Grendel Sound Dead Room Isolation Cabinet

Pretty basic really ???. It???s an ISO Speaker Cabinet made for silent ( or near silent ) recording. I bought mine ???un-loaded???, but it???s made to contain a 1 x 12??? speaker and it gives you the ability to place and cable up two microphones.

First impressions ! It's packaged for shipping VERY WELL. Custom made corrugated, strategically placed bubble wrap ! It would be damn hard for it to be damaged it during shipping ( maybe not impossible, just damn hard ) ....

The build quality looks to be very good. Good attention to detail, the hinges, handle and latch placement ( all very centered ), corners all on straight, all screws driven in straight, etc; All of the carpet seams are straight, no ragged edges or corners ! When you open and close the lid, they line up perfectly and close snugly even before you tighten the latch.

Looks like there's plenty of speaker wire ( but at the same time, not too much ) - Hooking up the speaker was a breeze ! The wires are just long enough that you can set the speaker magnet on the lip of the lid while you clip it up. And I don???t mind using the clips, but I suppose if you???re really anal about it and want a soldered connection, there???s enough wire available that you can clip and strip to make that happen ???. Me, I???m too lazy !

And the bolts that hold the speaker in place are very long and very heavy compared to everything else I???ve seen out there. After getting the wires hooked up, I dropped the speaker down in the frame and everything lined up perfectly. The bolts threaded in nicely and snugged up with no problem what-so-ever.

As I guess you'd expect, the bottom of the dead room ( behind the speaker ) is just an empty plywood box. Probably not any different than the rear of a cabinet. The lid is where the magic ( sound dampening ) must happen ? Because when I thump on the bottom of the box you can hear the sound bounce around ( sounds hollow ). But the lid is a different story !

The lid is approx. 6 in thick, but it has almost like a false bottom ( look ) to it .... It doesn???t look like it would dampen the sound very much at all, but when I close the lid and then tap on it ( sides and top ) it sounds very solid. It does not sound hollow at all !

All in all, very professional looking ....

I guess I'm probably like most of you, I'm looking for a way to drive my amp ( OD-100SE+ ) a little harder to get the sound I'm after, but at the same time keep my volume down in the house to preserve the peace.

And that said, I???ve really only had about 2 hours to ???futz??? around with it.

I played it a while without using a mic. just to get an idea of the sound of the cabinet and its dampening properties. Because the speaker is actually pointing up toward the ceiling, it seems to fill the room with sound much more than a traditional horizontal firing cabinet. I mean ???. WOW was it loud ! And the Greenback I loaded it with temporarily isn???t exactly known for its bass response, so while it wasn???t shrill, neither was it really thumpin??? either. It is a 1 x 12??? after all !

Time for the ???acid test??????, I closed the lid and it actually got really pretty darn quiet ???. Not silent ! Because like I said the bottom of the dead room isn???t lined with anything, it???s like the rear of any 1 x 12??? closed back cabinet. But there???s very, VERY little bass booming out of the box, which I was worried about. And while the tone is muffled, it???s not bad. If you weren???t very particular you could probably use it to do your personal practicing and/or wood-shedding with ?!? YRMV ??? but I certainly could anyway.

Next, I pulled out my mic???s ( SM-57 and AT-3030 ??? that???s all I???ve got right now ) and started to get them placed and hooked up ???.

My ???system??? such that it is as follows: Guitar --> CAA ??? OD 100SE+ --> Dead Room ( loaded with 25 Watt Greenback ) --> SM-57 or AT 3030 --> FMR Audio, RNP & RNC --> Rocktron, G612 Line Mixer --> Rocktron, Intelliverb --> Rocktron, Intellifex --> ( 2 ) KRK, V6 Monitor Speakers

I was able to get some pretty darn good sounds ( at least for me ) with a single mic. pretty darn easily. Like I said above Greenbacks aren???t known for their bass response, but the proximity effect of the SM-57 took care of that no problem. I dialed in a pretty good tone, and by moving the mic. around I got a good balance between high end bite and a good full bottom. The mids ? Well they are what they are from an SM-57, some love it, some hate it, but at least for me it???s very predictable !

When I switched to the AT 3030, I got a much more full range sound. Although maybe lacking in the mids a bit ? But, that???s why I normally like the combination of those two particular mics.

So far, no surprises !

But, when I tried both mic???s at once, I just couldn???t get the positions quite right to deal with the phasing problems. Using a regular cabinet and a couple of mic. stands you can work around that fairly easily ( especially with the FMR - RNP ). But with the Dead Room it becomes much trickier only because space is limited ???.

I didn???t ask about any warranties, but since I bought mine un-loaded what???s to warranty ? Alex @ GrendelSound did mention that some of the first Dead Room???s he shipped out arrived with broken casters. Mine were fine, he didn???t say he???d have replaced them if they???d broken, but he didn???t say he wouldn???t have either.

h that e-mail instead of the e-mail that I???d sent the questions from.

