Fractal Audio Cab Pack: ML LEGENDS IS OUT NOW!

ML SOUND LAB

ML SOUND LAB

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Get the pack from here: https://shop.fractalaudio.com/ML_Legends_p/fas-801-0052b.htm

EDITED: Preview video!



EDIT #2:

Amazing runthrough my Zack Munowitz:



Back story: (skip to "About the pack" if you're not interested)

An epic pack deserves an epic trailer. :) Where to begin? Being able to shoot IR's for a living for the past 6 years or so has afforded me the opportunity to collect some of the best specimens of guitar speakers. In my speaker room you'll f.ex. find all seven different V30 designs and most Greenbacks. For the past year or so I've been addicted to vintage Greenbacks, after all most of the iconic rock albums from long ago were recorded on these and even these days most high end studios have pre-Rola Celestions that are being used on current music. Truth be told... it's also the closest sound to the original Mesa V30 spec which is why I really love the sound.

I'm not going to dive in too deep to the pre-Rola history but what you need to know is that the factory that made "the best speaker cones" burned down in 1973 and that marks the end of the era. So all these Celestion reissues and Scumback speakers etc. are now trying to recreate that sound but I assure you, having compared the real thing to the reissues there's no comparison. They don't even sound like the same speaker type in some cases. More about the pre-Rola history: http://www.bygonetones.com/pre-rola-explained.html

This summer I bought three vintage Marshall cabs with pre-Rola speakers and what I wanted to do is to choose best sounding cabinet (early 70s Checkerboard) and put in the best sounding pre-Rola's out of all speaker types. I already had some really nice pre-Rolas but now I have all the most common speakers used for guitar in that era. So how does the cab sound? It sounds ridiculous. Obviously in the room everything gets smeared and you end up with this one thick neutral layer of sound while miking it up is a dream come true. I wanted everyone to be able to have these so that's why the price tag is so low.

Why did it take so long for me to release a pack? I've been working on multiple different projects and as far as Fractal Audio is concerned I really don't like releasing packs that are essentially the same product in a different digital box. It's against all my principles. I'm only as good as my last product so every product I release aims to be the best thing you can get. I have no idea how I'll ever be able to top this pack.

About the pack:

My aim was to create a less-is-more kind of pack. The best feedback I've ever got was for the Zilla Cab Pack and for that reason this is made in a similar spirit. Honestly miking up some of these pre-Rola speakers is really hard and it's very obvious where the only real "sweetspot" is located. Giving more options would've only resulted in people getting lost in the IR rabbit hole which is what I try to avoid. Plug'n'play!

More about the speakers:
  1. Pre-Rola™ Celestion™ G12H 30w 55hz “Greenback” T1281 = Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore
  2. Pre-Rola™ Celestion™ G12M 25w 75hz “Greenback” T1221 = The original Greenback what most people used
  3. Pre-Rola™ Celestion™ G12H 30w 75hz “Greenback” T1217 = 75hz version of the Jimi/Jimmy speaker
  4. Pre-Rola™ Celestion™ G12M 25w 55hz “Greenback” T1511 = 55hz version of the original Greenback

Those two of the latter speakers are the closest thing that I've found to a nice old Vintage 30 speaker. I'm not talking about the new Celestion V30 but the original spec one. Very different sound. I would say that the Jimi/Jimmy speaker is the only speaker that isn't necessarily directly suitable for modern genres. I mean... one of the IR mixes is a "Djent mix" to give you an idea.

So the interesting part is obviously having the signature ML Sound Lab real life mic phase fine tuned mixes that use different pre-Rola speakers. One of my favorite mixes is the "all SM57" mix which is four different SM57s on all four speaker options. That's got to be one of my favorite IR's of all time. :)

I hope this all explains why the cover is not a torn apart vintage dusty Marshall cabinet trying to say vintage in as many ways as possible, because these sounds are not old. These are legendary, and LEGENDS LIVE FOREVER! ;)
 
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Hey Mikko,

I've noticed you also used a KM184 this time. What did you use it for? Room captures? Or close-up speaker captures as with the other mics?
 
Lilarcor said:
Hey Mikko,

I've noticed you also used a KM184 this time. What did you use it for? Room captures? Or close-up speaker captures as with the other mics?
Click to expand...
It's never a bad idea to add a Neumann. ;) I've always wanted to have a condenser and I really never found use for large diaphragm condenser microphones. Or I think they do a very similar thing that even the ribbon mics do in my packs. More of a low end addition blend mic type thing right? This Neumann was actually recommended to me by Nolly from Periphery as they used it for the Juggernaut guitar tone and once I tried it I loved the results and they were unique. It's being used just like the other mics. Finding good sweet spots. :)
 
Forgive me if this has been asked and answered already. I have Cab Pack 20 ML-Brit-4x12-Collection. How do the Pre-Rola G12M's in this collection compare to the IR's in Cab Pack 20?
 
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