Some additional info/insight on the "Sounding Like Guitar Tube Amp Driven IR's" section of the PDF, as well as a few objective truth factoids:
From 2010 to about 2013 or 2014, I shot IR's with both reference solid state amps and guitar tube power amps that were on the tame side of the scoop and boost spectrum. However, at that point around 2013-2014, amp modeling (I'm speaking in a general sense, not about the Fractal gear as I have always been a multi-platform capable IR vendor) started to get to where it wasn't overly necessary to include files that had that scoop built in that wasn't there, as even though it was still a problem for some platforms, those platforms were fading out of bulk usage in the marketplace. It was then a waste of my time to shoot things redundantly 3 times, and I moved to a reference amp only product platform. There were still those, however, that used those platforms, or had adapted other platforms around similar sounding files. When I pulled the rug out, there was some lingering transition carryover and some people wanted to know how to apply that sound to the new files. This is the ENTIRETY of my intention with that segment of the PDF. It's not a general "how to make things sound better" section, as that is individual to the user and their given variables, but quite literally is exactly what the title of the section is (in newer PDF's, I suppose):
sounding like guitar tube amp driven IR's as compared to how they sound out of the box, which is that of being driven by a reference amp.
The same logic applies today. There are some that will like that sound, just like they would by turning their presence and depth up (very common practice, haha!), however those all work differently depending on the amp model and circuit topology, so in some cases this 'trick' may sound more pleasing to one's ears than using the amp controls for a similar purpose. Just as well, there are still overly middy platforms, amp types, and potential familiarity with other IR's floating around that have been shot with tube amps, so it's gonna stay in the PDF in the event that it helps people be happy playing guitar, which is my aim and the mission statement of OwnHammer.
At the end of the day, it's just frequency response alteration, which is one of the most basic primary fundamental elements of what constitutes your guitar sound, and personal preference on what your ears like. People like different guitars, pickups, amps, amp settings, cabs, speakers, mics, etc, etc, because there are a million variables on how changing those things in different playback environments with different playback gear are received by our different sets anatomical listening devices attached to our head, and subsequent reward centers. There is no wrong or right, just different and how well that applies to individual scenarios, so it's worth a shot if the premise seems potentially beneficial to you. Everything from the string strike onward has an element of EQ/frequency response alteration of some sort, and there are so many of them in the path along the way to your ears that doing this, or using other tools to bring you to your desired destination in a way that tickles you is completely irrelevant. No wrong way to have fun playing guitar!
Hope that helps!
- Kevin