Real Cabinet vs. Cab Impulse Response - Can you hear the difference? - Page 13

3 weeks ago

#361

grannis

Lives for gear

1 Review written

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmanzer

May I ask what your rig is for live work and what style of music you play? I went back through some of your previous posts and didn't catch it if you already described somewhere. I'm not a pro but that's one of the reasons I'm here, to learn what the pros do.

Nice summary too. Thanks for that.

Elektron Analog Drive -> Laney IRT Pulse - > AMT Pangaea CP100-FX

The Elektron and AMT both allow midi-selectable presets. The Laney is a tube preamp that I set-and-forget, so i use the Elektron for different levels, types and amounts of gain/distortion, to drive the Laney as hard or soft as I want. The AMT is an IR loader and power amp simulator with typical post-effects like reverb and modulation.

I like it because the only digital stuff I use is to replace the bulkiest analog kit - namely the speaker and power amp. The rest is analog, but midi controlled.
The downside for some people might be that it would be nearly impossible to model any specific real-world amp, but I actually prefer this - it sounds like it sounds, not an approximate simulation of something else.

I play a wide range, requiring a range from clean to hi-gain. Everything apart from jazz or metal really.

I use the same rig for acoustic too - i have a couple of presets that turn off the power amp sim, switch the elektron to clean, and load up a couple of acoustic IRs - one for a Martin and one for a Gibson. They make my £700 acoustic sound fantastic - not necessarily like a Gibson or Martin, but fantastic nonetheless.

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3 weeks ago

#362

Sascha Franck

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannis

Now, Sascha, about those home-made IRs... sounds brilliant - please share!!

Here's two of them for now (resorting the entire mess now that I have changed my live setup from a mere Amplifirebox and an AMT Pangaea to a Helix Floor, but I will happily share the rest as well once that is done - need to find out which are mine and don't contain portions of others' IRs).
They may not sound too special and they're pretty mid-heavy (which is what I like). By now, I also use them as generic IRs for recordings, but they were planned and tweaked for live situations (read: I did all the tweakings at gig level and even A/B-ed with a real cab to see whether the playing feel would get me at least a little close). For my stuff, they seem to work pretty well and I have just used these two for around one year of playing plenty of gigs (one is just a little brighter version so I can instantly switch should the need arise, without reaching for any EQs). Whatever, I recommend checking them out at gig level or close to it.
http://www.saschafranck.de/Helix/LiveIRs.zip

Edit: Oh, I've just seen that you're using an AMT Pangaea - these are picky about IRs, you may need to resave them to get rid of any headers Logic has been adding (I had to occasionally do that in the past, using either Audacity or Wavelab), but they may as well be fine already...

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3 weeks ago

#363

bgood

Lives for gear

My Recordings/Credits
My Studio

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sascha Franck

Well, that would largely be true for any studio recordings when you track while sitting in the control room, simply because sitting/standing next to a loud cab is the single most important interaction there is. Anything else is pretty minimized (if not non-existing) once you're running any sort of buffered signal into whatever amp. I do agree that there's a noticeable difference when running a signal path such as guitar->cable->amp. But as soon as it's guitar->buffer->amp, all there's left is feedback. Which you only get when sitting next to the cab.
It's also why reamping works pretty well. There's no voodoo.

To me THIS is what the naysayers are really talking about... feedback. Their stereo 4x12’s slamming them in the bunghole while they rip.

But, I’ve found that cats who are comfortable playing the control room with the cab ISO’d in another room very rarely can tell the difference between cabs and IRs, nor do they give a sh|t... just want what sounds best

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3 weeks ago

#364

bmanzer

Gear Nut

My Studio

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannis

Elektron Analog Drive -> Laney IRT Pulse - > AMT Pangaea CP100-FX

Thanks! I haven't heard of any of those and will have a look.

You can't go wrong with the Elektron...
"ideal pedal for guitarists who want to wreak havoc to signals and tones"

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3 weeks ago

#365

grannis

Lives for gear

1 Review written

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sascha Franck

Oh, I've just seen that you're using an AMT Pangaea - these are picky about IRs, you may need to resave them to get rid of any headers Logic has been adding (I had to occasionally do that in the past, using either Audacity or Wavelab), but they may as well be fine already...

AMT have released a tool to convert IRs to a format the Pangaea will work with, so i'm optimistic!

