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A lot of the tones I seek require a nice, bright top-end. This often goes too far, putting harsh highs in the tone. But these can easily be rolled off using a Mid-Focus EQ. I stick to my general principles - that it's better to filter out frequencies than to try to dial them in and to start with the cleanest signal possible and EQ or otherwise adjust it.
But sometimes you want a cab's unique tone, and that means I may need to boost the high-end. I like to use the Studio EQ to do so - it uses wide boosts and it has an 8 kHZ kHz selection, that allows it to focus higher than the Parametric EQ. Another good option is the Parametric EQ. Although the frequency selection only goes up to about 5 kHZkHz, it has a high shelf that can make a nice even boost to the highs. If this ends up putting too much crackle in the ultra-high end, again, a Mid-Focus EQ is best to roll that off.
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Yet something about it sounds a bit off. It's clearly got way too much bass, especially in the "boomy" range between 100 and 240 HZHz. But even when you dial that out, it just sounds muffled or something, even with mics that tend to have more presence. I rarely use it by itself for this reason. The only mic I find it sounds good with is the 409 Dynamic, but you have to tame the boomyness still.
Nonetheless, it definitely sounds the heaviest, and I can dial it in close enough to where I want it to be for certain patches. It's the only cab that'll get you that ridiculous Meshuggah (and metalcore) djent.
The Uber 4x12 is another good option, modeling a 4x12 with 2 Vintage 30 and 2 G12T-75 speakers. It's got a great bass response and a touch of a vintage sound to it. I think it sounds more like the Tread V-30 4x12 than the XXL 4x12 does. It's more like a real cab "out-the-box".
The only caveat, which is true of pretty much every cab but the Tread V-30, is that it's a little lacking in the high-end response. You can dial some in with a very strong presence boost around 2 - 2.8 kHZkHz, but it's going to sound a little noisy. Getting the right amount of bass isn't a fight like with the XXL. You can probably get away with just adjusting the amp's bass knob.
It's highly valuable for dual cab tones - a perfect complement for the Treadplate 4x12's brightness to fill in some punch and warmth. Also when mic'ed with a 57 gets that raucous T75 tone, but has a more modern sound than the Brit-T75 4x12.
I list [[#Favorite Combinations|combinations below]] and in the spreadsheets linked belowthat work well using 0 or 1 EQ's. [http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/dualCabs.h5s This setlist] also contains examples.
I have done some pretty thorough research on this, and am continuing to update it. The link below is a spreadsheet with a matrix of every possible combination of cab/mic with another, for the Tread V-30, Hiway, XXL, Greenbacks, Uber, Brit, and Blackbacks 4x12 cabs with all available mics with the delay in samples@96kHz 96 kHz required to make them in-phase. It contains tabs/sheets on how to use it, a list of relatively tone-transparent effects with the amount of delay they introduce, and the combination of effects necessary to get any particular amount of delay.
==== [http://foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/CabsDelayTimes_V3.xlsx Cab Latency Correction Matrix as Excel spreadsheet]/[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsSFadRSa9zYdG1kc1J2b1ZvRFVlUVIydXRMVVoyZnc&usp=sharing as Google Cloud spreadsheet]/[http://www.foobazaar.com/podhd/toneGuide/tripGuitar_cab_delay.pdf as pdf] ====
Just a high-pass filter where you specify the frequency. It will roll off the bottom end. Since I usually have a Mid-Focus EQ after my amp/cab, I prefer to use that to trim the low-end - it allows you to adjust the Q as well as frequency.
Where I like to use this control is when I'm using dual cabs. For a boomy amp (Treadplate), I'll vary the low cut settings for each cab to make them more consistent or to make the bass knobs on the amp respond differently. For instance, I may turn the low cut on my Hiway cab up to around 120 HZHz, then use the bass control on the amp to dial in some punch. On my XXL cab, I'll leave the low cut between 60-75 HZ Hz and dial in the desired amount of deeper bass.
Or if I'm combining the Treadplate and Hiway cabs, I'll use this on the Treadplate around 300-400 Hz to prevent any of the Treadplate's low-end from interfering with the Hiway. And I'll use low Treble/Presence settings on the amp driving the Hiway, so that its highs don't interfere with the Treadplate's. Just like mixing instruments, I want each to have its own space and peak ranges, but still blend together seamlessly.