GFI System Cabzeus Cab Sim/DI

I do not gig, I only play at home. Living in the middle of a crowded city, and sharing an apartment with friends, it's seldom possible to go all out volume-wise on even a low watt tube amp.
To keep the peace with the world around me, I had to find a solution, ideally one where I didn't have to sacrifice tone for..

..And this is it.

Well at least 50% of the solution. The other 50% is my tube amp, which is a 1 watt Palmer eins. What's special about this amp, aside from it's amazing tone, is that it has a Hi-Z output, which puts out all of that tube goodness. This output can then be routed to other pedals, an amp, or...the Cabzeus. And there the magic happens once again.

The speaker simulations are really good, there are very clear differences between them. For example, the clarity and sparkle of the Jensen C12 emulation stands in shrill contrast with the bite and grit that the Celestion Greenback can give you. You can choose whatever fits the song, or use them both panned left and right, and everything in between. You can also put a delay up to 125ms on either side, though I haven't used that feature as often as I thought I would.

Aside from the 'stereo-cabbing', you can choose stereo-miking. One mic is placed next to the speaker and you can tweak it (from centre to edge in %) and the other one is placed further in the 'small or normal room'. On top of that you can adjust the amount of room reverberation and the liveliness and color of that reverberation.
This really sounds huge, but sadly I'm definitely not a miking expert so it's a bit though to dial in suitable sounds. But from what I experimented with, the potential to colossal sounds is enormous in this setting.

Lastly you have the miscellaneous category. This includes some weird (but fun) things like a 'megaphone/telephone' simulation as well as a full-range option. The latter could be really handy when you're ABY-Ing your signal into a electric guitar route and a route with for example a synth pedal in it. Then they could both joint venture into the Cabzeus, and via the Cabzeus' XLR-outs straight to a mixer or audio interface.

It's a fantasic product, with tonnes of options and tweakability, but there are some (very minor, I'm really nitpicking here) things that could be improved :

-The headphone out. It's not a very satisfying sound when plugging your headphones straight into the cabzeus. I often play with headphones given my situation. I just use XLR cables to my audio interface (Zoom TAC-2 THundebolt 2) which I use as a mixer (no DAW necesassay). This provides a millions times better sound.

-No presets that came stock, already dialed in. This would be a nice feature, because then I have something to work from to improve my stereo-miking skills.



All in all, after 12 years of playing and searching for the ultimate tone that works for me, in any given situation, this is really it. The price may be steep, but it is really justified, given the quality and options you're getting.