Cab Impulses: How often do you actually use them?

[Empathy]

Hey guys,

I wanted to get some updated opinions after sifting through the forum archives so far. I’m wondering how many of you actually find yourself using cabinet impulses for your guitar tracks in a contemporary mix – I’m especially interested to hear from those that have the capability to record proper amp/cab tones themselves (or the budget to have their tracks reamped professionally).

EDIT: As others have been outlining so far, there's a distinction between tracking and the actual mix; for the poll, please consider what you would use in the final mix, and by all means discuss further in a reply.

A little backstory for those that are interested:
I'm doing an experimental analysis of speaker impulses responses to try and critically analyse what it is that seems to turn so many people away from using them in a proper mix environment - we've all heard the arguments that they're two dimensional and flat compared to a real mic/cab setup, so I'm interested in looking into what is actually happening that gives us that impression. I've been busy reamping a number of quality DI/stem packs that have been posted up on these forums (some all too familiar to most) as test samples, taking proper amp/cab/mic recordings of all tracks plus impulses of the chain as I go. By the end of the project I plan to have the material to conduct a thorough 'blind test' survey, with participants listening to two identical mixes with the experimental variable being whether impulses or cab/mic setups were used. I'll be distributing all the raw files for analysis to anyone interested, and will happily package all the impulses I end up with. So far I've been using the Megalith into an ENGL 412 w/V60's - a MEAN combination to be sure.

 

[schwinginbatman]

I imagine I'm not exactly the one to talk to about this, as I can only really use impulses. But I'd much rather use a good cab/mic setup, as it's more "real", I guess, but the ease of experimenting and of use makes impulses worth a damn.

 

[kronk_1985]

Never in mixes, only in tracking, so we can track at low volumes.

 

[tempe]

We ALWAYS use impulses when we're tracking as I prefer monitoring through at least a real preamp as opposed to an amp sim. In terms of reamping / mix time, I basically end up using whatever suits the project and sometimes that's ended up being a pod lol. So I'd say its about 50/50 here.

 

[MIAnn]

never in a mix personally..

 

[Trevoire520]

I always use a real cab for recording.
I've been doing a couple of rough demo's with sims and impulses lately and while they sound pretty decent there is definitely a lack of sag and chunk in the palm mutes I think.

 

[DanLights]

I've used ampsims in final mixes only when a real cab was out of my reach, I always prefer to mic up a cab when possible.

I'd love to see the outcome of this experiment.

 

[RedDog]

I work nights and am up until morning, if I write or want to lay down an idea, I tap the preamp of my Randall RH100. God's cab and done. But on my days off, you better believe the reamp sesh is going to piss off my neighbors.

 

[Empathy]

Thanks for the votes/replies so far gentlemen!

Some more info on the project for those interested;

The science behind the test is analysing whether or not impulse responses are able to effectively represent the physical characteristics of loudspeaker movement under load. Because a guitar loudspeaker is a single driver attempting to output frequencies anywhere between 80Hz to 8kHz and beyond, we can assume that reproduction of frequencies on one extreme will affect the way the speaker reproduces frequencies on the other end of the spectrum. The goal in this experiment is to assess an impulse response's ability to reproduce that 'imperfection' in loudspeaker operation - not only that, but whether those imperfections are desirable in a sense that they add a consistently recognized quality to the overall sound.

The final product I hope to end up with will be a fairly short online survey (around 10 minutes) that contains audio samples of the tracks I've used for testing. There will be four tracks of varying styles of metal / guitar technique, each track presented twice - participants will listen to two versions of each 'mix'; one containing guitar tracks properly reamped, and the other containing impulses taken from the exact same reamping session. It will be the task of the participant to guess which track they beleive is which (if they can perceive any difference at all), and state their preference between the two (if any). I'll collate the survey results after 2 weeks and compile into a nice report, and will of course share everything I find with the forum. This is an academic experiment, so I'll happily attach the 5000 word report document for anyone interested when it's done.

 

[Terminus]

Having gotten a new amp recently (after not having one for about three years), sims will only be used for monitoring and getting in the ballpark for any particular sound, and when I am up late writing riffage.

 

[Heabow]

The Torpedo by Two Note Engineering is great. I use it when I use amp sim for tracking every time and sometimes for mixing.

 

[Nimvi]

I will gladly take that survey, Empathy. Sounds like an interesting paper. Pretty interested in the outcome as well. Good luck with it!