Factory cabs vs legacy cabs

chrisjnyc

chrisjnyc

Power User
Having a little hard time finding cabs in the Factory 1 and 2 menu. I need to check against the wiki and then audition one, and check against the wiki, etc. I end up going back to the legacy cabs, as I familiar with them and can quickly identify ones I have used before. Am I missing anything? Are they just different IR's?? Seems to have the same options as the others.
 
Personally, I don't pay any attention to what cab or speakers an IR is made from. I'll decide on the basic configuration (4x12, 12" combo, etc.) and use the search function to narrow down the list. From that point on, I just use my ears to decide which one to use. I don't care if it's a gold-plated greenback in a rare road-worn 1897 Marshall cabinet or a 10" Radio Shack speaker in a particle board box. I just want it to produce the sound I'm after. I only use the Wiki to satisfy my curiosity after the hunt, not to dictate my choices while it's going on. YMMV, of course.
 
From what I've noticed, the 'new' Factory cabs are a selection of cabs taken from the various cab packs. Don't overthink things, what is the purpose of checking against the Wiki? If the IR sounds good, it is good.

One thing to remember too, the Speaker Impedance Curve in the Amp block (Speaker page). Could be that the cabinet type isn't matching the IR you're selecting?
 
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It's all about what your ears will interpret. I've gone down this road many times where I want to try different or new cabs and most of the time I choose the same James Santiago IR's even predating UltraRes. Always trust the ears.
 
On a side note, speaking of Ir's, I noticed that when using AxeEdit, most of the times I select a ur IR, it is displayed in pink (or purple), then I scroll to the adjacent ones and they are displayed in green, even though they're ur (in fact on the af interface they're pink). Is that a axe edit bug?
 
Legacy cabs are just fine. A lot of them are pre-mixed versions of what is available in the new Factory cab blocks. I've noticed a lot of excellent players recently using Legacy cabs (like Andy Wood and Ken Andrews).
 
I've been super happy with the Legacy 54 cab from back when I had an Axe FX II. I've just kept rolling with it on the III. With the new speaker impedance curves, I can use those to dial in the speaker character I want while keeping the same IR brings a cohesiveness to my tone no matter what I dial in on the amp and impedance curve.
 
I haven't dug in yet (My Axe FX III is on the delivery truck right now...) but my understanding is that a lot of the legacy cabs are mixed combinations of mics, levels, eq, etc. Or a polished, finished sound. And a lot of the new factory cabs are individual mics, ready for you to combine and mix into your own sounds.

So that could be why when you audition one it doesn't sound "finished", since it's usually a single mic. For instance an SM57 on it's own cab be a little bright and thin, but adding in a 421 or something which has more low end will fill out the sound and tame the brightness. And in the legacy cabs, someone has already done that.
 
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