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I Ownhammered my Helix


shred440
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IRs are dangerous. Yesterday as an experiment I recorded a bit to compare to a track I had recorded of my actual Rectifier for an album and discovered I had not mimicked the tone nearly as well as I thought I had. I spent the next hour going through basically every Mesa 412 IR trying to find the right one...

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IRs are dangerous. Yesterday as an experiment I recorded a bit to compare to a track I had recorded of my actual Rectifier for an album and discovered I had not mimicked the tone nearly as well as I thought I had. I spent the next hour going through basically every Mesa 412 IR trying to find the right one...

 

Indeed. This is a great downfall of IRs, especially if you're one to get stuck in indecision mode that can last days or more.

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IRs are dangerous. Yesterday as an experiment I recorded a bit to compare to a track I had recorded of my actual Rectifier for an album and discovered I had not mimicked the tone nearly as well as I thought I had. I spent the next hour going through basically every Mesa 412 IR trying to find the right one...

 

 

You could even make your own IRs of your specific cab/mic/room, too!

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Indeed. This is a great downfall of IRs, especially if you're one to get stuck in indecision mode that can last days or more.

No doubt. I think 90% or my time has been testing and tweaking and maybe 10% playing a song. My wife even chimed in this week "can't you just play a whole song...you're driving me nuts!"

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IRs are dangerous. Yesterday as an experiment I recorded a bit to compare to a track I had recorded of my actual Rectifier for an album and discovered I had not mimicked the tone nearly as well as I thought I had. I spent the next hour going through basically every Mesa 412 IR trying to find the right one...

Man, sorry if those were the ones I made.

 

I don't have a physical dual rec. Only hardware and software modelers.

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Man, sorry if those were the ones I made.

 

I don't have a physical dual rec. Only hardware and software modelers.

Nah, that's the Ownhammer ones. I'd like to make an IR of my Orange PPC212OB but I don't think I have the right gear for it.

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Nah, that's the Ownhammer ones. I'd like to make an IR of my Orange PPC212OB but I don't think I have the right gear for it.

Cool. Not tryin to cause problems ;)

 

Amplitube has some certified Orange gear and I havent made any for myself yet.

 

I could whip out a few cab only ones and some amp influenced ones for you to try (not hundreds in every configuration of course ;). What amp do you use with your cab?

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Cool. Not tryin to cause problems ;)

 

Amplitube has some certified Orange gear and I havent made any for myself yet.

 

I could whip out a few cab only ones and some amp influenced ones for you to try (not hundreds in every configuration of course ;). What amp do you use with your cab?

Yeah, I played with those a bit in demo mode, they aren't bad. I'd normally be using either a Rockerverb or the Dual Rec with that cab. Really any amp sounds good, that cab is great...

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Yeah, I played with those a bit in demo mode, they aren't bad. I'd normally be using either a Rockerverb or the Dual Rec with that cab. Really any amp sounds good, that cab is great...

 

 Alrighty,  try these out 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADMuVW6DcV9JCdYLppxnIt8a/IR/V2/Orange%20PPC212OB?dl=0

 

  • 3 main types: cab only, Mesa Dual Rec power amp + cab (MDR prefix), Orange Rocketverb 50 power amp + cab (ORV prefix)
  • Mics: Dynamic 57 (D), Condenser 87 ('C), Ribbon 121 ('R)
  • Main Mic (D or R) distances from center cone: 0-2 inches

Example: ORV Orange PPC212OB 1iDC.wav is Orange power amp into PPC212OB cab with Dynamic 57 mic 2" off cone on 1/2 and Condenser 87 mic on other 1/2.

 

I'm sure you know, but the PPC212OB is an open back cab.

 

Also a reminder to use the Helix IR block Low Cut and High Cut to adjust for any boominess or harshness/sizzle, and experiment with the IR Level and the amp volumes.  The cab only IR's are pretty predictable, but the power amp + cab IR's need some taming sometimes.

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I bought a 4×12 Marshall (Checkerboard) ir. Here's me noodling around on it:

Listen to Helix Noodling by Journey's Edge #np on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.com/journeysedgetribute/helix-noodling

Nice tones and riffs. Sounds like you were using a browned-out Plexi Helix model.

 

Would you mind giving some Marshall Checked Grill Greenback IR's I just made a spin?

 

I took a stab at matching what you had going on. MarshChk GB 0iDC.wav with a Dynamic 57 on the center cap sounded closest since you had some sizzle in that clip. This is mixed with a Condenser 87 on the other half to sweeten things up. I posted 1 & 2in from the center cap as well.

 

I also made a couple with dual Condenser 87 mics for a little smoother sound, one 0-2in away from the cap.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADNd1wKUEAUOM93PL2D_QZ7a/IR/V2/Marsh%20Check%20GB?dl=0

 

May want to tweak the Helix IR block low cut and high cut some too. Low Cut around 140Hz and High Cut around 10,000Hz seems pretty close to your clip.

