Are third party IRs necessary?

Hi guys,

Thinking about getting the following at some point:

These amount up to quite a bit of money so I'm only thinking, or maybe just grabbing one pack for now. I'm quite new to modelling and IRs - I have a basic understanding but could someone give me an idea of how beneficial packs like these are?

What's the difference compared to the factory cabs etc...? Why do people buy these instead of creating their own presets from the factory Axe blocks? I know they must save a nice amount of time as they are basically just 'plug and play' and there's not much tweaking to do - I'm trying to decide whether I should invest in these or not.

It's probably quite a subjective topic and depends on different use cases but it would be great to understand more about this.

Thanks :)
 
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All of the above are very good packs, no doubt, but if you have a III, your question becomes even more subjective, as your factory cab options are so many and varied...and all three of the IR makers are well represented there, as are others you will discover if you decide to fall down this very popular rabbit hole...and just maybe find the holy grail tone you hear in your dream. ..but many have done that without a single 3rd party IR....I ain’t one of them.
 
As has already been said, some of the best ir makers cabs are included in the factory banks, so I would hold off until you see what you like. Chances are pretty good that you will find the sound you’re after just with the factory stuff. If not, spend away!
 
Before the Axe-Fx III, my answer was a definitive "yes". With the sheer number of IRs plus the capability of mixing 4 of them gives me almost everything I used the 3rd party IRs and Cab Lab for. Now my answer is "probably not".
 
Thanks everyone. I'll just keep experimenting. I see a lot of people from various groups and forums saying they 100% recommend third party IRs like these but I also see otherwise.
 
Like Randy said, you have a lot of options with the Axe-Fx III already. While it would be good for my business to promote you to go and buy a bunch of my IR's it's also important for you to learn the power of IR's and what they can do for your sound. Also with the III you can try out different IR producers and get used to the feel of things to make your decision on who makes the kind of IR's you'd like more of.

With IR's you get option paralysis very easily and some of these packs have thousands of IR's in them. The best feedback I've ever gotten has been for the Greatest Hits pack: https://shop.fractalaudio.com/ml-greatest-hits-ultrares-collection/ and that's because you have 22 different cabs BUT only one mix IR option for each but those are the options that I personally would choose as the best options. So there's a ton of versatility but it's super quick to use that pack. Less time tweaking - more time playing - you'll be happier. :)
 
No, you don't "need" any of the after-market IRs; the ones in the stock AFX III are very good. Cliff and crew have selected many of what they consider the best of the best, and included them in the rig.

That being said, there are many great IRs out there; the ones you mention are all great packages.

Let's say you already have a Maserati as your daily driver.... do you "need" a Lamborghini? Probably not. In reality, a VW bug would get you from Point A to Point B. But wouldn't it be more fun if you have both the Maserati AND the Lamborghini? And, while I can't speak from personal experience, I'd bet either of these two cars have their own characteristics, and those handling anomalies that might make you prefer one over the other, on a given day. Either are FANTASTIC cars, but they would both add to your enjoyment.
 
buying Cab Packs is up to you,also you said this"These amount up to quite a bit of money"lol you bought the Axe 3 and that was a quite of money:D
 
Yeah for the money that goes into a few sets of strings you can get your IR game covered for life so the money side of things is something I don't personally understand. :)
 
Yeah for the money that goes into a few sets of strings you can get your IR game covered for life so the money side of things is something I don't personally understand. :)
is easy to understand,some people want free stuff,the other day one guy sent me a facebook pm asking me if i could send him some of my cab packs i told him sorry bro but i paid for those cab packs,then he got angry and started to insult me,i said to myself what the fuck is wrong with some people,that guy have money to buy the axefx but he didnt want to spend some money on cab packs.
 
I don’t think you need them as a must, axe 3 is amazing and has lots of options, but there are some out there that make the real difference.
YA 212 has some blue and gold that are amazing and improved massively my AC tones, I algo purchased ML silver and Fr and need to say there’s an IR called appetite in his pack that pushed my Marshall preset to the next level...
Haven’t tested the ones of the other guys but I am sure I will eventually!?
Are they needed? Nope
Do they add value to out tone? Yep
For barely 20 quid they make the real difference so I encourage you to go for them!!!!
 
I think don't buy them at first.

I got the first delivery of a III in Europe so have had it a while, what I'd say is that the factory ones are really good and will definitely get you going.

My belief is that the previous generation of IRs are completely covered in the factory bundle. If you look at the content YA, OH and ML have created since the III has come out - I really think there's been a significant change, like they've up'd their game too in some way.

So start off with the factory bundle, and then buy targeted packs as you need them (say for example you weren't getting the Vox sound you wanted, look at the recent OH and YA releases and try one of those).

I've ended up with 2-3 packs from each producer, bought over time - which has worked and does work very well for me, I think each producer has a subtly distinct sound, for each speaker I have 2-3 flavours based on that and it's not unmanageable .

What I've done is colour coded my user IRs based on producer, I can then quickly filter - and I spend more time on IR selection than I do on amp controls these days, I set the gain and master volume in the amp and then broadly adjust the tone with the IR, then I tweak the tone with the amp controls - that's a new approach for me, but with the III I feel it really pays off and feels much more realistic

Hope this helps
 
I'd exhaust what is available in the unit first, unless there is an ir not in there that is specific to your tone or some kind of nostalgic purpose.
 
As someone who is also new to the III and Ir’s in general, I’ve found your choice of output and use case is key. Definitely not a necessity though.

My use of ir’s in presets specifically for playing/practicing out of my HS8’s differs than what I’d use for recording something to be mixed. What you hear in a YouTube demo of an ir could sound very different through your components. Definitely takes some trial and error and is part of the fun.
 
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I think you simply listen to things differently when you're playing. F.ex. the feeling of how much gain you "need" when you're playing vs how much is really needed is very different.
 
I don’t have a 3 but I have an AX8 with about a million impulses.

The advantage of the 3 is that you can easily mix your own cab blends in the device where you can’t on the older devices. So if you learn to do that well you can shape your own sound rather than relying on other peoples mixes.

I think I’d look at the Austin Buddy pack where he dials everything in before looking at impulses for the 3.
 
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