Is Torpedo Cab The Best?

[SavageRiffer]

I'm thinking about getting a cab sim to play my tube amps at low volumes and for home recording. Torpedo seems the most popular, but I'd like to hear some professional opinions as to what the best products and best values are.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

The load will probably be more important than the cab sim IR loader.. plenty of free ones out there and you can buy good IR bundles for next to nothing. A lot of people tend to feel ownhammer has better cab impulses than twonotes though if that helps. Celestion also just released a bunch of impulses which sound really good.

If you are looking for Torpedo to also be the load, the consensus seems to be that the Suhr reactive load sounds "slightly" better but that you get more features with a lot of the Torpedo stuff.

 

[SavageRiffer]

The load will probably be more important than the cab sim IR loader.. plenty of free ones out there and you can buy good IR bundles for next to nothing. A lot of people tend to feel ownhammer has better cab impulses than twonotes though if that helps. Celestion also just released a bunch of impulses which sound really good.

If you are looking for Torpedo to also be the load, the consensus seems to be that the Suhr reactive load sounds "slightly" better but that you get more features with a lot of the Torpedo stuff.

Wait, what am I missing here? I thought Torpedo cab could be used for recording/practice. So basically what you're saying is that my amp still has to have a speaker attached while using Torpedo cab, thus, still sounding out of the speaker but sending a signal to the cab sim? Does that mean I'd need a separate loadbox or to get a model with the loadbox built in? Sorry about the dumb questions, but I'm not too familiar with this technology.

 

[slyym]

The torpedo live has the load and cab sim and is what you need.

 

[SavageRiffer]

The torpedo live has the load and cab sim and is what you need.

OK, got it. I need loadbox + cab sim. I'm going to check into the other brands Kapo mentioned too. Thanks.

 

[audiomidijace]

If your amp has an FX send or a line level output that isn't affected by your master volume knob, you can use those to send the preamp signal to the CAB. You'll still need to keep your speaker plugged in to your head but you won't be using your power amp at all.
If not, Torpedo Live let's you plug the power amp output in directly in to the box instead of your speaker cabinet.

The Ownhammer impulse responses are VERY good, but the speaker and mic sims in the Torpedo are also VERY good and give you tons more control.

 

[SavageRiffer]

If your amp has an FX send or a line level output that isn't affected by your master volume knob, you can use those to send the preamp signal to the CAB. You'll still need to keep your speaker plugged in to your head but you won't be using your power amp at all.
If not, Torpedo Live let's you plug the power amp output in directly in to the box instead of your speaker cabinet.

The Ownhammer impulse responses are VERY good, but the speaker and mic sims in the Torpedo are also VERY good and give you tons more control.

I got it now. IR was something I had only heard of, but didn't really understand it until now. I checked into the Ownhammer stuff and sounds incredible, but having everything in one box like the Torpedo sounds like a better deal for me. Is Torpedo the only one offering something with the loadbox + IR all in one, or are there other good and affordable alternatives?

 

[ziggystarrdust]

I use a torpedo reload with a boogie jp2c in a NYC apartment... the reload may be the best purchase I have ever made!

 

[errrrrl]

Celestion also just released a bunch of impulses which sound really good.

I bought all the 4x12 Celestion IR's when they were on sale last week and finally got to mess with them this weekend. I kind of like em, similar quality to Ownhammers.

 

[cnote]

I fell for all the clips and interest and went with the Torpedo Cab and a Suhr Load, along with some nice QSC Monitors, thinking it would be a good recording/low volume solution. Unfortunately, I felt the setup just didn't measure up to live playing. Recording almost never does, to be fair. But in this case I just didn't care for the tones, they didn't seem real to me, I sold everything and went back to the real tube amps and cabs.

 

[errrrrl]

I fell for all the clips and interest and went with the Torpedo Cab and a Suhr Load, along with some nice QSC Monitors, thinking it would be a good recording/low volume solution. Unfortunately, I felt the setup just didn't measure up to live playing. Recording almost never does, to be fair. But in this case I just didn't care for the tones, they didn't seem real to me, I sold everything and went back to tube amps and real cabs.

Real cabs would be my preference as well. Spent my whole Saturday trying to nail down tones that I thought would be good enough with my Suhr RL/IRs. Sadly mic'ing isn't an option for me for home recording. I just wonder if an isolation cab would be a good alternative also.. pretty sure my wife would kill me if I brought home another speaker cab lol.

