New Cab Pack! ML Bulb Zilla UltraRes™ Collection

[ML SOUND LAB]

Does it completely blow away cab pack 13? Or is it just different? I've been pretty happy with 13. But, I'm contemplating this. Especially since it includes presets.

These are very different Cab Packs. One is a huge 4x12 with four speakers: 4x Mesa custom Vintage 30s (Cab Pack 13) and the other is three separate Zilla 2x12 cabinets (which sound and look amazing by the way) with six completely different tonal characters and pretty much unlimited options.

If a new pack is really good it doesn't make the older packs any worse if that makes sense. That being said you can not get things even close to the tightness of the Zilla pack (especially the "D" IR's) with Cab Pack 13. These two packs are very different.

Check this video to get a glimpse of what the pack is capable of:

 

[brokenvail]

someone school me on cream backs pls. I have always heard of cream backs but now seeing for example there is a cream back v30 I am like I need to be taught

 

[nicolasrivera]

My little feedback from 8 hours of testing this release.

Without a doubt this is the best Cab Pack to date and the best sounding IR captures in my collection.

The single mic positions sound great, but the way the Zilla Mix and Misha mixes sound is magical, this IRs are so good that they sound perfect with any gender of music not just heavy distortion and Djent.

The balance of punchiness, liveness and focus combined with a string definition projection makes them cut and sit in a mix with little to no EQ'ing, this is a very welcome feature, anything that contributes helping in a mix ranks high marks in my book.

Overall this CabPack will be my go to from now on.

Well done Mikko and Micha, thanks.

Nico.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

someone school me on cream backs pls. I have always heard of cream backs but now seeing for example there is a cream back v30 I am like I need to be taught

Creambacks were the next generation after the pre-Rola Greenback speakers back in 70s. Essentially they are Greenbacks with more power handling. People always refer to either the V30 or Greenback as the best speaker to ever have existed. I would say many of these Creambacks are easily comparable to them. There are probably more different sounding Greenbacks and V30s out there than Creambacks actually.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

My little feedback from 8 hours of testing this release.

Without a doubt this is the best Cab Pack to date and the best sounding IR captures in my collection.

The single mic positions sound great, but the way the Zilla Mix and Misha mixes sound is magical, this IRs are so good that they sound perfect with any gender of music not just heavy distortion and Djent.

The balance of punchiness, liveness and focus combined with a string definition projection makes them cut and sit in a mix with little to no EQ'ing, this is a very welcome feature, anything that contributes helping in a mix ranks high marks in my book.

Overall this CabPack will be my go to from now on.

Well done Mikko and Micha, thanks.

Nico.

This will be written on my tomb stone. Thank you so much for the feedback Nicolas! This is much appreciated. I will forward this message to Misha.

 

[shadoe]

It's a personal preference thing really. Both packs are great for different reasons.
CP13 has always been my favourite but the Zilla pack is my number 1 now. The simple reason is that I feel the recordings I've done with this pack have produced my best guitar tones yet with a lot less work and next to no post production.

The best way I can think of to describe the difference is that CP13 has rawness and a slightly untamed characteristic that is really cool. You get that with some of the Zilla IRs as well but you also get some really refined and crisp tones that sit really well in the mix without having to work too hard for it.

There is a presence and clarity in the Zilla pack that is really impressive and the MIkko's Colour Wheel approach worked really well also. It's like you go through each IR and the tonal variation is incremental, this makes fine tuning your tone really easy.

Does it blow CP13 away?
No, it's just different and it depends on what you like as far as your ideal tone goes.
Both packs are excellent, in fact they are my two favourite closely followed by the ML Brit 4x12 Collection and I'd happily use either.
CP13 will probably still be my go to for my fuzz tones, I found a combination that works really well. Other stuff I find more suited to the Zilla pack. IRs from other packs will play a part in what I do going forward depending on what I'm trying to achieve.

CP13 is the flagship for ML and Bulb Zilla is the title challenger.

Cheers man! Superb answer. Told me everything I needed to know.

I think I'll purchase this and take a shot. If I don't like it, at least ill supporting two amazing people, that do great things for music.

 

[brokenvail]

Creambacks were the next generation after the pre-Rola Greenback speakers back in 70s. Essentially they are Greenbacks with more power handling. People always refer to either the V30 or Greenback as the best speaker to ever have existed. I would say many of these Creambacks are easily comparable to them. There are probably more different sounding Greenbacks and V30s out there than Creambacks actually.