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The problem with all those cab IR:s and that goes also for all those presets you can dl from custom tone is that there is way too many of them.

 

One thing people tend to forget is that the person that make the preset may not play the same kind of guitar as you if it´s not the gear used to make the preset is stated in custome tone maybe he is using a Strat and you are using a 7 string with humbucker

And more importantly most likely will have a different playing style a.k.a he/she may attack the string harder/softer or have a different legato touch even using a different pick will get a different sound.

 

So when you load his/hers preset and start playing it may sound totally different then what it sounded for the maker of the preset,

 

Thats why i always try to build my tones from scratch.

 

But if you are new to tonemaking you of course dl preset and use them as a guide for your own tweakings.

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 Alrighty,  try these out 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADMuVW6DcV9JCdYLppxnIt8a/IR/V2/Orange%20PPC212OB?dl=0

 

  • 3 main types: cab only, Mesa Dual Rec power amp + cab (MDR prefix), Orange Rocketverb 50 power amp + cab (ORV prefix)
  • Mics: Dynamic 57 (D), Condenser 87 ('C), Ribbon 121 ('R)
  • Main Mic (D or R) distances from center cone: 0-2 inches

Example: ORV Orange PPC212OB 1iDC.wav is Orange power amp into PPC212OB cab with Dynamic 57 mic 2" off cone on 1/2 and Condenser 87 mic on other 1/2.

 

I'm sure you know, but the PPC212OB is an open back cab.

 

Also a reminder to use the Helix IR block Low Cut and High Cut to adjust for any boominess or harshness/sizzle, and experiment with the IR Level and the amp volumes.  The cab only IR's are pretty predictable, but the power amp + cab IR's need some taming sometimes.

 

Haven't had a chance to actually try these yet, but I did finally download them. When you refer to distance, is that distance back from the grille or distance sideways from the cone? I suppose if these work out I could just buy IK's model and do the IRing myself following your guide.

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Distance is radially/horizontally across the face of the speaker, similar to physical IRs, which is what Helix cabs do not currently offer.

 

And yes, I would highly recommend anyone grabbing AT4 + Mesa pack for $159 while it is on sale this month. It will give you the Mesa cabs and newest Marshall-based collection. Between the two, you will cover a lot of ground.

 

To me playing the Helix amps through the Amplitube cab room, adjusting mic types, speaker types, even setting up dual cabs and 4 mics, mixing it all on the fly, then ripping it to an IR for live use is a MUCH better and less frustrating workflow than scrolling through an IR library. Once i get a good cab IR, i really dont need to keep adjuating it. If I do, I have it saved as a cab preset in Amplitube. Plus you get some great amps for your DAW too!

 

Amplitube would likely be a dominant force in the IR market if they would publish an IR export utility for us with modellers. I'm about to start pounding their message boards again for this.

 

Fractal has a Cab utility where you can mix, tweak, and export IRs. Redwirez has something similar wit mixIR. But neither have the functionality, flexibility, and polish of the Amplitube cab room. Im sure Amplitube cabs are fundamentally IR'S just like everyone else. They just have a better interface and organization

 

The point of me posting IRs was not necessarily to generate an Uber library, but to prove that users have other options available to make usable, more custom IR'S for themselves. We don't HAVE to rely on someone else's interpretation of what sounds good with their guitar and recording gear when they made their IR. We can make IR's customized to our Helix, amps, preamps, electric kazoo, whatever we can plug into a computer.

 

Maybe I'll post some clips and video or two this week.

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Nice tones and riffs. Sounds like you were using a browned-out Plexi Helix model.

 

Would you mind giving some Marshall Checked Grill Greenback IR's I just made a spin?

 

I took a stab at matching what you had going on. MarshChk GB 0iDC.wav with a Dynamic 57 on the center cap sounded closest since you had some sizzle in that clip. This is mixed with a Condenser 87 on the other half to sweeten things up. I posted 1 & 2in from the center cap as well.

 

I also made a couple with dual Condenser 87 mics for a little smoother sound, one 0-2in away from the cap.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/009bkqzooza1aop/AADNd1wKUEAUOM93PL2D_QZ7a/IR/V2/Marsh%20Check%20GB?dl=0

 

May want to tweak the Helix IR block low cut and high cut some too. Low Cut around 140Hz and High Cut around 10,000Hz seems pretty close to your clip.

Sure, I'll check it out when I get a chance.

 

It takes me a while to find one I that I like with all the different placement options for each OwnHammer cab. This is how I found the one I'm using:

I loaded into all the ir slots, the different mic position irs and used the foot edit to try each one. When I heard one that I liked, I wrote the slot number down. Then I compared all the ones I liked and repeated the process until I narrowed it down to the one I liked the most.

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