Do You Guys Mostly Use 3rd Party IRs or Are You Happy with Factory Cabs/IRs?

Mark Al

Inspired
Just wondering what you guys experience on this.

So far, I found it much easier to get a good sound using IRs from 3rd parties, likely due to my familiarity with them, e.g. I have a methodology that I developed over the years using them, including RedWiresz, OH etc, and I have a TON of them, so I know roughly how to navigate among the sea of them :)

However, for factory cabs, I really do not like the labeling of A/B/C, which gives me a hard time to associate or remember what I like or not like, after auditioning (I understand Cliff's reason for labeling it that way, which, with all respect, I do not agree with )

I will spend more time with Factory cab/IRs, but so far I am not impressed by most of them...

What's you guys experience on factory IRs? Are there some that you'd recommend for clean, crunch, drive etc sound? thanks :)
 
Many of the factory IRs are 3rd Party. The naming came from the IR creators.

Besides Fractal (FAS) there are Austin Buddy (AB), ML Sound Labs (ML), York Audio (YA), Ownhammer (OH), Dr Bonkers (DB), Valhallir (VH), Celestion (CEL). Might be others.

You can get more details here:

https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cabinet_models_list#Axe-Fx_III_and_FM3
Yes, I understand that. I just didn't have much luck auditioning most of them so far. Many of these chosen 3rd party ones seem to be on the muddy, boomy side and require quite some high/low cut to work but still sounds a bit muddy/hash in the end..., not sure why...

People who has RedWires IRs (especially the vintage pack) would probably know what I mean, which allows one to chose all different combinations with (mic, cap/capEdge/cone/coneEdge positions, distance), which allows me to get a clear and balanced sound much easier in the end...

Many of the factory IRs seem to sounds like those shot at cap edge, cone or cone edge at very close range to my ear.... not sure if they were chosen deliberately this way...
 
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Maybe let me ask the question a bit differently:

1. Are you using factory cab/IRs or your own 3rd party IRs most of the time?
2. If you are happy with factory IRs, which ons are your favorite/recommendation/go-to for clean, crunch and lead tones?

Thanks!
 
Maybe let me ask the question a bit differently:

1. Are you using factory cab/IRs or your own 3rd party IRs most of the time?
2. If you are happy with factory IRs, which ons are your favorite/recommendation/go-to for clean, crunch and lead tones?

Thanks!


I tried a lot of 3rd party IRs, now i use IRs from Cabir.eu They are very underrated🙁
 
I have megatons of 3rd party IRs, but for the last months I've been stuck with this mix of factory IRs (for hi-gain and lead tones):

Factory1#63 2x12 MAR-66 OH-GREEN U70 OH
Factory1#65 2x12 MAR-66 OH-MDRN 84 Rear OH at -16.6dB
Preamp FET1 HiQ Drive:3, Sat:1.2
Bass:0, Mid:0.9, Treb:2
LoCut:100Hz@24dB/Oct, HiCut 5200Hz@18dB/Oct

I've found my tone there. No matter how long I spend tweaking with other IRs, I always realize that I am wasting my time because I am trying to make them sound like what I already have there.
 
I have all the Redwirez stuff, probably a few hundred dollars of other stuff from over the years, so tens of thousands of IR’s on my HD, and I’ve never used or bothered with any of them since getting the III, don’t use a single user cab. The factory stuff covers every base as far as I’m concerned.
 
I like 3rd party IRs only because they're easier to navigate. I am certain I could find my sounds using stock cabs.

In general I don't spend much time on IRs. I found an Ownhammer pack with a few different cabinets I needed for my sounds, auditioned the premade mixes (8 per cab), selected the one I liked best for each cab. Never looked back.
 
I have all the Redwirez stuff, probably a few hundred dollars of other stuff from over the years, so tens of thousands of IR’s on my HD, and I’ve never used or bothered with any of them since getting the III, don’t use a single user cab. The factory stuff covers every base as far as I’m concerned.
I also have some RedWirez stuff, as they have a few unique things. Same with Ownhammer, York, ML, Dr. Bonkers, and a few others. I use a mix of those and the factory cabs in my presets. I like being able to take a mix of 2 or 3 IRs and distill them down to one to save that 6-7% of CPU usage, so I lean towards aftermarket stuff, which allows use of CabLab3 to do that. :)

I like info, generally, about what I am working with, too, and most of the aftermarket cabs have decent enough info about what mic, distance, position built in. A 57 on cap edge and a 160 or 121 on cap is my favorite combo. Nice if you can pull it back a couple inches to let it bloom a bit, but not a deal breaker if close-mic'ed....
 
