I spent a few days capturing my Eastman PCH grand auditorium flat top acoustic guitar and I've found that these corrective EQ IRs are great for getting the stock piezo tone of your acoustic to sound a bit more realistic.
In total, there are 20 IRs here, each avaible in 4 different sample rates so you can use them with your Helix (48kHz) or with any other modeler or DAW.
There are four types of impulse responses in this bundle - bright undersaddle piezo, dark undersaddle piezo, body tranducer, and magnetic. Select the version that matches what type of pickup you have on your guitar. Then, in each folder you will find 5 impulse responses. Generally, the “A” IR is the brightest (most treble) and the “E” IR is the darkest (the most low end) in tone. B, C, and D fall in between there. Each one has a different mid contour. Take your time and get to know them with your instrument. Understand that an Impulse Responses is a very important part to a great amplified acoustic tone, but it is not the end-all solution. It’s appropriate to expect to do a bit of work with EQ and compression to really get your tone the rest of the way there.
PCH Grand Auditorium Acoustic IR Pack
20% off an order of $80+
Acoustic impulse responses are generally meant to be used with acoustic guitars. They are designed to take the sound from your pickup and transform it into to something more useable. In this bundle I’ve tried to give you as many options as possible to find the tone that you’re looking for. Although these files are loaded in as an impulse responses (and will work wherever a normal IR would), know that they are slightly different. A traditional IR measures EQ over time. Since the acoustical space with these IRs is so small (the body of a guitar), I’ve eliminated the time coefficient in favor of a more precise corrective EQ curve. Traditional acoustic IRs tend to sound “boxy” to me and I believe this is a worthwhile tradeoff considering that the maximum time allowance for guitar modeler impulse responses are incredibly short anyway - less than 1/20th of a second.
- First, select your sample rate. The Helix operates at 48kHz and so this is what I recommend, though I’ve included options for 44.1kHz, 88.2kHz, and 92kHz for other modelers or if you want to use them in a DAW.
- Second, select the pickup type that your guitar has. Body Transducer would be a piezo system that attaches to the underside of the top of your guitar like the K&K Pure Mini or the JourneyTek EP001K. Magnetic is for a sound hole pickup like the Seymour Duncan Woody or the LR Baggs system. What you probably have on your acoustic guitar is an under saddle piezo and so I’ve made two selections - choose the bright option if your pickup has a lot of high end or choose the dark option is it’s a warmer-sounding pickup.
- Finally, follow your ear. Nothing I said in the above paragraph is set in stone. Experiment a bit. If your acoustic guitar has controls like treble, bass, notch, or tone, I would suggest starting with an IR and then play with the controls on your guitar to find a good setting instead of doing things the other way around.