SPL Cabulator review

It's a simple fact of life that a good valve amp sounds best when it's being worked hard, which is fine for playing live but can turn into a bit of a chore when you're recording or practising. Enter the Cabulator, an analogue cabinet simulator, DI box and power soak for amps up to 100 watts.

Once you've plugged your amp's speaker output into the back of the Cabulator, you then have two outputs to choose from; a speaker out that goes through the Cabulator's power soak, or a direct out that engages the speaker emulation. You can use both outputs simultaneously, but the speaker emulation never outputs through your cab.

"The speaker voicing control offers an organic and harmonically rich cabinet simulation"

The front controls look after the power reduction and speaker voicing. Even at maximum volume settings, the power soak takes your amp's volume down by 8dB. The speaker voicing control offers an organic and harmonically rich cabinet simulation, introducing more mid focus and compression the more you turn it up.

There are also two toggles that let you choose between open- or closed-back and vintage or modern cabinet voices, tailoring the tonal character to suit your setup.

It's also a great DI and cabinet simulator, and those features combined mean that you're not likely to find a situation that your favourite amp can't adapt to.