EASstudios IR’s: my new favorite Mesa IR’s

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VESmedic

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after @Nolly sent me an extremely interesting post here ( which I am going to write back about :D ) started by @easstudios on preamps and conversion, I started to search around, because I’ve seen this name a few different places and could not find any of there products. Well I’m glad I did, because these 2001 recto cab IR’s are probably the best I’ve ever heard for my tastes along with @Nolly ‘s GGD Mesa pack. I personally was floored by the lack of EQ needed on these to sound great right off the bat. In fact outside of a low and high pass, depending on your tastes, I doubt you’d need to do anything else. I scooped out a bit of the low midrange that’s inherent in all tones like this, but that’s literally it. Great job, highly recommended. Cant wait to try the 2003 and the others I bought.

Little clip:

PRS mark Holcomb 7 string
Mesa rev F
Pepers dirty tree
MDW EQ5 for slight eq

Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/s7QnaRvpPiXFJhiD9
 
Sounds great. I’ll check these out later. I’ve been searching for the right fit with my Badlander. I have tons of “almost there” IRs, but can’t quite get that itch scratched…
 
Sweet! Yeah Ed’s IRs are the real deal! He and I have exchanged tips on capturing and on speaker serial codes etc - we’re definitely on the same page!
 
Where do you find EAS’ IRs? Nothing came up in a quick google but I’m just surfing on a phone from work at the moment.
 
Thank you so much! I've really been biting my tongue holding back from spamming forums with these IR's (even though I'm so desperate to get word out), so it really put a big smile on my face reading comments like this.

A ton of work went into the process of capturing these in a way that was accurate - I use various amps and load boxes and always test the IR's against mic'ing the cab up normally to make sure its as indistinguishable as possible. I absolutely owe a ton of credit for Nolly for his deep diving on speakers (and hell, how he approaches anything is inspiring), and the process I use is definitely evolved from various thing's I've seen from Nolly's (and other's) method of capturing IR's. There are quite a few decisions, assumptions and compromises you have to make with IR's so it was really about combining different techniques that gave me the result I was happiest with.

The goal was really to give a close experience to micing a cab in the studio - you have the choice of several mics, all 4 speakers, captured across the full L-R axis. At first I planned on reducing them down to the "sweet spots" but when I was using them, I found that they could all be usable in various contexts and the real strength was being able to move the mic position freely or swap a speaker get it fine tuned. Most IR's available tend to give you less options (which can be nice in some instances), but I often found myself wanting to move the mic a bit or try another speaker.

Something else that kind of validated my IR's (and felt like I was on to something) was when I could use a plugin+IR and match the tone with my real amp and cab+mics. As well as working great with load boxes (I have a Suhr, Fryette and React IR), these have been used loads with products from Neural DSP, Line 6 Helix, Fractal Audio etc so I can totally vouch for how they work with those.

The IR's are actually sold through "Mirror Profiles". EAS is my initials and a lot of my usernames are named after my studio. Most of my studio work these days is more in the pop and dance world than guitar genre's so I thought it would make things less confusing for those folk to seperate the heavy guitar orientated stuff from the pop work.

https://mirrorprofiles.myshopify.com/

Nolly said:
Sweet! Yeah Ed’s IRs are the real deal! He and I have exchanged tips on capturing and on speaker serial codes etc - we’re definitely on the same page!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much! As I said, I think so much of the recording and metal community owe's you a lot for what you've contributed, so these IR's really wouldn't exist without the information you've shared over the years.
 
Last edited:
VESmedic said:
after @Nolly sent me an extremely interesting post here ( which I am going to write back about :D ) started by @easstudios on preamps and conversion, I started to search around, because I’ve seen this name a few different places and could not find any of there products. Well I’m glad I did, because these 2001 recto cab IR’s are probably the best I’ve ever heard for my tastes along with @Nolly ‘s GGD Mesa pack. I personally was floored by the lack of EQ needed on these to sound great right off the bat. In fact outside of a low and high pass, depending on your tastes, I doubt you’d need to do anything else. I scooped out a bit of the low midrange that’s inherent in all tones like this, but that’s literally it. Great job, highly recommended. Cant wait to try the 2003 and the others I bought.

Little clip:

PRS mark Holcomb 7 string
Mesa rev F
Pepers dirty tree
MDW EQ5 for slight eq

Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/s7QnaRvpPiXFJhiD9
Click to expand...
Oh, and I forgot to say - GREAT tones! I don't find myself EQ'ing these at all, especially as you can just move the microphone or swap the speaker to get the response you need.

If possible could you share them with me via PM (or upload to youtube) so I can feature them on the site? These demo's are really handy if you're happy to share them.
 
