Best IR's to buy?

CrazyBadGuitarist

CrazyBadGuitarist

Inspired
Hey everybody,

Could you guys please give me some good recommendations for some IR's to buy? I bought some Redwire ones, and I have Fractal cab pack 7. I'm not looking for djent tone at all, but something that can make some good heavy tones. Something that sounds a bit loose and gritty possibly? Where I could roll of the volume knob and still have some thickness to it? Not sure if IR's have anything to do with that to be honest as I'm new to them.

If you could give me some recommendations on what to get, and what IR from a pack specifically sounds great to you that would help me. Possibly a link to buy it if it's not really obvious?

Thanks everybody

Dan
 
I know it's easy to get option paralysis these days with a these options. I suggest you check out recorded clips to base your decision. Obviously out of my work everyone loves CP13. It's definitely not "just a djent pack".
 
It's such a personal thing and a bit of trial and error to find what works for you.
If you like Cab Pack 7 I'd say look at Cab Pack 13. Both packs are excellent but sound quite different to each other.
I don't djent, I'm more hard rock/heavy rock guy with occasional metal leanings and CP13 is what works for me right now.
I do have a soft spot for that pack, it was one of the first things I bought to add to my Axe and it just suited me really well.
I find that with certain amps I get a slightly hairy mid range which I love, might be the grit you mentioned. Super versatile.

My favourite is pairing it with the Brit Pre at the moment.
 
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Just to show that it's not just hype and I'm being genuine here I want to demonstrate this video I shot demonstrating how good Cab Pack 13 really is:


Pick any amp sim and any random IR from f.ex. the Alloy Aces folder and you'll get an awesome sound even without picking a specific IR that is and instead doing it randomly. And don't worry. It sounds completely different to Cab Pack 7.

However if you want something completely different that's not based on Mesa cabs then I would recommend you get the new Misha cab that's coming out hopefully in a few weeks. It's got Angle (based on Engl) and Citrus (based on Orange) 4x12 cabs and completely new Misha Mixes etc. it's essentially two must have Cab Packs in one.
 
What's the latest and greatest for Cab Pack's these days? Anything out since CP13 that blows it out of the water? That pack was excellent, btw - haven't really had to shop around for much more but it's been long enough that I'm sure they've produced some new stuff since then.
 
My personal vote is for anything by Fractal Audio or ML Sound Labs.
Can't really go wrong with those, most packs are surprisingly versatile.

Help us help you, though- out of the stock IR's on the Axe Fx, which ones do you like the most/least?
 
Justin Morse said:
What's the latest and greatest for Cab Pack's these days? Anything out since CP13 that blows it out of the water? That pack was excellent, btw - haven't really had to shop around for much more but it's been long enough that I'm sure they've produced some new stuff since then.
Click to expand...

I personally think Cab Pack 13 is still highly relevant.
Nothing has really come around to supplant it yet.
If you want something comparable in general character, you can't go wrong with the ML Bulb Zilla pack.
It's a current favorite of mine- has a similar vibe as Cab Pack 13, and works surprisingly well with both clean, mid gain, and high gain.
 
The Last Romantic said:
My personal vote is for anything by Fractal Audio or ML Sound Labs.
Can't really go wrong with those, most packs are surprisingly versatile.
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Thank you, that really means a lot. :)

Generally speaking I wouldn't say there is a "best cab pack" that will be best for everyone. There are so many genres, types of guitar players and in addition to that different tastes even within the same band playing the same music. I think that's the whole beauty of guitar tones. We get to create our own voice.

Cab Pack 7 and Cab Pack 13 both get a lot of love as they are "based on Mesa" and I think Mesa cabs in general work for a huge range of genres although many people see them as a metal thing. Actually the closest thing to Cab Pack 13 is probably the Pre-Rola 75hz IR's in Cab Pack 20 or the Creamback in the Brit Collection II. That should IMO give people a better understanding of Mesa cabs not being "just a metal thing". :)

About latest and greatest... I've done huge upgrades to the studio... as in we've got a new studio that got built for this purpose. Now we actually have a room that's acoustically the ideal size for 4x12 guitar cabinets with acoustic treatment and measurements done so the cabinets work up to their full potential. That being said I always took special care about making sure everything was just right so nothing to worry about but before it was maybe a bit more ghetto while what I have now is better than I even imagined. I'll have to shoot a video of it. :) The difference is not night and day but I do feel like the newer IR's are a bit tighter and focused. We're definitely talking about that final 5% of fine tuning a guitar sound.

I strongly suggest rock guys to check out the new Brit Collection II. Harry Maes did and awesome job showing how it sounds:

 
ML SOUND LAB said:
Thank you, that really means a lot. :)

Generally speaking I wouldn't say there is a "best cab pack" that will be best for everyone. There are so many genres, types of guitar players and in addition to that different tastes even within the same band playing the same music. I think that's the whole beauty of guitar tones. We get to create our own voice.

