wintermintp's Reviews

The only good thing about this plug is the Mark V.

The only good thing about this plug is the Mark V module. If you set a high shelf cut at about 6000Hz and lower it enough you can dial everything to sound just like how the real amp sounds in the YouTube demos, although you probably want to boost the DI volume by 15+ dB on the way in so it "clips hard" when you see it on the plugin metres themselves. If you manage to do that though, it will fool a couple people if you dial it right, but neither the real thing nor the plugin will give you any miracles. Well maybe the real 90w head if you take enough time to dial it and dial it well enough, but the real amp itself is the litmus test for any and all aspiring engineers, it takes forever and over thousands of retries to get the tone right. If I were to use a Mark V series amp for tones again though, I would much rather figure out a way to buy the real 90w Mark VII amp head instead.

Each function this has on here is YMMV.

The ability to use this to create your own IRs is nice but there needs to be a better way to phase align the IRs when blending them. Having it as an IR maker AND an IR loader is nice though.

That said, while the different V30 speakers you're going to hear in the IR packs really are going to make interesting sound combinations, they are still Vintage 30 speakers, and unless you just want to stick to what everyone else says it works, Vintage 30, Greenback, and Creamback speakers are the first thing you should be avoiding. If you want IRs with proper Fredman techniques though, beggars can't be choosers and this will have to do.

The Zilla version of this plugin offers a bit more variety, giving you a 1x12 IR with a Redback, but I would have much preferred if other larger cabs also had Redback versions of their respective IRs, where, say, an oversized 4x12 has all Redbacks in it and the IRs are recorded accordingly. So variety wise, both versions of Studio Cabs leave very much to be desired.

The plugins themselves though, has good enough features that you might be able to use this to create your own IRs.

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It's a one-trick pony and works well with very few amps.

It's literally a one-trick pony and it works well with very few amps. Thankfully what I use is compatible enough that it's a keeper, and it does help clean up all that low end build up, but be prepared for the harsh Marshall-esque nightmare you're about to hear. The Drive does almost absolutely nothing so I have no clue why that's even there, the Attack knob is pretty helpful (albeit not to the extent you need it for!) but the Bright knob seems to boost all the wrong frequencies and not the right frequencies like, ever, and the Volume, even when it's at maximum setting, is still quite underwhelming to hear by the time you hook it up to an amp. The only real net positive is the built-in Gate.

Look for the Fortin Grind instead, much better low end control.

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