The infamous "in the room" tone...

    Quote from meambobbo

    I think something that's missing from this discussion is that while the trademark sound of a microphone does leave quite a bit of a footprint on the tone, often you can get much closer to the real cabinet's sound by blending 2 microphones. Most of my favorite IR's are dual mic'ed. I agree that I prefer the tone of the cab itself vs. a mic'ed cab, but with proper shooting of a dual mic IR, I honestly find it hard to tell the difference.


    Also, most FRFR solutions are designed to have less directionality, whereas a 12" guitar speaker is quite directional. This will obviously sound different in a room where the sound is reflecting off the walls, floor, and ceiling. But I think once everything is EQ'ed nicely, neither one is better than the other.


    I prefer the simulated cab/FRFR approach. Generally the gear is more portable and more consistent across a space than a real cab. There is no need for mic'ing. It all falls back to the cab/mic simulation you use. Similarly, the "real cab" sound depends on the quality of the real cab/speakers.


    Great point.


    If you look at most pro studio recording setups, they also typically use a near and far mic, and mix the results for something closer to what our ears hear 'in the room.'

    PRS Singlecuts
    Kemper PowerHead/Remote



    Quote from skoczy

    When you turn the knob on KPA, you wake up the captured souls of tube amps living inside.

    I remember an interview where Petrucci was talking about how he got his studio sound on A Dramatic Turn of Events, and he said they used both a SM 57 on axis and a $3,000 Shure Ribbon mic (forget the exact model). I think they were both close mic'ed, but he said they just played with positioning and the mix until the sound sounded the same as when he stood in front of his cabinet. So you know Petrucci's a tone-nut, and there he is saying he could get 2 mics to sound the same as standing in front his cabinet. He may have been speaking in a bit of a generalization, but it still seems impressive to me.

    All I love is the sound of a great amp next to me.


    Starting with the POD's - companies always said - "yes, it does not sound like the real thing - because it sounds like a miked amp".


    IMHO does it sound poor because the used technology was poor - not because of the miked stuff.


    The first thing I did with my Line6 Vetta was to develop some better digital filters - and - the Vetta DI's sounded very close to the Vetta-In-The-Room then.


    I do not like most of the amp modelers and most of the KPA profiles - because I hate the sound of a miked amp.


    So I always try to get my profiles as close as possible to the sound of the real amp next to me - I always profile in the same room where the amp is.


    And it's a myth that it must sound very different - I do not stopp until I find a mic combination and mic placement where the sound of the real amp and the sounds of my KPA is as close as possible.


    My KPA via my FRFR speakers sound almost identically to the sounds of the profiled real amps via real guitar speakers in a guitar cabinet.

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    This is an interesting bit of information, which FRFR speaker do you have?