New Friedman IR-X preamp

[GuitarBilly74]

I can really hear the SD-1 character in the first clip. Perfect. Maybe I should be looking at an IR-D, that tone seems brighter and more open. The pick attack is perfect.

I've been busy with other stuff and I had to put my toys away, but I really just need to run the IR-X into my amps return with the SD-1 to see where I am with it.

From those two clips, much prefer the SD-1. The archer is smooth and doesn't seem to have the same mid push.

I really suggest you dive into the IR rabbit hole a bit. It makes all the difference with these pedals. I was about to return mine until I found that V30 IR.

 

[Shredder777]

I think I'm going back to my initial impression of the IR-X. I've been listening to the BE100 vs HBE comparisons on yt and in every case i prefer the hbe. The BE100 is a weird chopped top marshall sound that is literally missing harmonic content which is where I live. Somewhere over the past decade, he redesined the amp, with hbe mods and now the dlx version, and no one in their right mind would pick a be100 over a hbe or dlx.

I love the pedal format so much, but I'm leaning towards returning the IRX. I'm not even sure the IRJ isn't doing the same kind of weirdness on the top end. I think the BE100 was designed for people who the pinnacle of playing and technique was evh. It right in the name. Brown sound. Brown eye. I'm kinda surprised they went mainstream with such a lacking design. Any modern shredder is going to expect that top end to be there. And its kinda worse than just a rolled off post eq, its like the gain circuit reduced the harmonic content early in the gain stages. What is weird is that eddie used ripping loud marshalls that had all that harmonic complexity, but by the time it got on the radio it was smoothed in so many ways. Its like DF said "what if we could get that sound right from the amp, for people who don't know any better." And years later he said "I fucked up" and he rolled out the HBE and dlx versions of the amp.

I've never been this conflicted on a piece of gear. I love the brown rhythym sounds which make everything so easy to play, but its lead guitar voice is half missing. The reason I'm conflicted is that there isn't anything else like this pedal besides the D and J versions and they may have the same weirdness. To my ears, the D is too loose for what I want, and the J is thin.

 

[KingsXJJ]

I think I'm going back to my initial impression of the IR-X. I've been listening to the BE100 vs HBE comparisons on yt and in every case i prefer the hbe. The BE100 is a weird chopped top marshall sound that is literally missing harmonic content which is where I live. Somewhere over the past decade, he redesined the amp, with hbe mods and now the dlx version, and no one in their right mind would pick a be100 over a hbe or dlx.

I love the pedal format so much, but I'm leaning towards returning the IRX. I'm not even sure the IRJ isn't doing the same kind of weirdness on the top end. I think the BE100 was designed for people who the pinnacle of playing and technique was evh. It right in the name. Brown sound. Brown eye. I'm kinda surprised they went mainstream with such a lacking design. Any modern shredder is going to expect that top end to be there. And its kinda worse than just a rolled off post eq, its like the gain circuit reduced the harmonic content early in the gain stages. What is weird is that eddie used ripping loud marshalls that had all that harmonic complexity, but by the time it got on the radio it was smoothed in so many ways. Its like DF said "what if we could get that sound right from the amp, for people who don't know any better." And years later he said "I fucked up" and he rolled out the HBE and dlx versions of the amp.

I've never been this conflicted on a piece of gear. I love the brown rhythym sounds which make everything so easy to play, but its lead guitar voice is half missing. The reason I'm conflicted is that there isn't anything else like this pedal besides the D and J versions and they may have the same weirdness. To my ears, the D is too loose for what I want, and the J is thin.

Conflicted about this as well.

 

[Shredder777]

Conflicted about this as well.

Its pretty obvious to me now that this is just his take on a brown sound. Its almost like a special effect to my ears. A switch on your amp you flip for that one eddie cover you do.

The hbe mode is the general purpose, marshall like sound with the extended top end that every other amp youve ever played has. I say if you love eddie and or you just want a smoothed and pleasant direct sound that is impossible to make harsh, this is your pedal.

