Friedman IR-D + HXFX+Harley Benton GPA-100 power amp

[Rorion]

Hello, I am a new user and wanted to share my experience with this setup.

I received everything a few days ago and I was very eager to try it out.

I really wanted the flexibility to go straight to my marshall 2x12 cab while going to FOH (PA) with my Friedman.
I have it setup where my balanced out is going to FOH with cab IR (Friedman stock are great!) And the send output is sending a signal without cab sims to my Harley Benton GPA-100 watt power amp. Then all it takes is a 5m long speaker cable from the GPA-100 to the cab.

I set up everything so my HX Effects is the control hub. This is my recommendation for a smooth midi setup:
I setup my channels in the software on my Mac:

Channel 1: Clean with middle toggle
Channel 2: Clean with middle toggle but with boost activated (you can adjust the amount of gain added on the right side of the pedal) for a great crunch sound
Channel 3: is my lead channel with toggle switch down with a Timmy OD Infront.

All channels use the stock Friedman cream 65 4x12 IR.

After that remove the USB cable and setup the HX Effects through command center. It unfortunately only works with Bank PC mode so I used Instant Commands where as soon you switch snapshot it will change the channel.
I got clean, crunch, hi-gain and ambient as snapshots.

During testing in my rehearsal space I can say this thing RIPS my goal was to setup each channel where it can hit 105 dB (measured with a meter) my drummer is a caveman and I play hard rock/stoner so volume levels was important for me.
I can safely say the GPA-100 can amplify easily to 105 but after that I started seeing the clipping led light up.

For me this setup will replace my silver jube 100 watt and this just sounds great. The clean is clean and the gain sounds killer. Couldn't be happier. So happy I can show up with a guitar and pedalboard and have all the flexibility without breaking my back on that 100arshall while still getting my tube tones!

Things I will maybe change in the future is replacing my Harley Benton GPA-100 for the Blackstar Amped 1 100w pedal. The great thing about this one it has a built in preamp aswell. So if the Friedman or HX dies you always have that backup ready to go. Just gotta save up haha.

 

[Jarick]

Welcome!

I have put together a really similar setup: Friedman IR-X + HX Effects. I also have the Blackstar Amped 1 but haven't tried running all those together. Maybe I'll give that a go later today. I either run into my Yamaha HS8 studio monitors or into the Amped 1 and an Orange 1x12 cab.

Do you find any issues with the MIDI switching lag on the Friedman? That was something I noticed. I think the HX switched faster than the Friedman, so if I went from a dry high gain tone to a clean tone with a lot of effects, a short blip of high gain would sneak in and sound really weird (especially through delays and boosted by compressors and all that).

Anyways, you'll really dig the Amped 1. The preamp is really good for a pedal platform. I honestly kinda like it more than my Orange Rocker 15 tube amp. But I'm also tempted to sell it and get a Powerstage Stereo and a second 1x12 for stereo fun.

 

[Rorion]

Welcome!

I have put together a really similar setup: Friedman IR-X + HX Effects. I also have the Blackstar Amped 1 but haven't tried running all those together. Maybe I'll give that a go later today. I either run into my Yamaha HS8 studio monitors or into the Amped 1 and an Orange 1x12 cab.

Do you find any issues with the MIDI switching lag on the Friedman? That was something I noticed. I think the HX switched faster than the Friedman, so if I went from a dry high gain tone to a clean tone with a lot of effects, a short blip of high gain would sneak in and sound really weird (especially through delays and boosted by compressors and all that).

Anyways, you'll really dig the Amped 1. The preamp is really good for a pedal platform. I honestly kinda like it more than my Orange Rocker 15 tube amp. But I'm also tempted to sell it and get a Powerstage Stereo and a second 1x12 for stereo fun.

Hey, yeah I did notice a small delay but it was noticable when I was switching snapshots really quick after each other. Playing Live I wouldn't stresstest it like that.

I didn't really hear sounds go through like the way you are describing but I did hear a very short blip but low volume. I think when you are playing live in a band mix no one will notice that so I consider it a tiny tiny negative compared to lugging my tube amp and mics etc around haha.

Yeah the Amped 1 looks good on paper and it's great I got a spare "amp" I can use when something for some unknown reason stops working the way it is intended to do :)

 

[Jarick]

Hooking up my IR-X today as I haven't played it in a while.

I wasn't liking the tone running into the Amped 1 and Orange cab, a little bright and fizzy. Played around with the presence knob, still not there. Then decided to run the send instead of the balanced out, basically removing the power amp modeling. Now it really woke up! Interesting too that I prefer this method to NOT run the bright switch or tight switches on, which I tended to do when running into cab sims and monitor speakers.