Holy Grail – Acoustic IR Pack

IMPORTANT NOTES

1. INTENDED FOR USE WITH ACOUSTIC GUITARS: Our acoustic IR’s are intended to be used with acoustic guitars. They are not meant to make an electric guitar sound like an acoustic guitar.

2. CROSS PLATFORM: These .WAV impulse responses can be used in any hardware or application that supports IR’s. This includes products by Line 6 (Helix, HX Stomp, HX Effects, etc), Kemper, Axe-FX, etc.

3. EXPERIMENT: We’ve included multiple options in this IR pack (more details below). The best idea is just to start experimenting with your guitar and find the IR or combinations of IR’s that sound the best. Our recommendation is to first find the pickup type that fits your guitar best (see the pickup options section), and then experiment with different mic options for that pickup type.

THE GUITAR

These IR’s were created using a McPherson Camrielle™ acoustic guitar with a redwood top and rosewood back and sides. It is Brian’s personal guitar, and in our opinion is one of the best sounding acoustic guitars we’ve ever played (or even heard).

It is extremely balanced with a very rich bass response and crisp high end. The Camrielle is McPherson’s smaller bodied guitar which leads to a very even balanced tone across the entire frequency spectrum.

THE MICROPHONES

To create this IR pack we used a variety of microphones. Using a Slate VMS ML1 and ML2, we recreated emulations of classic microphones, as well as an Earthworks SR25.

In the file names you’ll see microphone codes. Here is what they mean:

• C12 – AKG C12 (emulated with the Slate ML1)
• C800 – Sony C800 (emulated with the Slate ML1)
• M251 – Telefunken M251 (emulated with the Slate ML1)
• M269 – Neumann M269 (emulated with the Slate ML1)
• U67 – Neumann U67 (emulated with the Slate ML1)
• SR25 – Earthworks SR25
• 57v – Vintage Shure SM57 (emulated with the Slate ML2)
• M222 – Schoeps M 222 (emulated with the Slate ML2)
• C414 – AKG C414 (emulated with the Slate ML2)

Each of these mics (and mic emulations) will give you a different flavor. Some are extremely accurate (the Earthworks is legendary for their accurate mics, and the SR25 sounds fantastic), some are warm and vintage (try the Neumann and Telefunken options), and others are clear and bright (the C800). Try different mic options with your guitar to see what sounds best.

ACOUSTIC PICKUP OPTIONS

There are many different acoustic pickups options out there, and we have given you multiple options to accommodate a wide range of guitars. Here is what you get:

• EXP: The “EXP’ option is for Taylor guitars with Taylor’s Expression System electronics. These were made with a Taylor 414ce fitted with an Expression System 2 pickup system. If you have a Taylor with an ES pickup, these IR’s will be perfectly suited for it.
• SB1: The ‘SB’ options denote pickup microphones that are attached to the bottom of the sound board on an acoustic guitar. These include the mic portion of the LR Baggs Anthem, the K&K Pure Western transducer pickups, etc. For the ‘SB1’ options, we used the full microphone setting of the LR Baggs Anthem pickup installed in Brian’s Martin D-35. These are the darker of the two SB options.
• SB2: For this setting, we used the full microphone setting of the LR Baggs Anthem pickup installed in the McPherson Camrielle. These are the brighter of the two SB options.
• SB3 (Blend): These IR’s were made by blending the ‘SB1’ and ‘SB2’ IR’s, achieving a balance between the two – a great starting point for any guitar.
• Pz1: If your guitar is equipped with an under saddle piezo, try the ‘Pz’ options. Pz1 was created with just the LR Baggs Element piezo mix of the Anthem system in the Martin D-35
• Pz2: This was created with an Orangewood Brooklyn Live, equipped with a Fishman Flex EQ piezo system
• Pz3: This option was created with a Takamine FD-360sc from the late ’90’s, equipped with a Takamine AD-1 piezo system. This is a higher-end piezo pickup/preamp.

INCLUDED DOWNLOADS

The IR’s are available in WAV formate in four different sample rates: 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, and 96 kHz (all at 24 bit) at both 500ms and 200ms. This ensures these IR’s  are compatible with a wide variety of hardware and software options.

If your hardware or application does not require a specific sample rate or length, use the 48k 500ms options.

CHANGE LOG

Version 3.0: Nov 13, 2021

• Added EXP IR’s – specifically for use with guitar fitted with Taylor’s Expression System pickup system
• Added 500ms and 200ms length options
• All reference recordings were re-done

Version 2.0: May 31, 2020

• All reference recordings were re-done
• Changed: All IR’s have been updated to the re-recorded reference files.
• Added: Two new Piezo (Pz) pickup options for each microphone option. There are now six different pickup options to choose from per microphone option.
• Removed: The C214, M7, and U47 microphone options were removed.
• Added: 57v, m222, and C414 microphone options were added – these sound better than the ones we removed 🙂

Version 1.0 – Initial Release: March 28, 2020