I got an ISO cab and...

[GuitarJon]

I've always been a little but skeptical about ISO cabs. I heard that they sound a bit weird etc. But when I was at Guitar Summit and spotted the Grossman Fatbox I was intrigued. This cab is pretty compact (not light!) and it has 3 mic stands. It's very easy to change speakers but it was also built in a way that it not only mutes the sound of the speaker by around 30dbs, it also doesn't sound very weird in terms of the whole "ISO aspect".

Anyway, I'm going to do a lot of stuff with this cab as I've always mainly been a reactive load and IR guy, but it's going to be fun to dive into the world of real speakers and mics. Check out my video and you might be surprised at how good this thing sounds:

 

[paisleywookiee]

Sounds great! I've heard these are good. Is it worth the size/weight/cost over good IR's though? Hard to say.

 

[GuitarJon]

Sounds great! I've heard these are good. Is it worth the size/weight/cost over good IR's though? Hard to say.

These are pretty affordable and they're very high quality but I get your point. It's all about personal preference. IRs are still amazing! For me it's worth it because it's a whole world that I can dive into on my channel and I'm just having so much fun exploring this!

 

[Shredder777]

These are pretty affordable and they're very high quality but I get your point. It's all about personal preference. IRs are still amazing! For me it's worth it because it's a whole world that I can dive into on my channel and I'm just having so much fun exploring this!

I used to use a Randall iso, still use it as a load. This was before IRs were a thing.

My iso box did seem to have some resonances, but I felt it could be worked around with eq. This was 15 years ago and home recording technology was still emerging. I had wired a receptacle for a second mic.

The problem was the mic positioning was quite labor intensive and having to work around resonances required eq tweaks, so the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

Jon, everything on your channel pretty much sounds the same with whatever production harness you are using (double tracking, compression, auto eq), so I'd be surprised if using the iso doesn't just sound like another IR. You have gotten some really cheap and low end gear to sound identical to your high dollar gear.

I don't have the time or studio set up to test it, but I'd be surprised if actual mics are better than IRs these days. Using a mic allows you to make minute adjustments which is better than an IR, but its difficult to make adjustments inside the iso.

And they are actually still quite loud. I predict you will be back to IRs in short order.

 

[GuitarJon]

I used to use a Randall iso, still use it as a load. This was before IRs were a thing.

My iso box did seem to have some resonances, but I felt it could be worked around with eq. This was 15 years ago and home recording technology was still emerging. I had wired a receptacle for a second mic.

The problem was the mic positioning was quite labor intensive and having to work around resonances required eq tweaks, so the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

Jon, everything on your channel pretty much sounds the same with whatever production harness you are using (double tracking, compression, auto eq), so I'd be surprised if using the iso doesn't just sound like another IR. You have gotten some really cheap and low end gear to sound identical to your high dollar gear.

I don't have the time or studio set up to test it, but I'd be surprised if actual mics are better than IRs these days. Using a mic allows you to make minute adjustments which is better than an IR, but its difficult to make adjustments inside the iso.

And they are actually still quite loud. I predict you will be back to IRs in short order.

I haven't said that this is "better" than IRs. I'll be doing a test comparison soon just in case. But I needed this, it's something that I've never really explored and I'm having way too much fun! Already have a bunch of speakers and more on the way. I'm looking to make IR packs so that people can get the sounds from my videos. The first packs that I've already created came out really good!

I will say though, working with a real cab like this just isn't the same as IRs. It's a whole different experience on multiple levels, and that's totally fine. Both methods have their place!

 

[PLX]

I used to use a Randall iso, still use it as a load. This was before IRs were a thing.

My iso box did seem to have some resonances, but I felt it could be worked around with eq. This was 15 years ago and home recording technology was still emerging. I had wired a receptacle for a second mic.

The problem was the mic positioning was quite labor intensive and having to work around resonances required eq tweaks, so the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

Jon, everything on your channel pretty much sounds the same with whatever production harness you are using (double tracking, compression, auto eq), so I'd be surprised if using the iso doesn't just sound like another IR. You have gotten some really cheap and low end gear to sound identical to your high dollar gear.

I don't have the time or studio set up to test it, but I'd be surprised if actual mics are better than IRs these days. Using a mic allows you to make minute adjustments which is better than an IR, but its difficult to make adjustments inside the iso.

And they are actually still quite loud. I predict you will be back to IRs in short order.

There was a guy on the old MetroAmp forum about 20 years ago that started building the ISO boxes and recording clips with them.

As you said, this was way before impulse responses.. so it was a pretty good idea to deal with volume issues.

 

[Shredder777]

There was a guy on the old MetroAmp forum about 20 years ago that started building the ISO boxes and recording clips with them.

As you said, this was way before impulse responses.. so it was a pretty good idea to deal with volume issues.

I was happy-ish with the results at the time, but it was way too labor intensive for me.

I had multiple mics going into a sub mixer to pull frequencies from each mic before sending to daw.

Ultimately it was so inflexible that it wasn't worth it and I started experimenting with modeling. The problem with the iso was that I could get it set up for one kind of sound, but if I wanted another kind of sound, it didn't sound as good. A ton of work to just get one good sound. And you are stuck with dynamic/directional mics, no ribbons or condensers.

 

[AutomationBias]

Can you leave the mics in place while you change the speaker, or does the whole thing have to be disassembled?

 

[Elric]

But, dude, you are the king of the amp->load box->IRs paradigm! You can't desert us!

 

[GuitarJon]

Can you leave the mics in place while you change the speaker, or does the whole thing have to be disassembled?

It's very easy to loosen the mic stands and just move them out of the way. Changing speakers is very easy and quick!

 

[PLX]

I was happy-ish with the results at the time, but it was way too labor intensive for me.

I had multiple mics going into a sub mixer to pull frequencies from each mic before sending to daw.

Ultimately it was so inflexible that it wasn't worth it and I started experimenting with modeling. The problem with the iso was that I could get it set up for one kind of sound, but if I wanted another kind of sound, it didn't sound as good. A ton of work to just get one good sound. And you are stuck with dynamic/directional mics, no ribbons or condensers.

Yeah, there were some funny, polarizing threads over there when you started that project.

People got emotional.



https://forum.metropoulos.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=38844

 

[Shredder777]

Yeah, there were some funny, polarizing threads over there when you started that project.

People got emotional.



https://forum.metropoulos.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=38844

This wasn't me!

 

[PLX]

This wasn't me!

I know who that was.

Here's here and I wanna see if he's gonna chime in.

 

[laxu]

And you are stuck with dynamic/directional mics, no ribbons or condensers.

Why not ribbons or condensers?

 

[PLX]

Why not ribbons or condensers?

You'd need to shock-mount the ribbon mic to avoid damaging it.

#Fragile harmonics

 

[Shredder777]

Why not ribbons or condensers?

There are reflections off the walls of the iso, so your best bet is a highly directional mic. Also there isn't alot of room so you will be close micing. Ribbons have figure 8 pickup pattern.