if I wanted to completely avoid it it’d be nice to have a really accurate indicator

I guess my point was this: why do you want to avoid it?

 

[ApocalypticKatana]

I guess my point was this: why do you want to avoid it?

Whenever I don’t want or to minimise that “sag” from the power amp

I just like that raw preamp distortion and tighter and quicker feeling response

that “blooming” sound or the volume coming back up due to the voltage drop after chugging….

is to me undesirable … for most of the time

Sure just tickling the power amp (or going near 0.0 on the meter) would probably be practically negligible to what I’m going after but if I could knowingly and accurately avoid it I would )

Of course I could just go drive pedal but preamp tubes have their charm

But don’t get me wrong I still like the sound of those pushed power tubes every now and then! aka EVH