Impulse responses for Clean Tones

Gear
#1

Hi, I’ve recently bought the boss GT1000core as most of the pit orchestra work I’ve been doing lately has gone in ear monitors. It’s a great unit and I’ve found several over driven edge of break up type sounds I like, however I’m not crazy about the clean tones. I’m wondering does anyone here have any recommendations regarding impulse responses, as far as I can see they’re all pretty much geared towards heavy rock type tones.
Thanks In advance.

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#2

Good question! Have not used clean tones (from amp sims) much recently, but I remember having a harder time setting them up compared to distorted stuff.

Off the top of my head, I would search the internet for some free IRs of cabinets that are well known for their nice cleans, like Fender super reverb, fender tweed, Roland (forgot the model, the jazz one), Vox AC30 etc.

I remember that Seacow cabs had a few free offerings in that style: https://www.seacowcabs.com/

I also know a developer called JZIR who makes IRs to match tones from famous artists and songs. You could try to contact him directly if you have a clear idea of what sound you want (e.g. “a tone like the clean section of master of puppets”): https://jzir.gumroad.com/

Share your findings if you come across something good :slight_smile:

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#3

Thanks for that, I actually went to the celestion site and purchased their greenback G12 and vintage 30 packs. They really sound great. Ive checked both those sites you’ve recommended too and they look cool.
I’ll make a video when I get some time and post it for everyone to hear. I’ve used celestion before on this original tracks https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/8ovFyMxvYfNzBNcU9

Thanks for your reply.

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#4

Monster playing! Really cool tune! And yeah… the sound is great too. :slight_smile:

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#5

Thanks for listening, the celestion IRs sound pretty good.

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#6

I second this!

I’ve gotta say, as someone who refused to touch digital for YEARS, I now can’t see why anyone would bother messing with analog these days when you can get sounds this good from software. Plus, the ability to save/recall presets and not having to crank an amp to an ungodly volume just to hit its sweet spot…the benefits are just tremendous.

I know some mention the ‘feeling’ is different. Maybe it just takes some time to get used to. Again, the benefits of getting used to it seem great.

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#7

I’ve had the good fortune of touring and doing television work with some high profile artists and in that time I’ve used amps ranging from a fender twin which didn’t travel well and I was constantly repairing it to Dr Z amps which were great but needed to be pushed to a volume that wasn’t acceptable for the scenarios I was in. When I went digital I had consistency of tone and reliability. This option allowed me to tour the world without getting any hired amps which in the past proved unreliable.

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#8

Cool explanation. And thanks for sharing your awesome playing with us!

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#9

Thanks for taking the time to listen. Much appreciated

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#10

Have a look into York IR’s - I think it’s the guy from Paramore who runs it. A wide selection of cabs and mic blends and by far the best sounding IR’s out there imho!

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#11

Hey, I checked those IR’s out and bought the matchless pack. Thanks for the help.

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#12

Sheer stubbornness and an existing investment in equiptment? That’s my reasoning, anyway. :lol:

Even then, I’ve taken to demoing and writing direct with VSTs/IRs, simply because it’s awesome to be able to go back and punch in one note in a melody line and have it sound seamless whern you’re done. I suppose in theory I could jusy reamp the whole thing afterwards, and I;ve generally done that as part of the demoing process when I have things pretty much whereI want them to be… but part of it is just intellectual honesty and wanting to physically perform the part in one take, and part of it is that I seem to have some sort of a grounding issue that only comes out when I feed a DI from my interface to my amp thst generates a little morte bacground hum, and the tone suffers for it - it sounds better if I just plug in and play.

But yea, technology is pretty awesome. I’ve still just been using free stuff too, a LePopu Lecto in 8x oversample mode, to get pretty close to the sort of tone I dial out of a Mesa… but I should probably just suck it up and buy one of the better Mark V models and have something that gets that much closer to my recorded real-amp tone, huh?

To the OP - I was listening to that track while writing that. Great playing, especially your touch on the guitar. Nice work!

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#13

Hey Drew, thanks for the response. I am getting a lot of excellent information from these replies. I love using a good tube amp, but IRs do help me bridge the gap for live work and some recording. To my ears, the impulse responses from Celestion are incredible for clean to break up type sound. I don’t play a lot with a heavy distorted sound, but I’m sure they’re great for that also. I’d love to hear your music sometime.
Matt

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#14

I’ll have to check them out - I don’t use THAT much more gain than you. I’ll try to remember to come back here and post something I’m working on when i get a chance - thanks!

#15

Thanks Drew; I would love to hear your music. I plan to post some more of my music soon.