Scott Henderson Discussion

[nigel]

Hi Scott,
what do you think about isolation cabinets? I know you built yourself some kind of isolation cab for your 4x12 cab several years ago. How would you describe that tone compared to your current setup with the Suhr reactive load and the speaker IR's? I use a 1x12 isolation cab (loaded with a Greenback) in conjuction with a Brunetti Mercury EL34 50w head...the mic is a SM57. Of course I have to eq a bit but I think the tone is really good.

Greetings,
Nigel

[Scott Henderson]

I never liked my isolation cabinet - the weird tone it created had to be highly EQ'd to make it useable. In my opinion, the Suhr load box and good IR's would be far superior.

[peter_heijnen]

I have done some recording at home with the Two Notes Torpedo Live, using Two Notes as well as Ownhammer IR's. In the end i found the results with my iso cab better. It's a Grossmann Audio SG Box. If you set up a mic close to the speaker there is hardly any difference in recorded sound between the lid open or closed.

http://grossmann-audio.de/en/product/sg-box-2/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWTDHQRVYCk

Important though: the SG Box is absolutely not suited for silent recording in your appartment during nighttime if you want to drive your poweramp hard.

Probably i really should try the Suhr loadbox muself for that.

[Scott Henderson]

I love Two Notes for all they've accomplished, but the weak link in your gear is the Torpedo Live - the Suhr load box feels and sounds much better. And you can record at night and push your amp as hard as you want.

[peter_heijnen]

My conclusion was the same about the Torpedo, it's good for rock and pop though. I kind of had given up on the loadbox thing but if you say the Suhr feels and sounds much better i really should give it another try, thx.

[nigel]

Well I forgot to mention that my Isolation Cabinet is ALSO a Grossmann SG Box!😉

[Scott Henderson]

Having used isolation boxes, I know your pain. Mine was in the living room, and despite the layers of cork, rubber and foam, it was still really loud and I had to EQ the shit out of it. Let me imitate Trump by saying the Suhr load box will make your tone great again, believe me. That's unless there are any blacks, Mexicans or Muslims around to ruin it.

[peter_heijnen]

@Nigel: i see you're located in Germany, so of course you have a Grossmann.

The strange thing with the Grossmann to me is the strange volume curve of the leaking sound. Pretty soon after you turn up the amps volume, leaking sound gets audible. After that the maximum volume of the leaked sound is reached very quickly and will rise no more after that, no matter if you turned the volume about 1 third or full @50watts. I have been thinking about building something around the iso box to double isolate it, but it would probably be much smarter to try the Suhr loadbox first.

Scott, do i understand that you build a booth for a 4x12? To me building a 4x12 iso cab seems like asking for trouble. Have you ever tried a 1x12 iso?

[Scott Henderson]

No, I don't believe it's possible to get a big tone with a 1x12 cab. Every guitar tone that I love came from a 4x12, with a few 2x12 exceptions. Also, the IR technology is so amazing now, the whole idea of an isolation box is archaic in my opinion.

[tonetone25]

Scott,

Interesting you say every tone you love comes from a 4x12. Wasn't a lot of great stuff back in the day recorded with smaller 1x12 amps, like Jimmy page's guitar solo on Stairway to heaven?

Also, I've been using the bogner OH 2x12 from ownhammer w/ V30's. I really like this, but haven't tried any of the 4x12 marshall IR's from ownhammer. Always thought it would be weird to mix them with my fender amps. Is that weird to think that way?

[Scott Henderson]

If that solo is done with a 1x12, it proves my point. That's not a big tone, even though it works in the track. His bigger tones were recorded with 4x12 cabs, and you can easily hear the difference because of the amount of bass in the tone. He's a genius in the studio - sometimes his tones are really thin and small, but they're right for the mix, and some of his tones are huge and take up tons of space. Check out the Whole Lotta Love solo - very small, screechy tone, but absolutely perfect for the part.

In my opinion the point of layering guitar tracks is to keep them separated and out of each others way for a clear mix. I always mix it up - different amps, speakers, mic placements, pedals, EQ's, and whatever I can use to vary the tones.

I really like the Blackbacks and Greenbacks in the Ownhammer 2x12 collection. They also have a 4x12 G12M/ G12H collection that's really good, though I prefer the M over the H.

[tonetone25]

Very interesting Scott. Just curious. what are some 4x12 tones Jimmy page recorded with or some other ones in general? I would love to compare that to some 1x12 recordings so I can train my ears in what to listen for.

[peter_heijnen]

[Scott Henderson]

I had a little free time today with my iPhone, WHICH STILL HAS A HEADPHONE JACK, so I listened to Led Zeppelin ll with my studio headphones. The opening riff of Whole Lotta Love, Moby Dick, and most of the guitars on Heartbreaker sound like a 4x12 to me. The guitar in the beginning of The Lemon Song sounds smaller, maybe a 2x12 or 1x12. The Heartbreaker solo is a big sound, hard to get without a 4x12, and the chords that come in after the solo sound like they were done with a 4x12 and a room mic. The long chords which come in after that are close mic'd, and that could be a smaller cab.

Thanks for the question - I haven't heard this album for awhile. I still think Led Zeppelin is the best rock band in the world.

[tonetone25]

No problem Scott!

This has got me rethinking my whole recording technique. Most of my amps are 1x12's! Maybe IR's with 4x12's are the easiest solution to getting bigger sounds in the studio. Time will tell...