NPD: Friedman IR-D

[Guitarbilly]

Since I bought the Dirty Shirley Mini the other day I decided to give this pedal a try.
It sounds really good!!! With all the knobs at noon gain and bright switch up and the stock IRs, it's a pretty rocking DI tone right out of the box and it only gets better from there with very little tweaking. Feels like a tube circuit (and it is) and sounds great with no digital artifacts at all.

I also have the IR-X here and I have a little DI board built around it, in case I need to go direct. Comparing the 2, the IR-D sounds better for my needs. A bit less aggressive and warmer.

I also compared it to my Dirty Shirley loaded into the Suhr load and with the same IR. They're close but the amp is a bitmore dynamic and organic, which is to be expected. But the pedal sounds great.

My position with DI rigs is I don't use them unless I have to, I much prefer to have my amps live. That won't change anytime soon, but if I have to use a DI, I MUCH prefer this type of setup over any modeling device. It feels like playing a guitar rig vs a computer and I can pretty much treat it like my amps and dial a tone on the spot etc...

So in short, if you have an amp, you may or may not want this. Depend on whether you ever in a situation where you need a DI rig. But if you playing a modeler, this is a big step up in the right direction IMHO. T

[dstroud]

very cool, I’ve heard some good clips of this

[Marc G]

glad to hear the solid review.... I used the IR-X a while back for a gig and it was pretty good... I found the demos on this to be more my thing and I like the idea of 2 identical channels... I've been toying with the idea of a direct rig and seems like this might be the right fit for me

[fastredponycar]

Zzounds sent me one to try out for a while and I really like it a lot more than the IRX I used to have. It was easier for me to dial in a good clean tone that I liked on this vs the IRX.

Also, weirdly, the IRD sounds a lot better with the cab/IR disabled if you are running to a power amp and cab vs the IRX. The IRX lost all it's mojo with the IR disabled.

[spawnofthesith]

Nice!! These seem like sweet units

[Chris Z]

I didn't know you had a YT channel, I always liked your clips on the HCAF forums. Subscribed. Great tones there man.

[fastredponycar]

Thanks dude!

[Guitarbilly]

I'm really liking this pedal. I think it will be my defitive DI solution for a long time. It sounds great and there's no modeling to fuck with. I plugged the USB port once to pick the IRs for the unit and I don't see me even having to use the software again

[heath]

This seems much more down my alley. I got the IR-X for Christmas from my wife and while it sounded good, it was too smooth and modern for me. I ended up trading it for a Tonex. This seems much more modded plexi instead of the BE sound. I want them to make a Soldano version of the IR-~ preamps. That would be my ideal setup.

[Guitarbilly]

This seems much more down my alley. I got the IR-X for Christmas from my wife and while it sounded good, it was too smooth and modern for me. I ended up trading it for a Tonex. This seems much more modded plexi instead of the BE sound. I want them to make a Soldano version of the IR-~ preamps. That would be my ideal setup.

I felt the same about the IR-X. The IR-D is much more my style.

As for the Soldano version, Friedman has all but confirmed it is going to happen.