Can you talk to me about cream alnico vs the blue alnico (since you have shot both)? Looks like the only left for you is silver and gold alnico

 

[pharmd07]

Sweet baby Jesus! This cab pack is phenomenal! There is such a variety of tones to be achieved.

My pleasant surprise is the cream alnico cab. Normally I think alnico speakers (like the blue alnico) sound boxy. But not the cream alnico. It's open and full at the same time. I really like the Alnico Cream mix IR.

I'm not a djent player, but the D mixes are great for use with a neck pickup.

Outstanding work Mikko and Misha!

 

[shadoe]

So I bought the pack this morning and got inspired to make this. The solo sucks. But, I'm not much of a shredder and the part needed something.



It turns out that this is my favorite cab pack so far. The irs sound phenomenal. The presets also sound phenomenal with little adjustment ( I only had to set a high and low cut, and move one eq knob on the amp eq tab).

I used the bulb modern lead and bulb rhythm purr.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

Can you talk to me about cream alnico vs the blue alnico (since you have shot both)? Looks like the only left for you is silver and gold alnico

Very different. Obviously I haven't compared them in the same box and the Blue Alnico I shot was a real 1964 Blue Alnico speaker while this Cream Alnico is a brand new one. The Blue Alnico speakers in Cab Pack 18 are as Voxy as it gets.. they have the low end set so that you get that "louder than any 4x12 cab ever" vibe just like with a real vintage Vox AC30. The Cream Alnico is really good for even metal genres. It's closer to a Greenback or even a V30 rather than a vintage Blue Alnico.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

Sweet baby Jesus! This cab pack is phenomenal! There is such a variety of tones to be achieved.

My pleasant surprise is the cream alnico cab. Normally I think alnico speakers (like the blue alnico) sound boxy. But not the cream alnico. It's open and full at the same time. I really like the Alnico Cream mix IR.

I'm not a djent player, but the D mixes are great for use with a neck pickup.

Outstanding work Mikko and Misha!

I'm loving all this positive feedback. Thank you once again! It means a lot to really hear it.

The D mixes are something pretty special that I noticed I needed to be experimenting with. It's kind of fighting my principle of not processing the IR's at all. (All my other IR's are 100% natural) But the tightness you get with this "D" tweak is incredible. It's not a low cut. It's something completely different and new.

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

So I bought the pack this morning and got inspired to make this. The solo sucks. But, I'm not much of a shredder and the part needed something.



It turns out that this is my favorite cab pack so far. The irs sound phenomenal. The presets also sound phenomenal with little adjustment ( I only had to set a high and low cut, and move one eq knob on the amp eq tab).

I used the bulb modern lead and bulb rhythm purr.

Seems like people are capable of sounding professional straight out of the box with this Cab Pack. Good job buddy!

 

[toolfanem]

Great pack! I also really loved the presets! Funny, the cleans/mid gain stuff is by far my fav part about this pack! And the Suhr Badger 30 is my new fav clean amp now I find myself rolling off the highs in the cab block to 5k, there is a bit of grain up top that I wanted gone. But thats a preference thing, and may help cut through a dense mix. The nice part was once I rolled back the highs a bit it revealed a perfect mid range on 90% of the captures. This pack is seriously delivering, good freaking job Mikko!

Oh and I really dig your trick in one of your last vids about inverting the phase of one IR when blending to see which combo sounds worst! Really great tip, helps a lot with taming some of the crazy high and low stuff

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

Great pack! I also really loved the presets! Funny, the cleans/mid gain stuff is by far my fav part about this pack! And the Suhr Badger 30 is my new fav clean amp now I find myself rolling off the highs in the cab block to 5k, there is a bit of grain up top that I wanted gone. But thats a preference thing, and may help cut through a dense mix. The nice part was once I rolled back the highs a bit it revealed a perfect mid range on 90% of the captures. This pack is seriously delivering, good freaking job Mikko!

Oh and I really dig your trick in one of your last vids about inverting the phase of one IR when blending to see which combo sounds worst! Really great tip, helps a lot with taming some of the crazy high and low stuff

So glad to hear this! The Badger was actually a positive surprise to me as well. I actually played the real thing back when I did the Suhr Cab Pack. Interestingly enough I also used the Badger power amp to run those cabs back then.

