Adjust Bass, Middle and Treble And/Or Moving Dyna-cab Position

Which do you mostly utilize to get your guitar tone?

  • Dyna-Cab Position

    Votes: 3 8.1%

  • Bass, Mids and Treble Knobs

    Votes: 3 8.1%

  • Both

    Votes: 31 83.8%
  • Total voters
    37
ApocalypticKatana

ApocalypticKatana

Experienced
since the release of the dyna-cab and being able to move the mic-position.

I like to think it's just another way of handling the bass, mids and treble frequencies like the bass, middle and treble knobs.

Though saying that, I know mic position and tone stack behave differently for the frequency response as you adjust the parameters.

I'm personally finding more tone-satisfaction moving mic position over adjusting the tone knobs these days.

what about you?
 
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I haven’t updated to the beta firmware yet, as I have events coming up and not a lot of time to adjust presets presently, but I find I set the “character” of the tone and distortion in the amp block, but use the IR selection and cab block’s preamp page to EQ the tone. I personally find the mid knob in the cab block preamp to help with how forward the tone sits. So I guess for me, the answer is both? But also the three band in the cab block
 
I've found that a good IR will work with multiple amps, and doesn't require a lot of eq, or rather the eq can be used to enhance the tone rather than to try and fix it. A bad IR can't be saved with any mount of eq.

That being said, it's really not one or the other. It's an iterative process. I'll start by picking an amp and doing some preliminary tweaks for a usable sound. Then I'll try a few IRs that I know work, then I'll try a few SICs. I may adjust some pre and post eq. Then I'll tweak the amp some more, etc.

(Shameless feature request) The ability to have multiple open edit pages in Axe Edit would make this process a lot less tedious.
 
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BMT can affect gain depending on the amp, so always it's own thing imo, separate from eq after the amp, and separate from IR which I tend to set and forget in a preset with maybe some hi/lo cut.
 
Is it best practice to start with BMT all at the 12:00 position, before moving the Mic?
And cab cuts, since the beginning I have always set my low cut to at least 80hz, and Hi cut at ~5000hz.
What do you think is the best methodology?
 
In a real world studio situation - the player would get the sound they want from the live room and the engineer would try to capture that sound.

With things like Dyna cabs, two notes and Mikko it can be like chicken and egg - where you maybe trying to compensate with the IR where a amp tweak maybe more desirable.

I tend to get the basic sound with the amp and then engineer with the IR but then when I think I've got it sounding good I'll sweep the BMT just to check things.
 
Aivoryuk said:
In a real world studio situation - the player would get the sound they want from the live room and the engineer would try to capture that sound.

With things like Dyna cabs, two notes and Mikko it can be like chicken and egg - where you maybe trying to compensate with the IR where a amp tweak maybe more desirable.

I tend to get the basic sound with the amp and then engineer with the IR but then when I think I've got it sounding good I'll sweep the BMT just to check things.
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Maybe once upon a time players got their tone and studios just recorded it, but engineers and producers have "suggested" amp, cab, and settings changes to guitarists for a long time. They've also used creative mic-ing techniques to get something on tape that didn't have much to do with what was happening in the room.

That said, I agree that the modeler/IR loop really does bring out those chickens and eggs...
 
Most studios I know of have a more or less stationary setup with cabs and mics in a sound proof room somewhere, and then they keep their amp heads in the control room and dial from there. (Sure, sometimes they go to town with mic placements and room mics and stuff, but in my experience, this is rare)

I would start by putting the ribbon at the center and blend it with the dynamic a little to the side (around the dust cab), the dynamic 3-6 dB louder than the ribbon. Then dial BMT, and at the end you can try to tweak the mic positions a bit.

Look at what Tim Pierce does. He never touches a mic during his daily session work.
 
