Andertons Revisits The Mesa Cab Clone

[CoreyT]

They pulled the first video a month or so back, here is a new one from today.
Although it was probably done a few weeks back since Rob and his fiance are still in South Korea visiting World Music Instrument company.

 

[DoctorLad7]

I just imagine a guy from Mesa with an AK standing behind the camera making them do it.

 

[Raymond]

I havne't watched it but it seems to me this screams biased with the Mesa guy sitting there in the middle.

 

[Raymond]

Okay, watching it now.

I have it in the background, on my TV through my home cinema system, the Cab cone sound SOOOO different and worse than the mic cab. Can't deny it. It's just not good, period.

 

[László]

Okay, watching it now.

I have it in the background, on my TV through my home cinema system, the Cab cone sound SOOOO different and worse than the mic cab. Can't deny it. It's just not good, period.

The problem may be that they've used the vintage voicing and what they're miking is not necessarily a vintage voiced cab.

However, I agree that the miked tone sounds far better, as one would expect. A speaker cabinet moving air, even close miked, is still going to sound more natural, and more dynamic, than any electronic box.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

This video is all kinds of bad.

They're gonna have to bury these things in the same hole where they found all those old unsold Atari E.T. game cartridges.

 

[Raymond]

The last 2 minutes is a joke, they are terrible actors and you can tell they don't believe what they are saying, it was so awkward !

 

[sleary]

I still want to know a little more about it really, might have some uses to it.

One thing about Mesa I don't like is the fact that they dictate what Long and McQuade (Canada) can carry their stuff. I was going to pull the trigger on a retro verb 25 last week and my local l&m can not sell them . Mesa wants $60 000 worth of inventory on the floor and my store can't do it.mi can't even order one in unless it's used. I'll stick with Hughes and kettner lol.....

 

[Whitecat]

One thing about Mesa I don't like is the fact that they dictate what Long and McQuade (Canada) can carry their stuff. I was going to pull the trigger on a retro verb 25 last week and my local l&m can not sell them . Mesa wants $60 000 worth of inventory on the floor and my store can't do it.mi can't even order one in unless it's used. I'll stick with Hughes and kettner lol.....

Almost every big MI company does this nowadays - Gibson does it, for sure and likely PRS too. It's up to L&M to make the commitment or not. If they don't feel they can sell through the minimum inventory requirements then they won't do it, obviously.

Mesa is super strict with MAP enforcement too - sell for lower than MAP to anyone, and you're likely to lose your dealership regardless of how much you carry. They have pulled their products from Guitar Center in the US at least once - that's a big, big chain! That's why it's super difficult to find a discount on Mesa stuff.

Anyway, back to the subject - I think CabClone looks like a technology that is actually best suited to live work, rather than studio - sonically it would totally hold up there whereas those nuances would be lost on record. Not having to drag cabinets around on tour and worry about mic'ing up etc seems a boon.

 

[CoreyT]

Here is the Cab Clone built into the new Mesa Mark Five 25 head.
He demos it against the Two Notes Torpedo, and also the bigger Mark Five head.
If you read some of the comments at his page under the video, he goes into a little more detail on it, and thinks it is better suited for live playing into a console than for recording with.

The unit built into the head though does not have the Vintage position, only closed back and open back.
Regardless which interface he is using, I dig his tone.

 

[alantig]

I've used my Cab Clone for a few recordings. I haven't settled on a preferred pattern or setting yet, but I'm still playing around. It's worked really well on my two-channel C, and the recording I did w/my Archon hasn't quite taken form yet. One difference is that w/the C, I recorded the signal only through the Cab Clone. The song w/the Archon has the Cab Clone mixed with a mic'd track. I stepped away from it for a while because of other things, and when I went back to it, the Archon part isn't quite as pleasing as I thought before. I suspect it's the balance between the two tracks.

I have not watched the Anderton's video, but I suspect the Cab Clone is much like any other audio tool - it's going to work better for some people than others. And no doubt, if A gets a sound that he thinks is just the greatest thing, B is going to say, "Can you believe someone thought that was a good tone?"