3.5 HX Cabinets

[Stone]

I do like a baked-in signature tone.

I play through my Creambackatana most of the time so my go-to IR is a tweaked capture of that. The new cabs are great - I've played the hell out of them in Fight Club and think they're way better than the Legacy cabs. If I were strictly a Full-Ranger or did a lot more recording I'd probably be using them.

Those new cabs are awesome and so easy do dial in, I know a lot have there go to IR's which is Awesome
but for me I only do covers so each song requires a totally different setup including amps and cabs, especially cabs
so these new cabs will alleviate me of endless folder diving for the correct tone
like everyone its always different for everyone

 

[ragingplatypi]

Any new patches I’m making with the new cabs. I don’t have time to edit my old patches or match something up to the ones I use.

 

[Lopp]

I’m sure you’ll either eventually try them or figure out a work around.

Thanks for not adding another option. Now I have another good reason to go play with the new HX Stomp cab block: To see the poll results.

 

[dk_ace]

I did the update, but haven’t had a chance to play with the new cabs. Prepping for a Christmas gig is taking up what little playing time I have right now.

I don’t expect them to replace my main IRs. I’m already happy with those. I’m hoping to use them for those extra sounds I’d like to have to round things out that I don’t already have an IR for and don’t really want to buy one.

D

 

[ejecta]

I'm barely even bothering with IRs ever since 3.5. Super easy to get the sounds i'm looking for, particularly with the new mic controls.

I still have one favorite 3rd party IR but that’s it and that’s because that IR works so great in that patch. All the rest are the new cabs. I think they sound really nice and much easier to find what I’m looking for faster.

 

[BenIfin]

The following is just general commentary and *not* directly or indirectly aimed at anyone in this thread :)

I don't get some of the comments about the new Cab Block -vs- IR's.

The new Cab Block is simply a collection and curation and digitization of 00's of thousands of actual real IR's shot by L6 or whomever (?) they go to do it.

Unless you simply must have a specific speaker and/or specific mic that is not on the list .... its all there.

And clearly this list of Cabs and Mics will be added-to as new FW's drop ..... that is a virtual ~ %100 given.

It really annoys me whenever I see comments about these new Cabs that go along the lines of "they're good but not as good as [insert name here] real IR's".

^^^ First of all its ignorant and uninformed and wrong ......and secondly ..... does anybody really think that the L6 people and whomever helped them make these new Cabs don't also know how to properly and brilliantly shoot IR's ...!?!?!?!?!?

To seriously suggest that you cant find a great sounding Cab set up in the new Cab Block with all the available speakers, mics, positions, angles, distances, phasing etc..... is just laughable ..... you must have gold and platinum coated ears :)

As someone somewhere probably once said ...... give me a freakin' break.

Ben

 

[the swede]

The following is just general commentary and *not* directly or indirectly aimed at anyone in this thread :)

I don't get some of the comments about the new Cab Block -vs- IR's.

The new Cab Block is simply a collection and curation and digitization of 00's of thousands of actual real IR's shot by L6 or whomever (?) they go to do it.

Unless you simply must have a specific speaker and/or specific mic that is not on the list .... its all there.

And clearly this list of Cabs and Mics will be added-to as new FW's drop ..... that is a virtual ~ %100 given.

It really annoys me whenever I see comments about these new Cabs that go along the lines of "they're good but not as good as [insert name here] real IR's".

^^^ First of all its ignorant and uninformed and wrong ......and secondly ..... does anybody really think that the L6 people and whomever helped them make these new Cabs don't also know how to properly and brilliantly shoot IR's ...!?!?!?!?!?

To seriously suggest that you cant find a great sounding Cab set up in the new Cab Block with all the available speakers, mics, positions, angles, distances, phasing etc..... is just laughable ..... you must have gold and platinum coated ears :)

As someone somewhere probably once said ...... give me a freakin' break.

Ben

Oh well Ben, this is all nice said of you. But some people over at the other place might disagree with everything you just said and mean that it’s the actual process of acquiring the IRs that shape the sound (everything else except the freaking cab itself and the damn mic).

