Cab IR’s and tone...

So, I’ve owned the AX8 for over a year or so And I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on programming sounds that are appealing, though I think that I could use some more help understanding the idiosyncratic resonances of certain cabs and IR’s made by fellow users or companies such as Ownhammer, etc.

I guess my question is, are there any hard fast “rules” for getting cool tones or authentic tones? Or is it primarily trial and error in this digital format.

For instance, I’m trying to program a magnatone amp and can setup. I know research is essential in trying to recreate some of these amps, but I wonder what IR’s would get me in ballpark range not only in the size of speakers department, but the responsiveness, equalization, etc.

Pardon the ignorance and thanks in advance for any info and advice you guys can offer regarding impulse response creation and selection in your patches, especially patches where you isn’t end up using a “stock” or “traditional” IR because you thought it sounded better.
 
Authentic in this context meaning Objectively sounding like an iconic tone. Say, Angus Young or Brian may or Mike Campbell tones. I’m not gullible enough to think that if you just get an amp and of a bunch of pedals that the artist in question used that you will sound exactly like them, but I definitely have had experiences plugging in this guitar or that into a particular emulation or, indeed, an amp in the real world and just thought: “man, This sounds exactly like....”

Being able to A/B things and Objectively hear the unbelievable similarity, if not exactness... I hope I am making sense…
 
I’m not a deep tweaker and by no stretch an expert, but if you’re not already on to this which I’m guessing you probably are after a year or so, I think one fundamental adjustment is to hi cut and low cut somewhere in the chain to replicate the real world response of a guitar speaker.
I THINK that even though the IRs are created from real speakers, the IRs and the FRFR are capable or reproducing frequencies well beyond the range and levels of their real world counterparts.
Also for me and my favorite guitar, I consistently lower the input trim to get what I think sounds and feels right.

But as suggested above, the “rules” are probably different for each of us.
 
I really Appreciate your reply! I am hip to the filtering of the cabs… What I’m talking about more is, for instance, when you play through a Vox AC 15 there’s a certain woody quality to the notes as perceived by the ear. If, however, you replace it with a different cabinet, all of a sudden the woodiness seems to disappear. Also, it seems that tracking and reaction time are different depending on the cab impulse you are using. I’m really looking more for tips on how to gauge certain types of responsiveness with certain types of amps. Nothing specific, really, but just being able to make things sound and feel as close as possible to the original, with emphasis on the feeling of an amp.... For instance, all of the mesa boogie dual rectifier emulation is that I’ve played through sound pretty spot on, but don’t feel the same to me. I know that this can be changed or modified with a different cabinet, but I don’t really have the time to sit and scroll through every single factory end-user cabinet, plus after a while ear fatigue starts to set in and you don’t really know what you’re listening to anyway.
 
I run into this problem too. The cab can have as much an affect on the tone you're trying to (re)create as the amp you choose. And creating a tone is an iterative process... you must dial an amp in for the cab chosen, then if it's not quite there, you try a different cab... but this requires that dial you dial the amp in again and so on and so on until you find what you're looking for. This is beyond time consuming and eats into my limited practice time (this is why I abandoned all digital effects in the past). It can be a very frustrating experience (to me anyway). The only way I know to reduce this effort is to put a looper in the beginning of my chain, and just scroll through the cabs until I find one that's "close" enough to start with. It doesn't make the tweaking any quicker, but at least I'm working over a consistent riff and my hands are free.

And to add to this, I have not figured out how to audition cabs not already loaded into my AX8. I know how to audition presets off my computer, but not just a cab into an existing preset. (I imagine there's a way and I'm just missing something).

Because of how much effort and time this takes, I tend to only do this for certain tones. The ones that will get the most use. I also would like to learn a better workflow. But even with an easier workflow, this would still be very time consuming.

Sometimes too many options is a bad thing.
 
I know what you mean - my advice would be to do some research on what equiopment/cabs the guys were using you are looking for and then try the approximation. In many cases a sm57 mixed with a condenser not placed in the extreme positons (edge - cone) gives you a decent starting point, then work your way through.
 
I run into this problem too. The cab can have as much an affect on the tone you're trying to (re)create as the amp you choose. And creating a tone is an iterative process... you must dial an amp in for the cab chosen, then if it's not quite there, you try a different cab... but this requires that dial you dial the amp in again and so on and so on until you find what you're looking for. This is beyond time consuming and eats into my limited practice time (this is why I abandoned all digital effects in the past). It can be a very frustrating experience (to me anyway). The only way I know to reduce this effort is to put a looper in the beginning of my chain, and just scroll through the cabs until I find one that's "close" enough to start with. It doesn't make the tweaking any quicker, but at least I'm working over a consistent riff and my hands are free.

And to add to this, I have not figured out how to audition cabs not already loaded into my AX8. I know how to audition presets off my computer, but not just a cab into an existing preset. (I imagine there's a way and I'm just missing something).

Because of how much effort and time this takes, I tend to only do this for certain tones. The ones that will get the most use. I also would like to learn a better workflow. But even with an easier workflow, this would still be very time consuming.

Sometimes too many options is a bad thing.
You have to select the "Ax8 manage cabs" in the Ax8 Edit menu under "tools", then find the folder on your pc / mac with the ir in the browser menu.

Then activate "Auto-Audition" and with the looper af the first position play someting, and use the scroll down button (mac for me) to test one after the other ir.Mark the best ir with the right-click as a favorite, then just check the favorites one more time. Place with "drag and drop" into the user ir, do not forget to save. - finished ...
 
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