Boss IR-2 - Very compact amp/cab sim pedal

[Jambi]

No built in power amp with Speakon? Hard pass

 

[Baba]

The only high gain sound I liked in LT's demo was the generic "Hi Gain". The Rectifier etc. sounded pretty gross. (Disclaimer: through my ear buds.) And conversely, the only clean sound I liked was the "Clean" sound. That "Twin" didn't sound like I've ever heard - or wanted to hear - a Twin sound.

I'm pretty sure if I were to buy one of these, I'd zero in on exactly one usable clean tone and exactly one usable heavy tone, and never touch the knobs again.

100% Same.

Furthermore, it's funny, I have a little Cube sitting here, and it was the same back then, their "Clean" (JC-120, I guess), is MUCH better sounding that the "Twin", etc.

This is going to be a very popular back up rig solution. Throw it in your gig bag in the case you need to run your pedal board direct or if your main modeling rig goes down unexpectedly. I didn't love the tones, but it would get you through the set. The size and price point are excellent.

 

[timbuck3]

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

HARD PASS..

 

[Sascha Franck]

Been scrolling through some of the available videos - and well, by now it seems to be pretty much what @laxu said, the Katana of pedalboard modelers or so. Will have a look what people will come up with when fooling around with it a bit more, but apart from it possibly being a great mobile interface, I can't see this to even replace my NUX Amp Academy, let alone the Amplifirebox. On my pedalboard, I don't need all the bells and whistles (HP out, FX loop and USB interface options), all I want is some kickass sounds. Which this thing doesn't exactly seem to deliver.

 

[JT]

Been scrolling through some of the available videos - and well, by now it seems to be pretty much what @laxu said, the Katana of pedalboard modelers or so. Will have a look what people will come up with when fooling around with it a bit more, but apart from it possibly being a great mobile interface, I can't see this to even replace my NUX Amp Academy, let alone the Amplifirebox. On my pedalboard, I don't need all the bells and whistles (HP out, FX loop and USB interface options), all I want is some kickass sounds. Which this thing doesn't exactly seem to deliver.

The Tweed sound in the Anderton's vid would work for me. Not sure how "Tweedy" it actually is compared to reality but serviceable gigging sound, certainly.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The Tweed sound in the Anderton's vid would work for me. Not sure how "Tweedy" it actually is compared to reality but serviceable gigging sound, certainly.

Yeah, if at all, it could work well as a more or less clean pedal platform - with those kinda sounds you can sculpt a whole lot through IRs anyway, as long as the amp gets the dynamics right.
But seriously, if I really only wanted a clean amp model all the time, I could just stick with what I have or even pull the AMT Pangaea back out.

What I'm really wondering about is whether the amp modeling is of a sort of degraded GT quality - because so far everything I heard kinda sounds like that.

 

[JT]

Yeah, if at all, it could work well as a more or less clean pedal platform - with those kinda sounds you can sculpt a whole lot through IRs anyway, as long as the amp gets the dynamics right.
But seriously, if I really only wanted a clean amp model all the time, I could just stick with what I have or even pull the AMT Pangaea back out.

What I'm really wondering about is whether the amp modeling is of a sort of degraded GT quality - because so far everything I heard kinda sounds like that.

Sounds wise, Atomic all day long. For everything I like. I have always heard good things about the Nux but I have no need where I could find a way to justify it.

 

[Sascha Franck]

I have always heard good things about the Nux but I have no need where I could find a way to justify it.

Honestly, it's not *that* great. But as a clean channel it's working quite well, especially as the model I'm using (a Super Reverb) allows to get into hairy territory quite nicely, it's taking pedals quite well, too. In general, everything sounds a tad too much compressed (compared to similar models on the AFB or Stomp), but for live and the very clean sound I'm using, that seems to be just right, it's sitting in a band mix very well (seconded by some FOH folks that I explicitely asked to tell me their honest opinion).
What's quite great is that NUX added a mobile editor pretty much out of the blue (needs a USB cable, but hey...). Some other companies could steal that idea (right, looking at you, Line 6...). But then, it's really not worth losing more words about it.

BTT.

 

[synthpenguin]

I'm surprised they're not also pushing this more as a cab sim / IR loader with reverb. Depending on one's needs, at 200USD it's very competitive with the TwoNotes stuff, especially since it's stereo with an FX loop, but the fact that you can disable the amp and use it this way wasn't mentioned in the two videos I watched (unless I missed it; it certainly wasn't demoed) and is barely mentioned on Boss's site. It's cool that it can do the amp sim part too, but in my previous, pre-modeler setup, I would have jumped all over this since a big part of me even looking at the HX Stomp originally (and the Iridium too) was wanting a stereo IR loader with stereo reverb and decent latency.

 

[laxu]

Been scrolling through some of the available videos - and well, by now it seems to be pretty much what @laxu said, the Katana of pedalboard modelers or so.

It should be said, being the "Boss Katana of something" is not a bad thing. It means the product is not the best sounding on the market, but is very easy to recommend when the price is affordable, feature set is vast and overall it's a good fit for many guitarists.

 

[aivoryuk]

quite impressive that it acts as a USB-C recording interface - I wonder how much the recording offset in the DAW will be compared to the Fractal FM3 hhmmm

 

[Sedaxel]

Not only is he a monster player, he pumps songs out basically weekly. Full fledged instrumentals many of which could stand their ground on actual albums, not just as intros for Youtube videos.

