Do any of you guy’s run the cab Sims going into a power amp or effects return on your amp?

John Milldrum

John Milldrum

Member
Do any of you guy’s run the cab Sims going into a power amp or effects return on your amp? When I bypass it always sounds thin to me.
 
I've only run into an effects loop and yes, I run it with the cab on more often than not. I've done the same thing into the front of one of my amps as well with good results. I do make some adjustments to the amp and/or cab block to keep it from being too 'woofy' but it does sound better with the cab in most cases. That's what's so cool about digital gear, you can do stuff that wouldn't or shouldn't work and have it sound great. The sky's the limit with the AX8!
 
So far I've found that activating the cab block does make it sound a lot bigger, fuller, etc. But it also makes it sound 'weird' in a lot of ways. So even though my initial response to turning on a cab might be that its so much MORE, and then turning it back off again by comparison makes a good tone sound too thin....I feel like in reality the better thing to do is get a good tone without the cab block and leave it. It sounds and feels more like a real amp to me that way.

Everything is preference, but thats my experience. I haven't put a lot of effort into trying to use an IR with a cab, so that might have something to do with it. I also play 95% high gain metal stuff, so it might also be a different world for other types of tones.
 
John Milldrum said:
Do any of you guy’s run the cab Sims going into a power amp or effects return on your amp? When I bypass it always sounds thin to me.
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Generally no. You are using a real cab so no need for the cab simulation. If it sounds thin, use amp block EQ or other blocks like normal.

Remember that the cab block/sim is also simulating a mic picking up the cab to a mixer, so there can be additional bass or proximity effect adding low end there. Use the multitude of EQ options to shape it going to a real cab. It will be different than using a cab sim (with mic).
 
There was a thread on this not to long ago. No for me. Tried it again to be fair as others seemed to get something from it but my trial confirmed that it gets me no where near what an amp into cab should sound like.
 
There is an important step to take to optimize the AX8 for a specific speaker cabinet.

What works for me is to go to the speaker page on the amp block and adjust the high and low frequency and high and low resonance to get definition at both ends: to get the bass "burly"; not wimpy or woofy: and the treble sparkly but not shrill or veiled.* At that point the mid range should pop into proper focus. You can still indirectly tailor the extension into the mids (if it comes to that) by adjusting the Q knobs on the T&B . Do it by ear at performance volume. The usual front panel knobs of the amp model will take it from there.

IME These settings are similar for amp models of a type into a particular cabinet. Keep in mind that some amps just are not going to match well with some cabinets. One cabinet can be quite versatile, though: I am able to get many amp models performing to my satisfaction with one cabinet, whereas its a different IR with each amp with FRFR.

*(If limpid, veiled & wimpy is what you're after you should go for that - I'm not denigrating that worthy pursuit: they are, however, at cross purposes from my goals).
 
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John Milldrum said:
Do any of you guy’s run the cab Sims going into a power amp or effects return on your amp? When I bypass it always sounds thin to me.
Click to expand...
That's because you dialed in your tone with the cab sim on.

Try it again, only this time, dial in your tone with the cab sim off. When you do that, the cab sim will make your tone sound woolly and blanketed.
 
Volume makes all the difference. I've found Cab sim into a real cab useful only for low bedroom volume practice at home. At stage volume it sounds weird and wrong to me.
 
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John Milldrum said:
Do any of you guy’s run the cab Sims going into a power amp or effects return on your amp? When I bypass it always sounds thin to me.
Click to expand...

On my side, I made a preset with a specific route for OUT2 bypassing the CAB but I have some "ugly unwanted distortion". Sounds a bit like a AMP without a CAB, or some "digital distortion". Something noticeable and not pretty. I didn't check to have the CAB on the route for this but I will. I should perhaps recreate a patch from scratch to identify the root cause of this but I didn't had the time so far. Still some work to do on this :)
 
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