B. Cab Selection for Direct Tones

I. My Favorites

My favorite cab/mic combinations to use for single amp patches are:

Hiway 4x12 + SM57 Off Axis

Great all around tone. A little midsy and maybe a little light on the high-end but nothing EQ can't solve. Nothing sounds fake or washed out here. The only problem is it's a little noisy compared to its on axis twin, and the Tread V-30. This is my go-to cab/mic.

Hiway 4x12 + SM57 On Axis

A little thin and overly midsy. Top end can be a tad too harsh. Even with the high end and mids dialed down, something is still just slightly off compared to the off axis. It's louder and cleaner sounding, but the tone is just slightly lacking. Still the 2nd best choice, I think.

XXL V-30 4x12 + 409 Dynamic

Offers plenty of punch and a good bit of high end, but suffers in the upper mids. If you boost presence, the tone can become a little harsh and noisy. Good for a chug-a-chug metalcore tone.

Tread V-30 4x12 + SM57 Off Axis

Offers the most traditional sounding hard rock tone, IMO. Great everything but a little thin - needs more punch/bass. It can sound slightly plasticky. I can get the same tone with the Hiway, but it doesn't sound fake, so I now use that instead of this. However, this cab is louder and less noisy than the Hiway.

Greenbacks 4x12 + SM57 Off Axis

Huge mids, good top-end bite. Sounds a little more vintage than the Tread V-30 4x12, but it also has more bass. I used to use this for more of my Satch/Vai/EVH/Rhodes patches, where I needed a good midrange response but also some crisp highs, but it has taken a backseat to the Hiway.

Uber 4x12 + SM57 Off Axis

A good hard rock tone. Like the Tread V-30/off axis tone, but more bass/punch and a touch of vintage to it. I don't really use it, but it's certainly not bad.

Tread V-30 4x12 + 421 Dynamic

The 421 mic tends to have a scooped sound, which is bad with most cabinets but it works ok here. The tone isn't as clear as other options, but it does sound really heavy.

Greenbacks 4x12 + '67 Condensor

Very midsy and vintage sounding. Can make a good lead tone if you dial out the fizzyness.

I used to rely on the Treaplate 4x12 + SM57 on axis combo, because of its rich highs and upper mids; but I felt it left the tone way too thin, lacking in punch, warmth, and bass. Trying to dial that in never resulted in a satisfactory tone. So I switched mostly to the SM 57 off axis, which doesn't quite have the same clarity in the top end, but has a better overall response across all frequencies. Recently I've noticed there's still something fake-sounding in my tone and went back to the drawing board, trying to really test out all the cabs in detail. The one that stuck out was the Hiway 4x12. Both 57 on and off axis work well with it, and deliver a very real-sounding tone.

I also have different favorite mic/cab combinations for my dual cab patches. See that section for those.

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Ii. General Tips

To compare cab/mics, you want a true A vs. B comparison. After you've dialed in your amp tone, picked a cab/mic, and EQ'ed the patch in pretty well, clone the patch (save it to a neighboring or empty patch space), select a different cab or mic in the clone, re-tweak the EQ and Cab DEP's, then compare the new patch vs. the original. Otherwise if you just switch the cab you're comparing, one cab is dialed in and one is not. Each cab/mic will have unique EQ and Cab DEP settings ideal to the patch you're trying to create. Compare tweaked cabs to tweaked cabs, not defaults to defaults or tweaks to defaults. Additionally, the Tread V-30 4x12 is significantly louder than any of the other cabinets, which makes it difficult to compare it to other cabs as you're trying to build a patch. Compensate your patches for volume as well as EQ differences.

A lot of the tones I seek require a nice, bright top-end. This often goes too far, putting harsh highs in the tone. But these can easily be rolled off using a Mid-Focus EQ. I stick to my general principles - that it's better to filter out frequencies than to try to dial them in and to start with the cleanest signal possible and EQ or otherwise adjust it.

But sometimes you want a cab's unique tone, and that means I may need to boost the high-end. I like to use the Studio EQ to do so - it uses wide boosts and it has an 8 kHZ selection, that allows it to focus higher than the Parametric EQ. Another good option is the Parametric EQ. Although the frequency selection only goes up to about 5 kHZ, it has a high shelf that can make a nice even boost to the highs. If this ends up putting too much crackle in the ultra-high end, again, a Mid-Focus EQ is best to roll that off.