And in a sense, this is what i myself have discovered theough the years of using various IR makers. They can claim all they want but their different ways of making the IRs shape their product.

ML claimed his IR were “accurate” and authentic.
OH also claims that their IRs are that.
YA and it’s following swear by them…

Those were just three examples. Load the same cab from each of those three, and oops… they all sound different. Most often they themselves claim that it’s the variances in speakers and cabs that is the main difference (of course…. Because they are capturing cabs accurately right? It would be strange to admit they didn’t). And so it also is much about the outboard gear they use. Also shapes the sound.

Personally I stopped caring about any claims.

And I’m pretty happy that Line 6 at least doesn’t claim anything about their IRs except them being the better and upgraded “cab sim” compared to the legacy cab sim. That’s a good standpoint because they now that forums will eat up any sort of official accuracy/authenticity claim they might make. It’s just proof of them taking a mature and common sense standpoint regarding the muddy rabbit hole 3rd party IR makers have created.

 

[laxu]

Oh well Ben, this is all nice said of you. But some people over at the other place might disagree with everything you just said and mean that it’s the actual process of acquiring the IRs that shape the sound (everything else except the freaking cab itself and the damn mic).

And in a sense, this is what i myself have discovered theough the years of using various IR makers. They can claim all they want but their different ways of making the IRs shape their product.

ML claimed his IR were “accurate” and authentic.
OH also claims that their IRs are that.
YA and it’s following swear by them…

Those were just three examples. Load the same cab from each of those three, and oops… they all sound different. Most often they themselves claim that it’s the variances in speakers and cabs that is the main difference (of course…. Because they are capturing cabs accurately right? It would be strange to admit they didn’t). And so it also is much about the outboard gear they use. Also shapes the sound.

Personally I stopped caring about any claims.

And I’m pretty happy that Line 6 at least doesn’t claim anything about their IRs except them being the better and upgraded “cab sim” compared to the legacy cab sim. That’s a good standpoint because they now that forums will eat up any sort of official accuracy/authenticity claim they might make. It’s just proof of them taking a mature and common sense standpoint regarding the muddy rabbit hole 3rd party IR makers have created.

There's a huge amount of minute variables that can affect how a particular IR comes out. Most people use multi-mic mixes from the vendors you mention and that pretty much always sounds bigger than a single mic option. Those also have a signature tone based on how the vendor likes to dial them in. ML tends to have more low end and a smoother top end than say YA.

I use the ML Sound Lab MIKKO plugin a lot because it makes it so dead easy to roll your own IR mixes. It's like a ridiculous overkill version of the cab sim Line6 Helix and NeuralDSP Quad Cortex have. MIKKO lets you place up to 9 virtual mics on a speaker and each of those 9 mics can also be on a different cab/speaker! In practice just two mics (like Helix/QC let you use) is often 95% of the way there and adding more does not necessarily make it significantly better. A good bunch of the cabs in the QC are actually ML Sound Lab ones and they work pretty identical to using two mics on the MIKKO plugin.

The beauty of cab sims like these is that you get out of the "let's cycle through all these IR files until I find something that works" to "hmm, I think the tone should be a bit brighter/edgier" so you simply move the virtual mic a bit closer to the dustcap. Way more intuitive.

I haven't had the time to install Helix Native on my new computer yet and give the new cab sims a go. Tomorrow I've got the whole day free since it's Finland's independence day so I might just give them a try then.

 

[Stone]

Well I guess there are some that have found their IR and it works for them so in that case they dont need to change over, which is fine right?
i mean we just go with what works best for us

 

[Gearzilla]

The following is just general commentary and *not* directly or indirectly aimed at anyone in this thread :)

I don't get some of the comments about the new Cab Block -vs- IR's.

The new Cab Block is simply a collection and curation and digitization of 00's of thousands of actual real IR's shot by L6 or whomever (?) they go to do it.

