REV Cab IR's

[Tonedeaf]

I'm finding I like on occasion Cab IR's with REV in the name. They sound warmer to me. What does this description refer to?

 

[Rex]

I'm finding I like on occasion Cab IR's with REV in the name. They sound warmer to me. What does this description refer to?

“REV” IRs are captured from the back of the cabinet. They’re definitely warmer, but lacking in definition. IMO, they’re better suited for blending in small amounts with other IRs.

Disregard. Corrected below.

 

[Tonedeaf]

Thanks. There are IR's marked Rear, so I thought it would be something else, like reversed phase or something.

 

[Rex]

“REV” IRs are captured from the back of the cabinet. They’re definitely warmer, but lacking in definition. IMO, they’re better suited for blending in small amounts with other IRs.

Okay, I got it wrong. The “REV” IRs were captured with the microphone reversed. In other words, the back of the mic is facing the cab. Still lots of warmth without much articulation.

 

[Tonedeaf]

So it's a way to capture a 'in the room" sound.

 

[Rex]

So it's a way to capture a 'in the room" sound.

Sort of... but not quite.

 

[teddis]

Wish it was that easy

 

[Joe Bfstplk]

Sort of... but not quite.

Is it a ribbon mic IR? Some ribbon mics are not perfectly figure-8 and have different tonal response from front to back. The FatHed I have is like that....

 

[Tonedeaf]

I think the reason I like them is because I have to play throught headphones due to living conditions, and they may be more headphone friendly IR's.

 

[PdotCdot]

Just saw this thread while in the midst of inquiring about them. Being heavy on the headphone use as of late, I think I’ve come to the same conclusion as you. I don’t know if it’s only ribbon mic’s that have that REV thing but it works really well with the 121 ribbon mics. Perhaps it creates a bit of that amp off to the side from where you’re sitting kinda thing. That and a finely tuned very short, early reflection reverb block make the headphone experience very lively and improves the feel under the fingers immensely.

 

[Tonedeaf]

Just saw this thread while in the midst of inquiring about them. Being heavy on the headphone use as of late, I think I’ve come to the same conclusion as you. I don’t know if it’s only ribbon mic’s that have that REV thing but it works really well with the 121 ribbon mics. Perhaps it creates a bit of that amp off to the side from where you’re sitting kinda thing. That and a finely tuned very short, early reflection reverb block make the headphone experience very lively and improves the feel under the fingers immensely. curve

I prefer the 121's as well, REV or not. I also always put a Modern Enhancer at the very end or before reverb, and a Filter block set on Lowpass right before or after the amp, Q set to taste.. The craziest thing is I really like is putting the Speaker Impedance Curve on Resistive Load, it sounds smoother to me. This ia all because of playing through headphones. If I was playing through a pair of FRFR speakers I would probably not do any of this, except maybe the Filter.

 

[PdotCdot]

I prefer the 121's as well, REV or not. I also always put a Modern Enhancer at the very end or before reverb, and a Filter block set on Lowpass right before or after the amp, Q set to taste.. The craziest thing is I really like is putting the Speaker Impedance Curve on Resistive Load, it sounds smoother to me. This ia all because of playing through headphones. If I was playing through a pair of FRFR speakers I would probably not do any of this, except maybe the Filter.

Messed around with that resistive load impedance curve and definitely smooths things out with headphones. Loses a little too much of the character for any given IR, but definitely smooths things out. I've spend a lot of time using MixIR3 to dial in IRs and use the Speaker Impedance Curve for some extra fine tuning, so I'll stick with the Fractal impedance curves for realism, but I appreciate the resistive load setting tip. Never checked it out before and the results were unexpectedly good. Kinda reminds of the tones I would get out of the Kemper where all the profiles from each respective profiler had a sameness to them. The resistive load kinda neutralizes amps and cabs to just work well in headphones.
A little stereo enhancer never hurts as well.

 

[Jarick]

Here's an interesting write-up I found on using the R-121 mic backwards straight from Royer themselves.

Seems like the mic facing backwards makes for a slightly brighter tone, which would help a bit with the boomy sound you could have using the ribbon.

 

[Tonedeaf]

Messed around with that resistive load impedance curve and definitely smooths things out with headphones. Loses a little too much of the character for any given IR, but definitely smooths things out. I've spend a lot of time using MixIR3 to dial in IRs and use the Speaker Impedance Curve for some extra fine tuning, so I'll stick with the Fractal impedance curves for realism, but I appreciate the resistive load setting tip. Never checked it out before and the results were unexpectedly good. Kinda reminds of the tones I would get out of the Kemper where all the profiles from each respective profiler had a sameness to them. The resistive load kinda neutralizes amps and cabs to just work well in headphones.
A little stereo enhancer never hurts as well.

For 20 years before I got the Fractal my chain was Amp - Loadbox/Cab sim - FX Processor - Headphones. So maybe the Resistive Curve is what my ears are use to. Yesterday, for the first time I ran my amp, a Louis Electric Tweed Deluxe clone into the load box then into the FM3 for the IR's and effects. It sounded great, but only a bit better than the FM3 alone.