Xotic SL Drive/Fractal FX8 Commentary

K

King Tone

Inspired
Does anyone know if this pedal is based off any of the standard circuits we hear about..?
Guvnor, bluesbreaker, rat, etc..The sl drive is pretty much my go to pedal...I have three of them...they show up on different boards.

I have not found any hints after a lot of searching. The reason for my interest is that I am trying to emulate my sl drive tones in my fractal fx-8. So far I have some really good variations, mainly using the ruckus model(Suhr riot) but maybe not exact. The shredmaster model with gain almost off is close, as well.

I originally planned to mainly use the fx8 rig with amps that have gain, bigger setups, and so on, but it sits in the house a lot since I use combos and smaller pedalboards so much more often. I want to get it in rotation because I like some of the modulation/delay, etc effects in it better than most pedals. Just trying to get minute about the drives. The settings I am using are very good now but if I had more insight maybe I could improve them. For example the rc booster model in the fractal is very good. With changes I can emulate my tone settings and with x/y the second gain from my V2. If I set the real pedal at noon and the model the same they are pretty much identical to my (old)ears.
 
I found that the big things when approximating a pedal (in my case the OCD), the high pass, low pass and mix settings were very important.
 
Budda said:
I found that the big things when approximating a pedal (in my case the OCD), the high pass, low pass and mix settings were very important.
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I agree! I have been using match eq in logic to kind of tone match "manually" as well as using my ears. I feel like I can possibly get it better although at a gig it should be as good if not better. Just seeing how close I can get.
 
I do wish they would stop bothering to mimic pedals which I never used to begin with. Strymon does really well with their drives rather than opt to mimic old stuff they expand on the concept. I would rather have something full featured like that, rather than a Fuzz Face mimic which I would never use anyway. I love the advanced modeling ability but it seems ludicrous to use the most advanced technology to mimic some half a century old very primitive tech.
I have an Origin Drive and I just have to integrate it, that is one I am not about to sell off. I hope I can work with some the FX8 models to find some similar things I use. Sounds a fun programming adventure and making use of EQ's/Filters to come up with something really cool. I am extremely hard to please w drives and gain pedals. I realize on the AX8 and others one relies on the amp model gains but I think I better hang onto my Origin and Revv pedals. I'm thinking I will just loop in my current drive section pedals and just experiment w the models.
 
I realize everyone's taste is different but I would say generally the fractal drive model selection does cover some things pretty well. Some nice additions could be some of the newer/popular drive pedals that have come out in recent years. I don't think we need too many more tube screamer variants but I am sure some more plexi style or high gain models, friedman-ish or more dumble types would be welcomed. The only Marshall-esque drive models are really the ruckus and shredmaster(with a lot of tweaks!)....I would certainly enjoy some bogner blue/red/lagrange models or ramble fx, and of course my cherished xotic sl drive!
 
I love Xotic pedals. I do not think I can part with them. Does anyone know will having a high end buffer before the FX8 mess with it's Hz input design?
Since every pedal when on has a lower impedance output are there any bad results trying to use anything in front of the FX8?
 
I don't think that would cause a problem. The FX8 has it's own buffering as well. I have run pedals before it and after it (before the amp input) and never noticed any issues. Never did it live, only at home during this tone matching thing I have been doing.
 
No pedal experts know the answer..? I guess the ruckus model is the closest in the fractal drive model lineup...
 
I am saving my drive/gain pedal section just in case, plus I have an Origin Revival Drive that is just way beyond any sort of pedal or mimic, I am not parting with that puppy so I hope it does well in the PRE post thing. Strange the outs recommend the Humbuster cables (which I got) but the ins do not yet they are labeled TRS jacks as well as in the manual. I guess they just short it into the sleeve, a bit weird, but I am trusting the Fractal brain mensa.
 
I played Friday with the fx-8 and some of my new tweaks and thought that it was sounding very good overall. There are a few details in the settings I think I can improve but for the most part it was very good. I will just keep making minute changes after each time using it. It is really mostly about the drive pedal stuff and maybe some slight level adjustments. All my regular effects such as compressor, chorus, delay, rotary, etc are pretty dialed in. That stuff takes me no time honestly, but getting the drive level/gain/tone to be as good or better than your favorite dialed in real pedals--at stage volume is more of a challenge.
 
I've always been an analog fan of drives and high gain but what gets me is they can do so good at uber gain amps but amazing pedals elude them?? Strymon seems to have hit the magic on drive pedals, come on Fractal. Stop w the mimic of 50 yr old stuff like Muff and TS and if nothing else just render a killer high tweak drive.
I never used those old pedals since I was a teenager for a couple reasons: 1: they were all that existed at the time, 2) they were not that expensive. Why I don't use them: 1) low bandwidth, high noise floor, pretty crappy sound really.
Who needs ultra modern technology to copy that stuff?
You always end up w one of these copies of a Metal Zone with like three knobs when it has a 6 knob stacked parametric EQ that strives to make the pedal usable and then only a Waza version is tolerable. Hey clone me models of Revv G2, G3 and G4 with tweaks and you can forget anything else! That being said, I have an Origin Revival Drive all analog and nothing is going to touch that puppy. If you want to advance digital modeling forward stop copying old ass $hit and get inventive.
 
King Tone said:
No pedal experts know the answer..? I guess the ruckus model is the closest in the fractal drive model lineup...
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The SL Drive is based on the type of distortion of a Marshall Super Lead / Super Bass amp.

So pick one of the existing Drive types that does the same. Try Ruckus, BB Pre...
 
yek said:
The SL Drive is based on the type of distortion of a Marshall Super Lead / Super Bass amp.

So pick one of the existing Drive types that does the same. Try Ruckus, BB Pre...
Click to expand...


Yes I certainly understand that it is a Marshall based tone...I have just been interested in what kind of actual circuit it is based on to make that Marshall sound. IOW is the SL drive based off of a Marshall guvnor or..? The ruckus is likely the closest option. I will try working with the BB Preamp a bit but I have to say I think it works well used more as a TS type lead boost. It is curious to me that fractal has so many Marshall based amp models in the axe fx and yet really only one or maybe 2 Marshall based drive models...
 
King Tone said:
I played Friday with the fx-8 and some of my new tweaks and thought that it was sounding very good overall. There are a few details in the settings I think I can improve but for the most part it was very good. I will just keep making minute changes after each time using it. It is really mostly about the drive pedal stuff and maybe some slight level adjustments. All my regular effects such as compressor, chorus, delay, rotary, etc are pretty dialed in. That stuff takes me no time honestly, but getting the drive level/gain/tone to be as good or better than your favorite dialed in real pedals--at stage volume is more of a challenge.
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You sound exactly where I see myself being after my first gig this coming Saturday (10th August) I mainly use my Victory V100 for drive/boost, but occasionally like a different flavor/sound, so would like to really get to grips with the drives at gig volumes - I really really want to use the entire FX8 solution rather than hanging onto some drive and comp pedals and the inherent tap dancing that brings!!

I've been watching this with interest!

 
I feel like at this point I have some very good useable and realistic sounds. I will likely fine tune things, ever so slightly, as time goes on, but I felt like the fx8 drive sounds into a clean amp were quite good today at my show. The regular fx sounds were always easy for me to get right but a good bit of time was spent to get the drive sounds that I like. Time well spent IMO.
 
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