NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

[Phantasmagoria]

..with IR loaders.

I've had my (analog) AMT CN-1 Chameleon Cab simulator pedal for a few years now & I think it sounds fantastic. But then you always hear people dismissing analog Cab sims and going on about Impulse Responses like they're the holy grail .. well, this little box was affordable (and generally well regarded) enough to make me think of checking that out for myself. So I pulled the trigger on one from a local online pedal store yesterday & it's just come in (pretty quick).

In any case, audio quality/authenticity apart, there are some other advantages. It's tough to save a Cab sound with the CN-1 because if you accidentally turn a knob your sound changes and that tends to happen often if you gig with it, which I occasionally do. This thing also allows you to use a bunch of your fave cab sounds which you can just toggle between instead of having to redial stuff in all over..then there's things like onboard mic & power amp sims which should be interesting...I'll give it all a go later tonight :bigthumb:

Official demo from Mooer..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Quick plug in to the Mooer Radar & then my analog AMT Chameleon cab sim pedal... (pardon the pointless, sloppy playing )

I just randomly scrolled through the Mooers presets & picked the one (I think it's a Bogner 4x12) that sounded the most similar to the AMT CN-1 Cab tone I'd dialed in .. (just for the purpose of closer comparison.)

Mooer: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rdefjhra7etnk38/Mooer_Radar_AMTStonehead.wav?dl=0

AMT: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wr2rh6bat38dj5h/AMT_Chameleon Cab.wav?dl=0

To me, the AMT CN-1 pedal sounds a lot like the amp sounds in the room (or like an appropriately hi/lo pass filtered recorded track). Probably since I dialed it in by ear to sound that way, while the Mooer is closer to the sound of a mic'd cab (before any high & low pass filtering) ie..it's rawer & hairy-er/brighter.

I suppose the point being you're supposed to use (the onboard) EQ, adjust mic distance/position etc & use the hi/lo-Pass filters while recording your track..or do that in your DAW just like you would with an actual raw mic'd guitar track..

The amp was my AMT Stonehead..just went direct into the front using the preamp output at the back and whatever power amp model came with the Bogner 4x12 preset.

With The AMT Chameleon Cab sim I used the amp's (AMT Stonehead's) own pre & power section & a loadbox....

Both just raw tracks without any kind of processing or effects.

In my personal opinion the analog AMT CN-1 cab sim more than hold's it's own...so much for IR's blowing analog pedal sims away :laugh2:

I'm sure that with a bit of tweaking the Mooer IR will sound just fine too though. All the Cab presets I tried sounded pretty good/usable..but they were all a bit hairy/bright.

 

[Hank-]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

There was no need to buy a pedal to check out IR's, could have downloaded free samples from ownhammer/redwirez etc & loaded in the DAW. Stock presets have a reputation for sounding crap, even Fractal can't avoid that problem. The vid Ola did sounded horrid to me as well.

That pedal has reported reliability issues, get rid of it before it fails on ya. I considered getting one for fun but if its buggy then I'd rather pass for now. Actually AMT has an IR loading pedal out or will be having one out, now that I would buy.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

It's not even close imo. The Mooer sounds much more like the real thing.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Yeah, the Mooer does sound more like a mic'd cab, but I like the way the AMT sounds too...

With a little fiddling around I'm already getting some really cool sounds out of it..just basic stuff like messing with the mic placement/distance etc..switching the power amps (El34/84/6L6 etc) around..things like that. Have'nt even messed with the other parameters yet. Plus, there's a firmware upgrade I need to load into it as well..apparently they've upped the samples from 512 to 1024 (whatever that means) which translates to more/better low end or something. Anyway, bottom line.. I think this thing is very useable for recording, even for gigs & stuff.

@ Hank: Whoah..I have'nt heard about any reliablity issues? It's early days lol, but this thing has'nt been glitchy in the least so far & as I said above, a bit of basic tweaking makes a world of difference, I've been getting great cab sounds out of it since I started messing around a bit more with the presets. I think it's worth holding on to.

Considering the price difference and all, it actually compares pretty well with the big boys..

A bit less low end yeah (still sounds pretty decent to me) , but that firmware update from 512 to 1024 samples supposedly fixes that..