Inverting the phase really is a nice tool. When something sounds horrible phase reverted it usually sounds really good after flipping the phase.

 

[shaunb]

My little feedback from 8 hours of testing this release.

Without a doubt this is the best Cab Pack to date and the best sounding IR captures in my collection.

The single mic positions sound great, but the way the Zilla Mix and Misha mixes sound is magical, this IRs are so good that they sound perfect with any gender of music not just heavy distortion and Djent.

The balance of punchiness, liveness and focus combined with a string definition projection makes them cut and sit in a mix with little to no EQ'ing, this is a very welcome feature, anything that contributes helping in a mix ranks high marks in my book.

Overall this CabPack will be my go to from now on.

Well done Mikko and Micha, thanks.

Nico.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts perfectly.

 

[shaunb]

Cheers man! Superb answer. Told me everything I needed to know.

I think I'll purchase this and take a shot. If I don't like it, at least ill supporting two amazing people, that do great things for music.

My pleasure.
It's a bit tricky to describe the differences especially on something so subjective.
I hope it helped a bit.

So I bought the pack this morning and got inspired to make this. The solo sucks. But, I'm not much of a shredder and the part needed something.



It turns out that this is my favorite cab pack so far. The irs sound phenomenal. The presets also sound phenomenal with little adjustment ( I only had to set a high and low cut, and move one eq knob on the amp eq tab).

I used the bulb modern lead and bulb rhythm purr.

Really glad you're enjoying it.
Cool song too, well done.

 

[shaunb]

Sweet baby Jesus! This cab pack is phenomenal! There is such a variety of tones to be achieved.

My pleasant surprise is the cream alnico cab. Normally I think alnico speakers (like the blue alnico) sound boxy. But not the cream alnico. It's open and full at the same time. I really like the Alnico Cream mix IR.

I'm not a djent player, but the D mixes are great for use with a neck pickup.

Outstanding work Mikko and Misha!

I don't djent either but I've got a baritone Fender that I intend to do some low rock, ambient and fuzz things with. The D IRs really tighten things up on the higher gain sounds I'm trying to achieve in Drop A and Standard B.
So I agree, the djent IRs have a role to play even for non-djenters.

Great pack! I also really loved the presets! Funny, the cleans/mid gain stuff is by far my fav part about this pack! And the Suhr Badger 30 is my new fav clean amp now I find myself rolling off the highs in the cab block to 5k, there is a bit of grain up top that I wanted gone. But thats a preference thing, and may help cut through a dense mix. The nice part was once I rolled back the highs a bit it revealed a perfect mid range on 90% of the captures. This pack is seriously delivering, good freaking job Mikko!

Oh and I really dig your trick in one of your last vids about inverting the phase of one IR when blending to see which combo sounds worst! Really great tip, helps a lot with taming some of the crazy high and low stuff

Ohhhh, I'd love to hear what you do with these. You did the Celestial Flesh recordings yeah? I still love that album.

 

[Genome]

For my band's upcoming EP I am using a real Mark V through Cab-Lab VST (with a load box), just capturing the raw amp signal and choosing IR's later on in the mix stage. I was all set on a cab mix I made from Cab Pack 7 but I'll be using this pack now

I have a real Zilla 2x12 that sounds epic with my Mark as well so I was obviously going to be a fan.

 

[vertibration]

So I have been testing this with the X50 and Cab Lab running the Zilla cabs with my Ibanez M80M. I am overall very pleased. Maybe one day soon Fractal will release the Fas-Amp plugin so I can move away from the X50

 

[ML SOUND LAB]

For my band's upcoming EP I am using a real Mark V through Cab-Lab VST (with a load box), just capturing the raw amp signal and choosing IR's later on in the mix stage. I was all set on a cab mix I made from Cab Pack 7 but I'll be using this pack now

I have a real Zilla 2x12 that sounds epic with my Mark as well so I was obviously going to be a fan.

Haha I know you've been waiting a long time for this. I think I had around a dozen requests for this pack and I know once we talked about it I really decided that this pack needed to happen. Well.. Misha really made it happen but still, thank you so much for the support and requests. I hope you like it as much as you wanted it.