A three-wave coupling model with complex linear frequencies is investigated for the nonlinear interaction in a triad that has linearly unstable and stable modes. Time scales associated with linear and nonlinear physics are identified and compared with features of the frequency spectrum. From appropriate time scales, the frequency spectra are well characterized even in the transition to the steady state. The nonlinear time scales that best match spectral features are the nonlinear frequency of the fixed point and a frequency that depends on the amplitude displacement from the fixed point through the large-amplitude Jacobian elliptic solution. Two limited efforts to model the effect of other triads suggest robustness in the single triad results.