I'm working on doing a comparison of Nebula Ownhammer (if I can locate them) vs Ownhammer Heavy Hitters Impulses. Hopefully I can post up something soon after I get my hands on everything I need to do it.

 

Ok, I've got the Heavy Hitters Impulses finally downloaded, and located the Nebula Marshal Cabs from Ownhammer and am pulling them now. When I get a chance to get back to "Mission Control" and get these installed, I will make some samples of each and post along with a poll for youz to vote for which you like best. Anyone want's to suggest the type of playing/ampsim to use for the best results for this comparison, I'm open to use what I have, and play what I can...

 

Sounds real cool
As for style etc whatever u feel and comfortable with that gonna give clear & consistent comparisons.
Is a great idea

 

Yeah, I figured I'd tone down my AmpSim comparison I wanted to do for the moment and start here. Cab emulation for the AmpSim comparison will depend on the voting results I think.

 

Two Notes Audio TORPEDO Wall Of Sound (v3.x) along with a TORPEDO C.A.B. and a TORPEDO Studio hardware versions. The plug-in is free if you buy one of the TORPEDO range and you can choose what add-ons you want if required. The plug-in version can be bought without the need for any hardware also and they are identical. It also has power amp stage modelling (Class A and Class A/B) with break-up when "driven" along with the choice of EL84, EL34, 6V6, 6L6 KT66 and KT88 valves for the power amp section. So it only requires the pre-amp sound to get you most of the way to the guitar sounds you want/need.

Kazrog ReCabinet 4 or 5 *can't remember which version it is at of the top of my head* Great starting points with regards to the presets, Load your own/any 3rd party impulse, It's difficult to go wrong with.

Acustica's Nebula Pro then buy what you want from the various library capture and releasing people, It is impossible to argue against the results, Just having Nebula Pro for adding as good as you can get from a plugin analogue character it is worth it, It's a whole new world once you get into it working with Nebula "programs". The best way I can briefly describe it is dynamic convolution on steroids that can do the non-linear "voodoo" which is what most people are missing when they say something like "I want my mixes to sound more analogue" "warmer" and so on.

RedWirez (the impulse loader they do is comprehensive and allows for a lot of twiddling and diddling with plenty of slots), Kathallen, OwnHammer and Rosen Digital Audio amongst others do so really good stuff that is priced more than fair/well worth checking out.

If you are after spending nothing then Voxengo's BoogieX 2 is very, very good, I have used BoogieX in mixes for the job of mic'd speaker cab impulse loader. I've also used in tracks/mix downs Guitar Rig 5's Control Room Pro which isn't bad, Line 6 AMP Farm and PODFarm 2, Alien Connection ReValver Mk II (before Peavey bought them out, Also used ReValver Mk III, Mk III.5 and 4), Waves GTR 3 (I ain't as terrible as some people claim, It is useable but takes a bit of time to get dialled in and sit within a mix), IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 (I like some of IK's AmpliTube range), Overloud TH-1, TH-2 & TH-3 (I like Overloud's TH range, The preset handling is a bit crummy but it delivers sound wise) and their MarkBass bass amp and cab software, Digidesign/Avid ELEVEN/ELEVEN rack. I've not had chance/time to dig into the Positive Grid BIAS stuff but I will do, Won't be needing the hardware though. There are other's I've used and like by Nick Crow Lab, LePou/Poulin, TSE, Ignite Amps, AXP amongst others also but they are the main one's if I'm for some insane reason not using either my real pedals, amp heads, cabs/combos mic'd up or the KEMPER Profiling Amplifier which is absolute class, It is the closest both in sound and feel wise to whatever it captures/profiles, I'll often use a few AB/Y boxes to route a signal into a mic'd up setup, KEMPER, DI for possible re-amping and/or ITB amp stuff aswell as take a line out from whatever amp or amp's I'm using FX Loop (provided that they are in series) which go into the Two Notes TORPEDO units. I did grab one of these simply because they are really good VFM but I've not really used it honestly, I will do though http://amtelectronicsusa.com/productpagepangea.html

Hope that is useful, Also checkout Guitar Amp Modelling forums for in-depth info and threads on things, It's a very useful site with all the stuff in a few clicks: http://www.guitarampmodeling.com/ All the best and to all as always

Dean

 

yes GOOGLE help a lot.
but the most IMPORTANT to me was i LEARN a lot ..... Doing that kind of post

 

Oh i did that years ago i runned them on the same settings all knobs set at 12 o clock i only had to lower or raised the volym on some as they where very different in volym (IK is worst they think if it is loud it is good an old trick to fool your ears)
I took out all shit that is buried in the plugin by default when you load it = some had delay some had a built in dist pedal etc etc (Brainworx Rockrack was the one with most shit loaded by default) and of course i deleted or disabled the Cab.
I then run it thrue Recabinett 4 with the "matched" cab so if i used a Marshall JMP amp i of course use a Marshall cab and a Vox cab for the Vox AC 15 & 30 Amps and so on..
I can say they sound very similar only some low and highs frequences and some gain/dist is different some of the plugins
But the thing is i could easely had dial in a very similar tone on them all if i wanted to i.m.o it's the cab emulation that is the true "secret" to get a good sound out of a plugin the amps not so much.

 

I recently stumbled across valhallir.at which @F3r definitely should add to his extensive post. Although their Teaser Box (free) offers a very limited glance at what the rest is capable of they're absolutely amazing. They released a second Mesa OS 4x12 yesterday which is definitely the best Mesa IR out there imho. Especially since they offer some cabs that are quite unusual and use some fantastic mics.

 

God Cabinets, Messiah Impulses, Telos Mini

 

I find it very weird that nobody mentioned my favourite ITB IR "Experimentator" [TM ] Voxengo Boogex! Voxengo quality! No rusty knobs and "3D fishy GUI" [TM ], just quality sound and CPU friendly!