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3 weeks ago

#366

Sascha Franck

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannis

AMT have released a tool to convert IRs to a format the Pangaea will work with, so i'm optimistic!

Yeah, I've seen that. Was Win-only last time I looked. Should have a look whether there's a Mac version as well.

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3 weeks ago

#367

grannis

Lives for gear

1 Review written

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmanzer

You can't go wrong with the Elektron...
"ideal pedal for guitarists who want to wreak havoc to signals and tones"

yeah i tend to use very low gain settings or it gets a little hairy! but it has 3-4 nice types of distortion. I don't like the fuzz much. The best thing, though, is that you save a preset (with level, gain and tone controls) and recall it with a midi footswitch.

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3 weeks ago

#368

Yuri Kogan

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannis

I've just wasted a bunch of time trying to find something interesting in the last 4 pages of this thread. It seems we have an engineer from the US, and a studio owner from Australia telling a professional guitarist from Europe that he's doing something wrong... have you considered that perhaps your worlds are very different and anyone who manages to make a living in music is just worthy of a little respect?

I manage to supplement my income by playing guitar, but have not yet managed to entirely release myself from corporate life to pursue a full time music career, so kudos to Sascha for that. Like Sascha, I use IR's for live work. They enable me to produce a variety of tones that are reliable in any venue, at any volume. I have also downsized my gear to the point where i can comfortably transport it up to about 500m on foot - across a muddy field to a festival, or on a London bus if required. I can give the sound guy a couple of XLRs and be ready to play in 10 minutes with very little soundcheck, and work with a monitor or in-ears as required.

All these things help me get work. A bit of non-linear cone breakup will not.

Because we rely on IRs, maybe we dig a little deeper to get the best from them, so perhaps we have a better understanding of what is possible than folks who only dabble with them out of academic interest or as a last resort. We all know how to get the best out of top analog gear, we don't need anyone to tell us. We also don't need anyone to tell us what is not possible with IRs. We have a far better understanding of that than most people, because we have to.

Now, Sascha, about those home-made IRs... sounds brilliant - please share!!

Well then junior. On top of being a "studio owner from Australia" I have been a producer/engineer for >30 years and an active guitarist for more then that. I work with PROFESSIONAL TOP MUSICIANS who inform me that things live haven't changed for the better in the last few years since i have done live gigs.
. So perhaps pigeonholing me with my experience is a little premature
WRT what I suggested - this was purely to add to the discussion and to inform participants that there are other (and in my opinion better) alternatives out there then selling all your amps and going all digital. For example I know that producers here will contact you for session work after they heard your work and your sound. And if you don't impress them more then the next guy/girl in line, they will pick him/her in 5 sec, leaving you carrying your lightweight rig 500m from the car-park to the little pub gig with 10 drank patrons who don't give a toss. That's the nature of today's business.
But if you are getting all the work you want with your modellers/IRs... I am not going to argue at all. I use IRs myself, only not to the detriment of the overall result.
And Sascha - yes nice IRs.

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3 weeks ago

#369

Sascha Franck

Lives for gear

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yuri Kogan

For example I know that producers here will contact you for session work after they heard your work and your sound. And if you don't impress them more then the next guy/girl in line, they will pick him/her in 5 sec, leaving you carrying your lightweight rig 500m from the car-park to the little pub gig with 10 drank patrons who don't give a toss. That's the nature of today's business.

Must be quite different down there then. Over here, what's left in terms of session work, isn't even worth thinking about. It's obviously got to do with music coming from Germany not being exactly guitar-heavy. There's a slight trend towards using more guitar bits here and there, but usually, those parts can be played by ambitioned amateurs already, plus they're often trimmed and manipulated anyway (loop style stuff).
What's left of the "real" studio work demanding professional players is firmly under control of just a mere handful of folks doing that stuff since ages.
And the rest is often outsourced because people expect guitarists to do their recordings on their own. During this year I had an amazing amount of two pretty low-profile jobs of that kind (for just 6 tunes in total), accomplished both of them with my Atomic Amplifirebox and some pedals (fwiw, the producers were perfectly happy with the sounds).
It certainly ain't Nashville over here...

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3 weeks ago

#370

herzensdrang

Here for the gear

My Studio

love is in the air

thank you mr. frank and mr. kogan.

i can very much learn from you both how to fight like a man and how to conciliate like a man.

(i am being honest, NOT sarcastic)

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