 

[hemmelight]

I've found that I generally prefer the HBE sound as well. Instead of using the BE mode on the Axe-FX I'll just turn the gain down on the HBE and use that. When I had the IR-X I found it difficult to balance the mids and treble. I wanted bite and snarl without harshness, but it was usually a compromise.

Different IRs certainly helped but ultimately I sold the pedal as I thought the Fractal models were close enough for me anyway. I loved the feel of the IR-X pedal, though. It definitely had a nice "analog" character that was very reactive and dynamic feeling to play. Said it before but if they ever release an IR-Plex it will be very hard to resist. Especially with all of those bright cap options.

 

[Jarick]

I'll try to do some frequency response tests later today because I'm curious about the IR-X high cuts. Previously there were no high cuts but with the new version they added that feature, and I have a feeling it's always on no matter the setting (which is probably just adjusting the cutoff frequency).

I'm also probably going to pick up a Boss IR-2 to mess around with that and compare.

 

[Shredder777]

I'll try to do some frequency response tests later today because I'm curious about the IR-X high cuts. Previously there were no high cuts but with the new version they added that feature, and I have a feeling it's always on no matter the setting (which is probably just adjusting the cutoff frequency).

I'm also probably going to pick up a Boss IR-2 to mess around with that and compare.

That would be cool. I'd like to understand what is going on. My feeling is that whatever filtering is going on is happening in front of the preamp so even if you hit it with a treble boost there are limits to how bright and saturated it will get.

This guy did an AB with an IRJ and the IRX sounds like it has a blanket over it. Thats exactly what I hear. Even pumping massive amount of treble boost into the front its still dark. If it was as simple as boosting frequencies over 5K it would be a non issue.

 

[JiveTurkey]

That would be cool. I'd like to understand what is going on. My feeling is that whatever filtering is going on is happening in front of the preamp so even if you hit it with a treble boost there are limits to how bright and saturated it will get.

This guy did an AB with an IRJ and the IRX sounds like it has a blanket over it. Thats exactly what I hear. Even pumping massive amount of treble boost into the front its still dark. If it was as simple as boosting frequencies over 5K it would be a non issue.

Return it and get something else. Belaboring this thing for 3 weeks is not necessary. If it doesn't do the thing you want; dump it.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

Return it and get something else. Belaboring this thing for 3 weeks is not necessary. If it doesn't do the thing you want; dump it.

Yeah this. Just get something that works better for you. No point in fighting it.

I didn't have any of these issues with the IR-D but everyone is different.

 

[Shredder777]

Return it and get something else. Belaboring this thing for 3 weeks is not necessary. If it doesn't do the thing you want; dump it.

I agree, but there are only two other options, and they may have the same thing going on. Its not like there are a million tube pedal preamps with DI out.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Yeah this. Just get something that works better for you. No point in fighting it.

I didn't have any of these issues with the IR-D but everyone is different.

I agree, but there are only two other options, and they may have the same thing going on. Its not like there are a million tube pedal preamps with DI out.

I tend to fight with gear a lot. And a lot of that fight is for my own dumb use cases reasons There are also pieces I've fought with and then came around on to really love.

The IR-whatevers are super specific in their form factor and functionality. If you don't like how they feel or sound; form factor means nothing. I'd give the Syn-1 a go and get on the module merry-go-round for a bit if you want to stay in this general ballpark but have a lot more flexibility with the types of amps you can use.

 

[Shredder777]

I'd give the Syn-1 a go and get on the module merry-go-round for a bit if you want to stay in this general ballpark

I was just thinking that, but I missed the BF sales lol. I could have picked up a 2 rack and a couple modules and be debating right now which one I should keep. Im not rich and the price of a syn2 and a couple modules is what a jvm410 costs and that is something I know I would like.

I bought a pedalboard and the whole idea was to build a portable board with a ML5 as a patch bay to plug in external amps and my RL, run them through the IRX back end and still have the IRX tones on command. That I could also take out and jam.

