New Friedman IR-X preamp

[mavrick102000]

On off switch. Plug it inline

 

[Baba]

I’ve decided I’m leaving it in The Gods hands. If my local shop gets one in the next week I’m gonna buy it, if not I’ll pass. (Just sorta waffling about, deciding if I “need” it)

This is the most sensible way to make a gear decision, based on a random UPS delivery over an arbitrarily short period of time.

Same here brother. The only change this would bring to the rig I'm currently using, is adding it (one more piece) to everything. I usually don't add/buy something unless it makes my life easier by being smaller/lighter, or let's me shrink my rig somehow.

I could possibly use this and my Stomp XL, on a direct pedalboard, but then I'd have to depend on each room's sound "engineer" to get my monitor mix right, and also put me in a wedge as well, as I like stage volume and my band needs to hear me as well, so, no real savings in gear/space there over what I'm doing now.

It *might* sound/feel incrementally "better", but not night and day. We'll see. I'll probably be singing a completely different song, a week or two from now

 

[JiveTurkey]

Same here brother. The only change this would bring to the rig I'm currently using, is adding it (one more piece) to everything. I usually don't add/buy something unless it makes my life easier by being smaller/lighter, or let's me shrink my rig somehow.

I could possibly use this and my Stomp XL, on a direct pedalboard, but then I'd have to depend on each room's sound "engineer" to get my monitor mix right, and also put me in a wedge as well, as I like stage volume and my band needs to hear me as well, so, no real savings in gear/space there over what I'm doing now.

It *might* sound/feel incrementally "better", but not night and day. We'll see. I'll probably be singing a completely different song, a week or two from now

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I received the IR-X this afternoon, played it briefly and realized that - surprise! - it sounds nothing like my Engl Powerball II.

 

[DrewJD82]

I can see myself grabbing one of these, what did it for me was Leon’s vid when he put an SD-1 in front of it.

 

[Mongillo19]

One last comparison, using the same impulse response in each device, in and out of the mix:

So which one is which

 

[Devin]

Super dope clip!!

 

[Baba]

I can see myself grabbing one of these, what did it for me was Leon’s vid when he put an SD-1 in front of it.

I'm definitely a boost in front of the amp guy, so, yeah, I'd probably save channel 2 as a medium to heavy gain channel and boost it separately like Leon did.

 

[Baba]

I feel attacked

 

[dbagchee]

That sounds basically the same for all intents and purposes.

I didn't make any effort to dial in the exact same tone as much as dial in something that sounded good. This shows you can get there, and I dunno if that's kudos to Fractal, Friedman, or both.

For me the bottom line is it sounds really good out of the box without any tweaking or fuss, and can drop into a pedalboard or recording situation no problem. The build quality seems good and the price for what it does to me is very reasonable. I would have expected $800-1000 honestly.

Probably the only complaint I have is no off switch. That would be nice to save the preamp tubes and not have to unplug it.

Today's adventure, I'm hooking it up in the loop of the Axe 3 to try it in four cable method, and I'm going to see if I can figure out how to send MIDI signals to it.

Does the Friedman feel nicer to play? Is it satisfying that tube je ne sais quoi?

 

[Jarick]

I can see myself grabbing one of these, what did it for me was Leon’s vid when he put an SD-1 in front of it.

The way I look at it is, it's a standalone twin channel Synergy preamp with a flexible digital back end to run direct if needed. If money were no object, I probably would have a rack with Synergy preamps in 4cm with the Axe FX 3 along with a stereo power amp and cabs. That would let me go digital, analog, hybrid, direct, amp in the room, whatever. This basically lets me do the same thing for 1/3 the cost (or less).

I've looked at a lot of Friedman amps over the years and haven't pulled the trigger because it just never made sense. My Boss Katana lives on 0.5 watt mode with the master rarely above 10:00. Even the smaller 20 watt amps would be way, way, way too loud. The Blackstar 5 watt amp that I picked also doesn't crack 9:00 on the master.

So having basically a preamp with no power amp that gives me the flexibility to use whatever makes sense.

I could either run a full analog rig like this:
MXR Sugar Drive > Friedman IR-X > Carbon Copy in the loop > Boss Katana power amp input > Speaker

Or I could run a digital hybrid rig like this:
Axe FX 3 pre-amp effects > Friedman IR-X in the loop > Axe FX 3 post-amp effects > MOTU interface > Yamaha studio monitors

 

[saarangnarayan]

For those boosting the unit with a drive, I’d highly recommend a Klon type pedal to do that. Tried a TS-9, Timmy, Tumnus, and (Axe Fx sim of a) Buxom Boost into the front of the IR-X, and the Tumnus sounded the best out of them. They all do “the thing” but the Klon circuit has those 1kHz mids that the Friedman can use a bit more of.

