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

[eggpl@nt]

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.

I'm currently juggling the idea of one or the other, purely as a convenience pedal. I'd like to do something like:

amp head --> X-Load --> IR-2(00) --> Yamaha Wireless Headphones

Real amps through a good reactive load, with my IR's, and silent? Heck yeah, brother.

 

[laxu]

Pedalplayground added it, and it seems that with the jacks populated it might take only a tiny bit less space than the Strymon Iridium.

 

[BenIfin]

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.

I would think these are the *exact same* algo's as the full GT and Katana ... makes no money or time sense to "down-write" them -however- at this physical size and price point it just isnt going to have anywhere near the quality of the Analog I/O circuitry of the "big" units. One of the key resasons why the really good stuff - Fractal, L6, KPA etc... - sound so good is the high quality of the analog I/O circuitry.

So in short, I would not expect it to "sound" like the full GT or full Katana.

Ben

 

[Sascha Franck]

I would think these are the *exact same* algo's as the full GT and Katana

So, do you think the Katana models are identical to the GT ones? I think they're rather previous generation COSM.

 

[BenIfin]

So, do you think the Katana models are identical to the GT ones? I think they're rather previous generation COSM.

Dont know either way :) Ive spent a lot of time with the GT-full ..... just saying I would be stunned if Boss somehow spent any time or money on re-writing any model codes ...... just saying the GT alogo's and Katana algo's in this pedal are [almost certainly imho] identical to the full-GT and the actual Katana ...... but they wont sound the same due to the [almost certainly] much cheaper and lesser Analog I/O in this pedal compared to the Analog I/O's in the full-GT and real Katana.

Ive never played a Katana ... so no idea if they are new-GT-like algo's or re-hashed COSM algo's or something entirely their own thing ..... my guess is the later.

Ben

 

[laxu]

Dont know either way :) Ive spent a lot of time with the GT-full ..... just saying I would be stunned if Boss somehow spent any time or money on re-writing any model codes ...... just saying the GT alogo's and Katana algo's in this pedal are [almost certainly imho] identical to the full-GT and the actual Katana ...... but they wont sound the same due to the [almost certainly] much cheaper and lesser Analog I/O in this pedal compared to the Analog I/O's in the full-GT and real Katana.

Ive never played a Katana ... so no idea if they are new-GT-like algo's or re-hashed COSM algo's or something entirely their own thing ..... my guess is the later.

Ben

I might be wrong, but my thinking was that Boss's modeling followed a pattern where "the cheaper the unit, the older chips and modeling it uses", e.g a GT-1000 would have newer modeling than a GT-1. Basically "the past generation surplus goes to the cheaper products".

I don't think analog I/O would make enough of a difference as cheap A/D/A converters are quite good these days and it would be more about what compromises need to be made for the modeling to work on a lower end chip.

The GT-1000, IR-200 and IR-2 are all 96 KHz 32-bit DSPs whereas the GX-100 is 48 KHz 32-bit, GT-100 and GT-1 are 44.1 KHz 24-bit. Based on this I'd assume the GT-100 and GT-1 are older modeling and the GX-100 might be the same stuff as GT-1000 but just with lower sample rate.

GT-1000 and GX-100 specifically mention AIRD vs GT-100/GT-1 COSM. IR-200 and IR-2 don't have references to either so who knows.

Katana series does not mention these specs.

 

[laxu]

The Boss GT-1000 Ultimate Guide article seems to say Boss has several different modeling stuff in the GT-1000.

• AIRD is the latest and greatest and supposedly the GT-1000 "classic" amps based on real amps are using this.
• MDP (Multi-Dimensional-Processing) is from the X-series pedals and these are the X-prefixed models. Explanation here. Seems to be a form of "process different frequencies in different ways"

 

[Sascha Franck]

I might be wrong, but my thinking was that Boss's modeling followed a pattern where "the cheaper the unit, the older chips and modeling it uses", e.g a GT-1000 would have newer modeling than a GT-1. Basically "the past generation surplus goes to the cheaper products".

I don't think analog I/O would make enough of a difference as cheap A/D/A converters are quite good these days and it would be more about what compromises need to be made for the modeling to work on a lower end chip.

Every bit these.
Also, maybe the CPU of the IR-2 wouldn't be able to deal with the processing load of the GT-1000 models.

Add to this that a) the models are missing an "X" - hence what most people consider being the best sounding models of the GT-1000, b) Boss is nowhere mentioning that it'd be the same models as in the GT (they actually do mention it on their GX-100 page).

And finally, given all sound demos, while certainly not bad, things sound different than the better GT-1000 demos.

