Speakerbox

With the Speakerbox series we set out to capture the raw sound of some legendary speaker
and mic combinations and not much else. To that end, we housed our speakers in a solid
mahogany, open-backed cabinet. The cab's lightweight, resonant shell is designed to fill a
room with 3 dimensional, lively tone rather than box it in and project it forward. A great
setup for coaxing the essential character from our vintage and modern speaker collection.
Mic Positions
We mic each sampled speaker from 9 positions. The primary positions include: Cap center,
Cap 45 off axis, Cap edge, Cap edge 45 off axis, Cone middle, and Cone edge. The
captured sound is brightest (contains the most high frequency content) at the "Cap center"
position and gets progressively darker (more lows and less highs) as you move the mic
towards the edge of the cone. Proximity effect will boost the lows (sometimes A LOT) the
closer the mic is to the speaker.
Depending on the speaker and your application, you may find certain positions more useful
than others. For instance, the Cap position might be just the ticket to add some definition
to a muddy guitar part. Or, you may find it useful to boost the highs when using the Cone
IRs... consider using a high shelf to add some presence and some "air". The point is, there's
a potential use for every IR in the collection.
In addition to the primary mic positions, for our Weber Blue, we used each microphone as a
Mono Room mic at a distance of about 6 feet, midway between floor and ceiling and
pointing it away from the speaker to catch primarily reflected sound in the case of cardioid
mics.
A "Stereo Room" impulse is captured with a matched pair of Neumann KM84s or Earthworks
TC30s in an XY configuration. We split the stereo signal into to two mono, left-right signals
for convenience. We also use a KM84 or TC30 to sample the back of the cabinet at distance
of about 12". We reverse the phase of this sample. It picks up mostly low end and room
reflections and may be useful when blended with a another mic signal. For our Weber Blue
we placed a BLUE Bottle with a B4 Omni capsule, placed about 5' and 10' (labeled Alt) off
the back wall, as a neutral Mono Room mic.

Celestion Blue 12"

Impulse responses of a Celestion AlNiCo Blue 12". The Celestion website describes this
speaker as having a "glorious dampened attack, warm lows, mellow upper-mids and brilliant
belllike top-end." Guitar Player magazine has this to say about it: "The Blue is far and away
the most tonally sophisticated -- as well as the loudest -- speaker in this roundup. Its chime
and midrange complexity are truly magical, and it never sounded harsh or brittle. The Blue
handles sparkling rhythms and milkshake-thick lead tones with equal poise, and is an
unbelievably dynamic and multi-dimensional speaker that sounds great with any amp." We
sampled this one in our usual, acoustically treated live room.
AKG C414B-ULS
Audix i5
Beyerdynamic M160
BLUE Bottle/B4
Electrovoice RE20
Lawson L47
Neumann KM84
Neumann M7/BLUE Bottle
Neumann M7/CMV563
Neumann M8/CMV563
Neumann U87
Royer R121
Sennheiser MD421N
Shure SM7
Shure SM57
TAB-Funkenwerk SM57

Cap
9
9
9

CapEdge
9
9
9

Cone
9
9
9

ConeEdge
9
9
9

9
9

9
9
9

9
9
9

9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9

Cap45
9
9
9

CapEdge45
9
9
9

MonoRm

OmniRm

XYRoom

BackCab

Null

2
9
9

9
9

9
9

9
9

The table above shows the number of impulse responses for a given microphone and mic position. The following mic distances were used: 0", 0.5", 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", 6", and 12", so
a "9" in a given cell means all 9 distances were used. For the "Null" position, we placed a figure-8 mic with its null point to the speaker cap, or 90 off axis.