 

[saarangnarayan]

I could either run a full analog rig like this:
MXR Sugar Drive > Friedman IR-X > Carbon Copy in the loop > Boss Katana power amp input > Speaker

Or I could run a digital hybrid rig like this:
Axe FX 3 pre-amp effects > Friedman IR-X in the loop > Axe FX 3 post-amp effects > MOTU interface > Yamaha

I tried the latter and it was GLORIOUS. Not that the Axe wasn’t capable of that same exact tone all on its own, but the IR-X and AFIII like each other a lot.

I have plans to go the first route tho. I have a Mooer 20W all tube Poweramp and a 1x12 cab that have been lying around waiting to be used. I’ll bring out a few of my pedals and a whole new rig can be born around the IR-X!

 

[Jarick]

So here's the responses I've seen:

• A sounded darker/fuller
• B has more presence in the mix
• Preferred A slightly
• A might be Friedman, fuller in the mids
• A was the Friedman
• B is Fractal as it has smoother highs/upper mids
• Prefer A for cleans (more top end) and B for heavier (sits in the mix better)
• Prefer A in isolation
• B is Friedman for heavy, A is Friedman for cleans
• Prefer A as it has more sparkle
• B cuts through better than A
• Guess B is Friedman, A has more top end chime
• A is Fractal
• Guess B is Fractal as A has top end rolled off
• A is Friedman
• Guess A is Friedman, B has mid range overtones
• Prefer A, a bit brighter

Here's the big reveal:

Spoiler

A was the Axe FX 3
B was the Friedman IR-X

Some of my thoughts using both:

The Friedman IR-X is really easy to dial in, and the stock IR (90's Greenback in an old 4x12 with a 57 and 121) which I used has a lot of cut. I had the tight switch on for gain then added some more bass back in. There's an option in the editor to add or remove more presence and thump but I didn't touch that. For cleans I used the bright switch all the way up as it was a little dark sounding. In both cases the gain was at about 3:00.

For the Axe FX 3, I used the Friedman BE V1 also with the gain up close to 3:00. For the IR I used the legacy Friedman 4x12 Greenback with M160 ribbon mic, which may be why it didn't cut as well in the mix. But I wanted to keep things simple and stock for the first comparison. I did have to dial back the depth as the Friedmans in Cygnus are woofy. For cleans it was the JTM45 with the same legacy cab, boosted mids and treble and cut the bass, gain to taste.

When using the same IR with the BE amps, I found that the Friedman does still seem to have a little more cut to it, where the Fractal seems a little flatter or duller in comparison. For cleans I like the little extra sparkle the JTM45 model has compared to the Friedman clean channel, but I'll try adding a little more presence in the editor there.

 

[2112]

pretty close! although you can hear the low end heft disappear on one of them, kind of like a HPF kicking in. Overall character and vibe is there, curious if its possible to get any more chunk out of it.

The clip with more bottom end was the Axe. I had the depth around 3 so taking that lower might or using a different depth setting on the Friedman editor might close the gap.

 

[ejecta]

So here's the responses I've seen:

• A sounded darker/fuller
• B has more presence in the mix
• Preferred A slightly
• A might be Friedman, fuller in the mids
• A was the Friedman
• B is Fractal as it has smoother highs/upper mids
• Prefer A for cleans (more top end) and B for heavier (sits in the mix better)
• Prefer A in isolation
• B is Friedman for heavy, A is Friedman for cleans
• Prefer A as it has more sparkle
• B cuts through better than A
• Guess B is Friedman, A has more top end chime
• A is Fractal
• Guess B is Fractal as A has top end rolled off
• A is Friedman
• Guess A is Friedman, B has mid range overtones
• Prefer A, a bit brighter

Here's the big reveal:

Spoiler

A was the Axe FX 3
B was the Friedman IR-X

Some of my thoughts using both:

The Friedman IR-X is really easy to dial in, and the stock IR (90's Greenback in an old 4x12 with a 57 and 121) which I used has a lot of cut. I had the tight switch on for gain then added some more bass back in. There's an option in the editor to add or remove more presence and thump but I didn't touch that. For cleans I used the bright switch all the way up as it was a little dark sounding. In both cases the gain was at about 3:00.

For the Axe FX 3, I used the Friedman BE V1 also with the gain up close to 3:00. For the IR I used the legacy Friedman 4x12 Greenback with M160 ribbon mic, which may be why it didn't cut as well in the mix. But I wanted to keep things simple and stock for the first comparison. I did have to dial back the depth as the Friedmans in Cygnus are woofy. For cleans it was the JTM45 with the same legacy cab, boosted mids and treble and cut the bass, gain to taste.

When using the same IR with the BE amps, I found that the Friedman does still seem to have a little more cut to it, where the Fractal seems a little flatter or duller in comparison. For cleans I like the little extra sparkle the JTM45 model has compared to the Friedman clean channel, but I'll try adding a little more presence in the editor there.

