Some more far field IRs: Vox AC30 w/ Celestion Blues!

antcarrier

Power User
Hello everyone,

I've been making some reflection free far field IRs recently. Its been a really fun project and I've learned a lot from the process. After each session I come away with new ideas on how I could improve my results for next time, mostly through trial and error. This time I borrowed a mate's old UK Vox AC30TB (its possibly older than I am!) with Celestion blues speakers. Since I really love the amp I really wanted to nail it's sound so I figured I'd experiment and go crazy with mic positions and angling the amp differently to what I've tried in the past just to make sure I nailed it.

These 2 IRs are certainly my favourite of the bunch, and I think they are also the best sounding IRs I have captured at all, to date. Fingers crossed, the next ones will be even better! :ugeek These are quite off axis, with the mic at an equal distance from each speaker. AC30 Blues 2 is further off axis than AC30 Blues 1. AC30 Blues 1 sounds more like the amp does in the room on a stand, which is what I'm used to hearing. I'm guessing that AC30 Blues 2 may sound more like the amp does on the floor... but in saying that I've only ever tried playing the amp when its on its stand!

I A/Bd the amp to my FRFR rig and tweaked a preset to match the amp. While it isn't identical (the open back effect is certainly one factor), it does sound very similar to the amp does while I'm in the room with them both. The guy who owns the amp tried it and agreed that it is a close approximation of how the amp sounds. And I am now very happy to have a digitised version of his awesome amp!

I've also included the preset (created with FW11beta). It was made for use with the AC30 Blues 1 IR. Remember that these IRs will NOT swap out well with presets that use close miked IRs. You will need to start from scratch and make your own!!

Have fun!
 
Last edited:
Cool! I need to check these out.

How are you capturing these? Do you have a nice ample space? Or outdoors?
 
No worries guys! I would be interested to hear you guys' thoughts or suggestions on these.

How are you capturing these? Do you have a nice ample space? Or outdoors?

I live next door to a big church and they are letting me use the auditorium for recordings. It's a lot of work as I need to empty out all the pews and put them back again after (this time at 4am!), but I've got an area with over 4 meters distance from either the cab or the mic to any reflective surface, including the ceiling. I'm also using a giant shiny (and heavy!) sheet of thick plastic as a reflective surface on the floor to put the mic and cab on, which are 2 meters apart. One thing I did differently for this session is use small pieces of wood to make a little stand to tilt the amp back with (my previous FF IRs only had off axis captures on the horizontal axis with the amp directly on the floor, and for this reason they sounded quite bright - and sound a bit unusual if they are off axis too much) - these ones have the amp tilted back with the mic placed at an equal distance from each speaker and are only off axis vertically, which is why I think they sound nicer and more natural than my previous captures. These mic positions are certainly more like where you would optimally put your head when listening to a cab than my previous ones.

I used a GT800fx, earthworks qtc30 and a focusrite forte, using logic 9s impulse response utility for capture/editing.

These ones can still be improved upon though (I ran into a few technical problems during the session and my poor earthworks qtc30 gave its live for these IRs!). When thats fixed for my next session I will aim for more takes from different y-axis positions and will also try using isolation foam in between the cab and the stand I'm using... just in case. For combo amps I may even try flipping them upside down because thats how you would normally hear them.. probably won't make any difference but can't hurt so why not! And a mate of mine has a bad cat I am looking forward to. haha!
 
Last edited:
Thanks! I downloaded them and hope to try them over the weekend.
I'm a big fan of FF IRs so this is very appreciated!
 
Thanks these are great! Would love to see pics of the amp/cab/speakers(church area cleared out, ha ha) you're shooting if you have any.
 
Thanks for sharing, I'll try them out asap, I really like to mix close mic'ed IRs with FF IRs so these could very well be gold to me - thanks
 
Thanks these are great! Would love to see pics of the amp/cab/speakers(church area cleared out, ha ha) you're shooting if you have any.

I was planning to actually, but didn't get around to it as I was pretty pressed for time. I'm hoping to do another shoot some time in the next few weeks, so I'll take some photos then.
 
Back
Top Bottom