Finding my IR's to be very bright

firmani99

Inspired
I alternate between a real cab and a QSC k12. I use cab pack 13 mostly. When I play through the FRFR I find the ir's to be very bright and have an excessive "airy" quality to them. I find myself cutting the highs in the cab block at like 5,000-5,500. Especially at high volumes.

Is this typical? I'm just curious what other guys are experiencing.
 
Im about the same. Using cabpack 13 also and for high gain especially i cut around 5-7000 depending on the amp. Its hard to gauge sometimes. I feel i make patches that are either to dark or to bright. I have a tough time finding that perfect middle ground.
 
I suspect your speaker has hyped highs.

I have a Friedman ASM 12 which i'd say has a slight mid dip. I also have a Matrix Fr212 which seems to be very flat. I think the problem for me is more the listening enviorment and room i tend to dial my patches in.
 
Also, you are comparing a guitar cab 'in the room' sound against a 'closed mic'd guitar cab' sound......

Apples and oranges........Most of that "excessive "airy" quality" is needed to cut through the mix and is on every mic'd guitar sound since someone stuck a mic in front of a guitar cab.
 
I think FRFR in general has a lot more high end detail than a trad cab. As such you'll always be using that parameter with an FRFR set up. A guitar cab doesn't have those tweeters, for starters.
 
Check that your Qsc wedge doesnt have the "vocal boost" switch on. Sometimes I knock that on when turning the power on and off and go "wtf happened to all my presets".

Other than that, try recording your guitar tone with a backing track and you may find that the "bright" IR tone you get sits perfectly in the mix under the vocals and cymbals but above the kick snare and bass.
 
K12's are notorious for harsh high end. you'd be surprised at how much the pick attack adds to perceived brightness as well. many times i'll listen to a recording of a tone i'm working on and it's much darker than i think it should be, all due to my hearing the pick on the strings.
 
All good points! That being said it is odd to set the hi cut in the cab block to 5,000 or 5,500? IS that too low or is it common?
 
I have K12's. I've had them for 5 years. I put two layers of 4" gaffers tape on the grill over the tweeter. It helps reduce the 'glare' from the tweeter and scatters and softens the treble.

I run my treble up pretty high because I like that high shimmer and glassy chime.

I find most of the offending eq ranges to be between 2k and 4K hz. You just have to punch them out with eq adjustments.

Running FRFR requires a bit of a re-think on your approach. I use two K12's with two CLR's.

After getting the eq' settled in it sounds glorious.
 
All good points! That being said it is odd to set the hi cut in the cab block to 5,000 or 5,500? IS that too low or is it common?
If it sounds right to you then it is right ..... that's what the AxeFX is all about - it gives you the fine tuning tools to sculpt your own tone. So anything goes! :)
 
All good points! That being said it is odd to set the hi cut in the cab block to 5,000 or 5,500? IS that too low or is it common?

I'm somewhere in the 7-8K range for the high cut. I like a brighter sound because I'm definitely a "use the knobs on my guitar" kind of guy. It's easier to dial OUT high end than add it back in. Just a little twist of the tone knob and I'm good to go. Also depends on the guitar. Obviously the back pickup on a strat (single coil) is brighter than the front pickup of a 335.

Also, what sounds "bright" by itself always has to be taken in context in a live or studio mix.
 
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