Unless you simply must have a specific speaker and/or specific mic that is not on the list .... its all there.

And clearly this list of Cabs and Mics will be added-to as new FW's drop ..... that is a virtual ~ %100 given.

It really annoys me whenever I see comments about these new Cabs that go along the lines of "they're good but not as good as [insert name here] real IR's".

^^^ First of all its ignorant and uninformed and wrong ......and secondly ..... does anybody really think that the L6 people and whomever helped them make these new Cabs don't also know how to properly and brilliantly shoot IR's ...!?!?!?!?!?

To seriously suggest that you cant find a great sounding Cab set up in the new Cab Block with all the available speakers, mics, positions, angles, distances, phasing etc..... is just laughable ..... you must have gold and platinum coated ears :)

As someone somewhere probably once said ...... give me a freakin' break.

Ben

Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with this thread nor is relevant to any of the posts that preceded it.

 

[the-trooper]

Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with this thread nor is relevant to any of the posts that preceded it.

Yeah, didn't want to be the one to say it Not only this thread, I don't remember seeing anyone say something negative about them on this forum.

 

[BenIfin]

Well I guess there are some that have found their IR and it works for them so in that case they dont need to change over, which is fine right?
i mean we just go with what works best for us

Yep. True. Right. As it should be :)

My beef is that - as an example - ML, OH, YA and others .... of which I have spend serious $$ on over the years all claim to "have cracked the code" ..... and that is all B.S ...... scroll scroll scroll scroll and if your lucky you'll find one.

If that your "thing" more power to you.

B.t.w ....... its no accident that Cliff has confirmed in response to a post on his forum about how good the new L6 Cab Block sounds, that they are also currently working on *exactly* the same L6 / Neural etc.... Cab Block approach ..... of course theirs will have 29,254 additional options to create the illusion of "betterness" ..... but that's to be expected :)

For the record, I purchased - some time ago- the V2 Matchless Pack based on the "gush" .... before going Digital my Rig was a DC 30 Clone with a custom made 2 x 12 Matchless Celestion Speaker Cab ...... this YA Pack is without question ... to my ears .... the most lifeless, bland IR's I have ever tried .... massive top end, massive low end and massively scooped in the mids - absolutely nothing like the real cab I had and knew very well. I posted this in the YA thread in the other place ........ nothing but the sound of crickets !!!

As I said above .... does anyone seriously think that the L6 - and Neural crew for that matter - don't have, and have access to the expertise to shoot their IR's better than 3 separate one-man bands who consistently each release 27-micro-differently versions of the same basic speakers just to try an keep the $$ ticking over ?

The older I get, the less satisfying and thirst quenching Kool-Aid becomes.

Ben

 

[BenIfin]

Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with this thread nor is relevant to any of the posts that preceded it.

Yeah, didn't want to be the one to say it Not only this thread, I don't remember seeing anyone say something negative about them on this forum.

I did preface my post as being "general commentary" ..... so I assumed it would be read in that spirit ......maybe I should have posted at the other place ?

For the record and to the OP directly .... I think the new Cab Block IR's and features are brilliant and totally negate any need for 3rd party IR's ... i.m.o .... and bluntly ..... if you cant set up 2 different Cabs and Mics and get them to sound excellent with the HX Cabs, you have no idea what you are doing ... or have really bad ears.

I trust this is "back on track" :)

Ben

 

[Gearzilla]

Yep. True. Right. As it should be :)

My beef is that - as an example - ML, OH, YA and others .... of which I have spend serious $$ on over the years all claim to "have cracked the code" ..... and that is all B.S ...... scroll scroll scroll scroll and if your lucky you'll find one.

If that your "thing" more power to you.

