Can you reproduce the sound of an Orange PPC412, a Fender Deluxe Reverb, a Marshall 1960A, a Mesa Rectifier, a Vox AC30, a Roland Micro Cube, an Orange Micro Crush...? Yes you can!
YES YOU CAN!
Orange PPC412
Fender Deluxe Reverb
Marshall 1960A
Mesa Rectifier
Vox AC30
Roland Micro Cube
Orange Micro Crush
For each sample:
* 1 rhythm guitar to the left
Amplifier simulator Aradaz Crunch
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 80% left (microphone Royer R-121), 1 cab 60% left (Shure SM57)
* 1 rhythm guitar on the right
Amplifier simulator Aradaz Crunch
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 80% right (Royer R-121), 1 cab 60% right (Shure SM57)
* 1 solo guitar in the middle
Amplifier simulator LePou LE456
Cabinet simulator LeCab, with the following impulses:
1 cab 10% left (Royer R-121), 1 cab 10% right (Shure SM57)
This configuration is always the same, only the cabinet changes
(Orange, Fender, Marshall, Mesa, Vox, Roland)
For Roland Micro Cube and Orange Micro Crush, I used impulses that I created, (downloadable here), with a combination of a Shure SM57 dynamic microphone and a Rode NT5 static microphone.
For all other samples, I used impulses from the Redwirez retail collection.
As you can hear, even when always using the same amp head, the final sound will change a lot depending on the cabinet and the mike used, which is completely logical. You must find the right combination between the head and the cabinet. You can even use the head only if you wish. All of this is virtual, you may do things the way you like them!
FREE IMPULSES
On the Internet, you can find impulses made by people and freely distributed. Unfortunately, their quality goes from excellent to very poor. The only way to know is to try them. I gathered some impulses from various cabinet brands: Mesa, Fender, Marshall, Vox, Orange, Soldano, London City... That's already a very good start. The microphones used to make these impulses are classics from Sennheiser, Shure, Rode, AKG, Neumann...
For free, you will have something to make some good mixing.
I add two zip files containing a total of about 950 more impulses. It's a wide collection, but the file naming is somewhat messy. Some names are crystal clear, some others... you'll have to guess...
On this page, you can download impulses that I created with my own amps. Audio samples will give you an idea of the type of sounds you can expect.
These impulses are audio files to use in impulse loaders such as LeCab 2 or MixIR 2, in order to assemble a virtual cabinet simulator.
You can also buy professional, high-quality impulse packages. They sound really good, because the designers of these impulses have access to a lot of hardware and can provide us with a wide range of impulses. With each cabinet, several microphones are used, and each microphone is placed at different places before (or even behind) the cabinets, so you get nuances that will enrich the sound. Users can then combine several impulses for each guitar or bass take in order to get THE sound they're looking for.
Each cabinet offers a minimum of 550 impulses. The whole collection costs 121 dollars (about 90 euros), which is OK considering the number of impulses and the amount of work put into it. And good idea: you can buy each cabinet impulse collection separately. You get the first cabinet collection for 10 dollars (about 7 euros) and the next cabinets will grant you volume discounts.
I bought their Recabinet 2 collection which contains the following cab impulses:
- "Modern 1" Series : Line 6 Vetta 4×12, Marshall 1936 2×12, Genz Benz G-Flex ported 2×12, Mesa Standard Oversize 4×12, Krank Krankenstein 4×12, Carvin 4×12 British Series, Ampeg SVT 8×10 Bass Cabinet (for bass), Marshall Hand Wired 4×12, Roland Micro Cube
In total, there are 1959 impulses. A large choice that is difficult to sort out at first, but I gradually spotted combinations of impulses I find quite satisfying to my taste. I chose this collection because user reviews were enthusiastic and it is very affordable: 15 dollars for the whole collection. At this price, I did not hesitate for long: spend 15 dollars for quality impulses or spend hours to find good, free impulses without any guarantee to find something useful, it was an easy choice...
Since then, they released Recabinet 3 (winter sales at 20 dollars in January 2013). New impulses and a new, more convenient interface. I said I wouldn't buy it but finally gave it a try thanks to a discount price... and I'm a bit disappointed. Recabinet 3 is not bad at all, the interface is pretty nice and it works smoothly. But I find the interface not as complete as the free Poulin's LeCab2, and more importantly, the impulses are integrated within the interface, so they cannot be used separately with an alternate impulse loader, and also I still prefer thesound of the Redwirez impulses. I think they are better defined, clearer and more accurate. So I would recommend Redwirez, but that's a very personal choice! Nevertheless, Recabinet 3 is a good product... but it isn't the best.
Recabinet 3 interface
COMPARISON BETWEEN REDWIREZ, RECABINET 2 AND RECABINET 3
I have compared the sound of a few impulses from the 3 commercial impulse libraries that I own. Of course, I chose impulses that are as close to one another as possible.
For the left rhythm guitar, I used two impulses taken from a Vox AC30 2x12 cabinet: one impulse from the microphone Royer 121, position Cap Edge, about 10 cm (4 inches) from the speaker, and one impulse from the microphone Shure SM57, position Cap Grill (centered, against the cab grill).
For the right rhythm guitar, I used two impulses taken from a Fender Deluxe (Deluxe Reverb for Redwire, Deluxe 1953 for Recabinet 2 et 3) 1x12 cabinet: one impulse from the microphone Royer 121, position Cap Edge, about 10 cm (4 inches) from the speaker, and one impulse from the microphone Sennheiser MD421, position Cap Grill (centered, against the cab grill).
For the centered solo guitar, I used two impulses taken from a 4x12 Orange cabinet: one impulse from the microphone Royer 121, position Cap Edge, about 10 cm (4 inches) from the speaker, and one impulse from the microphone Neumann U87, position Cap Grill (centered, against the cab grill).
The obtained sound is rather different from one impulse library to the other, although it was made with similar cabinets and the same microphones. This shows how difficult it is to make perfectly reliable impulses, and it also shows how the recording conditions will affect the result. I can't tell which library sounds the most realistic, as it will be a matter of personal preference. And you can always EQ the sounds to make them sound the way you want.
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