Very tempted. I have the OH MRBW GNR pack. I've found a tone in those that work for me for recording or low volumes, but am struggling to dial in loud/live tone. I feel pretty clueless about IR's, except that I have found that the traditional mic combos that most like sound good to me. Do you recommend using a single mic IR for live/loud use and using the proximity settings to push the FRFR speaker? And if so which of these would you recommend?
Ah yes, the age old question "what should I use when playing live?" There are quite a few things to consider, and each person's solution is as personal as the guitar they choose to play. If we met in person over a cup of coffee, I could talk about it for hours. Since we're here on a forum, I'll try to be brief.
An IR is like a snapshot of a physical cab, a mic in a specific location, and the outboard gear chain the mic runs through. It's basically creating a digital version of the real cab and mic-up that you can use anywhere and recall at any time. When they're done correctly, an IR will sound identical to the cab, speakers, and mics used to create it.
You can use a single mic if that mic placement ticks all the tone boxes you're looking for, and if it doesn't, you might need a different mic placement or may want to blend it with another mic to fill out the missing frequency holes you're looking for. I personally don't use the Proximity parameter simply because it's just a low end EQ boost and I'd rather get my low end from natural mic'ed sources. But if that's what gets the tone you're after, go for it! The magic black box has a hundred ways to sculpt and fine tune your tone, and Proximity is a cool tool that saves time for a lot of people. But if you CAN, try blending in a ribbon mic until it gives you that low end fullness naturally.
When I go for a live tone, I like going with a studio style mic-up. A slightly brighter dynamic mic blended with a neutral ribbon mic in order to get detail and clarity out of the midrange and top end along with body and chunk for the low end without being boomy. I dial in a tone at low to mid volume and make sure that it sounds and feels good in my hands. Then I'll goose the volume and make small GEQ cuts to the main "live" problem areas... typically between 1-3k (where the vocal tends to live), but not too much. Just enough to tame anything that jumps out at me without compromising the character of the amp. Remember, any decent sound guy will tune a PA with frequency analyzers and well-recorded music, so if it sounds good in a studio, it should sound good in the room. If you go too dark with your live tone, you'll be lost in the mix and then nobody is happy.
Lastly, but most importantly, make sure your FRFR cab is tuned. Play music thorough it that you know and love and use the Output Graphic EQ on the Axe to make adjustments. If you play a song through it and think "whoa, that upper midrange is ripping my head off" or "I feel like the low end is missing something" or "the midrange feels boxy," make the adjustments so that it sounds "right" to you. Once your cab is tuned, it'll be easy to dial in a great tone with minimal effort.
So much for being brief. Hopefully SOMETHING in here will help you. HA!