I have been working towards this plan and i'm really just kinda angry at this point because the IRX seems to have some training wheels filtering going on. I know that most people here have been through some variation of this crazy game.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I would 1000% mount a Syn-1 on a board and a multifx on top of that ***insert pic of Kemper toaster pedalboard here***

 

[rocknrollshakeup]

That would be cool. I'd like to understand what is going on. My feeling is that whatever filtering is going on is happening in front of the preamp so even if you hit it with a treble boost there are limits to how bright and saturated it will get.

This guy did an AB with an IRJ and the IRX sounds like it has a blanket over it. Thats exactly what I hear. Even pumping massive amount of treble boost into the front its still dark. If it was as simple as boosting frequencies over 5K it would be a non issue.

Both are sounding great to me.

The IRJ definitely has a more nasal upper mids thing going that puts it more into the modded JCM 800 category. It reminds me of my old stock JCM 800 when I’d boost it with a TS9 and RAT in fact.

I have to say based on that review, I prefer the IRX for the stuff I like to play these days as the J has too much cutting nasal honk for me. But I do crank the mid knob to ten on my IRX when I use Channel 2, and even Ch1 at times.
But I like the more neutral mids of the X more because then I could hit it with my J rocket Rockaway or other EQ/drives so I can control the amount of mids I’m getting. I don’t notice any weird preamp filtering that you are describing.

Both are sounding plenty bright to me in that video comparison, but I don’t have the IrJ to compare directly. In fact I have to be careful to not allow my IR X to be too bright.

But yeah dude obsessing for a month over something that’s not clearly working for you, for whatever reason, is not an efficient use of your energy.

 

[Shredder777]

Its been two weeks, but point noted.

 

[Mongillo19]

Its been two weeks, but point noted.

If you buy through musician friend and talk with them before buying they often discount it to essentially BF prices. Atleast they did during my last spin with syn

 

[Shredder777]

If you buy through musician friend and talk with them before buying they often discount it to essentially BF prices. Atleast they did during my last spin with syn

Synergy doesnt have the power amp modeling or IRs.

And this boondoggle has taught me I don't want an "almost" version of a famous amp.

I'm sorry to bother everyone with my nonsense on this. This weekend I will have the time to thouroughly test it. I need to figure out where the filtering is happening. If its just a post gain roll off, I should be able to fix that. But what I suspect is happening is that there is roll off before the gain stages.

Its really nothing more than it claims to be, a way to get the BE100 sound direct, in a stage friendly format. Of course its not like a real be100, it doesn't have sat or hbe options, no presence knob, but it does that one sound pretty well.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Synergy doesnt have the power amp modeling or IRs.

And this boondoggle has taught me I don't want an "almost" version of a famous amp.

I'm sorry to bother everyone with my nonsense on this. This weekend I will have the time to thouroughly test it. I need to figure out where the filtering is happening. If its just a post gain roll off, I should be able to fix that. But what I suspect is happening is that there is roll off before the gain stages.

Its really nothing more than it claims to be, a way to get the BE100 sound direct, in a stage friendly format. Of course its not like a real be100, it doesn't have sat or hbe options, no presence knob, but it does that one sound pretty well.

The XLR on the back has cab emulation. The Sag knob helps bridge that poweramp gap. Probably about as well the digital side does in the IR pedals.

 

[Shredder777]

The XLR on the back has cab emulation. The Sag knob helps bridge that poweramp gap. Probably about as well the digital side does in the IR pedals.

I have a negative taste in my mouth now about the reduced feature set of the modules. I've heard negative reports about half the synergy moduels that they don't quite stack up to the real thing.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I have a negative taste in my mouth now about the reduced feature set of the modules. I've heard negative reports about half the synergy moduels that they don't quite stack up to the real thing.

None of it is going to stack up to the real thing in an in person ideal situation though. Someone may be able to trick you on YouTube but physics are going to physic. You have to get that out of your system from the jump unfortunately.