Smittefar said:
Most studios I know of have a more or less stationary setup with cabs and mics in a sound proof room somewhere, and then they keep their amp heads in the control room and dial from there. (Sure, sometimes they go to town with mic placements and room mics and stuff, but in my experience, this is rare)

I would start by putting the ribbon at the center and blend it with the dynamic a little to the side (around the dust cab), the dynamic 3-6 dB louder than the ribbon. Then dial BMT, and at the end you can try to tweak the mic positions a bit.

Look at what Tim Pierce does. He never touches a mic during his daily session work.
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cause he would need to walk to his basement/iso room, reposition mics, come up, play-listen, go down adjust some, go up check again.
 
I look at it this way, if I could only control the amp head or the cab and I needed to get my tone? I'd take the cab every time.
In the real world having the right cab proved more valuable to me than exactly which amp - even though amps get more love and attention from reviewers and others.

Get the cab right and it will bring you many happy returns with many amps.

As a general idea, the later in the signal chain you shift EQ the more dramatic effect it will have. Sometimes the best outcome is a combination of pre and post amp EQ.

For example a bass cut before the amp will not be as dramatic as one after, but the combination of a bass cut before the amp and a bass boost after (whether from amp EQ, cab choice, or mic placement) is a lot of metalheads favorite sound tweaks for a tight but still present low end.
 
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Greg Ferguson said:
Use whatever you want. Dyna-Cab's mic positioning works really well, but if you need, or want, to use the regular knobs then use them. It's what sounds good to you.
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In the studio, they use it all -- amp choice, amp adjustments, cab choice, mic choice and placement, post eq, everything. Most of those are choices that HAVE to be made one way or another in the real world, and it's the same in Fractal-land. We just need to find some cool tones (and melodies, and rhythms...), and rock out.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
How do we know? He has a video producer who is splicing the videos for him; odds are really good the video is chopped up and parts removed.
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Because he had told us many times. All of his cabs are in his 'vault' downstairs. He is all about working quickly. That's what his cockpit is all about.
 
Interested to know if there is a document for each amp model that gives you an idea of the centre frequency of the B,M,T.
You can work out the depth and presence frequency from the power amp section.

I checked Yek's excellent amp guide but couldn't see it.
 
Aivoryuk said:
Interested to know if there is a document for each amp model that gives you an idea of the centre frequency of the B,M,T.
You can work out the depth and presence frequency from the power amp section.

I checked Yek's excellent amp guide but couldn't see it.
Click to expand...

The tonestack center frequency is an adjustable parameter on the preamp page in the amp block. Adjusting it can change the amp tone in a big way.
 
FPFL said:
I look at it this way, if I could only control the amp head or the cab and I needed to get my tone? I'd take the cab every time.
In the real world having the right cab proved more valuable to me than exactly which amp - even though amps get more love and attention from reviewers and others.

Get the cab right and it will bring you many happy returns with many amps.

As a general idea, the later in the signal chain you shift EQ the more dramatic effect it will have. Sometimes the best outcome is a combination of pre and post amp EQ.

For example a bass cut before the amp will not be as dramatic as one after, but the combination of a bass cut before the amp and a bass boost after (whether from amp EQ, cab choice, or mic placement) is a lot of metalheads favorite sound tweaks for a tight but still present low end.
Click to expand...
In the Fractalverse we have the libraries for this. I use almost the same cab/IR choice for every preset as a starting point and then pick an amp from there. That way I know the cab sound, and the amp can flavor that. I have about 4-5 cabs setup as I like them too (a lot of York Audio), so I can quickly go between a Marshall 4x12 with V30’s to the Vox with Blues or the Friedman or 2x10 Fender.

Then the amp can give me the character of distortion and if I need further EQ adjustments I start with the cab block preamp page BMT and hi/low cuts. If I feel I need more fine tuned EQ a PEQ block gets added at the very end of the signal chain.

Also much faster for the workflow to not need to chase a cab sound in each preset. Similar to the Tim Pierce “cockpit” method
 
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