Yeah... He´s a monster. And very open minded for gear and technical details (he made a great optimization of NAM profiles, tweaking a lot of algorythm parameters).

For me, he´s a reference.

 

[Sedaxel]

As others said, I don´t see this pedal being any new thing. Amplifirebox, Amp Academy... or Mooer Preamp X2 (which also loads profiles), are basically the same idea. The later can be had for $100. And I don´t especially like Boss amp sims for what I´ve heared in every youtube shootout against others.

In my personal taste, for less money I´d better pick a Zoom G2 Four. I´m sure it sounds better (again, for my taste) and has a world more features, without being too big. And if size is a must, then I´d go for the Preamp X2 (half the price) with some profiles, any day.

That said, I think it´s an appealing pedal, and I like it. I think they´ll sell like crazy. Just not my first (nor second) option if I was searching for that kind of pedal.

 

[Sascha Franck]

It should be said, being the "Boss Katana of something" is not a bad thing.

Well, maybe. But personally I found the Katana (which I really had an eye on as a compact, easy and no frills solution for certain gigs and what not when sound quality wasn't most important) to be too compressed overall. Just not much fun playing through it.

 

[JT]

The question as far as IR loading goes is have they fixed their IR loading process from the GT and GX days? I know there was an issue at first in the GT, which I believe they fixed; then the GX came out and there was a similar issue with it and I don't believe they ever addressed it. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Sedaxel]

The question as far as IR loading goes is have they fixed their IR loading process from the GT and GX days? I know there was an issue at first in the GT, which I believe they fixed; then the GX came out and there was a similar issue with it and I don't believe they ever addressed it. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

I read somewhere that the GX has an IR issue, being that some 3rd party IRs don´t sound as they should, nor as they do on the GT. There are users applying an EQ block to recover some frequencies or something like that. It seems not very reliable to me.

 

[Baba]

So, how’s this for a rationalization:

1. If I’m going to start JUST using the Stomp, (instead of my Helix), I’ll need another backup, since the Stomp was my backup to the Helix. There’s nothing smaller than a boss pedal.

2. It also could be a different option for when I’m not feeling the HX modeling, and want a different tone, (temporarily, of course).

It’s just one small additional pedal to plug in.

Simple.

How’s that?

 

[Enchilada Jones]

I started taking another listen to the Opus since it currently holds the spot in my tool box that the IR-2 would replace. I have to say the amp sims in the Opus are better than I first gave them credit for. I hadn't expected them to be great since none of the other TwoNotes amp sim stuff was impressing me so I didn't really try them out much but I wanted to get up to speed with the AmpliFireBox that I just got and Opus so I could do a decent three way comparison for my super compact 'traveling' rig.
You need to take care exploring the components in the Two Notes software when you dial it in. Sometimes just minor move on the dial or slider and you get a significant change in tone.
Right now I've got a new Plexi and new AC30 preset in Opus that have destroyed my FireBox versions.

Of course all the careful tweaking in the world won't let me conjure up delay, stereo or USB audio...*nudge nudge, wink wink* #TwoNotes...

Supposedly two weeks out from Sweetwater delivering the IR-2 and then the fight begins.

 

[synthpenguin]

I started taking another listen to the Opus since it currently holds the spot in my tool box that the IR-2 would replace. I have to say the amp sims in the Opus are better than I first gave them credit for. I hadn't expected them to be great since none of the other TwoNotes amp sim stuff was impressing me so I didn't really try them out much but I wanted to get up to speed with the AmpliFireBox that I just got and Opus so I could do a decent three way comparison for my super compact 'traveling' rig.
You need to take care exploring the components in the Two Notes software when you dial it in. Sometimes just minor move on the dial or slider and you get a significant change in tone.
Right now I've got a new Plexi and new AC30 preset in Opus that have destroyed my FireBox versions.

Of course all the careful tweaking in the world won't let me conjure up delay, stereo or USB audio...*nudge nudge, wink wink* #TwoNotes...

Supposedly two weeks out from Sweetwater delivering the IR-2 and then the fight begins.

Yeah, I think if you want the amp sim aspect, the Opus is better than the IR-2 (but also there are lots of other things in that Opus price range to consider too depending on exact needs).

That said, if you primarily want an IR loader, the IR-2 is 100USD cheaper and stereo, and stereo has long been a request for the Two Notes options. At the same time the Opus (like the Cab M+ that preceded it) has some I/O things the IR-2 lacks and a better UI (imo).

If you want an IR loader and you don't need stereo, the Opus or Cab M are better bets in a lot of ways, especially with the used prices the Cab M goes for, but there aren't many affordable options for high quality stereo IR loaders with decent latency besides the IR-2. As far as I know, the only other decent option [EDIT: in that price range] is basically the Mooer Cab x2, which actually has some cool features the Boss doesn't have, though also is missing ones the Boss has (the reverb, the audio interface capability, having the amp sims with an FX loop as a backup) and only runs at 44.1kHz.

This brings me back to being surprised they're not pushing this more as a stereo IR loader and are barely even mentioning you can disable the amp sim and use it that way (I mean, the Boss site mentions it once, and listings like the Sweetwater listing don't mention it at all). In a lot of ways, it could directly compete with the OX Stomp etc.

 

[fazer]

I think the IR-2 could be a useful pedal, especially as it is standard BOSS stompbox size. I’m not sure I would choose this over the IR-200 though.