I'll add this though: If you're not a 'golden ears' engineer-type guitarplayer, chances are more likely you'll run into phasing/cancellation issues when multi-micing, compared to using a decent loadbox.
Even when single-micing, you really have to know your
-room
-mics
-mic-placement
-speakers
-cab's overall tone
-recording path
And I feel -even as somebody who's somewhat experienced with micing cabs and who has quite a nice array of mics- that using my Torpedo Live -with the right IR/cab sim- takes out a lot of guesswork and possible pitfalls, of the list I mentioned above.
I will say that my Fryette Sig:X never sounded awesome with the Torpedo, just 'good enough', even though the in-the-room-sound was way heavier, but also more rounded and juicy.
My Engl Savage 60 and Mesa Mark V:25 sound great in the room and I can make them sound great/awesome with the Torpedo. Since I wanted a fully stand-alone unit that did the loadbox+(full) attenuator+cab sim/IR loader in one, I went with the Torpedo Live. This was of course before the Captor X was even released.
Nowadays, choosing between the Suhr RL IR and the Captor X would be a bit more difficult, since you have the variable attenuator added.
i 100 percent agree totally , especially with the first part of your statement . I personally am generally very much against multi mic setups for high gain rhythm and lead guitars specifically, for the very reasons you mentioned. Not to mention, it’s just generally not needed, smears pick attack and transients, and makes the tone darker than needed for a dense metal mix specifically.
there is no doubt ANY loadbox has way more overall positives than it does negative, especially for most guitarists who want to be able to use their real 120 watt tube amp, just no doubt about it. However, as your ear progresses, you may just start to notice the things that have been talked about in this thread, especially if you can often mic your real amp at the same time with similar mics and cabs as the IR’s you frequently use, and that’s basically what happened to me. I was constantly pulling my hair out trying to figure out why PLUG-INS like stl tonality lasse lammert and stl tonehub mark lewis Destroyed my guitar tones, especially in the low end when I tried to dial in something similar with real amps and my two notes load box. Hell I literally have tons of IR’s made by these guys that have been given to me personally. AND, I literally own every mic and every cab and every amp these guys used to make the plugins! So is it the mic amp and cab? Nope. Is it the preamps? Nope, I own BAE 1073s, both of those guys go to almost always on guitars amps. Could it be their conversion is better than mine? Absolutely possible, my Interface at the moment isn’t nearly as good as what they are using. Could it be my mic placement compared to there’s? Yep, absolutely, those guys are pros.
So I’m narrowing down the variables, one by one. Hell these are guys I talk to daily, especially mark, and could pick his brain about anything related to this to get what I’m trying to get. Still not even close. So the only logical explanation is the conversion, and that’s not likely given how drastic it is ( even though high end interfaces very much DO make a substantial difference despite what glenn fricker and YouTube idiots tell you). So I get to thinking about my load box, doing some research, and learning about the impedence curves of other load boxes etc. boom. There it is, clear as day. It explains every issue I’m having, to the T. The two notes curve explains everything I’m feeling and hearing.
is it that big of a deal? For me personally, it very much is. Will it be to everyone? Absolutely not. So I guess it’s just up to you and what you want out of it. Again though, there is no doubt that a load box positives vastly outweigh any kind of negative about them, for sure.