 

for metal Real metal amplifire and mic is mandatory. I can't get the sound of my amp with my guitar going direct through my Ur242 interface.

Edit 2019: IRs are very good and the difference between a Cab and IR is much less for the difference between a real amp and ampsim. Especially if you are recording at home

 

Last edited: Aug 4, 2019

I'm doing quite a bit of research just to develop a tool/plugin for doing eq matching with IRs without the usual method. [Edited: I do everything but music ]
There are several applications.

I've both nebula and IR OwnHammer's Celestion V30(32) 4x12". In fact I posted them on AZ but nobody wanted the nebula (big) version lol. Just in case you need resources for your interesting project.

Great explanation. I think I wrote something very similar but no so well explained recently on this very same forum.

 

Last edited: May 23, 2017

If it comes to a rhythm guitar on a mix, you can get surprisingly good results just using a good amp head plugin (distortion dynamics) and leaving the rest to a IR based cab sim. Just look at the youtuber BestPlugins. Obviously, if you want a very good solo sound with a lot of changing dynamics, it isn't enough.

Another interesting thing when it comes to "get that metal song tone" is that the guitar (be it plugin or real) is of course very important. Even when simulating amp head and cabinet you must decide if the IR just models the cabinet or the whole "Mesa Dual Recto with 4x12 celestions V30".

I think that's why the official amp sims (peavey with peavey, Amplitube 4 with Marshall and Mesa/Boogie) sound that good. Because they have a lot of resources from the very company. Mainly (I suppose) loads of tracks: DI, after passing the amp, after the cabinet with zillions of mic setups...

 

Last edited: May 24, 2017

Yeah some cool information in this thread and is good to see some of the IR options & loaders.
Is something cool to mess with.
Would love to try the Mesa CabClone as in a proper setup like say Andy Timmons and if money is no object just set up a Mesa proper stlye

Can't beat that tone and general sound for me personally and from the Cabs I've tried MESA are the best around apart from maybe some of the real boutique Mega Bucks stuff like the Bogner or Suhr.
As for amp sim or impulse packs similar think the Kemper just an awesome piece of kit.
So useful and cool to have around and you can play like this lol

Spend as much as you can afford I reckon on some real decent Hardware lol. Buy a Mesa or Kemper.
You won't regret it

You can get various Loaders but they just facilitate but some more useful than others.
Also thousands of IR's about and is cool to try different ones out. Best used in conjunction with a cool cab if you ask me.
Old skool formula for me - Spend as much as you can afford on a decent tube amp, cab & a few pedals like a Strymon etc and you gonna get the best sound ever.
Do a few reverb swells and sit and play all night long lol

As for IR's well, like mentioned Ownhammer /Rosen / Mesa are popular choices & can sound pretty good but there thousands of others to mess with. Fractal stuff looks pretty useful to me and it's gonna be good. CabLab3 looks real cool along with the IR packs etc.

Best I reckon is save up lol & buy a real good Cab if possible lol and then mess with a few of the toys

 

I feel bad cause I never got to doing that shootout, but the Nebula/IR versions of the same cab sampled would be a more telling story of which sounds more real, I think. There's such variation between IR's and I'm sure Nebula samplings are the same way with big variations dependent on mike placement, room, hardware in use while sampling, etc.
I kind of stopped messing with the emulators after I heard the night and day difference of micing a cab for real vs. running amp sims/cab sims. Still, for scratch pad tracks, or to get an idea of how a DI would sound in the context of the song, or for those who don't have access to a decent amp/mic arrangement, the information presented here is most useful!

 

I like the loaders that came with TSEx50 2.0. and 2.4 simple with nice GUI and multi functional. There is the 3 Sigma & TSE Audio zero-latency dual IR loader which is basically the same thing without the amp.

 

I'm gonna give it a shot and thanks for the reminder.

 

Voxengo is a pionner with cabinet IRs. In fact still the only with a software to do eq matching (deconvolver).
One of Reaper plugs can also do it but still very green.

 

Xupido, glad you mentioned Deconvolver http://www.voxengo.com/product/deconvolver/ as one can also make their own impulse responses out of any sound file to use as an effect or any odd reason you want. The other interesting tool that Voxengo makes is called Pristine Space http://www.voxengo.com/product/pspace/ which is an 8 channel convolver. "Pristine Space is a 8-channel convolution processor. Each channel is independent of the others, making it possible to use Pristine Space in various surround configurations. It also allows the user to apply a `true stereo' kind of processing, where each stereo channel uses its own reverb impulse (requiring 4 convolution channels in total). Sound designers and the like may find Pristine Space's serial convolution processing feature (which allows one to process the sound with several impulses in sequence) useful.". The two are but only 32bit but of course you could use a wrapper, and they are both free plugs. With extra channels you can get extra fancy like with Superior Drummer and add height to your sound which is quite extravagant, and so pretend to be George Massenburg.

 

[De Niro Taxi Driver voice] Xupido? Are you talking to me? :-P

Yeah, it's a very interesting plugin. I'm not into surround reverbs but I've looked them (and binaural ones which are related) in order to try to try to find a solution for multi IR convolution based on the input level.

Several IRs measured at different inpout levels (0, -3dB, -6,...). This is easy, but then how the hell we interpolate an arbitrary fast changing input signal level?

That would improve the dynamics response problem of convolution filters, but it's not en easy topic. It implies very complex interpolation/crossfading techniques due to the critical problem of glitches musically speaking. In fact one of the most important and multi-patented features of AA Nebula/Acqua technology is their interpolation implementation when switching between different layers. Layers meaning their very improved IR on steroids.