I guess that???s not theirBoth Alex, Chris and I exchanged E-mails before I bought one. They responded very quickly and were very forthcoming with the information.

But, I did have some difficulty getting in touch with them after the initial purchase. And that turned out that the confusion was because I had an inactive e-mail address in my PayPal account. They???d been trying to reach me throug problem, it???s mine !

Finally since this is a new product, and the first time I???ve ever tried an ISO Cab. I wanted to be very critical, down to some pretty darn miniscule details ???. Don???t mistake my critiscms or critiques as me being even the least bit unhappy ! I???m not at all ???.

In fact, in it???s present state without me modifying anything it will be very, VERY usable. A few tweaks with the positioning of the mic. hardware to allow me more placement options and I think it will be perfect.

Especially keeping in mind, that the Dead Room is replacing a puesudo ISO Room that I tried to build myself. I have an interior closet in my bedroom ( soon to be studio ) that has insulated walls and a solid core door. When I lined the closet with Auralex foam and then mic???ed up my 4 x 12??? cabinet I had all of the sound dampening properties that I needed, but I???d inadvertently built myself a Bass Trap ! No amount of tweaking was able to cure that. I tried Auralex Bass Wedges, I even bought a Gramma to set my cabinet on. Nothing worked !

In 2 hours with the Dead Room, I???ve dialed in more balanced ( better ) sounds than I did in the past 3 or 4 months using my ISO ???closet??? ???.

Finally, I don't care if the sound is "dead" frankly that's what I'm hoping for. I've got an Intelliverb and I can create almost whatever room sound I need that way, I just need volume control and everything else I've tried, including building my own sound dampening room didn't work worth a **** ....

So that said, here are my recommendations:

The first thing I???d recommend is to buy or make a couple of 1??? to maybe 1 ????? mic. cables. And be sure to make the male-end a 90* connector. This will help a lot !

I say that because, I couldn???t quite get the 3030 in the exact position I wanted because the end of the mic. cable was up against the side of the cabinet and wouldn???t allow me to bend it into the exact position I wanted, very close but not exact.

And the small gooseneck that Grendel supplies doesn???t work very well. It seems very stiff when you bend it, so I thought it would stay in place easily. But gravity and the weight of the 57 kept pulling it down and out of the position I put it in.

The other thing that would be nice, is lock washers. Luckily I had some on my mini-mic. stands, so I just pulled them off and used them. Anyone who???s struggled with mic. placement knows, that threads don???t always line up and when you get the gooseneck ( or whatever ) tightened up you don???t always have the right angle to approach the speaker. And if you don???t tighten them up, then gravity takes over pretty easily pulling the mic. out of position ( etc; etc; ).

Grendel gives you two threaded mic. placement options, but they???re both on the sides where the speaker is closest to the cabinet wall. I???m probably going to move one of them, or maybe add a third option on the side where the speaker is furthest away from the wall ...? That might give me a little more flexibility and options when using the gooseneck ?

Now that I think about it, I might even add more than that ? Because they are fixed, that means if you want to use a mic. without the gooseneck, like I have with my AT 3030 ( I just screwed the mic???s shock mount right into the cabinet, then not only is the position relatively fixed, but so is the distance from the speaker cone. I???d like to be able to move it closer or further to get it in the best position. And there???s almost 7??? of depth to work with and the diameter of the mic is only 2???, so it seems like there???s plenty of room to make that happen ?

Thanks to Alex @ GrendelSound for thinking this up and bringing it out !

In short, the unit is built like a tank, does what it it's supposed to do and is reasonably priced. For more detail, read on.

The Grendel Dead Room is an isolation cabinet. Its intent is to allow users to record a tube-based amp at volumes that would normally not be possible. The Dead Room comes in two models: Loaded, and unloaded. I purchased the unloaded model and loaded it with an English-made Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. The unit comes stock with a gooseneck microphone stand which is mounted to the middle of the right wall of the sound chamber. On the front wall of the sound chamber is a mounting for another microphone--you must supply the actual mounting hardware. Inside the sound chamber on the floor, top left are two XLR connectors for mic cables. Outside, there are two XLR outputs and two parallel speaker inputs/outputs. Additionally, there are two heavy duty handles for lifting, casters for rolling the unit, and a heavy duty latch that facilitates locking down the lid over the sound chamber. The lid is lined with 6 inches of sound absorbing material. Covering the entire unit is black carpet with black, metal corners.

I wish the unit had either another gooseneck mounted toward the back of the sound chamber on the right or left wall (as in some of Grendel's website pictures)or had the single gooseneck mounted there because the current position does not allow enough coverage of the speaker for different mic'ing techniques. Also, as you move the gooseneck, it tends to free up, sometimes too much, so you should check mic placement frequently.

Initially, I thought a 90 degree connector at the mic was absolutely necessary, but with the way I have the Dead Room mic'd now, it's just a nice thing to have.