B.t.w ....... its no accident that Cliff has confirmed in response to a post on his forum about how good the new L6 Cab Block sounds, that they are also currently working on *exactly* the same L6 / Neural etc.... Cab Block approach ..... of course theirs will have 29,254 additional options to create the illusion of "betterness" ..... but that's to be expected :)

For the record, I purchased - some time ago- the V2 Matchless Pack based on the "gush" .... before going Digital my Rig was a DC 30 Clone with a custom made 2 x 12 Matchless Celestion Speaker Cab ...... this YA Pack is without question ... to my ears .... the most lifeless, bland IR's I have ever tried .... massive top end, massive low end and massively scooped in the mids - absolutely nothing like the real cab I had and knew very well. I posted this in the YA thread in the other place ........ nothing but the sound of crickets !!!

As I said above .... does anyone seriously think that the L6 - and Neural crew for that matter - don't have, and have access to the expertise to shoot their IR's better than 3 separate one-man bands who consistently each release 27-micro-differently versions of the same basic speakers just to try an keep the $$ ticking over ?

The older I get, the less satisfying and thirst quenching Kool-Aid becomes.

Ben

To me this sounds like it’s own thread

 

[JT]

The following is just general commentary and *not* directly or indirectly aimed at anyone in this thread :)

I don't get some of the comments about the new Cab Block -vs- IR's.

The new Cab Block is simply a collection and curation and digitization of 00's of thousands of actual real IR's shot by L6 or whomever (?) they go to do it.

Unless you simply must have a specific speaker and/or specific mic that is not on the list .... its all there.

And clearly this list of Cabs and Mics will be added-to as new FW's drop ..... that is a virtual ~ %100 given.

It really annoys me whenever I see comments about these new Cabs that go along the lines of "they're good but not as good as [insert name here] real IR's".

^^^ First of all its ignorant and uninformed and wrong ......and secondly ..... does anybody really think that the L6 people and whomever helped them make these new Cabs don't also know how to properly and brilliantly shoot IR's ...!?!?!?!?!?

To seriously suggest that you cant find a great sounding Cab set up in the new Cab Block with all the available speakers, mics, positions, angles, distances, phasing etc..... is just laughable ..... you must have gold and platinum coated ears :)

As someone somewhere probably once said ...... give me a freakin' break.

Ben

Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with this thread nor is relevant to any of the posts that preceded it.

I had to turn off dark mode to read it! Never Leave Dark ModeTM

 

[James Freeman]

NYAH!
NYAH!

 

[Digital Igloo]

Unless you simply must have a specific speaker and/or specific mic that is not on the list .... its all there.

It's just like samples back in the late 90s, early 00s. Drum machines all but died out at the time because there were hundreds of Akai sample libraries with thousands of kicks, snares, whatever. It's not that the libraries were objectively better; there were just way more sounds to choose from.

Or like trying to date in a small town vs. big city.

And once you find your go-to kicks and snares (or significant other), anything else just doesn't compare.

its no accident that Cliff has confirmed in response to a post on his forum about how good the new L6 Cab Block sounds

He did? Missed that one. Cliff's a stand-up dude.

 

[JT]

It's just like samples back in the late 90s, early 00s. Drum machines all but died out at the time because there were hundreds of Akai sample libraries with thousands of kicks, snares, whatever. It's not that the libraries were objectively better; there were just way more sounds to choose from.

Or like trying to date in a small town vs. big city.

And once you find your go-to kicks and snares (or significant other), anything else just doesn't compare.

He did? Missed that one. Cliff's a stand-up dude.

Helix FW (SR-)16

 

[Digital Igloo]

Helix FW (SR-)16

Turn it on and the screen literally reads "©1990 Alesis." It was developed in part by Marcus Ryle seven years before Line 6 even existed. It turns 33 years old next year and you can still buy an Alesis SR-16 TODAY.

And some people give us grief that Helix is 7-1/2 years old.

 

[JT]

Turn it on and the screen literally reads "©1990 Alesis." It was developed in part by Marcus Ryle seven years before Line 6 even existed. It turns 33 years old next year and you can still buy an Alesis SR-16 TODAY.

And some people give us grief that Helix is 7-1/2 years old.

It was my first drum machine! It's "featured prominently" alongside some terrible Ministry riffs sitting on a cassette somewhere