Isolation speaker cabinet?

I was on the waiting list for an AxeFXII, when the guys on the Fractal forum (pretty much accidentally) talked me out of it... Steep learning curve, very tweaky, and maybe it really isn't the panacea it is often made out to be.

It made me realize that I don't dislike the sounds I get from my rig: I'm actually recording my best guitar sounds ever this last year. All I really need is a way to make my rig quieter.

I tried a Palmer load box, and was very disappointed. Sounded great with heavily overdriven tones, but when I tried to clean it up, a buzzy highend distortion was always present. Sending it back.

Now I'm thinking about a speaker ISO box. Have any of you guys ever used one? It should be a simple process, but...

Lots of people complain about a boxy sound. Rivera makes one that costs three times what the Randall or Jet City units cost, and they talk a lot of impressive trash about relieving air pressure to create the sound of a cab in open air.

My friend Gary designs custom cabs for installation in theater and church applications, and he's talking about designing one for me. Do any of you have any experience/hints/tips? I'd hate to have him go to all the work of designing an building a custom box and have it turn out to be a bad tool...

If you are used to getting your sounds with one mic and very little room sound, then you'll be fine with it.

Sealed boxes will sound/thump like a closed-back cab. I haven't heard one do an open sound and have very little positive experience with even small guitar amp closets.

but then, I'm a Fender amp guy and love a very natural/open sound. .02¢

I'm with Wilko. For a live situation where it's miked through the mains I dig it. For recording it adds attack and you need to post with effects, might as well use the modeler- lots less farting around. As far as the learning curve... Yeah, it takes a little time but I have like 2 or 3 go to amp set ups and use my pedal board. The amps are easy, it's the effects that take time. That's all in your DAW anyway, so you can state out just using it like an amp and add things in the signal chain you need for live as you progress. In other words, you don't need to start out at the most complicated level.

Thanks for the input. Wiko's description is pretty much what I would have expected from a sealed iso cab. I need to just take what I'm using to CA and see how it works out. Introduce myself to the neighbors, encourage them to complain to me if the guitar bothers them, and then look for solutions if it does. Right now I'm looking for a solution to a problem that hasn't happened yet.

I used to just throw a moving blanket or piano cover over a speaker cab if needed. Worked pretty good, make sure though that the tubes are getting some air!

FYI: I ended up using using half a closet as a semi-isolated booth. I have two cabs stacked in there and a ribbon mic about 18" away... A cable from whichever cab I'm using snakes under the door to the amp head sitting on my rack next to my mixer, with my pedal collection laid out neatly on the floor. Turn on the amp, open the mic channel, and I'm ready. Not to mention that this sounds even better - much more focused and "present," even more like the sound of the amp in the room - than the same amp and mic did in a larger space. Best of all, my extremely friendly new neighbors have all dropped by and not one them had guessed I was playing guitar in here. So, it's plenty iso enough. It's as convenient as a rack-mounted modeler, sounds great, no learning curve, real tube amp response. Sweet.

Old school baby! :dude

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Originally Posted by chuckocaster

Old school baby! :dude

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Roger that! And it sounds really great, no kidding. That ribbon mic was gradually becoming just my guitar cab mic anyway, so I don't mind leaving it setup in there all the time.

Besides, the saying "you gotta spend money to make money?" Yeah, well, you also have to keep most of what you take in to make money. :sun