Producer Cab Pack 3: OwnHammer UltraRes (First Impressions)

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Inspired
Hey all

Just wanted to say that with the release of FW13, I really started digging into Cab IRs more and doing some homework. I auditioned all of the FREE UHR cabs and then also auditioned RW and OH cabs which I had from prior purchases and played around with them a bit before finally deciding that I was going to purchase the Fractal Producer Cab Pack 3.

I wanted to share a few observations

Quality
These sound top-notch. I guess I didn't need to mention this as most people would expect nothing less from Fractal but these cabs sound great! So far, I've spent hours running through cabs and mixes and I'm really digging what I have available to me.

Volume
The pure numbers of cabs with mic and mixes is almost overwhelming. There are so many IR to audition that I find I hard not to really just love the options we have available to us. The choices in the mic selections and the vintage/modern and live versus studio choices are unbelievable.

Price
Yeah - I was a bit worried about the $99 price on this too but then started to think about what I have invested so far in my AFX, time spent recording and time used to research cab and sound options. In the end I figured it wasn't really all that much of a big deal. I finally pulled the trigger (so to speak) and find that the price for this Cab Pack is well worth the money. looking at I now, actually find it quite a deal. A bargain, in fact! Hard to believe I spent so much time being hesitant on this purchase.

To Fractal, Ownhammer and all who helped assemble the cabs and mixes, I would like to say THANK YOU very much to such a quality product. I am lovin' it!

Cheers!
 
i never used user IR's til now. after hearing the ultrares cabs in v13 i went for it. so for me, it's no more $ spent than if i had purchased the original OH IR's. anxiously waiting for cablab to catch up to ultrares so i can roll my own.
 
Considering just buying one premium raw speaker yourself would cost far in excess of the entire collection here - which includes different speakers and cabinets, microphones, preamps, expertise and knowledge; a treated room and the time invested in getting them.... this is actually quite the serious bargain. It is as if you took every cab and speaker in that collection to the best studio money could buy, paid the top 4-5 (every mix 'version' ie. the "Studio Vintage" "Live Modern" are different producer mic/preamp and placement mixing techniques) engineers/producers on the planet to do the work for you and captured everything ready to use for you... it's mind boggling to me.

It works; it delivers insane value for the money and it allows you to take what is already bleeding edge best-in-class modeling (the Axe-FX II) to the nth degree in a very efficient manner for mix ready tones.

In short - I agree with the OP.
 
I would actually prefer simpler cab packs as I don't really care about auditioning and picking thru all the mic and placement combinations. That's why I like the stock cabs and the simple set of UltraRes IRs that came with FW 13, just not an excessive amount to choose from. A slight flaw with the Cab Pack 3 is also that it only has a few different speaker enclosures. Anyone who has tried for example an Orange cab next to a Marshall cab knows that even with the same speakers they don't sound the same.

That said, if a really nice UltraRes pack comes out with a wide variety of cabs and speakers I'll look into it. Previously I was perfectly fine with the stock cabs in the Axe-Fx.
 
That's what is so cool, it's all about choices!
I would actually prefer simpler cab packs as I don't really care about auditioning and picking thru all the mic and placement combinations. That's why I like the stock cabs and the simple set of UltraRes IRs that came with FW 13, just not an excessive amount to choose from. A slight flaw with the Cab Pack 3 is also that it only has a few different speaker enclosures. Anyone who has tried for example an Orange cab next to a Marshall cab knows that even with the same speakers they don't sound the same.

That said, if a really nice UltraRes pack comes out with a wide variety of cabs and speakers I'll look into it. Previously I was perfectly fine with the stock cabs in the Axe-Fx.

For AxeFX III, let's see a cablab right in the box kinda like guitar rig. Choose a cab, speaker, mic, put it where you want. add another mic, a 2nd cab w/different speakers etc. holy moly...
 
Considering just buying one premium raw speaker yourself would cost far in excess of the entire collection here - which includes different speakers and cabinets, microphones, preamps, expertise and knowledge; a treated room and the time invested in getting them.... this is actually quite the serious bargain. It is as if you took every cab and speaker in that collection to the best studio money could buy, paid the top 4-5 (every mix 'version' ie. the "Studio Vintage" "Live Modern" are different producer mic/preamp and placement mixing techniques) engineers/producers on the planet to do the work for you and captured everything ready to use for you... it's mind boggling to me.

It works; it delivers insane value for the money and it allows you to take what is already bleeding edge best-in-class modeling (the Axe-FX II) to the nth degree in a very efficient manner for mix ready tones.

In short - I agree with the OP.

Absolutely! +1
 
One last thought

Room IRs are included as well and I can see even more value with CaLab once things are ready for UHR. Being able to Blend the IRs (for example, Cab + R121 + Room) to get a unique customized cab are really something!
 
Considering just buying one premium raw speaker yourself would cost far in excess of the entire collection here - which includes different speakers and cabinets, microphones, preamps, expertise and knowledge; a treated room and the time invested in getting them.... this is actually quite the serious bargain. It is as if you took every cab and speaker in that collection to the best studio money could buy, paid the top 4-5 (every mix 'version' ie. the "Studio Vintage" "Live Modern" are different producer mic/preamp and placement mixing techniques) engineers/producers on the planet to do the work for you and captured everything ready to use for you... it's mind boggling to me.

It works; it delivers insane value for the money and it allows you to take what is already bleeding edge best-in-class modeling (the Axe-FX II) to the nth degree in a very efficient manner for mix ready tones.

In short - I agree with the OP.



Especially the mixes with the -SP- in the name sound like a professional made them !! But who the f..k is SP? :roll
 
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