Anyone find that they use the same cab, regardless of amp?

DakenSG

Member
Hey all,

Many times when I've tried to make a new preset from scratch, I cycle through the cabs that are recommended as an appropriate match to my amp type. Nearly every time I find that the suggested choices are not quite my taste, and I cycle back to the same factory cabinet that I've used in several other presets. Nearly every time it seems to fill the gap the others are missing, at least to my ears.

Anyone else have this experience? Or do you all vary your cabinets based on the amp or preset? I'm curious if maybe it's a matter of how I build my presets and what order I dial things in.
 
Hahaha, you mean you don't know??

For me it's Factory #21, 2x12 Double Verb R121.

I just took a second look at a few of my presets and realized it's not on every single one of them, but it's definitely on several.
 
I really like OwnHammer 412 MAR Green Vintage..the IR's labeled "warm" I really love at the moment. they just sound incredible.
 
I find there are particular cabs which work well with certain amp types, but it's certainly not a one size fits all.

For example, I really enjoy the Matchless DC-30 model (if only they also had the EF86 channel!) paired with the 2x12 boutique cabinet.

But putting the 2x12 boutique cabinet with the Friedman HBE is less than ideal.
 
That #21 has been a go-to for me for a long time (mostly fender model amps- I especially like it with 59 bass guy for home playing but it gets lost in a band mix). I am even attracted to that mic because of this cab model. I try other stuff and end up back with this one, especially as part of a mix. I used to use it with Marshall’s too, but lately I’ve been using the typical 4x12 cab models. I should mix #21 back in to see how it sounds to me now.

I mostly play classic rock edge of breakup stuff.
 
I can only speak from personal experience, but I've found that the cabinet is often times the biggest tonal difference in the amp vs cab category.

The same amp through a dozen different cabinets will sound a dozen different ways, but a dozen amps through the same cabinet will all have a similar sound (again, in MY experience).

That being said, I'm not too far off from you...I typically use one IR over and over, and experiment with a couple others. :)
 
I play mostly Marshall-type amps (1987x, 1959, Dirty Shirley, Friedman BE, Tucana Lead) and I’m always happy with either factory #57 or factory #60. I’ll dial in the clean tone I need using either of them and that works very well for me.

I also always have an AC20 preset reachable using the AC20 Ultrares Mix #119. But for the rest either #57 and #60 is usually what I end up with.
 
I can only speak from personal experience, but I've found that the cabinet is often times the biggest tonal difference in the amp vs cab category.

The same amp through a dozen different cabinets will sound a dozen different ways, but a dozen amps through the same cabinet will all have a similar sound (again, in MY experience).

That being said, I'm not too far off from you...I typically use one IR over and over, and experiment with a couple others. :)

I have the same experience. The cab impacts so much which frequencies are emphasized and attenuated that the overall impact of cab seems often bigger than the amp. Typically I use one cab with most presets. And if I find better cab I tend to change it to most presets. If the cab does not sound good, then its almost impossible to tune the amp to sound good. And other way, with good cab most amps seem to be tunable to usable sounds.
 
Yes! I use a two cab setup, Factory 73 and a Marshall 1960B with JBL K120's. Factory 73 gets everything above 200k and the JBL's only use <200k. This is not a gigging setup, but at home at low volumes it sounds great. These cabs have a FAR more effect on the preset's tone than the amp. This is for high gains presets.
 
Single cab: #132.

The M160 IRs from the corresponding Cab Pack sound even a little better (I like single mic IRs), but they're close to the stock cab, and using a stock cab is just easy.
 
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103 has been my go-to cab. Marshall - heavy and edge of breakup amp sounds. Sounds great in recordings too.

When I played with a simple , LIVE band setup recently ; acoustuc drums , bass amp , 1 guitar amp , my FRFR and AX8 , - my guitar was a bit LOST.
Sometimes an IR that doesn't sound the best alone ( with your guitar ) can sound best in-the-mix.
IMO.
 
Ever since getting into IRs, my go-to cab has been the Redwirez Bogner 2x12 with V30s using the Neumann U87 1 inch from the cone mic position. I use it with pretty much every amp unless I want a vintage Marshall tone.
 
4x12 Cali has been my go to for a long time for high gain sounds. For some reason, that cab sits well with me for many amps. A lot (most) of the FAS cabs are darker than my personal taste that one tends to feel ‘in your face’ to me. I will often use in stereo with something else but I love that cab.
 
Some time ago I realized that, while I used various amps and cabs, I always tweaked them to my liking by using filters, EQ, drive pedals, some advanced settings, and so on, in the end they all tended to sound very similar. So similar that I once confused my ENGL preset with my Recto one. :) This realization led to a major rethinking of all my patches, and I ended up using one cab for all my high gain stuff (with a tightened Recto and some Mesa Mark for solos), Bogner Shiva for cleans, with the same cab (OwnHammer ENGL) a Fender and a Friedman for more vintage cleans and overdrives through an OwnHammer Marshall cab, and an AC-30 with whatever matched cab I have (don’t remember). This set pretty much covers everything I want to play.

So, 3 cabs and 6 amps in total.
 
Having gotten into the habit of using the Marshall cabs of a previous rehearsal room I decided to stick with that setup in the Axe, so I selected a Marshall 1960B cab that I found most pleasing in the factory cab list. Later I added a FAS original 4x12 to it for high gain sounds and kept the 1960B for cleans and fuzz. The FAS just sounds better for high gain, but it also sucked up 10% more CPU power then the 1960B.
 
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