isolation cab.

[AAEA]

so I am about to undertake some recording and well the amps are the thing that will end up being the loudest. I was checking out isolation cabs and found one hell of a deal.

seems like the best bet for me. seeing as the cost of an empty cab is running $500+ I think I did good. the insane thing is that the speaker installed in it is nearly identical to the one I'm running in my rig now. it was like the guitar gods were sending me a message lol.

the cab I fell in love with is the Blankenship 1x12 with the m75 Scumback in 16ohms.



the Isocab has the m75 in 100watts 16 ohms. also comes with a shure 57 mic. all in I think I paid $470. Now I can even play the big boy 100 watt heads without nuking my cab.

[lespauled]

Nice. I bought a used Randall Isolation Cab a couple of weeks ago, in dead mint condition. I am impressed with it so far. I made sure to pack it with a bunch of extra acoustic padding I never go around to putting up in the new place.

I just showed one of my sons, the difference and he couldn't believe it. It's been a game changer for making Kemper profiles. Now I don't have to worry about it being too loud. Before the iso cab, I was using about 8 moving blankets to try and limit the noise, but it was an exercise in futility.

I didn't notice much of a difference at all in the sound, since I usually mic the cab almost right on the grill anyway when making profiles.

It came with a Chinese V30, which I swapped out for an Eminence Super V. I have 2 other speakers ready to go in there after I finish profiling with the Super V. Defnitely a game changer.

Congrats!!!! Hope your experience is as good as mine.

[AAEA]

I hope so too. I was like "this is a sign" when I saw the speaker it was loaded with lol.

I really really didn't want to take the speaker out of the cab I have.

recording made simple. there are a bunch of studios here in socal and I even know people who own some but I feel like a booger asking for free studio time. like its what they do for $$$ so not really my sorta move. the studios around here aren't exactly cheap so this is the best bet. gives me unlimited time. allows the inner protectionist to be satisfied or at least closer to it.

[lespauled]

I watched a bunch of videos on the Iso cab before jumping on it. The videos said that the sound outside the cab was less, and actually became fuller after adding the additional acoustic panels. I didn't do a comparison, I just added the additional acoustic padding. I also added a gooseneck, to allow me to use other mics in any position.

So far, I really like it.....and so does my wife, since she no longer hears the profiling process.

[AAEA]

yup, got a goose neck on the mic. its got some decent stiffness to it so it won't shift around when playing it. seems like it already has some sort of built in capture chamber above the speaker in the lid. I might be able to fit a smaller pad in the lid but it wouldn't be too much more than what it already has going on.

First off just gotta test and see how decent it works and perhaps all is good enough to use as is. doesn't have to be like 100% sound deadening just a major reduction would be perfect for my setup.

[lespauled]

After putting a bunch of acoustic padding around the edge, under the speaker, and on the cover, it filters out much more of the external sound. It cuts the high end about 85%, and cuts the low end about 95%. So far, pleasantly pleased with it.

Here are some pics of mine. I was trying the AT2020, and it held up pretty well, but there seemed to be more fizz at higher volumes, so I went back to the SM57.

[Dirty D]

Interesting informative post, thanks fellas.

Not sure it adds any value, but reminded me of an anecdote I thought was funny:
Fantastic Negrito's studio is in my neighborhood, and my son and I were fortunate to be invited over there a couple years ago when he was recording his 4th album. Anyway, his studio is a converted old house like hundred years old or something, and he and his engineer were using a small pantry closet as an isolation cabinet for the guitar tracks - they said the old wood structure helped provide the sound they wanted. His musical style might not be everybody's cup of tea, but dude won Grammys for each of his first three albums, and he might be on track for this new one as well, so it would be hard to argue he doesn't know what he's doing.

Obviously that wouldn't be enough isolation for most of us in an apartment or house/family situation, but I thought it was funny and DIY cool.

[AAEA]

Interesting informative post, thanks fellas.

Not sure it adds any value, but reminded me of an anecdote I thought was funny:
Fantastic Negrito's studio is in my neighborhood, and my son and I were fortunate to be invited over there a couple years ago when he was recording his 4th album. Anyway, his studio is a converted old house like hundred years old or something, and he and his engineer were using a small pantry closet as an isolation cabinet for the guitar tracks - they said the old wood structure helped provide the sound they wanted. His musical style might not be everybody's cup of tea, but dude won Grammys for each of his first three albums, and he might be on track for this new one as well, so it would be hard to argue he doesn't know what he's doing.

Obviously that wouldn't be enough isolation for most of us in an apartment or house/family situation, but I thought it was funny and DIY cool.

yea definitely have to keep the huge volume down. hella Karens in this sorta swanky neighborhood who sit at home all day doing doodleysquat just looking for an excuse to cause a shit storm.

I've got friends who own studios but I'm not trying to pay for the time and Im no shnorrer.

The idea is get my entire home recording rig so I can become a bit more prolific with the recordings. As is doing session work and having been with a few bands that recorded I've seen money fly out the window sitting on a studio couch and well slumping back on my own is already paid for.

I feel like building a decent rig at home to record is sorta a challenge too and then will come all the tweaking to get it all to sound right and play nice together.

Most recent addition was the Bass rig. There is no F'ing way to make an Isolation cab for bass. sorta the nature of that beast is to carry the low Hz signal so if you tried to make a iso cab for bass you just created one giant trunk sub for the SUV lol.

My choice of method was to go digital for the bass. while a lot of the digital stuff sounds like shit for guitar... bass seems to have done quite decently in the digital realm. I picked up a Line6 Bass PODxt Pro rack unit. I choose that as you can still get them relatively cheaply and they come loaded with tons of stuff. the rack version is much more quality that the little kidney shaped turds that line6 made. plus it has legit XLR input/outputs. I was sorta iffy if Line6 could sound decent but after plugging in it was actually pretty cool. lots of modification and effects too.

Sourced this one under $200 shipped and its mint condition with no surprises.

[lespauled]

I was watching some videos for the Rivera Silent Sister Isolation cabinet, where he was talking about you have to let the air out, thus making it less silent. So, I ran a quick test.

I turned on my Kemper, and opened my DAW. I have a project where I have one track where I'm just playing a few riffs from different songs that I use to dial in the amp, and the other is just a refining track where I run the Kemper refining after the initial profile. I then send that back to the Kemper, which plays the amp for me, while I dial in the amp. It also means that everything will be the same, no changes in my playing, hitting the strings harder, etc.

I'm using a clean-ish JTM sound, with an EVH 5150 overdrive, into an Eminence DV-77 speaker, SM57.

I made 2 profiles, one with the top closed and one with the top open (loud AF). There is a definite difference. With the top closed, there is much more high end coming through the mic. With the top open, it actually sounds muddier, with more low end. Of course, the open didn't sound as good because I dialed in the amp using the closed top, but I was a little shocked to hear a distinct difference in the overall sound.

Have you tried something like my test?

[Hunter008]

I didn't even know an isolation cab existed.
Very interesting.