 

[Hank-]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

I used to follow up on it when it first became available. It seems some units froze up or had software bugs which might have been addresed in the firmware updates. The only thing that worriesme about it is that it would get bricked when I most need it lol

Here is a link for getting a celestion ir from them for free. They email it as a subscription token or whatever. The ir's that come stock in the Radar aren't that great. The best ones or easiest ones to find that sound good are paid ones but there are user submitted ones that are gems too but require a lot of auditioning time. Do a google search for free irs that helix or ax8 users are using, you'll probably find a link for a set of good ones to downliad for free.

https://www.celestionplus.com/free-download/

 

[LLL]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Yeah great stuff. :smokin:

Get some quality iRs and a quality iR loader (VST or otherwise), crank your (real) amp and tap the line out, and you don't need a ton of (real) speaker cabs with a bazillion different speakers (big $$$$$)... not to mention you can play at any volume.

And you can experiment like, "what's my Marshall sound like through a 2x12 loaded with Jensens?" or "what's my Fender blackface sound like through a 4x12 loaded with pre-Rola Celestions?"

 

[LLL]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

apparently they've upped the samples from 512 to 1024 (whatever that means) which translates to more/better low end or something.

Generally speaking, better quality/reproduction of the iR... if your iRs are of the higher quality.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

I used to follow up on it when it first became available. It seems some units froze up or had software bugs which might have been addresed in the firmware updates. The only thing that worriesme about it is that it would get bricked when I most need it lol

Here is a link for getting a celestion ir from them for free. They email it as a subscription token or whatever. The ir's that come stock in the Radar aren't that great. The best ones or easiest ones to find that sound good are paid ones but there are user submitted ones that are gems too but require a lot of auditioning time. Do a google search for free irs that helix or ax8 users are using, you'll probably find a link for a set of good ones to downliad for free.

https://www.celestionplus.com/free-download/

Thanks for the link & for all the information dude..I'll follow up on it & check things out :beerchug:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Yeah great stuff. :smokin:

Get some quality iRs and a quality iR loader (VST or otherwise), crank your (real) amp and tap the line out, and you don't need a ton of (real) speaker cabs with a bazillion different speakers (big $$$$$)... not to mention you can play at any volume.

And you can experiment like, "what's my Marshall sound like through a 2x12 loaded with Jensens?" or "what's my Fender blackface sound like through a 4x12 loaded with pre-Rola Celestions?"

haha..yeah..I agree. It's pretty much what I've been doing for years anyway with my AMT Cab sim pedal. I'm not a tech head, still struggling to get the basics of comp recording/Reaper & prefer to have some sort of physical pedal/unit to mess around with. I think this little pedal actually sounds pretty cool/realistic & with a bit of tweaking the onboard IR's themselves are stating to sound rather nice/useable.. I can cut out the extra brightness with it's hi pass & EQ and the tones are sweet!

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Well I just updated the firmware to the current version (V1.1) with the 1024 samples ..can't really say it makes a huge difference, but there seems to be a bit more 'air' now like a real speaker & there may be a slight boost to the lows 'cause leads feel a bit more liquid/smoother...

I could work with the stock IR's..they're just fine when tweaked slightly/to taste. Will try importing some others later as well though...just to check out the difference

But overall..I think this pedal delivers

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Cool beans! I am probably going to get one of the micro preamps for experimenting.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Thanks! Yeah, some of those do sound pretty decent :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Here's a couple of clips (same riffs) I just made after the firmware update..


With my AMT Stonehead (50W Solid State):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/upmitu7kuun8x3l/Mooer_AMTStonehead_V2.wav?dl=0


With my Laboga The Beast Classic (30W / El84's)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ito7r41coeiaejs/Laboga_1&2_Plus_MooerCab.wav?dl=0


FX Send (preamp out) --> to The Mooer Radar (using the onboard power amp/cab sim) --> to my recording interface. Same IR/Cab sim and amp EQ as the previous clips. No post prod or effects..

I'd say it sounds a bit darker/more saturated than before (original firmware). Though that first clip in my previous post up there with The AMT Stonehead was recorded with a loadbox in place whereas I just disconnected the speaker output completely for the second clip with it (it's SS so it works without a load) ..so eh, maybe that made a bit of difference as well, idk..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Br00tez & Doom with my 30 Watt Laboga The Beast 30 Plus...



I used another cab sim for this one as well ( forget which ) ..

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

Sounds promising!

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: NPD...I finally get to check out what all the fuss is about..

haha yeah, well that last one was kinda ridiculous :laugh2: but the truth is ..this has a lot of pretty decent usable sounds in it. I'll finally get around to loading other IR's as well , but for now I think I can have a bit of fun with the stock cabs. What I really like about it is that it's lot quicker/handier to use than my analog cab sim pedal.. & truth be told it's more realistic as well..