Weber Blue 12"

Impulse responses of a Weber Blue Dog 12". The Weber Speaker website describes this
speaker as "aggressive, bright, with a strong midrange crang." Guitar Player magazine has
this to say about it: "The Weber Blue Dog actually sounds creamier than the Celestion Blue
that it's based on. At low volumes, the Blue Dog has an airy top-end (especially with singlecoils) and sounds buttery smooth, yet distinct, when pushed. It lacks the immediate attack
and midrange "crang" of the Celestion Blue, but if you're looking for a different sort of
British sweetness, the [Blue Dog] is a superb choice."
Because we had already sampled a nice Celestion Blue, we wanted to do something a
little different with this one, so we sampled it in a large, bright room, with high ceilings,
corner bass trapping, a couple of funky blue velvet couches, and side wall diffusors. It
makes for a "roomier" sound than our other collections.
AKG C414B-ULS
Audix i5
Beyerdynamic M160
BLUE Bottle/B4
Electrovoice RE20
Lawson L47
Neumann KM84
Neumann M7/BLUE Bottle
Neumann M7/CMV563
Neumann M8/CMV563*
Neumann U87
Royer R121
Sennheiser MD421N
Shure SM7
Shure SM57
TAB-Funkenwerk SM57

Cap
8
7
7

CapEdge
8
7
7

Cone
8
7
7

ConeEdge
8
7
7

Cap45
8
7
7

Cone45
8
7
7

MonoRm
1
1
1

OmniRm
1

XYRoom

BackCab

Null

2
8

6
8
8
8
8
7
7

6
8
8
8
8
7
7

6
8
8
8
8
7
7

8
8
8
8
7
7

1
1
1
1
1
1

3
8
8
8
7
7

8
8
8
7
7

1
3

The table above shows the number of impulse responses for a given microphone and mic position. The following mic distances were used: 0", 1", 2", 4", 6", 12", 24", 36", so an "8"
in a given cell means all 8 distances were used. For the "Null" position, we placed a figure-8 mic with its null point to the speaker cap, or 90 off axis.
* We sampled at 2", 4", 6", 8", 12", and 24" for the Neumann M8/CMV563

Celestion G12H30 12"

Impulse responses of a 30 watt Celestion G12H. The Celestion website describes this
speaker as having "a heavier magnet than the G12M, this faithful recreation captures the
unmistakable mojo of late 60s rock guitar tones... It exhibits a pleasing, strong low-end,
complex and buttery mid-range and a finely detailed top-end, the G12H is excellent for
cranking out huge, dark power chords, with smooth and rich bridge pickup tones and flutey
neck pickup tones"
AKG C414B-ULS
Beyerdynamic M160
Earthworks TC30/M50
Electrovoice RE20
Heil PR30
Neumann U47
Neumann KM84
Neumann M7/BLUE Bottle
Neumann M8/BLUE Bottle
Neumann U87
Royer R121
Sennheiser MD409
Sennheiser MD421
Sennheiser MD441
Shure SM7
Shure SM57
TAB-Funkenwerk SM57

Cap
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

CapEdge
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

Cone
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

ConeEdge
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

Cap45

CapEdge45

Room
2

BackCab

Null

2
2

9
9

9
9

9
9

9
9

2
2
2

5
5

The table above shows the number of impulse responses for a given microphone and mic position. The following mic distances were used: 0", 0.5", 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", 6", and 12", so
a "9" in a given cell means all 9 distances were used. For the "Null" position, we placed a figure-8 mic with its null point to the speaker cap, or 90 off axis, at 0",3", 6", 12" and
Room.

EVM12L 200-watt 12"

Impulse responses of a 200 watt Electro-Voice EVM12L. Electro-Voice says, "the EVM12L is
a full range speaker with a frequency response specially tailored to cut through the thickest
mixes"... and we believe them. Nice low end, too.
AKG C414B-ULS
Beyerdynamic M160
Earthworks TC30/M50
Electrovoice RE20
Heil PR30
Neumann U47
Neumann KM84
Neumann M7/BLUE Bottle
Neumann M8/BLUE Bottle
Neumann U87
Royer R121
Sennheiser MD409
Sennheiser MD421
Sennheiser MD441
Shure SM7
Shure SM57
TAB-Funkenwerk SM57

Cap
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

CapEdge
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

Cone
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

ConeEdge
9
9
1
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9

Cap45

CapEdge45

Room
2

BackCab

Null

2
2

9
9

9
9

9
9

9
9

2
2
2

5
5

The table above shows the number of impulse responses for a given microphone and mic position. The following mic distances were used: 0", 0.5", 1", 2", 3", 4", 5", 6", and 12", so
a "9" in a given cell means all 9 distances were used. For the "Null" position, we placed a figure-8 mic with its null point to the speaker cap, or 90 off axis, at 0",3", 6", 12" and
Room.