Is the time spent mixing/finding IR's worth it?

Jarick

Jarick

Experienced
I'm on the fence about getting Cab Lab 3. I've jumped way down the IR rabbit hole (Ownhammer, ML, Celestion) and I find I'm inching closer to what I want to hear but still not quite getting there. The stock cabs in generally sound kind of dark or have a big frequency push somewhere in the mids that sounds odd to me. Most of the aftermarket cabs seem more balanced but I end up flipping around the different mics and mixes and not quite finding that one has a great balance.

For people who have Cab Lab, does mixing IR's help find what you're looking for quicker, or is it a time sink that takes away from just settling and playing?
 
Deep rabbit hole, IMHO there are lots of good ir's built into the box. If for any reason you still cant get the tone you want, then I'd pursue it, otherwise you will spend a lot of time tweaking. YMMV.
 
You know that just made me think...the last few quantums have been concerned with adding more low end (Q7) and adding more high end (Q8). I wonder if those are really designed hand in hand with the stock cabinets?

The Celestions seem pretty bright to me (IR's purchased directly, not the ones included) but that's along with Q8.02 which is supposed to be a lot brighter.
 
You can try mixing some cabs using a stereo cab. If that is getting you closer, then it might be worth getting cab lab. It's not a huge cost so it's probably worth it just to try it out and to have
 
My 2 Cents......I did a lot with mixing and trying Mix IR. But now I prefer Single Mic IR´s with a typical sound - and the best companies with sweet spot Single IR´s are CabIR and Valhall....my experience.
 
Thanks for the input. I think it's going down a more confusing path, going the wrong direction.

Last night I spent a couple hours, just because I've been thinking about this so much, trying all the different factory cabs, then trying all my Ownhammer, ML, and Celestion stuff. I found that switching back and forth between different BRANDS of IR's is difficult because they all have their own sound, and I focus too much on what is missing from one compared to the other.

I ended up clearing out all my cabs and loading the ML stuff on their and just leaving that. I found a really nice process using specifically those cabs. Start by going through the single-file mixes for each speaker (there's only 10 or so) and pick the one that sounds the best. If you want to fine tune, try the different mics or mixes for that specific speaker. It's a lot more intuitive and predictable than the other brands.

That's been my criticism of the stock cabs for a while and why I abandoned them fairly quickly...the voicing of the cabs is all over the map, and it gets even more diverse with additional brands added. I think that can be good if you want a huge swing in sounds, but if you like a certain voicing a variety of cabs from a specific brand can be more consistent.
 
There have been countless classic guitar recordings that just used a single SM57. While I find it tempting to make a bunch of mic mixes, I've decided to stick with since mic SM57 IRs. I need to purposely limit my options or else I'll never settle on anything (this same philosophy applies to many other aspects in my life...to many options leads to analysis paralysis).
 
I've stopped using Cab Lab.

I like to cherry pick a single IR and use it for all my presets.

I was using one of the IR's from the Larry Mitchell session but recently switched to F188 one of the new Celestion mixes.
 
barhrecords said:
I've stopped using Cab Lab.

I like to cherry pick a single IR and use it for all my presets.

I was using one of the IR's from the Larry Mitchell session but recently switched to F188 one of the new Celestion mixes.
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I do something similar with a Stereo Cab block and using two IRs that complement each other, panned hard left/right.

Right now it's a "full cab" mix IR of the CabIR.eu Orange G12H30 and one of the @indeloon85 Vox single mic IRs.
 
I have cab lab and too many ir packs. I find myself using 1 or 2 simple captures. Currently the ownhammer player pack Marshall g12h30 57 or the mesa v60 57 and that is it. Before that the ml dizzy pack and before that cab pack 14. I like trying different stuff but usually stick with one or two ir's for everything. Just like when I had analog gear.
 
At last if you have found your best IR -don´t forget the tools Cliff gave us for the cabblock - Channelstrip (powerful!), Low-Highcut, Proximity, speaker compression etc.
many ways to make a IR better - or not......

The final test if the IR works should be in the band - live - situation.
 
I haven't made a mix with Cab Lab in a long time. Like others have mentioned, I like to use a stereo cab block with two complimentary IRs. Right now that's a Greenback and a V30 from OwnHammer for my primary tones.
 
More great feedback!

Taking the SM57 single mic advice, I loaded just the 57 single mics from the quick mix folders for my Ownhammer cabs and really preferred those to the mixes I had been trying to use before. OH stuff tends to have a fair amount of low end to begin with so the 57 balances it out. A lot of the cabs I wasn't digging before (open back 2x12) sounded much more usable and it feels again like I have as simpler range of cabs that gives me variety without too many options.

I tried the same with the ML cab packs but I just prefer the sound of the pre-mixed IR's (the 57's are a little too bright for all the cabs except the V30 which is perfect), so I'll stick with just those along with the OH 57's. That should give me plenty to work with:

OH Core Tone (four different cab/speaker combos)
OH California Duo (two different cabs with four different speakers each)
OH Deluxe Reverb (two different speakers)
OH Mesa 4x12 (V30's)
ML Bulb Zilla (eight different speaker mixes)
ML USA Combos (four different speaker mixes)

The Celestion stuff was just way too bright across the board so I'll pass on it in my user cabs.

I also did try some quick cab mixing using stereo cabs and it was definitely different but not necessarily an improvement. I do think that's just a time-sink I don't want to get into. I'd rather find IR brands whose ears I trust and let them take care of that for now.

Thanks!
 
On the OH players pack, I'm using the full mix, then adding a little bit of the rear mic. That's the best cab setup I've found to date. It's the PR 75
 
It is absolutely worth finding the best IRs you can, as they are the most important part of your tone. But in my experience, the key is to minimise the time spent in one sitting. I don't typically audition IRs for more than a few minutes - once I find one that sounds good with the amp/guitar I want to use, I stop there and make a preset in no more than another few minutes - and then cease further IR auditioning in that sitting, adjusting just the basic amp controls slightly as necessary. Then I can be happy with my tone and just play. This way it will still sound good when I come back and play the preset later.

The problem with IR auditioning over a long period of time is that you get used to the tone of any IR after using it for a few minutes. At the end of the day an IR is essentially a complex lowpass/highpass/comb filter, and when the properties of the filter change, often drastically, it confuses your ears if you do it too many times. After too much auditioning, IRs that you normally like will sound bad, and you will make presets that you think sound good, but will return to later and realise that they are horrible!

I do always end up going back to a small number of favourites.

If you tweak less and play more, you will have better tone, and also develop better fingers :)
 
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How about this:

For each type of tone (clean, crunchy, high gain, etc), load up your favorite amp with the tone controls relatively neutral, then quickly run through the IR's to find the one that works best. Bookmark those IR's and use them for practically everything.

So let's say I take my main amps and find these IR's work:

Double Verb - 1x12 Deluxe Fane with 57/121 mix
AC20 12AXT - 2x12 Vox Alnico Blue with 57/121 mix
FAS Crunch - 4x12 Marshall Greenback with 57
Friedman HBE - 4x12 Mesa V30 with 57/421 mix

Then use those for all similar amps and make any EQ adjustments using the amp knobs?

Fenders -> Deluxe Fane
Voxes -> Vox Blue
Marshalls -> Marshall GB
High Gain -> Mesa V30
 
No. IMO.

You can get your tones from what's there. If you're a studio maven, or have endless time to mix and tweak, I'm sure there are plenty of gains there, but we have so many good options with the tools we have to carve them, it works great.
 
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