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I pretty much use OwnHammer exclusively, York does great work as well. Most of the factory IR's are too dark for my tastes. YMMV
 
Wouldn‘t it be awesome, if @FractalAudio comes up with a new interface for cab/IR selection? Something like:

1. Select a cab
2. Select a mic
3. Select a position, eg cap, cap edge, cone or cone edge.
4. Then select a distance.

Perhaps they don’t need to shoot IRs for all combinations above, instead just a subset of them, them extrapolate/model the rest of combinations. Then Fractal will be providing a consistently set of IR/sounds, covering a whole wide range that allow users to methodically find what they need.

This may require some nontrivial amount of work... but I think this will be hugely better than relying on “randomly” assembled 3rd party IRs which often sound inconsistent and incomplete... And it will be a huge step above Helix!

I love the amp modeling of Axe 3, but I think we can a lot better on the cab/IR side, which is at least 50% of the tone if not more... Just a suggestion, please think about it :)
 
Wouldn‘t it be awesome, if @FractalAudio comes up with a new interface for cab/IR selection? Something like:

1. Select a cab
2. Select a mic
3. Select a position, eg cap, cap edge, cone or cone edge.
4. Then select a distance.

Perhaps they don’t need to shoot IRs for all combinations above, instead just a subset of them, them extrapolate/model the rest of combinations. Then Fractal will be providing a consistently set of IR/sounds, covering a whole wide range that allow users to methodically find what they need.

This may require some nontrivial amount of work... but I think this will be hugely better than relying on “randomly” assembled 3rd party IRs which often sound inconsistent and incomplete... And it will be a huge step above Helix!

I love the amp modeling of Axe 3, but I think we can a lot better on the cab/IR side, which is at least 50% of the tone if not more... Just a suggestion, please think about it :)
Fractal already moved away from modeling mics. That was in the Axe Fx II. It makes IR captures harder and it's less realistic.

You might want to look into the "Mikko" software.

Also there was a recent thread here about faIRmegeddon software, which is also on the vein.
 
Fractal already moved away from modeling mics. That was in the Axe Fx II. It makes IR captures harder and it's less realistic.

You might want to look into the "Mikko" software.

Also there was a recent thread here about faIRmegeddon software, which is also on the vein.
Yeah, I know that Mikko’s post on TGP, and that software is a great example of what I proposed above. Just look at how hugely positive people reacted to that idea on TGP!

On the other hand, I don’t think what FX II did was the same thing as what was proposed above, perhaps it’s time to take a look at the issue with a fresh perspective/mindset again ;)
 
I find myself using Ownhammer IR's for almost everything I do.
I completely sympathize with folks who does this, eg focusing on one or a few venders product so that:
1. It gives you a relatively consistent/methodical approach to find the right IR.
2. It helps to avoid “random auditioning“.

IMHO, Randomly auditioning inconsistently sounding IRs, is the least productive or fun, which could cause ear fatigue and confusion...
 
I’ve tried quite a few third party IR’s and to date the York Audios are my favourites. I just seem to spend less time finding a good one which helps when it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole and get ear fatigue.
 
I use OwnHammer IR's I have a ton of them, I really dig the Friedman Ir's from them and the Boogie as well. I will use what is already in there if its something I can't find in a pack ive purchased.
 
The III is the only device with a good enough and well organized enough selection, that I could see not using any but those in the box. I had built a huge collection prior with the I & II, so I use them because I’m familiar. But the factory cabs are pretty much completely sufficient.

It greatly improves the ability to share presets between users and devices, too. IMHO. If I were making presets older presets available for others, I’d probably rework them for the factory cabs.
 
This is my first time in the IR world. I'm using LT's IR's for some, factory IR's for others, and the harry joyce stuff from FAS for my initial preset.

Once something sounds good, I try to move on.

As far as suggestions - I generally go 212/57 for clean and 412/57 for crunch and high gain. Start with matching the IR to the cab and go from there. Don't forget about the speaker curve too!
 
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