I am crazy considering the Suhr Reactive Load Ir?

[zenarcade]

So I have a Vox ac15 and a Kettner 100 Watt Top, which both do not sound very good at low volumes plus I live in an apartment and cannot play loud at all. So the Suhr Reavtive Load Ir might be perfect for practicing(=noodling) and also for recording. Does anyone have experience with these? I find the price a bit high but all the demos I saw were pretty good. I have the Helix Stomp and like the fx and small footprint but don't like the amp sims..Will the Suhr with real amps sound much better? Thanks for your opinions

[marqueemoon]

I only own one Suhr product (a V1 KokoBoost). Very impressed by the build quality.

I bought a used Neunaber Iconoclast a few weeks ago and so far I really like it. It makes playing with headphones actually enjoyable, and I’m liking the recorded sounds I’ve gotten with it so far. Still considering getting a load box down the road as I do miss spring reverb from an amp.

[zenarcade]

I only own a Suhr Riot Reloaded. And it is really a great sounding pedal. Into my Vox gives it gives me amp-like high gain sounds. I always thought Suhr makes overpriced products more aimed at the TGP crowd But at least their pedals are awesome. And not too expensive on the used market.
Never have heard about the Neunaber Iconoclast, but it sounds interesting too.

[Igorilla]

So I have a Vox ac15 and a Kettner 100 Watt Top, which both do not sound very good at low volumes plus I live in an apartment and cannot play loud at all. So the Suhr Reavtive Load Ir might be perfect for practicing(=noodling) and also for recording. Does anyone have experience with these? I find the price a bit high but all the demos I saw were pretty good. I have the Helix Stomp and like the fx and small footprint but don't like the amp sims..Will the Suhr with real amps sound much better? Thanks for your opinions

I have no first hand experience with the suhr reactive load ir, but after struggling for years with several digital solutions and a small Palmer DI box I bought a good quality attenuator and use it with my DIY 6G3 Deluxe that I have modified to suit my needs better. This is by far the best solution for me.
As for headphone practice: In my case I need a good speaker/cab IRs and a decent room IR as well. All previous solutions for headphone practice I came up with didn't last too long, as I was more turning the knobs and changing settings than practicing.

I think that Suhr Reactive Load IR is a great solution for recording as well.

In my case I ended up buying a used Universal Audio OX which costs even more

[zenarcade]

Hi Igor,

how is the OX?

[Igorilla]

Hi Igor,

how is the OX?

Excellent for recording, for headphone practice, and as attenuator.
Quest is over!

[redchapterjubilee]

I bought an SLIR at the beginning of the quarantines in March. It replaced a sort of taped together version of it, using a Weber Mass 100 to soak up the amp, lined out to a reamp box then to a Mooer Radar. The hodge podge setup worked okay but I'm glad I decided to bite the bullet and go with the SLIR. I went from about 66% satisfied with my direct signal to about 90%. It's dead easy to use. It's dead easy to load other IR's, though I was surprised that I find 12 of the 16 presets usable (I wanted that Vox Blue thing and there's none of that nor a good bass cabinet...both easy to load). While it does color one's amp tone somewhat I am still able to get what sounds like my amps through cabs under mic without bothering anyone else in the house. I got mine used and saved $100 or so. It's allowed me to continue to use my amp collection at a time when I'm not capable of plugging them in somewhere and raging.

I do have a couple of issues with the SLIR. You have to be very careful with gain staging. Suhr claims it will not clip but it is very fussy about its signal path. It has to be connected via TRS cable or it clips. It has issues with some interfaces' combination line/XLR inputs (I use a Focusrite Scarlet and with a TRS cable it's fine). It darkens your amp's natural tone and accentuates low end and you will have to compensate for it, which is true of any attenuator. It is only 8 ohms and that can be a challenge for those of us with a bunch of different amp styles. There aren't a wide variety of IR's preloaded, and what's in there are Suhr/Celestion heavy. People have noted that what you think of as a clean setting with a cabinet isn't as clean as you think when using a loadbox and IR. And sometimes that amp clipping is kinda ugly. I own six amps and the Suhr definitely does not jive with the 5E3 (those are dark and bassy to begin with and the RLIR makes it even worse...I suppose if I found the right IR it might work but I got no interest in spending more $$$ and time IR rolling) and I have a Bassman 20 that's been cut down to a head that isn't great turned up (it's mostly a clean platform and the breakup is fine when plugged into a cab in a room or on stage but not so much with the RLIR...EXCEPT with a bass guitar and the Ampeg 8x10 IR I loaded in...that is instant amazing bass guitar tone). My Mark I reissue is dark but with 6V6's instead of 6L6's to pull out some of the massive low end it sounds great. The Ampeg J-20 and my '59 Bassman LTD head also sound stupid beautiful with the stock IR's and the Blue IR I loaded in with my Vox MV50AC sounds like what I think an AC30 should sound like.

