Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

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enricoromanielo
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Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by enricoromanielo » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:02 pm

Hey guys, I was hoping to start doing some recording in my place using my tube amps. So, in order to not disturb any neighbors, the initial intention is to record silently(ish).

So I came accross two main alternatives for that: an iso cab (like the Jet City or the Randall), or a cab simulator (like the Mesa Cab Clone).

I noticed that some on this forum have already had some experience with such products. What do you think about them? Additionally to the recording, they seem to be like a good alternative to play the tube amps in a much friendlier volume or even headphones (not direclty in the Cab Clone, but by plugging them in my Mac).

Your help, as usual, is much appreciated!

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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Jondog » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:17 pm

I used to own the Jet City Iso Cab and had the Mesa Cab clone for about a week. I think for the best sound the ISO Cab is the way to go as you can move the mics around inside for best placement and I wasn't that impresssed by the Cab Clone. I installed two mics in mine. The Jest city cab is nice for the price. I'd also sugest getting something to decouple it from the floor as it will vibrate from the low frequencies.
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by a.hun » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:37 pm

I'd be going attenuator and cab sim myself.
For up to 30 watters my Koch Dummybox home is an all in one solution.
For more powerful amps my THD Hotplate attenuator + H&K Red Box speaker sim. DI. My own H&K is the previous generation Red Box classic. Unless they messed up badly the new one should be fine too.

Both setups can give excellent results recorded or live. I'm no purist, and in my book results are what count. Of course the ideal situation is a proper mic'd cab, preferably in the same room as the player for proper acoustic interaction. An iso cab wouldn't be my personal choice but that is just personal preference.


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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by enricoromanielo » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:51 pm

Thanks guys. I was trying to avoid attenuators. I used to have a Bad Cat Leash, did not do anything special for me, so I put it up on a trade.

But I just saw the Rivera Rock Crusher Recording Power Attenuator, seems like an awesome product! I watched Pete Thorn's demo, and it sounded amazing. I also learned that Slash is using one of these in studio as well... Seems it can do whatever Mesa Cab Clone better and beyond (it costs a lot more, though).

You guys ever tried this?

The iso cab is not going to work, since the ones made by the most known brands do not sell it down here (just got an email from Jet City that they are starting to export it to Brazil, but who knows at which price they are going to charge)... I would need to have it ordered and hand made my someone down here without testing it first (which complicates things quite a bit).
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Jondog » Sun Mar 01, 2015 10:25 pm

That Rock Crusher looks awesome! Downside of ISO cabs is size. You get real speaker response obviously, but they aren't dead quiet. But like I said, I wasn't impressed with the Cab Clone.
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Spaceboy1 » Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:51 am

I'm super curious about using the Jet City iso cabinet for recording my Tiny Terror at home.

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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Clockwork Patient » Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:29 pm

Jondog wrote:That Rock Crusher looks awesome! Downside of ISO cabs is size. You get real speaker response obviously, but they aren't dead quiet. But like I said, I wasn't impressed with the Cab Clone.
What was it you didn't like about the Cab Clone?
I haven't used mine much so far, but enough to record a few demo guitar parts for some songs and to me it sounded like it will be good enough to use for all the final tracks on the finished EP. But maybe my ears just aren't that good!
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Hellavision » Mon Mar 02, 2015 12:52 pm

I'm really happy with my Palmer PDI-03 Speaker Simulator for home use. I regularly play along to songs on Spotify or Youtube on my computer with headphones and it seems to blend very well with the mixed tracks. It doesn't sound like a 4x12 in the room, but it sounds like a decently mic:ed up cab. Maybe it would be better with a nice ISO-box, but for my needs It's a good match, and 100% silent except the string sound. Sounds a lot better than the Software Ampsims I tried in the past, sounds like my amp. Plus if you don't like the hardware Speaker Simulators you can take the unfiltered signal out and go through software speaker impulses.

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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by enricoromanielo » Mon Mar 02, 2015 1:06 pm

I heard very mixed opinions about the Cab Clone... Some say the unit is great, some say "mehh", and others just did not like it. From some youtube videos I've watched, I found them to be OK.

But I am almost set on either the Rivera RockCrusher Recording or the Torpedo Live, which are almost the same price. These two units seem to get some preety awesome review all the time, and seems to be great solutions for playing tube amps quietly...
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Clockwork Patient » Mon Mar 02, 2015 2:51 pm

If it's the quality of the speaker emulation circuit of the Cab Clone that you're concerned about (although it sounds good to me), then bear in mind that you can always just use the non-emulated output and apply an IR speaker sim afterwards. That is if you'll be using it via an audio interface and DAW of course.

When I start doing some proper recording with the Cab Clone I intend to record the emulated and non-emulated outputs simultaneously, apply an IR speaker sim to the non-emulated, and mix them to taste.
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Jondog » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:13 pm

I don't think the cab simulations sound realistic to me on the Cab Clone. Not at all like a real speaker. I plugged it straight in to my recording program and it sounded like garbage unless you added all kinds of plug-ins to it. At that point I'd rather just use simulated guitar amps and cabs. That Rock Crusher having an active EQ on it makes all the sense in the world. Everything is passive on the cab clone. Cab clone is way too expensive for what it is. No different from a red-box only cab clone has a $5 resistor inside it to act as a load. It looks nice.
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by bclaire » Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:32 pm

I use the Marshall SE-100 speaker emulator. Sounds fabulous... very hard to find although there's one on ebay right now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Marshall-SE100- ... 35e60d32d2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by everdrone » Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:02 am

iso cabs are far from quiet... I have been using recabinet
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by enricoromanielo » Tue Mar 03, 2015 4:43 am

I realize that there is a great difference in price, but check this video out... The Torpedo Live just crushes the Cab Clone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vqWDB5V9mg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Silently(ish) recording - iso cab or cab sim?

Post by Jondog » Tue Mar 03, 2015 5:12 am

What are you using to record?
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