Trying out the Friedman IR-X tomorrow

[Guitarbilly]

A friend is sending me his IR-X to test it out for a few days. It should be here tomorrow.

[Guitarbilly]

It's here:




Pretty cool so far. Better than I thought it'd be. I have to try different IRs etc later, but even in stock form, I could see myself using this in a gig where I can't have an amp.

[ElDirtySanchez]

Nice , tone wise , how does it compare to the Runt you had?

[Guitarbilly]

Nice , tone wise , how does it compare to the Runt you had?

Through my studio monitors it's virtually identical to running the Runt with a load/IR. This thing definitely sounds like a Friedman in a recording environment. Makes tracking a lot easier.

I will try it out at practice this weekend, both direct and through my amp's fx return and see how it holds up.

[Guitarbilly]

I just tried bypassing the IR and feeding through the Palmer analog speaker emulation. It sounds and feels really good. Now I think I am actually getting somewhere with this!!

[trey85stang2]

That's on my list, but all the real player reviews ive seen said it jut lacked something, so Ive kind of been turned off by it.

[Guitarbilly]

That's on my list, but all the real player reviews ive seen said it jut lacked something, so Ive kind of been turned off by it.

Yes and no. I think with this kind of stuff, it depends of what you're comparing it to and what needs and expectations you have.

If you are comparing it to a cranked Marshall/Friedman through a cab in the room, there is no comparison at all. Now, the same amp through a load and speaker emulation, it gets very close, but the amp still sounds a bit better but it's $1-2k for the amp, $300-400 for the load etc...

So I think the fair thing to do is to compare it to other preamps/modelers. I also have a few desktop amps here (the BluGuitar Mercury and Hughes & Kettner Ampman Classic) and I think that's a fair comparison too. I think the IR-X has the better direct sound of all 3. But the Blug and the H&K can drive a 4x12 so in terms of versatility they win since they can be a DI solution AND a backup for your amp. On the other hand the Friedman has MIDI and IR capabilities.

Compared to just about any modeling, IMHO the Friedman will sound better by far. But it's one sound. The modeler does more but it's all digital and there is something I don't like about it.

I have practice today and I will try the IR-X direct and through the FX loop of my Marshall as a preamp so I can make a more informed decision as far as it live capabilities go.

But I think that for a desktop solution for recording, jamming with backing tracks, practicing, songwriting, YT videos etc I think the Friedman is a great option. And it's $499 new, which is pretty reasonable so I may end up buying one just to be my "home/computer" rig. I think that alone is worth the price of admission.

[trey85stang2]

Thanks for the decent review if you say it’s decent it will probably sound good to me. Right now I want to add another amp pedal and leaning towards the kemper. But I’ll keep the irx on my list id like to try it first but I doubt I’ll be able to.

[Guitarbilly]

So I took this to practice yesterday.

Just to put things in context, we're currently practicing at remtal rehearsal space so we used the house PA, which is not particularly good sounding, especially with DI guitars. I had used my Atomic Amplifire and even my old Kemper through this same PA with terrible results. So I had little hope for this to actually work..

But the Friedman actually sounded really good through it. Dialing it in was as easy as dialing in an amp. The stock IRs are good choices for this unit.

I agree that there is something missing vs playing an actual amp, specially on the lead tone. But it's still pretty good and I could definitely get through a gig with this unit without any issues.

I would not use this over an amp. But I would use this over a modeling if an amp was not an option, which is what it was made for. I wouldn't look at this as a game changer or rig replacement or anything like that. But it's a cool pedal with a good DI tone.

I'm considering buying one used and just keep it in my gig bag as a backup/DI option, if I can find one around $400.