Those early 2000's recto cabs are supposed to be the best sounding Mesa cabs. I guess the v30's were voiced a bit different back then, and then there's the break in time. I watched a vid about it from nolly.
 
easstudios said:
Thank you so much! I've really been biting my tongue holding back from spamming forums with these IR's (even though I'm so desperate to get word out), so it really put a big smile on my face reading comments like this.

A ton of work went into the process of capturing these in a way that was accurate - I use various amps and load boxes and always test the IR's against mic'ing the cab up normally to make sure its as indistinguishable as possible. I absolutely owe a ton of credit for Nolly for his deep diving on speakers (and hell, how he approaches anything is inspiring), and the process I use is definitely evolved from various thing's I've seen from Nolly's (and other's) method of capturing IR's. There are quite a few decisions, assumptions and compromises you have to make with IR's so it was really about combining different techniques that gave me the result I was happiest with.

The goal was really to give a close experience to micing a cab in the studio - you have the choice of several mics, all 4 speakers, captured across the full L-R axis. At first I planned on reducing them down to the "sweet spots" but when I was using them, I found that they could all be usable in various contexts and the real strength was being able to move the mic position freely or swap a speaker get it fine tuned. Most IR's available tend to give you less options (which can be nice in some instances), but I often found myself wanting to move the mic a bit or try another speaker.

Something else that kind of validated my IR's (and felt like I was on to something) was when I could use a plugin+IR and match the tone with my real amp and cab+mics. As well as working great with load boxes (I have a Suhr, Fryette and React IR), these have been used loads with products from Neural DSP, Line 6 Helix, Fractal Audio etc so I can totally vouch for how they work with those.

The IR's are actually sold through "Mirror Profiles". EAS is my initials and a lot of my usernames are named after my studio. Most of my studio work these days is more in the pop and dance world than guitar genre's so I thought it would make things less confusing for those folk to seperate the heavy guitar orientated stuff from the pop work.

https://mirrorprofiles.myshopify.com/


Thank you so much! As I said, I think so much of the recording and metal community owe's you a lot for what you've contributed, so these IR's really wouldn't exist without the information you've shared over the years.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the kind words Ed!
You’ll appreciate this: I had sworn off buying any more Mesa cabs ever again but couldn’t resist a prime example with 01 V30s that I saw a week or two ago ?
 
Nolly said:
Thanks for the kind words Ed!
You’ll appreciate this: I had sworn off buying any more Mesa cabs ever again but couldn’t resist a prime example with 01 V30s that I saw a week or two ago ?
Click to expand...
Ha I’m sure it’ll be worth it!

I keep feeling like I’m done and then I get sucked back in. I’ve been ok for a while with 4x12 cabs, my last 2 were the 2001 Mesa Trad and 2000 Bogner.

I did pick up an old Silver Jubilee combo last week with an original 8 Ω V30 in it, will be the oldest one I’ve got. Have you come across many of these?
 
easstudios said:
Ha I’m sure it’ll be worth it!

I keep feeling like I’m done and then I get sucked back in. I’ve been ok for a while with 4x12 cabs, my last 2 were the 2001 Mesa Trad and 2000 Bogner.

I did pick up an old Silver Jubilee combo last week with an original 8 Ω V30 in it, will be the oldest one I’ve got. Have you come across many of these?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I tell myself I’m providing sanctuary for these old V30 specimens ?
Nice! Is that an ‘87 then? The oldest 8ohm I’ve had was an ‘88, it looks mint but unfortunately drops off a cliff at about 3k so something is definitely worn out there. The other 80s ones I have are all 16 ohm Marshall Vintages, which are really bright almost like a blackback T1511 or something. I look forward to hearing how yours is!
 
Man these truly are sick… here’s one with my morin modded Marshall. Ooof….. heavy.
Single 57 (545)….heavy af.

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/7NQ5Lf3B5jxjcVVTA

I should add these are all from the 2001 recto traditional pack. Using my driftwood loadbox, the “clean” IR’s… @easstudios what are the differences between the clean and compensated IR’s exactly? I haven’t tried the compensated ones yet, but I’ll be curious to with my driftwood loadbox.
 
The amp was listed as a 1987, it’s one of the black/gold Jubilee’s. Looks like it’s been put to a fair amount of use so no idea what to expect. I suspect the combo is probably not an ideal enclosure for it, will have to put it in one of the Mesa cabs…
 
easstudios said:
Ha I’m sure it’ll be worth it!

I keep feeling like I’m done and then I get sucked back in. I’ve been ok for a while with 4x12 cabs, my last 2 were the 2001 Mesa Trad and 2000 Bogner.

I did pick up an old Silver Jubilee combo last week with an original 8 Ω V30 in it, will be the oldest one I’ve got. Have you come across many of these?
Click to expand...


