ISO Cabs

[zozoe]

Hiya,, this path my be a life changer, & the two that caught my eye were the Mojotone 1x12, a Randall, & the Jet City.
Any good, any one better than the other,,, & truly a solution for apartment recording with a 20w or so amp?

Thanks all!!

 

[jeremy]

i used a "home made" one in the studio years ago for overdubs. it worked great and severely cut down the volume. i was running a 50w jcm800 cranked into the 1x12 iso with a v30 (if im remembering correctly) basically a plywood box painted black with deadening material and a sm57 mounted inside

 

[CaptainWhizz]

I’ve kept my eye out for these for years, and saw a great deal on a Randall the other year. But by that time, load boxes and IRs had developed so much, I wondered if iso cabs were worth it any more.

 

[Top-L]

Hiya,, this path my be a life changer, & the two that caught my eye were the Mojotone 1x12, a Randall, & the Jet City.
Any good, any one better than the other,,, & truly a solution for apartment recording with a 20w or so amp?

Thanks all!!

I have a Randall ISO. I modded it to accept two mics. it can absolutely get the job done and get tones better than a reactive load/IR, but it takes a ton of work, and isn't as versatile. There is some low end that needs to be dialed out, and its not as quiet as you would think. Its difficult to make small changes to the mic position, so what I did was had two mics, one near the center and one near the edge, and dial in a balance between them.

I just use it as a load now. Its in a closet and I run my amp to it. I have a redbox with DI out that I either play with the redbox cab sim, or apply IRs in my computer. But over past few years its not even worth it, I just play through a modeler.

That said, an Iso cab and an IR loader may be cheaper than something like an OxAmp or Boss TAE.

 

[SlyFoxx]

I've had the Demeter iso cab for years. Works a treat but it's big, heavy and kinda pricey.

 

[zozoe]

Great info folks, & now the hunt begins!! Thnx

 

[Ewizard]

I hadn't used ISO boxes myself, but have done sound for several bands that did. ISO boxes are good at cutting back some volume. It doesn't take you from peeling paint to whisper-quiet, it just brings it down to tolerable. The best thing since sliced bread that I have come across is the Two Notes Captor X!!! I too for the longest time thought that IR's would never be close enough to the real deal. I am here to say that they are now good enough and in such abundance that if you can't find, buy, or make an IR that you aren't happy with, well, then not much would make you happy. You can play with headphones, record in stereo, do one wet one dry track, you can use the Wall of Sound plugin, and get studio-grade features to polish things up however you can possibly imagine.

I can't see being tied to one cab ever again. I can use whatever I can dream up. The Captor X sounds that good. I won't argue that it is tough to beat a well mic'd and recorded live track of a guitar amp, but if you sneeze, hiccup or so much as blink, that sound is lost forever. With the Captor X, at least if you can be happy with the sound, you can always have it; and many more.