I'm new to guitars and now to modelled guitar amp+cab set ups. Can I get some general advice on cabinet selection when inside a DAW? I know I can shuffle through them and get an idea, but some pointers would help make more educated approaches. I have TH2 full plug and am demo'ing the Markbass (which looks like it's secured its future with me)
 
I guess that the bigger the cone the lower it's able to reproduce, but cabs can be 1x15, 2 x15, some 1x10, 2x10, 4 x 10 etc. If I have a a 15", it''s able to produce a fixed range, with a certain frequency response, is the the same applies no matter how many there are, just with two, there is twice the volume. 1x15" and 2x15", wouldn't they sound the same, just with the latter twice as loud, (but with potential phase issues). In the real world this matters, but in the recorded world, how does this matter, I just turn one up, or the other down. Why would someone pick a 4x10 over a 1x15 in a DAW, when the 1x15 has lower frequencies than the 10" can produce, no matter how many of them there are, and volume isn't a factor.
 
I'm guessing there is an answer to this, and something to do with character, but some pointers would help, when I'm faced with 9 options in Mark Sudio and 29 in TH2.
 
Cheers

I think you may not be factoring in that the size of the cabinet itself will affect the sound. So even if you have identical speakers the 1x15 is going to sound different than the 2x15 due to the physical size. Also there is probably going to be a bit of interplay between the speakers so even if you only have one mic on one speaker it will still pick up some sound from the second speaker which will change the tone. With IRs I believe they use actual recordings of real cabinets so all those subtle nuances in theory should be reproduced.
 
As far as picking the right one? Well I've played through a lot of different gear so have a general idea of what something might sound like BUT because I've never been a proper recording engineer (like the guys who meticulously set up mics) the placement, type of mic, extra gear in the chain before and after the cab, etc I don't always know what's going to sound like what when using what. So I still have to just go through things and see what sounds best for what I'm doing.
 
TH2 has been very educational in regards to hearing what certain gear and techniques sound like. I expect I'd be able to translate a lot of the knowledge in an actual hardware based environment.

proximity effect (mic modeling) and room effect (distance from cab and size of room) will have more play on the sound than the actual cabinet selection.

BTW... the only time I really seem to notice phase issues when goofing around with the cab sim settings in TH2 is when I'm using two mics and start messing with the mic distances. I actually just avoid doing that now because it doesn't really seem to ever make anything sound better for my stuff BUT they have a convenient phase invert button on the cab settings thingie. I'd imagine a REAL recording engineer could use those distance options properly but between the Rear and 45 degree mics and the room settings I can pretty much always get something cool going on with my a/b mics rammed right up close to the cab (which is the default).
 
With the IRs though there is no invert phase option (as far as I can tell) but you should not have to worry about it with the included IRs. I doubt they would include an IR with phase problems. If you just download some from "skeetchyuserpatches.org" (not a real website... I hope) then perhaps you will not be getting the best quality cab sounds and have phase issues.
 
Off topic: Recently I've seen some head to heads of TH2 and Rack11. I've never tried Rack11 but I was kind of impressed with what I heard. Seems like a really REALLY good clone of GR5. Might have to scout out a demo.

batsbrew
proximity effect (mic modeling) and room effect (distance from cab and size of room) will have more play on the sound than the actual cabinet selection.

Those do certainly have drastic effects on the sound but the cab selection is still a major factor. I screw with that stuff a LOT these days. It is far more noticeable in a sim (and I'd imagine studio) environment than just hearing it cranking through the air. I use to not really give a flying fart what I was playing though as long as it had power and bite. I had other ways to mold my sound. On "tape" though it's a whole different game. I'm doing far more tone chasing not because the sims suck but because it's like a friggen' smorgasboard of tones. I don't even have to break my back screwing around with gear either. Love it.

Thanks for the replies, though I'm still no wiser , just more aware that cabinet size is also a factor.
 
So I guess it's more along the lines; you want a big sound, more speakers, bigger cab. You want a intimate sound, small cab. As a general rule I mean. I guess I am looking for some geneal rules/ideas to be thinking about when making a choice, rather than blindly switching.

REMEMBER,
 a lot of jimmy page's early zeppelin sound,
was done with a tele thru a Supro combo.
 
nothing big about that!
 

First off I think the best thing to do for now is to just use the Amp + Cab option in TH2 or similar features in other sims. This will give you a "matched" cabinet model for the head you choose. So if you choose one of the Marshall heads it will automatically choose a Marshall cab that suits that head. If you choose the 5150 model it will give you the 5150 cab. The HiWatt a HiWatt cab, etc.
 
When these amps were/are originally released the companies obviously did their best to produce a good cab to go along with the head. By choosing this option in a sim you should get a reasonably authentic sound and you don't have to overthink it. Swapping out cabs is more for tweakers, fiddlers and tone twisters but start with the matched cabs, play around with the other settings (like mic and room) and you'll see how those other options work. Then go hunting around for alternate mix and match stuff if you are feeling adventurous.
 
That said... batsbrew has brought up something very important. Small, even tiny amps, are sometimes much more desirable for live recording. They can be cranked harder (thus pushing the tubes/circuits) without blasting out the walls/mics/input on the mixer/whatever. I actually want to snag a little ten watt tube amp for this type of stuff because there is NO way I could even THINK of having a stack in my current setup and expect to get it loud enough for tracking without having the cops immediately called on me. I can't even turn up my transistor combo amp past 0.3 without it being way too loud for the apartment. Very sad because it is a great sounding amp.
 
In a sim though you don't have to worry about such things because you aren't going to blow anything or get a noise ticket. However the other thing about small amps is they don't have as much of the "woofy/boomy" bottom end of a huge stack that often times is EQ'd out of a mix anyway to make room for the bass/kick drum. So there is something to consider BUT you do also have plenty of options to deal with that even on the larger cab models by way of the dedicated hi/low pass buttons in the cab options. Not really the same as a small amp but it's there.
 
Now I kind of want to take a look at what the smallest cab in TH2 is. lol

Here is what I have done.  Mostly because it is sooooooo easy to sit and fiddle with all the choices for days on end.....and never really accomplish any recording.
 
Most guitar players have a tone, one that they hear in their head.  We tweek until we get there.  Most of the time it seems like it is a never ending tweak.  I can take just about any tube amp and it will end up tweaked to my tone by the time I am done with it. 
 
I find the amp sim or a couple in the collection, that best represent that tone that I have been dialing in all of these years.  I use it to record with.  Once I have the track recorded, I may go back and flip through cabinets and mic's to see if it blends better with the song mix.  Sometimes one cab will fit the song better than another.  Sometimes just moving the mic front/ back/ to the side will make the track fit better.  If I find myself tweaking to the same spec's over and over, I create my own preset on that sim.  Now I am closer the next time. 
 
I probably only use about 3-4 amps total out of the dozens and dozens most sims provide.  I usually start, as Beep has mentioned, with a factory preset.  Then eventually, it becomes one of my presets, with the changes I adopt to get closer to my sound.

batsbrew
REMEMBER,
 a lot of jimmy page's early zeppelin sound,
was done with a tele thru a Supro combo.
 
nothing big about that!
 

Check this out: http://www.gibson.com/en-us/lifestyle/productspotlight/gearandinstruments/10-huge-sounds-recorded-521/ 
 
Rocky