Rules of the road for using a tube power amp, Fryette PowerStation II

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Inspired
I've been using a Fryette Power Station for about a year now with my AX2 with good results, but I thought it might be useful to compile a master list of "do" and "don't" and "suggestions" around how to get the best out of this kind of setup.

Power Station
  • Output 1 into the FX Return (Not the "Amp In", I guess this was as Steven Fryette suggestion?)
  • Depth and Presence at zero (I would love to hear more about this one, though, as it occurs to me that one could also zero the Depth and Presence in the amp model and then use the PS2's Depth and Presence)
  • Both the Bright and Depth switches at the Flat setting
  • Low Pass Out
  • I don't recall where I have the FX Level and Input Level settings, curious how others are setting these
Axe Settings
  • Cab blocks off in the Globals
  • High and Low Resonance set to 0 in the Amp Block's Speaker page (I would love it if there was a master setting that did this like the Cab block setting so I don't have to do it every time I reset the amp model)
What I notice when playing around with the Depth and Presence knobs in the Power Station rather than using the Amp model's setting is that I seem to get a little more "punch" and "realism" if that makes any sense. Using the amp block's Presence and Depth still sounds good, but there is a little more "air" with the Power Station's knobs. That obviously could be different on other tube power amps, but thought I would note it here.
 
Good info, thanks. I've been using the Power Station with a TC50, but I need to try it with just the Axe-FX III, and see if I can match what I get with the Mesa for a live setting.
 
Cool, I'm curious how it sounds with the III. I've begun playing with some of the switches on mine since removing the Low/High resonance tends to make things feel cold, and adding a little Depth & switching to the Warm/Deep setting adds a bit more "tubiness" if that makes any sense.
 
I thought the Brite and Warm switches were for the reactive load only and didn’t actually do anything if you’re just running line-in from a preamp.
 
I use LINE IN instead of FX Return.

Have you noticed any tone differences? I've been running Line IN as an alternative recently and it seems a little less "magical" if that makes any sense, but it could be my mind playing tricks on me. I should get an A/B box and toggle between then to see if there is any real difference.

I'm curious, have you tried fiddling with the Depth and Presence controls on the PS2 with the Axe? I've been trying to replicate my clean tone on my Lonestar Classic with the Axe, but the two are lightyears apart as far as feel, depth and harmonics are concerned. The real Lonestar has some magic going on in the clean channel I haven't been able to replicate with the Axe and PS2.
 
Line in is the right way to connect. I always keep Depth and Presence turned off.
 
So, after a bit of experimenting with my PS2, here's what I found works best for me, and why:

The key is the Depth and Presence controls on the PS2. Since I have a number of tube amps to test with--one with a slaved EL84 power section that I can run direct to Line In--I took it upon myself to plug them in to the PS2 to make a comparison of how the PS2 amplifies them in a slaved and direct setup.

At first I started with the Presence and Depth completely off. This definitely did not sound the same; I noticed my cabs weren't reacting the way they did in Bypass mode. The sound was more muffled and missing some depth. This was with both my Event Horizon slaved and with the EL84 preamp of my Guytron plugged into Line In.

So, I began tweaking the Depth first to get the feel of the cabinet back. Once I hit about 10:00 on the knob it was hard to tell the difference between the amps direct and slaved to the PS2. I then worked on Presence to get the bite back, and landed at about 11:00.

Now, I know that the current gospel is to run Depth and Presence completely off on the PS2, but the whole reason I started this experiment was this: the PS2 isn't a normal tube power amp, and the Axe3 models seemed to be "missing" something when configured this way. I think that's because the PS2 is designed to run as clean as possible. That got me thinking that the HF and LF resonances likely wouldn't be as hyped as a typical tube guitar power amp (indeed, I would think Fryette would design it this way to prevent a hyped sound... you can always add Presence and Depth, but it's harder to take away once you've hit the bottom range of the knob). So while I was defeating the HF and LF controls in the Axe3, that, I think, was actually taking too much resonance out, which is why the Axe seemed to sound a bit dull and lifeless compared to my tube amps going through the same cab.

Adding just a touch of the HF and LF resonance via the PS2's Depth and Presence controls (which interact with the cabinet, thus making it unnecessary to hunt for the resonant frequency in the Axe) seemed to do the trick. Testing with the Friedman models tonight, this seems to have really brought them to life in this setup. The BE models in particular have that woodiness in the high end and punchy low-end I remember from the actual amp.

Anyway, this may not work for everyone, but it certainly worked great for me, so I figured I'd pass it on.
 
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I have the PS2 and correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that the depth and presence where flat when set at 12:00 (straight up) - subtractive below that and additive when set above.

That could be what things where not sounding right when both were at zero.

BA
 

From the horse's mouth. Where I find the Presence and Depth help (which is aligned with what Fryette says in that post) are when the PS2 volume is not the same as the amp it's attenuating / amplifying. This would hold true for amp models as well, as an amp with the virtual master at 12:00 vs. 10:00 in real life would cause a cab to react differently (I think of an amp model as a "slaved" amp running into a fully transparent dummy load with just the line-level signal as the output). Presence and Depth turned up on the PS2 help bring the cab response back where I would like it, just without the added volume to get "unity" gain. But to echo Yek and Fryette, fully CCW is neutral on the PS2. I just find you have to decide if neutral is actually what you want to get the amp models to sound authentic, given the required volume level.

I run my PS2 volume at around 9-10:00; I suspect closer to 12:00 would need less Presence and Depth, but that's nuking my eardrums loud through my BE 4x12 cab at that point and I already have tinnitus :). Our friends Fletcher and Munson will also apply at those volume levels, and that would impact whether or not Presence and Depth are necessary / desirable. Those are changes you probably would want to make on a real tube amp as well, as lots of Presence and Depth at high SPLs probably isn't desirable given it could get ice-picky / woofy.
 
Any other tricks for using the PS2? I Just received a PS2 and I’m waiting on delivery of a 2x12 cab. Been using FRFR for 6 months and excited to get back to the amp in the room experience.
 
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