Cab Packs - are they necessary?

amp-cab combination is the most critical part of your tone

however, I'd say no.. you don't need cab packs, the standard cabs are great..
in fact I still use the normal res cabs for a lot of things, so don't think "not ultra-res = bad", because it's just not true..
no matter what resolution, the right amp-cab combination [for your tone taste] is far more important than the cab resolution..

I do have several additional cabs / cab packs [some were free [given by FAS] and some I bought..
on their own they are pretty good.. they offer even more choice [not that there's not enough choice on-board the Axe]..
the magic with the cab packs starts when you use cab-lab to make your own mixes.. that's where you can really focus and zero in a cab mix to your amp..
like all great swords, it's double edged...
you have so much choice you can create exactly what you're looking for
you have so much choice you can piss away years trying to create exactly what you're looking for

personally, I'm happy to get my tone to approach utopia rather than find it's zip code, street and house number..
it's a shorter path, quicker place to find and means you spend more time actually playing..
the remaining minute details:
- studio: are fixed in the mix
- live: don't matter to me [cos I use real cabs]

cab packs are great...
but be very careful about getting sucked into the quest for the holy graille of tone..
unless of course you're happy to never actually play guitar again.. lmao..
 
clarky said:
in fact I still use the normal res cabs for a lot of things, so don't think "not ultra-res = bad", because it's just not true..
no matter what resolution, the right amp-cab combination [for your tone taste] is far more important than the cab resolution..
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This. The Normal Res cabs are usually more than good enough for most of what I want, and frankly, they save a lot of CPU.
I use a real cab for playing live so it doesn't matter there.
 
I think with a real good full range "cab/IR" one could tweak the amp speaker section and the cab speaker section and get almost anything they want. Especially if starting with a Ultra Res. It seems to me the thousands of IR's are in a way just tweaking for you thousands of increments, that could be done much more easily in the first part of my statement. Or adding a filter etc.

As Ive asked before a bit more parameter selection in the speaker tabs may alleviate the need for pre tweeked IR's. In the end most of us are looking for super clear highs lows and mids, that we can tweak ourselves. I think Cliff began this a while back with the cab "size" dial, but that seems to just "f" with my sound more than improve it.
 
dpeterson said:
No, very much no, not necessary. Just options. IR's can be giant rabbit black time sucking hole if you let it.
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+1. If you like your tones they are good tones and make anything else "unnecessary" by definition. YOU get to define what is necessary for your sound NOT US.

Cabs are a great way to expand your palette but I strongly agree with the above... they are a ginormous time sink. I use maybe 6 IRs 80+% of the time. Once you find your set you may find it useful to add some flavor to shake things up here and there but it is HARDLY essential.

Plus the free ones posted on the forum can add some fun and many are very worthwhile.
 
Not my thread, but thanks again for posting this question BDer. Thanks to everyone here for pointing out a good balance of points...excellent food for thought! In my case as a extreme newbie(even though I am definitely tonally obsessed lol), I'm going to stick with the "factory" cabs for a while.
 
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Think of a Fractal user with ir's in the same way as a child with crayons.

It all depends upon the art you are trying to create and the way it makes you feel using the tools.

Some kids need 8 crayons, or 16, while some people use the 64 or 128 count sets. Some kids get to the point where they start custom melting and mixing crayons to get even a wider color palette.

Does that make the kid with the 8 crayons any less of an artist?

Not in the least.

If there is a cabinet sound that is not what you are looking for when chasing a tone, then perhaps it is time to choose the larger set of crayons.

For 5 months when I first got my Fractal, I just used the factory & free user ir's and many of them are good on their own.

Then I bought Cab Lab and started to see the wonderful tonal colors I could play with by mixing different ir's together.

I bought my first cab pack, The Amp Factory legends, due to the fact that I wanted to try out legendary Fane speakers and combine them in different ways with other speakers.

I probably will buy Cliff's pack that features the Super Beatle, because that is another set of colors that is intriguing to paint with IMHO.