I'm rating this area a 9 for the mic placement issue.

Here's a full list of gear I've used with the Dead Room since it was delivered.

Guitars:
2007 Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Signature 6 string BFR
1981 Gibson Flying V Heritage '57 reissue
1984/5 Kramer Baretta
1985 Gibson Flying V XPL

Amps:
1990 Mesa Boogie Mark IVa
1996 Peavey 5150
1983 Marshall JCM 800 2204

DAW:
Tascam FW1884
Sonar 7 Producer Edition
JBL LSR4328P Monitors (isolated)
Audio Technica ATH-M50 Headphones

Mic:
Shure SM-57

Cables:
Mogami with Neutrik connectors throughout

When I first plugged everything in, closed the lid, and played a chord on my Petrucci through the Mark IV, I was struck by the handles rattling. I fixed that with some duct tape, but it was distracting, but not enough to lower the rating for this section.

Mic Placement is way different that what I was used to. Using an SM-57, I would amp a cabinet at about 1-1 1/4 inches off the center cap and at a 90 degree angle to the grille cloth. With the Dead Room, I had to experiment a lot but found that my rules that I've gone by are now gone. My SM-57 is now angled down at about 35 degrees and about 2 inches from the center cap while pointed to the rear of the Dead Room. Height is what would be the grille cloth. Experimenting is the key. Like I wrote earlier, another goose neck at either the front or rear of the side walls would make mic'ing easier. Still, not enough to lower the rating.

Volume with the lid closed is somewhat louder than I expected. I wasn't stunned, but it's funny, with the lid closed, if I move close to the Dead Room while playing my Petrucci, I can get a little feedback. That I think is cool because if I had the lid open with the volume I'm using, I'd have bloody ears and uncontrollable feedback. Volume reduction is around 70%, I'd estimate--it can't be heard upstairs. I'm using either my monitors or headphones to listen to the guitar, with either I'm happy.

There is no tone coloration. It's dead. Really dead. No boxy sound, though. You have to eq properly. Once done, the recorded sound is as alive as any I've ever recorded without an iso box. In fact, it's actually better because I can now I can really drive my amps hard and get the absolute best out of them! That to me is what this box is all about--getting the best you can out of your equipment while not getting arrested for disturbing the peace or ending up in divorce court!

The Dead Room is a box, other than the connectors, there is very little that can fail. In fact, other than the mic goose neck it's set it and forget it. Like I wrote earlier, it's built like a tank.

I've had a lot of e-mail contact with Alex at Grendel both before the purchase and after the purchase. He's always been very helpful and quick to respond. A sure 10 here.

Overall, I'm giving Grendel Sound Dead Room a 10. It's clearly one of he best purchases I've made for my home studio. It's now a fixture and will be used daily.

It's kind of hard to find a decent isolation cabinet. This one fits the bill. It's got everything you'll need to experiment with different speakers and microphones. A heavy unit with lots of baffling.

I've tried a couple of different isolation cabinets. Usually, they end up sounding "boxy" or bad in some way. The Dead Room actually works pretty well. I bought the unloaded version and installed a Eminence Swamp Thang. I'm using an ENGL Powerball head and an SM57... and I'm really pleased with the result.

Both the Powerball and the Swamp Thang are very loud. I'm probably pushing the envelope of what an isolation cabinet can attenuate in terms of volume. But that said, I was hoping it would be a little quieter in the room. I can still clearly hear the signal in the box. It's not anything that I'm worried about with the neigbors... but it would have been nice to get some more attenuation.

If the lid were open on the box, I probably wouldn't be able to stand being in the same room with it.

It's a wooden box, some carpet, some cabling, and some hardware. Not much to go wrong with it. It's built like a tank.

I've not really dealt with them directly.

If you're looking for an isolation box that'll actually sound decent, that you can hack around with different speakers and mics... the Dead Room is an excellent deal.

it's an iso box. comes with dual mic mounts and dual xlr connections. has a gooseneck on one of the mic mounts for a sm57. has daisy chaining jacks to plug your amp into this as well as another cab.

i only have a sm57 to use with it right now. running my dsl50 through the grendel, i can dial in many sounds through my amp and mic placement. i was shocked at how quiet it gets when the lid is closed. i can't notice any of the iso cab box sound with this one as other people have complained about with other iso boxes. overall it is a lot easier and more convenient then trying to mike up my 1960 4x12 and it sounds just as good.

i would take this to a gig. it seems very well made. a tank!

i emailed them and got a fast reply. they were helpful and answered my questions. i don't believe there is any expressed warranty with these, since it is just a cabinet and speaker. it seems like a new business and they would probably deal with any problems.

i have been playing for 5 years. i own a marshall dsl50 and 1960a. i have a small daw and a sm57 and preamp.

if it were stolen or lost, i would hopefully get it back but i would want another one of these.

i compared it to the randall iso cab which is similar but doesn't have some of the features the grendel does.