The rock guitarist relies on Celestion impulse response technology to recreate the sounds of his beloved guitar cabinets. As the legend goes, "only a handful of hard rock guitarists are more skilled than Steve Stevens." From his prolific work with punk-crossover pioneer Billy Idol to his performance of Harold Faltermeyer's instrumental anthem from the hit movie Top Gun, to playing on a song with legendary songwriter Joni Mitchell, his sound and style announce themselves unmistakably.
To get that sound in the studio, Stevens is a big fan of using Celestion impulse responses, and describes how they respond and sound great at times when you can't necessarily set up a classic guitar cabinet, and often even when you can.
“I've been wanting to use impulse responses for quite a while,” explains Stevens. “I have a Kemper Profiling Amplifier at home and a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx. I'd used some impulse responses from other companies, but I have to say Celestion's are on another level. Their descriptions sound exactly like the speaker drivers I'm used to. Another thing is that they're totally phase-correct. I can treat them the way I would treat real guitar cabinets combined, bringing them together on two channels on my mixing desk. These impulse responses sound great. They're complete and they're the best out there. I've tried them all!”
A guitarist of Stevens' caliber has access to an enviable buffet of new and classic amps and cabinets. In Stevens' case, this even includes a Marshall 4 x 12 “with Jim Marshall's signature in pencil on the inside.” But as he points out, Celestion impulse responses are preferable when you don't have the option of setting up a cabinet, and often when you do:
“My home studio is basically my living room,” he says. “I used to go through the ordeal of miking a cabinet in another room. But sometimes I'd have to go back to a track and redo something, and trying to replicate the exact mic placement is a real pain. So now I'm only using Celestion impulse responses. That way it's easy to know exactly what I used. Although I'm committing everything to a hard drive... I'm old school, so I commit to the sound I'm putting down.”
Since Celestion impulse responses come in the form of WAV files, they can be used on a wide variety of host platforms that can read them: convolution plug-ins on the software side and amp modelers when it comes to hardware. Stevens prefers hardware, and goes on to explain his process for recording with impulse responses: “At home I have another unit (a modeling amp) called the Two Notes Torpedo. I'll audition the impulse responses using the Kemper without any cabinet, through Logic Pro. Then I'll load them into the Torpedo Remote, which shows up as an AU plug-in inside Logic. Then I'll try out all the impulse responses on my computer. The ones I really like end up being transferred to the Torpedo, so they're hosted in the hardware. That way, I can use them without turning on the computer.”
Does Stevens have a favorite Celestion IR? “I have the whole library,” he laughs. “I like the Creamback. I don't have a real guitar cabinet loaded with them, but for some reason the IR of that particular speaker is something I've started to really favor. It used to be the Vintage 30 because I knew the real speaker very well. But the Creamback really surprised me. If someone hasn't used guitar IRs and wants to get their feet wet, they should dive in with that speaker and see what comes out.”
“In general, Celestion has treated me really well, not just with the impulse responses,” adds Stevens. “When I blow a speaker on a tour of Europe or somewhere else, they've always replaced it quickly. Having that kind of support from the company has been great.”