For me, all this combined is pretty much indicating older amp modeling enhanced by IRs. And fwiw, that's not even a bad thing. I actually originally bought an AMT Pangaea to pimp up my old GT-10 - and the results were in fact pretty decent already. Boss' modeling has always been nicely dynamic and working well in a band context, it just didn't sound too great.
Still, personally I wouldn't buy previous generation modeling (seems to be like that, as in GT-100 amps) myself these days.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The Boss GT-1000 Ultimate Guide article seems to say Boss has several different modeling stuff in the GT-1000.

• AIRD is the latest and greatest and supposedly the "classic" amps based on real amps are using this.
• MDP (Multi-Dimensional-Processing) is from the X-series pedals and these are the X-prefixed models. Explanation here. Seems to be a form of "process different frequencies in different ways"

Yeah. And none of it is mentioned on their IR-2 pages.
Fwiw, I just noticed that even the IR-200 comes with just one X-labeled amp (the Hi Gain model).

Fwiw, I think AIRD mainly refers to their output section, including their inhouse cab sims - so it's not making me wonder they didn't mention that on either the IR-200 or IR-2, simply because they're using IRs instead.

 

[laxu]

Yeah. And none of it is mentioned on their IR-2 pages.
Fwiw, I just noticed that even the IR-200 comes with just one X-labeled amp (the Hi Gain model).

Fwiw, I think AIRD mainly refers to their output section, including their inhouse cab sims - so it's not making me wonder they didn't mention that on either the IR-200 or IR-2, simply because they're using IRs instead.

AIRD seems to be mostly about modeling the amp-speaker interaction, so speaker impedance curves and so on. No idea how Boss's implementation works when using 3rd party IRs.

 

[Sascha Franck]

AIRD seems to be mostly about modeling the amp-speaker interaction, so speaker impedance curves and so on. No idea how Boss's implementation works when using 3rd party IRs.

Yeah, I know - and fwiw, all their descriptions regarding AIRD are rather shady, so it's tough to tell whether there's any real differences to plain old IR loading anyway. Guess one could set up a few tests, but then, personally I don't care much. It's just that for me it's almost obvious they didn't slam their best amp models into the IR-2.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I went back today and played the IR-200. Even with stock cabs, it honestly sounded really good on Twin, Diamond (Vox?), Brit Stack, and X-Gain. I was quite impressed, and would love to hear it with my standard York Mix 01 IR. If the IR-2 is the same deal more or less as the IR-200, I think they’re going to have a massive hit on their hands, for people that just want simple, great tones.

 

[JCW308]

So, do you think the Katana models are identical to the GT ones? I think they're rather previous generation COSM.

Katana = GT-100 tones supposedly. Not GT-1000.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Katana = GT-100 tones supposedly. Not GT-1000.

Yeah, I know.

 

[creative360]

Off topic. Line 6 could sell a bazillion “legacy premium” hx stomps—for more not less—in vintage style housing reminiscent of the first modeled effects, DL4 et al .. Yup, nothing new at all just a cool rehousing in stripped metal like that repair guy used to do for an extra fee when he replaced your dl4 switches. I think it’s okay to be happy with the tones we already have (mostly Kemper guy here so what) but to still want something new and fun. Who wouldn’t pay for a slightly mad maxish looking box filled with tones that he knows he already loves?

 

[gumtown]

Katana preamp tones are not equal to the GT-100preamp tones,
they were logically based on the GT-100 structure, but are far more modified for a specific purpose (combo amp).
I would say the Katana preamp tones are an entity of their own.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Katana preamp tones are not equal to the GT-100preamp tones,
they were logically based on the GT-100 structure, but are far more modified for a specific purpose (combo amp).
I would say the Katana preamp tones are an entity of their own.

While not equal, I think they're pretty much based on the same COSM generation. At least they sound and feel pretty familiar to me.

 

[Electric I]

Seems disingenuous to use older tech when the newer tech has been bought & paid for, so to speak. That said, hafta believe if AIRD is being used, it would be stated at such.

 

[dronerstone]

I'm all set, so I won't buy the IR-2, but I gotta say it looks pretty cool.

A good friend of mine swears by his IR-200 and always manages to coax convincing and great tones out of that.

One minor IR-2 gripe though: Boss should move the loop send/return jacks to the opposite sides.

 

[Enchilada Jones]

I have mine…and after two days it is already boxed up to return. It does just what it looked like it does, sound quality good, etc. The concentric knobs and minuscule labeling of amps etc are a pain
The USB driver isnt showing a dry through and yet wants to include the dry with the processed. Or at least that’s what it sounds like, Not sure it isn’t user error but there are no options to control those paths so why would this device suddenly make LogicX behave that way? No manipulation of input monitoring in LogicX makes it better.

overall the amp sims are adequate but not GT1000 level.
i thought I loved how small it is but it turns out it’s too small, the IR200 would be big enough but amp sims no better. So for price of the IR200 I ordered a used GT1000 Core…my third one…lesson learned….again…