 

[SavageRiffer]

I fell for all the clips and interest and went with the Torpedo Cab and a Suhr Load, along with some nice QSC Monitors, thinking it would be a good recording/low volume solution. Unfortunately, I felt the setup just didn't measure up to live playing. Recording almost never does, to be fair. But in this case I just didn't care for the tones, they didn't seem real to me, I sold everything and went back to the real tube amps and cabs.

I think everyone would prefer that, but man a lot of guys are getting killer tone with all these cab sims, IR's, etc... I've read some bad reviews of the Mesa Cab Clone, but the audio I've heard from people who use it sounds really good. I'm about at the point where I've decided that it's all basically a learning curve. I must learn about the technology, how to use the gear, and develop my ear for recording.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Ultimately I also prefer real cabs but what are you guys doing that you aren't able to get a usable sound? I mean ownhammer impulses and a line out from even a hotplate gave me good results. It only goes up from there if you have a Suhr reactive load or a torpedo product. I have run also through a GAP preamp and it coloured the signal nicely too. It should be easy enough to get a good tone. It just says more linear and doesn't translate the attack as much but it sounds very good. What are your setups like? Take us through the chain.

 

[Spaceboy]

Power Station. Do the IR recording thing plus attenuate your big amps to whisper volumes through their own cabinets when you can't be assed to load up the computer plugins.

 

[JerEvil]

If your amp has an FX send or a line level output that isn't affected by your master volume knob, you can use those to send the preamp signal to the CAB. You'll still need to keep your speaker plugged in to your head but you won't be using your power amp at all.
If not, Torpedo Live let's you plug the power amp output in directly in to the box instead of your speaker cabinet.

The Ownhammer impulse responses are VERY good, but the speaker and mic sims in the Torpedo are also VERY good and give you tons more control.

I got it now. IR was something I had only heard of, but didn't really understand it until now. I checked into the Ownhammer stuff and sounds incredible, but having everything in one box like the Torpedo sounds like a better deal for me. Is Torpedo the only one offering something with the loadbox + IR all in one, or are there other good and affordable alternatives?

Man I LOVE my Torpedo Studio. It was NOT cheap but I am getting very satisfying recordings with it. I use Two Notes, OwnHammer, Celestion and SinMix IR's. I fall more in line with what you said and like having it all in one unit.

 

[guitarobert]

Power Station. Do the IR recording thing plus attenuate your big amps to whisper volumes through their own cabinets when you can't be assed to load up the computer plugins.

+1. The Power Station has a better load than the Torpedo Live and you can use it with your real cabs as an attenuator. If your goal is home recording then you don't need to do the IRs in hardware. Handling the IRs in the DAW gives more flexibility in the plugins used. The Torpedo Live is great, but I have both and prefer the Power Station.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Power Station. Do the IR recording thing plus attenuate your big amps to whisper volumes through their own cabinets when you can't be assed to load up the computer plugins.

+1. The Power Station has a better load than the Torpedo Live and you can use it with your real cabs as an attenuator. If your goal is home recording then you don't need to do the IRs in hardware. Handling the IRs in the DAW gives more flexibility in the plugins used. The Torpedo Live is great, but I have both and prefer the Power Station.

Good point.. I was debating whether to just get a live or cab just because I just am not finding the time to mic at reasonable hours anymore with renos and other stuff going on. I did notice however that because the hardware can only give you 1 (2 if the studio) IR's, if you really want to mimic the "in studio feel", you will want an IR loader that can handle more than one so you can fine tune mic placement (Redwire still the best with this as they offer so many more precise placement options) and adding in room mics for texture.

As for the load, I think running straight through to a cab is probably still the best way to get results and maybe just attenuating the first few clicks down with blankets in front of the cab. That said, in Pete's IR and load comparison clip, I much preferred the load of the Suhr to the Fryette. In fact I probably would have rated them Suhr RL> torpedo (was less full and a bit less defined)>Dr.Z Air Break > Fryette. I found the fryette to smear the mids a bit and be far too powered. Note seperation was not as apparent.

for the price points, I think torpedo has it made with the Captor that is going to be coming out in April. I mean 20 db fixed attenuation if you want to hear your amp, analog mic sim, load, direct out. This gives you tons of options to test how the IR signal is affected based on the interaction with the load:

1. 20 db attenuated.

2. full load

3. Through with no attenuation