Mesa impulse comparison: OwnHammer vs God's Cab vs Redwirez

[Clark Kent]

All cabs are SM57 close mic'ed around cap edge... so "should" sound similar but do they? Nope. Does mic'ing a cab properly make a bigger difference than any pickup switch, string change or even the guitar itself? I'm starting to think that it does.



Ofcourse one of the biggest differences here is that these cabs have been run with different power amps.

 

[Revson]

Whatever the second one was sounded the best to me.

 

[FIXXXER]

yeah the second one is nice!
that music sounds like papa roach btw hahah

 

[savage_messiah]

Interesting stuff, I prefer the second one too. I assume they're in the same order as the title, but is that God's Cab? What amp or sim did you use for this, was it AxeFX?

 

[Clark Kent]

Yeah it's not a blind test. 1) OwnHammer 2) God's Cab 3) Redwirez.

God's Cab was done through a 6505+ power amp right? That explains a lot.

 

[Robert W]

I have some of the Ownhammer Mesa IRs and I think they sound better mic'd with a Fathead.

 

[infest]

It's between the 2nd and the 3rd for me. Amp is TH2 I assume?

 

[JakeAC5253]

Would be interested to hear my free IR against these others as I've never tried them except for God's cab, but I didn't really like those.

 

[Clark Kent]

No TH2 for me anymore. Axe-Fx Ultra. I just realized this is in the gear section.. but this is digital gear? Where do we put these?

Personally I think the OwnHammer has the best growl and fizz.

Jake I can add you in the comparison if you give me a link to your IRs!

 

[Trevoire520]

I like the first the best, second one is more present and upfront but it's at the expense of the rest of the mix. First one sits within the mix much better imo.
Not a fan of the third at all.

EDIT: Clark I would like to see how my impulses stack up against these too, link in my sig!

 

[Ermz]

Don't forget that each individual V30 sounds drastically different to another, and that's not even factoring in when they're in different positions in the cab. Also, the tightness of the screws holding the speakers into the board matters, as does the tightness of the screws on the back of the cabinet (the quality of the seal, in effect).

 

[Clark Kent]

Sure... in this case Redwirez and OwnHammer are selling these as their products so you can't change those things afterwards.

 

[mickrich]

God's cab for me too.
I totally agree on cabs making a bigger difference than amps.
Changing to my Recto, Marshall and orange cabs makes a much bigger difference than changing between triple recto and 6505 on the same cab.

I tend to prefer my own impulses than any I have downloaded.
Maybe because it's my sound and I am used to it.
I would love to hear how my MK4 fx rtn>recto cab impulse sounds compared to these. It's the same position I used for the MK4 file I sent to you recently.
Here is the impulse. Hope you can do this so I can hear how well it stands up against these well know IRs you have used.
48k so should work with your Axe-fx.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/2133088/MK4_Recto412_48K.wav.zip

 

[MatrixClaw]

I like the first clip best, it sits the best in the mix and really suits the music IMO.

I'll have to get these Ownhammer IRs. You should add the Catharsis impulses to this - I keep trying new IRs, and the Catharsis ones seem to be the only ones that do it for me :\

 

[Artean]

They sure sound different, as expected, and I'm pretty happy they do. Variety is a good thing - we don't want to sound alike, right?

 

[Clark Kent]

Hey here's Mick vs Trev vs Jake!



Once again they all sound very different. The presence/bass balance will ofcourse vary and I would've tweaked them in a different way if this was more of a serious comparison. Although Trev's clip was a bit muddy sounding I like the growl and fizz most. I'd go with Trev's impulse here I guess. Mick, you know the Mark IV tone you made for me? I use that as a main rhythm on my Axe-Fx, that's how good it is. I don't think this comparison shows it in it's best light. Jake, I liked the modern high end in that clip. It reminded me of Disturbed... please don't take that as an insult.

Here's this so you can play them side by side:

 

[MIAnn]

@ Clark , thanks for another interesting thread... just out of idle curiosity, have you tried the Kalthallen nebula cabs??

 

[Trevoire520]

Thanks for that man, nice to be able sit and jump between all 6 of them quickly. Quite surprised how well mine held up actually as that was only the 2nd time I'd made an impulse! Deffo needs a wee cut in the low mids to kill that boxiness/muddiness though.
I quite like Jake's impulse though it's just a wee bit on the bright side. Though obviously with all this we need to take into account that we'd all adjust the amp setting for each impulse as you said.

There's also a bigger difference between Mick/Mine/Jake's impulses compared to say the Ownhammer & Gods cab one's.

I think mic placement and presence/resonance settings when creating the impulses make a BIG difference here.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I think Mick's impulse is my favorite on these. I couldn't see it working in a lot of things, but for this it works nicely.

 

[Blacklight_Studio]

I've had three mesa OS cabs and they all sounded REALY different from each other. The last one had too much of that irritating shit around 2-3khz and I did not use it on a record most of the times. I think every cab sounds different. Even every speaker does.