Recommendation for a cab simulator for the Mark V

[John335]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post, so thanks in advance for your help. I'm going to be using a Mark V and Mesa Boogie said this about the slave out.
Mesa Boogie told me "I wouldn’t use the slave out for recording because it could affect the console you plug it into with it’s hot signal. The FX send will work, but bypasses the power section. I would recommend getting an iso cabinet or a thd hotplate type attenuator"
With that said, I was thinking about using a Hughes and Kettner Red Box Classic. Any thoughts?

 

[LPJunky]

I've been using for months, a Behringer Ultra-G which like the Red-Box does the speaker emulation (4x12" in this case) work fine. It's never like the real cab but to feed a low level stage monitors its ok. I prefer miking my cab with an SM57.

 

[John335]

I agree. There's nothing like the real thing, but I'm in a lot of live situations or in the studio where the engineer's don't want to deal with speakers. I've been playing for a lot years and remember when engineer's were interested in what kind of speakers you had. Now that things are digital they freak at the sight of speakers or single coils. It's amazing that they don't realize that during the 50's, 60's & 70's there was 60 cycle hum all over the place, it was just covered by the rest of the music. Well, I hope the Red Box works. Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[domct203]

Do you realize that the Red Box is NOT a speaker load box and will NOT eliminate your speaker?

Do NOT run a tube amp without a speaker load. You will damage your Output Transformer.

Dom

 

[markwayne]

I've used red boxes for years as a supplement for mics. It helps the front of house to fill in frequencies that are sometimes problematic in the mics. I've used the red boxes in isolation on rare occasions when mics just weren't practical. They sound pretty good with a little EQ, however, that would not be my first choice.

And, of course, they have no internal load. Oh, and another problem with direct feeds of most all stripes is they are more sensitive to volume changes than speaker/mic combos so you have to be a little more disciplined with your levels. Your sound man will very unhappy if you reach down and crank up the master during a tune. Speakers will tend to mitigate a good bit of that wattage increase. Direct boxes tend to pass that level along at a much higher rate.

 

[griff3]

I've had outstanding results with a Palmer unit. It's a load and a speaker simulator. I use it for recording and live work when I need to keep the volume under control.

Griff