[Maggieo]

Hi Igor,

how is the OX?

Excellent for recording, for headphone practice, and as attenuator.
Quest is over!

Just about every YouTuber uses the OX, so I reckon that's a hearty endorsement.

[zenarcade]

Hi Igor,

how is the OX?

Excellent for recording, for headphone practice, and as attenuator.
Quest is over!

Just about every YouTuber uses the OX, so I reckon that's a hearty endorsement.

yes, that is true. I remember this Video from Paul Davids, where the title was something like "the first time i am hearing my amp" which was basically a 30 Minute advertisement for the OX. That said it is for sure a nice product, but somehow it would feel strange if I use an attenuator/load box that is three times as expensive as my main amp.

[zenarcade]

I bought an SLIR at the beginning of the quarantines in March. It replaced a sort of taped together version of it, using a Weber Mass 100 to soak up the amp, lined out to a reamp box then to a Mooer Radar. The hodge podge setup worked okay but I'm glad I decided to bite the bullet and go with the SLIR. I went from about 66% satisfied with my direct signal to about 90%. It's dead easy to use. It's dead easy to load other IR's, though I was surprised that I find 12 of the 16 presets usable (I wanted that Vox Blue thing and there's none of that nor a good bass cabinet...both easy to load). While it does color one's amp tone somewhat I am still able to get what sounds like my amps through cabs under mic without bothering anyone else in the house. I got mine used and saved $100 or so. It's allowed me to continue to use my amp collection at a time when I'm not capable of plugging them in somewhere and raging.

I do have a couple of issues with the SLIR. You have to be very careful with gain staging. Suhr claims it will not clip but it is very fussy about its signal path. It has to be connected via TRS cable or it clips. It has issues with some interfaces' combination line/XLR inputs (I use a Focusrite Scarlet and with a TRS cable it's fine). It darkens your amp's natural tone and accentuates low end and you will have to compensate for it, which is true of any attenuator. It is only 8 ohms and that can be a challenge for those of us with a bunch of different amp styles. There aren't a wide variety of IR's preloaded, and what's in there are Suhr/Celestion heavy. People have noted that what you think of as a clean setting with a cabinet isn't as clean as you think when using a loadbox and IR. And sometimes that amp clipping is kinda ugly. I own six amps and the Suhr definitely does not jive with the 5E3 (those are dark and bassy to begin with and the RLIR makes it even worse...I suppose if I found the right IR it might work but I got no interest in spending more $$$ and time IR rolling) and I have a Bassman 20 that's been cut down to a head that isn't great turned up (it's mostly a clean platform and the breakup is fine when plugged into a cab in a room or on stage but not so much with the RLIR...EXCEPT with a bass guitar and the Ampeg 8x10 IR I loaded in...that is instant amazing bass guitar tone). My Mark I reissue is dark but with 6V6's instead of 6L6's to pull out some of the massive low end it sounds great. The Ampeg J-20 and my '59 Bassman LTD head also sound stupid beautiful with the stock IR's and the Blue IR I loaded in with my Vox MV50AC sounds like what I think an AC30 should sound like.

Thanks, lots of good info! I read about the gain staging issues and you have to be careful with impedance when going to your Mic Pres/soundcard. I have two old Mic Pres with ADAT optical converters (1 with combined and 1 with seperate XLR/Line Inputs) plus I can solder balanced cables, and see what works best, so I hope this will not be a problem. I will definetaly use the "try before buy"-method if I pull the trigger

[CorporateDisguise]

Two other similar products are the Two Notes Captor X and I think Mesa Boogie is bout to come out with an IR loadbox as well. I think that both of these are in a similar price range as well.

[redchapterjubilee]

FWIW, I think these sort of boxes are only going to become less expensive and/or better at presenting a more accurate depiction of what an amp through a speaker mic'ed up sounds like as well as in the room (with the far field IR's that are coming out these days). Wave of the future.