Celestion has introduced the first in its collection of Artist Series Impulse Responses, the Tony Iommi Impulse Responses. Headliner takes a closer look at the collection of carefully curated digital downloads designed to bring the iconic heavy metal tones of Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath to DAWs and modelling amplifiers…
This digital collection of IRs has been carefully designed to faithfully capture the tones of two iconic cabinets that have been used extensively by Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi on records and on stage through different eras of the heavy metal band’s history, for use on any digital music production platform.
Whether in a DAW for recording or a modelling amplifier for performance, the Tony Iommi IR series places the guitarist’s iconic tones within reach of any musician, recordist, or producer.
Widely considered the father of heavy metal, Iommi has seared the sound of his legendary Laney amps and cabs into the history of rock ‘n’ roll. From the late ‘60’s grind of a cranked LA100 BL 100W head (boosted with a modified Arbiter Dallas Rangemaster because it just wasn’t heavy enough) through a LA412 HLC cab, to the ‘90’s smack of a signature model GH 100 TI head through a TI412S cabinet, he has written, recorded and toured some of most iconic music in the history of classic metal.
That iconic Iommi guitar tone is a sound that countless guitarists have aimed for, and it’s now possible to get a bit closer by playing through authentic digital versions of two of the Laney cabinets used by Tony.
The new Tony Iommi IR Series includes Tony Iommi Laney LA412 HLC closed back 4×12” Green label Goodmans speakers– a late ‘60s cab recorded by Iommi from 1969 through the early 1980s – widely regarded to be THE sound of those early Black Sabbath records.
Also included is the Tony Iommi Laney TI412S closed back 4×12 Celestion G12H speakers. This cab was owned by Iommi and used extensively in the studio and on tour through the ‘90s – the sound of latter era Black Sabbath.
Both cabinets are available either singly or as a collection.
Celestion employs a meticulous recording process to digitise the sonic characteristics of its acclaimed Impulse Responses, beginning with studio-quality, go-to professional guitar cabinet microphones.
Each IR thus offers a variety of mic type and placement options and can be loaded into any IR host within a DAW or into stand-alone amp modelling hardware. The result is an authentic speaker emulation that sounds every bit as outstanding as its hardware counterpart, claims Celestion.
Paired with a DAW and IR loader plugin, modelling amp hardware, or amp-top load box, Celestion Impulse Responses are optimised to provide authentic tone alongside lively and dynamic response, all without introducing latency.
These benefits create a playing experience that is as credibly vintage as any speaker can achieve, but with real-world performance that is predictable and reliable in today’s most demanding recording and performance applications.
Combining Celestion’s all-areas access, together with considerable speaker response know-how, Celestion reveals it will introduce future Series of Artist IR collections captured using guitar speaker cabinets made famous by legendary and influential artists.
The Celestion Tony Iommi Responses are available for download as individual IRs and as a complete collection at celestionplus.com.