Cab Pack 7 and Cab Pack 13 both get a lot of love as they are "based on Mesa" and I think Mesa cabs in general work for a huge range of genres although many people see them as a metal thing. Actually the closest thing to Cab Pack 13 is probably the Pre-Rola 75hz IR's in Cab Pack 20 or the Creamback in the Brit Collection II. That should IMO give people a better understanding of Mesa cabs not being "just a metal thing". :)

About latest and greatest... I've done huge upgrades to the studio... as in we've got a new studio that got built for this purpose. Now we actually have a room that's acoustically the ideal size for 4x12 guitar cabinets with acoustic treatment and measurements done so the cabinets work up to their full potential. That being said I always took special care about making sure everything was just right so nothing to worry about but before it was maybe a bit more ghetto while what I have now is better than I even imagined. I'll have to shoot a video of it. :) The difference is not night and day but I do feel like the newer IR's are a bit tighter and focused. We're definitely talking about that final 5% of fine tuning a guitar sound.

I strongly suggest rock guys to check out the new Brit Collection II. Harry Maes did and awesome job showing how it sounds:

Click to expand...



Groovy - glad to hear about the upgrades, not that there is anything wrong with what you've created thus far - I finally acquired an Apollo Twin which works for me. There's a noticeable difference running the Axe into nicer preamps, looking forward to trying different packs as well as using future releases! Awesome stuff so far regardless - hard to try them all, so many to pick from. Thanks for the Ace packs, the recommendations really help!
 
Justin Morse said:
What's the latest and greatest for Cab Pack's these days? Anything out since CP13 that blows it out of the water? That pack was excellent, btw - haven't really had to shop around for much more but it's been long enough that I'm sure they've produced some new stuff since then.
Click to expand...
If you like CP13, then I'd recommend OwnHammer's Heavy Hitters Collection. I own it and am extremely happy with the quality and versatility. Here's a link to it: http://www.ownhammer.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=172&products_id=382
 
ML SOUND LAB said:
Thank you, that really means a lot. :)

Generally speaking I wouldn't say there is a "best cab pack" that will be best for everyone. There are so many genres, types of guitar players and in addition to that different tastes even within the same band playing the same music. I think that's the whole beauty of guitar tones. We get to create our own voice.

Cab Pack 7 and Cab Pack 13 both get a lot of love as they are "based on Mesa" and I think Mesa cabs in general work for a huge range of genres although many people see them as a metal thing. Actually the closest thing to Cab Pack 13 is probably the Pre-Rola 75hz IR's in Cab Pack 20 or the Creamback in the Brit Collection II. That should IMO give people a better understanding of Mesa cabs not being "just a metal thing". :)

About latest and greatest... I've done huge upgrades to the studio... as in we've got a new studio that got built for this purpose. Now we actually have a room that's acoustically the ideal size for 4x12 guitar cabinets with acoustic treatment and measurements done so the cabinets work up to their full potential. That being said I always took special care about making sure everything was just right so nothing to worry about but before it was maybe a bit more ghetto while what I have now is better than I even imagined. I'll have to shoot a video of it. :) The difference is not night and day but I do feel like the newer IR's are a bit tighter and focused. We're definitely talking about that final 5% of fine tuning a guitar sound.

I strongly suggest rock guys to check out the new Brit Collection II. Harry Maes did and awesome job showing how it sounds:

Click to expand...

Personally I think that the Zilla pack can do just about anything & do it justice.
And those IR's are incredibly easy to work with, easy to blend in a stereo setup.
IMO, that cab pack is one of the very best.
That's my .02¢
 
Perdikament said:
Personally I think that the Zilla pack can do just about anything & do it justice.
And those IR's are incredibly easy to work with, easy to blend in a stereo setup.
IMO, that cab pack is one of the very best.
That's my .02¢
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That's exactly what the feedback has been like which is why I took on the same approach to this "ML Brit Collection II" pack. :) So many flavors that you can go through super quickly instead of concentrating on the small nuances like most packs do. I'll definitely take the packs to that direction from now on. The people have spoken and that makes me happy. :)
 
ML SOUND LAB said:
That's exactly what the feedback has been like which is why I took on the same approach to this "ML Brit Collection II" pack. :) So many flavors that you can go through super quickly instead of concentrating on the small nuances like most packs do. I'll definitely take the packs to that direction from now on. The people have spoken and that makes me happy. :)
Click to expand...
The Brit II I don't have yet, but I'm pretty sure I have every one of your other Cab Packs. I think I remember having a total of over 6,000 IR's..& to be honest, for me, if there's even one killer IR in an entire Cab Pack it's worth the price of the entire pack. (*Theres ALWAYS many, many killer IR's in all your packs.)
The Zilla Pack though really can cover anything I can think of with just those IR's that are grouped in with the ones that have contain "Full", "Flattest" etc..(there's probably like 15-20 IR's in that group... (I'm away from that PC right now)).
IMO, that Cab Pack is the easiest to navigate , work with, and sound fantastic with pretty much any Amp with minimal tweaking & killer results. It's consistently good across the board.
I'm also a big fan of the ENGL & Diesel IR's but from what I remember there's a lot more to go through.
Like the 1st Brit Pack, there's a freakin TON of IR's in that pack..
It kinda gets to be like trying to pick out a Cologne or Perfume, after awhile you're not sure what your smelling anymore until ya can "reset" your senses.
 
Everyone has a different taste in IR's.
The best thing is to check out some demo's and maybe try some of the freebies to discover which sound you prefer.
Good luck!
 
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