The CabDryVR pedal has dual inputs and outputs and works as two completely separate simulator channels named Cab A and Cab B. By leaving Cab B's input unused, a single guitar/bass signal coming into Cab A will produce two separate outputs out of Cab A and Cab B. In addition, by switching to the Dry position on Cab B you may route its dry analog output directly to a real guitar amp input and/or directly record it.

With the exception of a Small Combo amp with an 8-inch speaker, the other six guitar cabinets available all have 12-inch speakers. You can choose cabinets like: Cab 3 called British Green Slant 4X12 or choose Cab 1 for a Vintage American 2X12 cabinet simulation. The seven bass cabinet choices include impulses of classic models such as Cab 6 named Vintage Fridge 8x10 or Cab 7 called Blonde Basement 2X12 or Cab 4, an AmeriTweed 4X10. Being able to quickly change cabinets with CabDryVR is an awesome way to get just the right "size" of guitar sound to fit the part into the track.

The Guitar/Bass toggle switch on this pedal selects between two collections of impulse responses of many popular guitar and bass cabinets. If you wanted to use separate cab sounds for a guitar and also a bass guitar at the same time, select the Bass switch position and use the bass guitar cabinets AmeriTweed or Blonde Basement for guitar. (These are impulses of vintage amplifiers originally designed for electric guitar.)

Digitech CabDryVR Dual Cabinet Simulator--Cabinet Choices

Both the Cab A and B channels each have a set of concentric control knobs labeled Size/Level. Size adjusts the resonance of the cabinet--higher settings on this control highlight the upper midrange and high frequencies. Playing a sustaining chord and turning the size control sounds like when I move a microphone around the front of one of the speakers in a guitar cabinet. The outer knob is called Level and it sets the output level of that cabinet. This is valuable when setting up stereo guitar sounds with different cabinets playing left and right.

My main interest with any guitar and bass cabinet simulator is for music production and mixing. CabDryVR has excellent flexibilities; it can be hooked up to be part of a guitar/bass tracking recording chain or as part of my mixing/remix process. I use it just like I would when re-amping already recorded guitar tracks during a mix. Unlike re-amping, with CabDryVR there are no guitar amplifier electronics to build tone upon--it just does the cabinet sounds only.

For recording an overdriven stereo guitar I used the Dutch Screamer pedal on my Nexi The Solution Pedal Board connected before CabDryVR and then panned the two outputs hard left and right in the mix. I had guitar Cab 2 Vintage British 2X 12 (essentially a VOX AC30 sound) on the left and Cab 5 called Heavy American 4X12 (a slant cabinet with 30-watt vintage speakers) on the right side. This is a big and real-sounding guitar sound!

The manual lists and shows several hookups and I liked using the CabDryVR simulation mixed with an actual guitar amp in the studio. You have to be careful with polarity and phase shift issues but the end result was worth it.

Because CabDryVR uses 24-bit digital technology for the cabinet simulations, it requires a 9-volt power adapter with at least 125mA of current available; there is no battery compartment. The Harman PS0913DC power supply is sold separately.