Well guessed wrong. Fun forum guess the the clip experiment so thanks for taking the time. Both sounded totally fine. I may try running the Friedman in the Helix and the IRX through the same IR just for fun. With them running two different IR’s could be the driver of the difference? But again both sounded totally fine and very workable.

 

[Baba]

So here's the responses I've seen:

• A sounded darker/fuller
• B has more presence in the mix
• Preferred A slightly
• A might be Friedman, fuller in the mids
• A was the Friedman
• B is Fractal as it has smoother highs/upper mids
• Prefer A for cleans (more top end) and B for heavier (sits in the mix better)
• Prefer A in isolation
• B is Friedman for heavy, A is Friedman for cleans
• Prefer A as it has more sparkle
• B cuts through better than A
• Guess B is Friedman, A has more top end chime
• A is Fractal
• Guess B is Fractal as A has top end rolled off
• A is Friedman
• Guess A is Friedman, B has mid range overtones
• Prefer A, a bit brighter

Here's the big reveal:

Spoiler

A was the Axe FX 3
B was the Friedman IR-X

Some of my thoughts using both:

The Friedman IR-X is really easy to dial in, and the stock IR (90's Greenback in an old 4x12 with a 57 and 121) which I used has a lot of cut. I had the tight switch on for gain then added some more bass back in. There's an option in the editor to add or remove more presence and thump but I didn't touch that. For cleans I used the bright switch all the way up as it was a little dark sounding. In both cases the gain was at about 3:00.

For the Axe FX 3, I used the Friedman BE V1 also with the gain up close to 3:00. For the IR I used the legacy Friedman 4x12 Greenback with M160 ribbon mic, which may be why it didn't cut as well in the mix. But I wanted to keep things simple and stock for the first comparison. I did have to dial back the depth as the Friedmans in Cygnus are woofy. For cleans it was the JTM45 with the same legacy cab, boosted mids and treble and cut the bass, gain to taste.

When using the same IR with the BE amps, I found that the Friedman does still seem to have a little more cut to it, where the Fractal seems a little flatter or duller in comparison. For cleans I like the little extra sparkle the JTM45 model has compared to the Friedman clean channel, but I'll try adding a little more presence in the editor there.

Here's what I got from your post:

1. I was dead wrong
2. I need a Fractal

 

[Mongillo19]

I need a Fractal

It's funny because the comments in the review videos are basically saying this is a fractal killer which doesn't make sense on multiple levels lol

Didn't know this thing has 200 other amp models and effects

If you were using your axe fx as a freidman preamp pedal then I don't think the Axe Fx was for you in the first place.

Still, I think this will be a massive success for Friedman

I'm also not saying you are doing this @Baba

 

[DrewJD82]

The way I look at it is, it's a standalone twin channel Synergy preamp with a flexible digital back end to run direct if needed. If money were no object, I probably would have a rack with Synergy preamps in 4cm with the Axe FX 3 along with a stereo power amp and cabs. That would let me go digital, analog, hybrid, direct, amp in the room, whatever. This basically lets me do the same thing for 1/3 the cost (or less).

I've looked at a lot of Friedman amps over the years and haven't pulled the trigger because it just never made sense. My Boss Katana lives on 0.5 watt mode with the master rarely above 10:00. Even the smaller 20 watt amps would be way, way, way too loud. The Blackstar 5 watt amp that I picked also doesn't crack 9:00 on the master.

So having basically a preamp with no power amp that gives me the flexibility to use whatever makes sense.

I could either run a full analog rig like this:
MXR Sugar Drive > Friedman IR-X > Carbon Copy in the loop > Boss Katana power amp input > Speaker

Or I could run a digital hybrid rig like this:
Axe FX 3 pre-amp effects > Friedman IR-X in the loop > Axe FX 3 post-amp effects > MOTU interface > Yamaha studio monitors

Yeah, I can find multiple applications for it. It’s a bit bigger than what I’d care to put on the board I’m building now, which is more suited towrads Gilmour/EJ tones anyway, but for a hard rock/not-modern-metal board/grab and go, the Friedman with a delay is pretty much all I’d need.

 

[Badonkey Kong]

I was planning (eventually) on getting the Synergy BE deluxe module (and another SYN 2, and the updated Soldano module if and when it ever comes out). Still will get the Soldano eventually, but thinking of this instead of the SYN 2 and BE deluxe module. I'll miss the HB switch, but gain a clean/plexi channel out of the deal, and save a lot of money at $499. Plus a lighter easier setup at the cost of one extra module slot.

In the Tone Talk, Dave mentioned hooking the IR-X up with a SYN2 with the IR-X as the external "amp" as far as connections go (without power amp obviously) . I can see how this would work really well.