Cabinet Impulse Response Developers . . . so many . . . so many choices. Which ones have you guys found to be the best for your needs . . . your sound?

 

Hi tommyzai, sir! My two cents: Celestion and OwnHammer. I didnt try those Celestion DSR but the IR are more than good!

 

ML Sound Lab seems cool
https://ml-sound-lab.com/

 

Loads of videos on YouTube

 

I mostly use OwnHammer (>66%) and cabIR + a handful of AudioAssault/Seacow, ChopTones, YorkAudio, ML Sound Lab IRs. I always post-process anyway, so in my case, the qualitative difference is negligible. I'd go for quantity (= most mic types, capture positions + room IR) if I were to buy again - assuming you intend to post-process.

 

What kind of post-process do you apply?

 

I don't have a single favorite but I've been using IRs for a long time and there's a lot of quality stuff out there, from the classic OwnHammer IRs to the latest Mikko Reflex plugin. (Just don't add up how much money you've spent on them over a 10-year period.)

What I've loved in the last 2-3 years: Mikko2, GGD Studio Cabs (Contenders, Cali, Goldstack), Cabinetron, OwnHammer, York Audio, Josh Middleton's IRs, Mikko Reflex (etc.)
What I haven't tried, but interesting: Softube - Celestion Speaker Shaper, Celestion Digital - Celestion SpeakerMix Pro.

 

For guitars, I always use MAutoDynamicEQ at 2% smoothness to quickly find woofy/whistling/resonant frequencies and fix them with dynamic EQ peaks or shelves. IMO dynamic EQ always sounds better than static EQ for this.

I also always throw on a combined saturation & analog EQ plugin (Neve-ish) for a little bit of extra thickness, box tone & really broad tonal adjustments.

For high gain, I like to add back some dynamics with a slowish attack / medium release compressor (Manley).

If the guitars still sound too dull, unexciting or if they're impossibly ear piercing, I'll try spectral balancers/compressors (FireCharger, Waves IDX). (Or I'll just throw away the IR)

If I'm bored, I'll split the frequency spectrum in two in MCabinetMB and I'll use different IRs for lows/mids - works better for bass though, where finding the right sound for the mids can be tedious.

 

Last edited: Mar 22, 2025

That's really useful info, thanks.
I knew only a couple of the tricks using Melda plugins for smoothness and dynamic EQ. Using dynamic EQ to keep the palm-mutes low-mids from going out of hand is a classic for ballz-to-the-wallz high-gain metal. Before you needed a multiband compressor.

 

Boutique Tones are my favorites.

 

I had heard that York was the best quality.

 

York are very good. Other recommendations are ML Sound Reflex and Ownhammer Essentials.