WARNING: LONG POST
, copying/pasting from stuff I've previously posted on TGP, but I wanted to share my general experience with York Audio IRs so far.
Here goes my praise, it may read like an ad copy but I simply love these packs!
I've been using York Audio IRs exclusively now for a little while (but a lot of playing hours), starting with the $1 demo/quarantine pack, being blown away by those and progressively getting more. Basically everyone of those I tried is excellent!
After the first try of that "gateway drug" I've since gotten more, love each one of them and can't pick a favorite: they all have a place in my "toolbox" and a distinct personality.
I "only" have 4 packs but wanted to attempt to briefly describe and compare them (YA site's descriptions of each aren't as verbose, rightly so, since the sounds stand on their own merit).
-The Deluxe is deep and throaty while still retaining clarity. It's extremely neutral and perfect for jazz, country, pop, funk and blues. I'd say its sweet spot is from clean up to medium crunch.
-The Vox AC15 is forward-sounding and clear, nicely aggressive without being piercing. Its brightness works great for both jangly cleans and crunch tones as well, from country and pop to blues and rock, once again from clean to crunch with a cut-through-the-mix edge and lighter bass and low-mids compared to the Deluxe.
-The Matchless 2x12 is punchy and full, its mid-rich sound is present with no trace of harshness. It has a beautiful haziness around the notes and sounds right at home in many different styles, a chameleon in adaptability to various settings with its 2 different speakers. Less bright and in your face than the Vox, it's equally versatile and maybe more forgiving on crunchier mid-gain sounds due to its mellower and sweet high end.
-The Mesa 2x12, while still being able to adapt to clean sounds, shows its closed-back nature with a unique gutsy punch in comparison to the above (all open-backed). It shines with gain, it has the most thump and its deep, extended bass marries to liquid, present mids and clear highs. Rock rhythms and leads never sounded so good.
Each one is versatile and eminently usable with the whole gain spectrum, just as you could with its physical counterpart in a pinch.
Obviously if you want to get more specific and detailed, each cab is tailored to complement more different tones and styles, like the real ones would.
At the risk of sounding like a fan-boy, I have to say that every time I fire up my rig now I'm amazed by the sounds I'm getting out of it. My expectations are not only met, but surpassed by these cab packs.
All mixes are good: some brighter, some fuller, but all convincing and usable straight out of the gate. I didn't even bother to particularly change my existing presets (previously tweaked to oblivion): I just swapped in these IRs and was good to go, which is almost incredible to me!
In the past I've tried IRs from other makers and was never fully convinced: one day they were sounding good, the next day not so much. Different studio monitors, P.A. speakers or headphones gave dramatically varying results. I never felt sure about my choices. This has ended.
After a while I was even convinced enough to make the step and delete any other old IRs from other manufacturers I had on my drive, with no regrets.
After comparing them once in a while to be safe and sure, I just felt the YA packs are on a whole another level, at least for my taste and application.
For the time being, I'm totally satisfied and would whole-heartedly recommend these IRs over anything else I've heard from other vendors, not to bash on anyone else's choice/ears, simply sharing my own personal feelings about these.
I'm stoked each time that it simply sounds better than I've ever heard my rig do before. Auditory memory is such a weirdly volatile thing but so far the cab packs I've gotten just floor me, no matter the volume or reproduction system.
I can play loudly or at a conversational level: it sounds great! I can use whatever monitoring solution I have: it sounds great! I can record and listen back days later: it sounds great!
Pairing different mixes/microphones of the same cab on each stereo side yields great results with no phasing issues, a great sounding, dimensionally deep and rich sound-stage.
I can only guess that serious time, dedication, knowledge and experience went into creating these IRs.
Justin (the creator/producer/maker - whatever you want to call him) is a really nice and approachable guy as well. There's no bullsh*t, no weird personality or shtick, no act at all. You simply have great products, reasonably priced, simple soundcloud and youtube channels to hear these in action with no tricks, just plain good playing.
Over the years I have owned a lot of different real amps and cabinets, including actually some of these exact ones (Deluxe, Vox, Matchless and Mesa) plus many more (Marshall, VHT, Bogner, too many to mention...), so I am familiar with the sound and feel of "the real thing".
Having their distilled essence in a convenient, great sounding, consistent form, without relying on sound-men (or my poor engineering ability) to properly capture and reproduce those sounds is amazing.
Not having to break my back (it happened more than once, usually just prior to a gig or session) but still have great tones (better than what I was usually able to get miking up ) is a dream come true.
Happily this is not only the future, this is the present, and I love it: we've never had it so good before!
In a nutshell, these cabs rock! And are great for other styles too...
Thanks Justin for such great sounding products, I'm so elated!
Thank you all for the patience: sorry about the long post.
Take care, be safe and make some joyful noise, y'all!
