Ownhammer kills it!

[elvis]

I frequently use my Torpedo Live and nearfield monitors to play my amps at reasonable volume.

I played around with the factory IRs and downloaded some of the user IRs on the site, but none of them sounded very good.

I was skeptical that I could get the thing to sound good, but heard enough about Ownhammer to give them a try.

I play through vertical recto 2x12s when I use cabinets. The OH site has a free download pack with some limited mesa 4x12 IRs.

Holy cow! They sound fantastic! I didn't even get into the detailed part. I just demo'd the quick start models and found a couple that sound right on the money when I A/B them with the real cab.

I'm really happy with them. Now I can play the Archon 24/7!

 

[László]

I use the Ownhammer IRs with the Mesa Cab Clone. They improve the result quite a bit.

 

[HANGAR18]

Ya learn something new everyday around here.

 

[alantig]

I use the Ownhammer IRs with the Mesa Cab Clone. They improve the result quite a bit.

So, Cab Clone -> interface -> IR in a plug-in? Is that how you do it? Never thought to try that.

 

[László]

So, Cab Clone -> interface -> IR in a plug-in? Is that how you do it? Never thought to try that.

Yes. I use the IR plugin that came with Logic. It makes things sound a little nicer. If you think about the concept of the Universal Audio OX, or the Two-Notes hardware, the basic concept is similar. In the case of the OX, they take a load box, and model the speaker cab, room, and post-processing effects. The Two-Notes uses IRs with a load box.

The only drawback to the Cab Clone is that it’s not a reactive load, but once you use an IR, it’s awfully good anyway.

Be sure to set the plugin to 100% wet.

On top of that, I sometimes use Universal Audio’s Ocean Way Studio plugin to model the room sound.

 

[elvis]

Les, do you have any issues with the cab clone distorting? I have a little bit of clip no matter how clean the amp is. When I go to a real cab it's not clipping.

Which output and settings do you use?

 

[alantig]

Yes. I use the IR plugin that came with Logic. It makes things sound a little nicer. If you think about the concept of the Universal Audio OX, or the Two-Notes hardware, the basic concept is similar. In the case of the OX, they take a load box, and model the speaker cab, room, and post-processing effects. The Two-Notes uses IRs with a load box.

The only drawback to the Cab Clone is that it’s not a reactive load, but once you use an IR, it’s awfully good anyway.

Be sure to set the plugin to 100% wet.

On top of that, I sometimes use Universal Audio’s Ocean Way Studio plugin to model the room sound.

Thanks - I know what I'm going to try to play with next time I'm down there. I just defaulted to the CC's cab settings, but this would add a ton of flexibility in addition to the improved sound.

 

[DickBanks]

I use them on my Helix. And really, some of the weirdest combinations work the best--right now I have the Mesa Boogie Mark IV lead channel feeding into an Ownhammer combination Greenback and Blueback speaker IR--sounds fantastic with my S2 Custom 24. Go figure!

 

[jak3af3r]

I play a Helix live most of the time and made my own impulse responses with a friend and all our amps/cabs combined. The real magic is IR's of acoustic bodies. Really opens up an acoustic guitar in a live setting running direct.

 

[alantig]

Yes. I use the IR plugin that came with Logic. It makes things sound a little nicer. If you think about the concept of the Universal Audio OX, or the Two-Notes hardware, the basic concept is similar. In the case of the OX, they take a load box, and model the speaker cab, room, and post-processing effects. The Two-Notes uses IRs with a load box.

The only drawback to the Cab Clone is that it’s not a reactive load, but once you use an IR, it’s awfully good anyway.

Be sure to set the plugin to 100% wet.

On top of that, I sometimes use Universal Audio’s Ocean Way Studio plugin to model the room sound.

Thanks, Les - this turned out to be a wonderful tip.

I played with this a little yesterday, loading IRs through Space Designer and Lancaster Audio's Pulse plug-in (Pulse is pretty much just an IR loader, and it's free). Man, what a difference this made. It gave the sound from the Cab Clone a whole new body that wasn't there before. New trick for an old dog!

I will have to play around with which cab setting on the Cab Clone works best for me, but one of the great things about this is I won't have to commit to the sound right away - I'll be able to change the cab IR at will afterwards.

I did download the free Mesa cab from Ownhammer - man, there are a ton of settings to pick from! The Lancaster IRs I bought have three examples each. Ownhammer's model has a ton. Almost to the point of option overload.

 

[Boogie]

I think it was Pete Thorn that mentioned them a few years ago, so I gave them a whirl in Garage Band and Logic. In addition to Wall of Sound, OwnHammer produced the best results with next to no tweaking. I get it!

 

[László]

Thanks, Les - this turned out to be a wonderful tip.

I played with this a little yesterday, loading IRs through Space Designer and Lancaster Audio's Pulse plug-in (Pulse is pretty much just an IR loader, and it's free). Man, what a difference this made. It gave the sound from the Cab Clone a whole new body that wasn't there before. New trick for an old dog!

I will have to play around with which cab setting on the Cab Clone works best for me, but one of the great things about this is I won't have to commit to the sound right away - I'll be able to change the cab IR at will afterwards.

I did download the free Mesa cab from Ownhammer - man, there are a ton of settings to pick from! The Lancaster IRs I bought have three examples each. Ownhammer's model has a ton. Almost to the point of option overload.

I'm so glad it worked for you!

Doing it that way saved me a lot of headaches, and pretty much eliminated problems recording my amps when I can't crank them, like late at night when I need to finish a project.

As good as most models have become, I can only live with them as scratch pads!

 

[reilly]

FWIW, I just purchased the new Own Hammer Friedman BE412 cab pack and I am really impressed (i own an actual Friedman BE 412 cab and they did a fantastic job capturing its sound). Was able to get some really nice tones with my Archon 100w running through a Suhr Reactive Load into an apogee element interface. Plus the Cab pack includes v30 and greenback speakers like the real cab so you have a lot of options to work with.