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My first real complaint. Distortion settings?


cebreez
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This is my first real complaint with the Amplifi Fx100. I cannot seem to get an overdiriven or distorted tone to my liking. To me they just dont seem believable. I am playing through a Peavey Classic 30 and my analog Distortion and Overdrive sound fantastic but the tones Im getting from the Fx100 seem buzzy and thin. I will keep playing with the settings but any help would be greatly appreciated. Im sure Im just doing something backwards and am not getting my gain and volume settings right. Anybody else have this problem?

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How much gain do you want? If you are looking for a creamy sound, I would go with the Plexi lead 100 at 90% gain. Don't drive it with another drive though. I find this amp very realistic and responds to attack like a real amp.

 

From there go with the Plexi variac'd with gain at 90%. Just watch the bass because it can get muddy quick, especially if you are using the bridge pick up. The Plexi variac'd takes to putting the stomp screamer drive pedal in front of the amp. This will give you extreme high gain and still sound realistic. Just watch the bass.

 

I also like the 1996 Brit JM Pre with the screamer pedal in front both gains all the way. This combo will scream well, but can be treblely depending on the Eq

 

A tad compression is good as well.

 

I've tried most the "high gain" amps but really haven't found one that I think sound better than above. The criminal is ok (peavy 5150) but still not one I use live. Line 6 big bottom has a cool metal sound, but not something I would use live.

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Thank you bhamnerky. That was really good information. That is what Im finding that its more about the amp and less about the screamer although the tube distortion does work well at time. And yes I was looking at that heavy creamy in your face blues like distortion. I've made a couple that sound really good. I would have thought I could use the screamer without an amp model to drive my Peavey Classic 30. Doesn't really work like that though. But little by little I'm getting it there.Thanks again!

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Glad that helped. I have found that it is kind off all in or all out with the fx. What I mean Is either you it for amps and effects or not at all. When you hook it up to a guitar amp, then it doesn't work well. But if you use it with a full range speaker or PA and use the amp models, you are good to go. I would see where you would use its distortions pedals without an AMP simulation with your guitar amp, but like you found, I don't think it works well.

 

Good luck!

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Im using the Amp out. My main outs are connected to the P.A. I tried to put it in the Fx loop of the amp but did not like the sound. I do like the way it sounds when I unplug the Amp out and let it run through the mains and through the P.A. but then I'm missing a monitor unless I stand by a P.A. speaker. I'm using a Peavey Classic 30 with ext. speaker as my main amp. Once I get my tones right I planned on just miking the cab. I do however plan on ditching the amp on stages where room is a luxury.

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  You like the way the FX100 sounds gong to the PA but not the front of the amp, correct?  I am wondering if the amp/cab/mic modeling of the FX100 going into the preamp/power amp/speaker of the CLassic 30 is giveing you more "color" than you like, basically doubling up those sections.  If you like the way it sounds going to the PA and are OK with trying a different monitoring system you can try is to use a flat response speaker on stage instead of a traditional guitar amp and see if that works  for your situation.

 

If you choose to just use the classic 30 (going into the front of the amp) I reccomend turning off the amp/cab/mic modeling so you don't get too much color there.

 

Hope this gives you some more choices to figure out what wil work best for your situation

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Yeah, the amp out to the fx return will likely sound very thin and fuzzy.

Main out(s) to the fx return should sound nice though if you want to mic your cab.

 

For a starting point on your amp, on the clean channel, try turning the bass and treble all the way down and the mid all the way up while keeping the pre amp low.

 

But yeah, the FX100 works well with a FRFR solution.

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You like the way the FX100 sounds gong to the PA but not the front of the amp, correct?  I am wondering if the amp/cab/mic modeling of the FX100 going into the preamp/power amp/speaker of the CLassic 30 is giveing you more "color" than you like, basically doubling up those sections.  If you like the way it sounds going to the PA and are OK with trying a different monitoring system you can try is to use a flat response speaker on stage instead of a traditional guitar amp and see if that works  for your situation.

 

If you choose to just use the classic 30 (going into the front of the amp) I reccomend turning off the amp/cab/mic modeling so you don't get too much color there.

 

Hope this gives you some more choices to figure out what wil work best for your situation

EXACTLY! I had more time last night to put it through its paces through the P.A. and through the Amp. And you're exactly right. A lot of doubling up of tones making the tones way too thick. The tones through the P.A. were much more accurate recreations of distortion and overdrive tones. Even the Acoustic tones were way more realistic. That being said, once I adjusted or removed the amp/cab sim from my tone then the sound through the amp was better but volumes became the issue. So if I spend any real time switching between using the amp and just running through the P.A. which I totally foresee me doing Then I may have to recreate all of my tones. Tones with an amp/cab sim and tones without.

 

I did consider the powered speaker option which would give me the same tones as running through the P.A.exept that after playing it that way then switching back to the Amp I remember why I bought that amp in the first place. Unmatched clear tone with just enough headroom to feel like it has some power.

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