Different strokes for different folks. Some people only use up to five amps in the unit. I use about 50, because I like to color with different tones as the mood strikes me or the composition calls for it in my mind.

It all depends on the sounds you are looking for and what sounds in your head that you are trying to achieve, whether that investment is right for you.
 
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Of course they're not necessary. I use 90% Stock IR's. The others were free (either Fractal or community produced.) I think of the 20+ cabs I use only one is not UR (that damn'd Basketweave TV Mix has something unique to it.) It's not that I wouldn't like one of the cab packs, but I had to judge whether I was satisfied with my tone or not...and I was. (Also, as has been said, you can run down a rabbit hole endlessly with tone chasing...and adding up another couple hundred cabs to that means I wouldn't sleep for a week, and my kids would forget my name.)

Although I will be buying the next iteration from Fractal...both of the free offerings are just stellar, so I'm in.
 
Are you missing out? Yes. Are you loosing out? No. The cab packs give you more options. Options are always a great thing but to many options is also the same reason ppl quit on the Axe. They get over whelmed or obsessed with tweaking and quit. I own no can packs. I have had the ace since the ultra and in the ultra just used a v30 cab. In the II and now XL I use only 3 cabs. One is the uber cab with the t75/v30 speakers and the other two are the ac blue and ac silver mixes (these are not UR). All are factory IR and I only use the AC cabs in stereo panned center on my Morgan ac20 slx presets otherwise everything else is the über cab. Not only do I not feel like I am losing out but I love my tone. I am going to buy one of the cab packs but that is only because it has the über cab:)


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You do NOT need them. I have lots tho. Sometimes I'm using only stock IRs, sometimes I like exploring the rabbit hole until I go blind then I jump out. But it's fun to explore there. If a cab sounds right, I don't pay attention to it's type as much.
 
BDer said:
Hello all,

I've been an Axe user for about 6 months now but haven't made a move to any of the available Cab Packs, mostly because I've been so pleased with what I've gotten out of the Axe as is.

So the question is, am I missing out on a whole new world of tone awesomeness?

Thanks,

Bill
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The cab packs offer up sounds you may really like, or not care for depending on taste and what you bought. They offer an optional tone you may fall in love with that was un available before. I don't own all the cab packs, but the ones I do have were worth it just for finding that jewel of sound I didn't have beforehand. Even if only one or two sound great, imagine having to buy the actual cab for the same gratification... The cab packs I do have are worth every penny to me. :pride:
 
I use the stock cabs and purchased a cab pack from another company a few months ago. All sound great but I can tell you that the Clark Kent "Gift IR" cab is one of my "go to" cabs now and the free Beetle 4x12 that Cliff just offered for free is also awesome. In my opinion, it was like lifting a blanket off of my computer monitors. Both of those IRs sounded clearer and more real.

I still don't understand the idea behind Cab Lab so I'm afraid to purchase. :) I guess I don't understand if it is a bargain because I don't know really what it does. I don't have any guitar cabs in my house and thought it was used to capture your own guitar cabs. I'm probably way off...
 
electronpirate said:
that damn'd Basketweave TV Mix has something unique to it.
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funny… I'm the same with that one..
after taking a protracted tour of my cab IR library, and then making even more cab mixes of my own in cab lab,
I somehow keep ending up with a stereo cab, TV mix to the left, AX mix to the right..
it's like they're on boomerang.. you throw 'em out and they just keep coming back..
 
My experience has been that you'll buy hundreds of IRs to find half a dozen. Once you have the half dozen that work for you, you're done--so if you're lucky enough to find them in the stock and/or free offerings, STOP!
 
dpeterson said:
No, very much no, not necessary. Just options. IR's can be giant rabbit black time sucking hole if you let it.
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I disagree with this.
For me having those options are like having instant new presets available.
Go to a preset and spend less than a minute trying a few IRs and will always find something I'm happy with.
 
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