Suhr Reactive Load Vs Fractal Audio X-Load

[James Freeman]

If you have both of these units there is a useful way to switch between the two quickly, use the 'THRU' output of the first unit to the load INPUT of the second unit, this bypasses the internal load but still sends small DI signal from the first unit.
Pulling the speaker cable out of the 'thru' output of the first unit returns the load of the first unit back, for a quick switch between the units.
!!!! Don't pull the wrong end of the thru cable !!!

It's another way to use the Suhr RL IR passively, as a load only.

 

[gergohajer]

@JiveTurkey

A quick comparison of these two load boxes. Everything is the same in the setup for both. Monomyth modded Marshall 1987x slightly boosted with a Boss SD-1. Noise gate and IR loaded in the DAW.

Which do you prefer:



Note the Fractal needs power, either phantom or 9-24v 5amp.

Those riffs sound familiar. :-)) Sounds killer dude! My ears prefer the second one (a bit darker).

 

[Deadpan]

Those riffs sound familiar. :-)) Sounds killer dude! My ears prefer the second one (a bit darker).

Your riffs are killer!

 

[James Freeman]

Bumping this to say that I use my reactive loads almost daily, they are indispensable tools for people who love tube amps and live among people.
I'm also going to say they prolonged the relevance of big tube amp heads just a little longer.

 

[Desertdweller]

Bumping this to say that I use my reactive loads almost daily, they are indispensable tools for people who love tube amps and live among people.
I'm also going to say they prolonged the relevance of big tube amp heads just a little longer.

Agreed 100%. When I got my first reactive load box about 7 or 8 years ago, it changed my world. Before that, I was running all kinds of Rube-Goldberg machines to get the sounds I needed.

Before I got my first reactive load, I was running the effects loop out jack of my amp head into my DAW to capture the preamp of the amp, and adding in a RedWire impedance curve and IR to get the sound of the amp. I'd then stack 2 tracks of a modeler like the Pod HD500 or Axe FX Ultra to fill out the sound.

Now I can just run an amp into my Suhr RL, add my IRs I captured of my cab in the DAW, and I can record huge sounds from 100w heads while the kids are sleeping in the next room. It's awesome.

 

[EOengineer]

Similarly - the reactive load setup, the Suhr in particular, has been the most significant step forward I’ve taken in amp recording in a decade at least.

Sonics aside it just takes so much guess work out of the equation being able to dial the amp in within the context of the track.