When we said we had a hard time picking a winner for our recent video contest for Celestion speaker IRs, we weren’t kidding. So here we take a look at five standout entries, highlighting some of the amazing talent and skill of our contestants as they found different ways to put Celestion’s guitar speaker impulse responses through their paces.
In no particular order…
Friedman Butterslax does Thrash!!! Anthrax – “Fight ‘Em” – Two Notes Torpedo Studio – Celestion IR’s
Jeremy Varao demonstrates his expertise with both guitar and gear in this video, giving us a complete arrangement including no fewer than 3 guitars, drums and vocals – but the guitars are front and centre throughout.
The amp is a Friedman Butterslax with a Two Notes Torpedo Studio loadbox and a Logic Pro DAW. Jeremy has used two different Celestion speaker IRs: Creamback G12M-65 and Creamback G12H-75. We’re guessing this was to complement the full range of tone involved in this track, from full, deep bass to some high end solo work.
Apart from Jeremy’s stunning playing, what’s really striking is the precision of the mix, showing the level of control you can achieve using IRs. This is probably the cleanest sounding Thrash you’re ever going to hear – and we mean that in a good way!
Atomic Amplifire with Celestion IR – ‘Vacuous Truth’ by Jason Sadites
In this video, pro guitarist Jason Sadites gives us a superb rendition of one of his own compositions from his CD ‘The Learning Curve’. As well as being a writer and player, Jason is also heavily involved in production, so knows a thing or two about tone and mixing.
Here, Jason has used Celestion’s Creamback G12M-65 impulse response to support the mellow rock tones in this track. As well as simply sounding great, this track shows the versatility of the Creamback IR, as Jason’s used it for all the guitars, including the bass.
Celestion IR G12M Greenback 4×12 (Closed Back) Shootout Hard Rock/Metal
Another Friedman Butterslax and more thrash metal features in this highly technical demo from Masaki Murashita.
Masaki has put together a highly effective “shootout” video for the complete set of IR options for the Greenback G12M 4×12 (closed back) cabinet, including High and Low Gain variations. What we love is the way you can really hear the tone changes between the various different mic and mix options – helped with excellent captions. This should almost be required listening for anyone thinking about getting the Greenback G12M IR – or even the real thing!
Celestion Impulse Response – demo by Martin Klaja
Martin Klaja had already made this great demo video back in January shortly after we launched our speaker IR range, so we were glad to see he entered it in our competition. As well as giving us a few nice licks at the start, Martin spends time talking about the practical side of using impulse responses.
One of the advantages he talks about is the ability to change the cabinet after recording your guitar. This means you don’t have to keep re-recording your track over and over to see which cab or mic setup gives you the best tone. He uses a mixIR 2 plugin from RedWirez, loaded up with a Creamback G12M-65 IR and a Greenback G12M IR. Then he plays back his recording and switches between the two IRs several times. To quote Martin, this is “a game changer in home recording”.
Andy Timmons – The Prayer/The Answer Celestion IR
We loved this cover of Andy Timmons’ “The Prayer/The Answer” by Jack Butler, featuring a Creamback G12H-75 speaker IR (4×12 cabinet), which features a mix of Low Gain and High Gain sound (with some really excellent playing by the way).
Jack’s written a great description to go with the video which gives more details about the gear he’s used (an Atomic Amps Amplifire) and also his experience with using speaker IRs generally, including some free ones that he wasn’t too impressed with. But then he bought the official Creamback G12H-75 IR and everything changed. Jack’s verdict?
“Best purchase I ever made. Period.”
Thanks again to everyone who entered. If you haven’t seen the winners yet, check them out here.
View the complete Celestion speaker IR product range here.