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Iii. Hiway 4x12

After testing pretty much all of the cabs in depth, EQ'ing out any sore spots that may initially overwhelm me, I came to the conclusion that the Hiway rules all other cabs in its ability to deliver the tone of a real guitar speaker. I can't say exactly what speaker it sounds like. Some of the recorded tones I've tried to emulate have used Celestion Vintage 30's, Celestion Greenbacks, and Altec 417-8H's, maybe some others as well. In all cases, I got the Hiway cab to sound more like the tone than the Tread V-30, XXL V-30, Greenbacks, or other cabs. Some tones, which I know used Vintage 30's, sound virtually identical to the tone I can get with this cab model. The actual speakers modeled in the Hiway cab are Fane 12287, which I cannot find any clips of or detailed comparison to speakers I'm more familiar with. In any case, I am currently in love with this cab model. I use it in virtually all my single-amp patches now, replacing the Tread V-30 and Greenbacks 4x12's I was using.

I'm still trying to figure out why it took me over a year to realize this about this cab, as I formerly thought the Tread V-30 cab ruled the roost. I think I was biased against it due to it being a "vintage" model, with speakers I was quite unfamiliar with. Also, the first thing you'll notice about the tone is that it's really midsy - right in the honk area of the mids, which is NOT metal. Dialing the mids out can be a little tricky, but I find a Parametric EQ with frequency at 47%, Q around 50%, and gain around 35-40% does nicely. It's the low and high-end tone that I really like here.

This cab is not perfect. It's not as loud and clear as the Tread V-30, but I think it's still preferable because the tone is so much more consistent across the entire frequency spectrum. Also, it can be a little weak on bass, which you'll have to dial in. This can lead to a bit of drone and boom in the low end, which is off-putting. But dialing in the bass isn't as noticeable, especially in a mix, as the fake or dead sound of the other cabs.

For DEP's, I like to turn the Res. Level down quite a bit in general (25%), making the tone quite crispy and clear and I boost Thump to add a bit of punch.

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Iv. Tread V-30 4x12

It seems to have the least bass of all the cabs. You'll have to dial it back in, but you're never going to get the same amount of chug from it as the XXL V-30 4x12. It can also be a little bright (especially with the 57 on axis and 421 Dynamic), so you'll have to stay mild on your treble or turn up the bass and mids (I find the best way to tame the sizzle is to use a Mid-Focus EQ). Even with those deficiencies, I still think it's one of the better options, in general. But if you directly compare it to a real cabinet or high quality 3rd party IR, you'll notice it has some dead spots or something that make it sound a little fake.

I find this cab is best around 40% Res. Level - that's where the resonance starts squishing the speaker but before it starts making the upper mids overly prominent. Thump can definitely stand to be turned up - I go all the way to 85%.

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V. XXL V-30 4x12

The XXL V-30 4x12 cab should be in the same ballpark as the Tread V-30 4x12 (same speakers being modeled) with a bit more bass and a slightly different frequency response. Yet, it sounds WAY different, out-the-box. I think many people desiring a heavy tone would choose the XXL cab over the Tread on first glance. The deep bass makes it sound undeniably heavy.

Yet something about it sounds a bit off. It's clearly got way too much bass, especially in the "boomy" range between 100 and 240 HZ. But even when you dial that out, it just sounds muffled or something, even with mics that tend to have more presence. I rarely use it by itself for this reason. The only mic I find it sounds good with is the 409 Dynamic, but you have to tame the boomyness still.

Nonetheless, it definitely sounds the heaviest, and I can dial it in close enough to where I want it to be for certain patches. It's the only cab that'll get you that ridiculous Meshuggah (and metalcore) djent.

There are many ways to tame the bass - the amp's bass control, the Thump Cab DEP, the Low Cut Cab DEP, a Mid-Focus EQ, or a Parametric EQ. I almost always use a Mid-Focus EQ anyway, so I start there. Try using a low Q setting on the high pass, and slowly turning up the cutoff frequency to find the sweet spot. Then play with Q and frequency until you have it exactly like you want. That should help balance it out. If still sounds boomy, I use a Parametric EQ with frequency at 13 or 14%, Q around 75-85%, and gain at 35% or less - this will dial out that boomy spot. Or reduce the Thump DEP. If you can palm-mute a low B and it doesn't rattle your entire house, you're on the right track. Finally, try turning down the "lows" parameter on the Parametric EQ a bit or backing off the bass on your amp model.

I actually like to turn up the Res. Level on this cab to about 60% when I use it by itself. This seems to give the mids and presence a healthy boost, partially evening out the frequency response of the cabinet. As expected you probably want to turn Thump down a tad, but don't go too much or things will start to sound weird. When I use it in a dual cab patch, I'll turn Res. Level down to clean up the tone, but it makes things darker, but that's ok since I'm pairing it with a brighter cab.

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Date: 2016-01-03; view: 797