The C.A.B. M is a one input, three output stompbox-style unit with a nicely backlit OLED screen, and a long list of tonal options that can be expanded via Two Notes Wall of Sound software when connected via USB. You can load your own impulse, or tweak the pre-loaded ones, and provide your sound engineer a more direct, controlled signal.
The Two Notes C.A.B. M is a designed to be used on a pedal board, and resembles a small footprint stompbox. You can plug your pedals straight into it as you would a head, then send a direct out OR you can route your head back through the C.A.B. M and send your front-of-house engineer a direct signal to be either blended with your cabinet sound or to replace your cabinet sound entirely. The C.A.B. M is easy to set-up, and has a lot of routing options inside and outside of the pedal. The side of the stompbox features Amp In, Speaker Out and Input Level controls, as well as USB for connection to Two Notes’ Wall of Sound software and the power adapter input. The other side has your line out, DI out (with a ground lift), auxiliary in and headphone out for silent practice. The OLED backlit screen to tweak all these settings dims when untouched so it’s not startlingly bright on a dark stage or dimly lit studio.
When recording with the C.A.B. M, you can switch between 32 cabs that are pre-loaded, load and tweak your own, OR purchase more impulse responses from Two Notes. The pre-loaded cabs are all definitively different sounds, so you can quickly scroll to find something that is your ballpark tone, then tweak it until it’s perfect. The cabinets sounds believable, and genuinely resemble a mic’d cabinet in a room (the room can be tweaked as well!). Once you’ve found your tone, you can record it at 24 bit / up to 96kHz resolution, and rest assured that the bandwidth of 12Hz – 19kHz is leaving nothing behind the recording with the XLR DI out. The pre-loaded impulse responses can sound dark initially but with some tweaking, really come to life and sound like a perfectly mic’d cabinet in a nice room of any size you like.
For a stompbox with the tiny footprint that it has, the Two Notes C.A.B. M features everything you need it to. Not designed to be a replacement to traditional cabinets and microphones, but something to work with cabinets and be integrated for more control to bring your perfect tone to the stage or studio. The Two Notes software can provide an isolated sound to your interface or FOH sound, which can then be blended with your cabinet sound, or can be your entire rig with a creative preamp pedal. While admittedly the C.A.B. M isn’t as complete a package as the larger C.A.B. from Two Notes or smaller solutions such as Hughes & Kettner’s RedBox, it’s the most comprehensive product for the footprint, and that’s what Two Notes Engineering is all about: modern solutions for modern players, with products that fit our needs to a tee.