I’m personally a huge fan of these, the old 8 ohm Marshall vintages… hell the 8 or 16 really. I’ve got numerous years, from 87-94. They are all so so different, it’s just such a crap shoot with speakers, as I’m sure you all know of course. It’s hard for me to judge years with these because they are all so different regardless if they are from the same year or not.
 
easstudios said:
Oh, and I forgot to say - GREAT tones! I don't find myself EQ'ing these at all, especially as you can just move the microphone or swap the speaker to get the response you need.

If possible could you share them with me via PM (or upload to youtube) so I can feature them on the site? These demo's are really handy if you're happy to share them.
Click to expand...


@easstudios I will! I’m honestly just making tons right now, different mix combos etc. really really great stuff. I picked up the mode 4 cab which I love as well, going to get the black back and greenback pack next.
 
VESmedic said:
what are the differences between the clean and compensated IR’s exactly? I haven’t tried the compensated ones yet, but I’ll be curious to with my driftwood loadbox.
Click to expand...

Clean are the most accurate if you are using the same load as the cab (or one close to the same cab).

So if you have an amp connected to a Mesa cab, and record a DI from the amp with that load connected, the clean IR is most accurate.

The compensated IR’s are great if you’re using a loadbox that has a drastically different impedance curve to the original cab that the IR was captured from. It compensates for some of the tonal difference that the poweramp encounters when it is using a different sounding load. They’re also handy for a lot of plugins and modellers that use a fixed load - if you know the load they’ve used then you can pick an appropriate compensated IR and get a more realistic result.

In practice, they’re very small differences and often either just a slight “sweetening” or the last 1% for accuracy. It’s best just to try a few yourself and not worry too much - on some sources one just might make that extra bit of magic for the tone.

As an example, I used the compensated IR’s with the corresponding load boxes here:



If I would have used the clean IR’s throughout, there would be slightly bigger differences due to the cab, and 2 load boxes putting the amp under different loads. The React IR is quite close to a V30 4x12 load, so the compensation is less drastic than for the Suhr load which is closer to a G12m25 load.

FWIW this video was done a while after I made the IR’s and with a totally different amp, so it’s quite nice that they match the mic’d amp tone so close.

Hopefully this makes sense, it’s a little confusing to explain.
 
easstudios said:
Clean are the most accurate if you are using the same load as the cab (or one close to the same cab).

So if you have an amp connected to a Mesa cab, and record a DI from the amp with that load connected, the clean IR is most accurate.

The compensated IR’s are great if you’re using a loadbox that has a drastically different impedance curve to the original cab that the IR was captured from. It compensates for some of the tonal difference that the poweramp encounters when it is using a different sounding load. They’re also handy for a lot of plugins and modellers that use a fixed load - if you know the load they’ve used then you can pick an appropriate compensated IR and get a more realistic result.

In practice, they’re very small differences and often either just a slight “sweetening” or the last 1% for accuracy. It’s best just to try a few yourself and not worry too much - on some sources one just might make that extra bit of magic for the tone.

As an example, I used the compensated IR’s with the corresponding load boxes here:



If I would have used the clean IR’s throughout, there would be slightly bigger differences due to the cab, and 2 load boxes putting the amp under different loads. The React IR is quite close to a V30 4x12 load, so the compensation is less drastic than for the Suhr load which is closer to a G12m25 load.

FWIW this video was done a while after I made the IR’s and with a totally different amp, so it’s quite nice that they match the mic’d amp tone so close.

Hopefully this makes sense, it’s a little confusing to explain.
Click to expand...



MAkes total sense, thanks! The driftwood that I use is the closest I’ve found to the true impedence of a v30 loaded cab, along with the st rock. So that’s kinda where I thought you were going with this.
 
I should add too - I almost always just use the clean ones. I’ll use compensated if I’m trying to match a mic’d tone very specifically but otherwise I tend not to worry about it too much. I’d just recommend trying both, I think it’s a nice option to have!
 
easstudios said:
Clean are the most accurate if you are using the same load as the cab (or one close to the same cab).

So if you have an amp connected to a Mesa cab, and record a DI from the amp with that load connected, the clean IR is most accurate.

The compensated IR’s are great if you’re using a loadbox that has a drastically different impedance curve to the original cab that the IR was captured from. It compensates for some of the tonal difference that the poweramp encounters when it is using a different sounding load. They’re also handy for a lot of plugins and modellers that use a fixed load - if you know the load they’ve used then you can pick an appropriate compensated IR and get a more realistic result.
Click to expand...

This gets me even more excited to check these out. I haven’t heard of anybody offering compensated IRs, which will handy with my Badlander. It sounds quite different using its onboard Cab Clone, which I think is just a Torpedo load. I can use the DI out without a cab and get one sound, then plug the cab in and out of the same DI without touching anything is has a much more full and natural tone. So these compensated IRs might be a bit of a missing link that nobody else seems to address.
 
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