saxxamafone
Well-known member
And if their product is up to scratch (which in this case it seems to be), I feel like I should give them support and give them a go
Driftwood VS Two Notes Loadbox: All Load boxes aren’t the same.
- Thread starter VESmedic
- Start date
blackba
Well-known member
I had seen st rock reactive load before, but had never heard of the driftwood. Love that more and more options coming up.
For those with the suhr reactive load, if you are reamping, the Suhr rlir has a hi cut to cut some of the high frequency rise. Adding the switch to the standard Suhr rl is pretty simple, shoot me a pm for details.
For those with the suhr reactive load, if you are reamping, the Suhr rlir has a hi cut to cut some of the high frequency rise. Adding the switch to the standard Suhr rl is pretty simple, shoot me a pm for details.
Rodrigoeliedson
New member
Hi, @VESmedic Can't listen the samples anymore. Are they no longer available? Do you still have de driftwood loadbox? Past a year, are you still happy with it? Cheers!This was certainly a sigh of relief moment for me, as well as one that was riddled with angst at the same timeONE of these feels and sounds dead on to a 4x12 cabinet: the other is…. Well, it was good during its time, I’ll just leave it at that. I’ll keep the rest of my opinions to myself for now but here are two clips: the driftwood purple nightmare with the driftwood load box, and the purple nightmare with the two notes torpedo live. Exact same IR. Exact same volume on all 4 guitar tracks, exact same settings on the amp, and volume matched to as close as possible to make this a fair test. I recommend listening on something other than your iPhone, but even the iPhone captures the differences here. Anyways, enjoy!
Driftwood with Two notes:
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/oYHAF2j82YVT8h6f7
driftwood with driftwood loadbox:
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/CvbPL7jbx745Zp646
EDIT:driftwood loadbox full mix with peppers dirty tree and driftwood purple nightmare.
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/RhYcgEpXJDRhUfFK7
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Yea man! 100 percent still use it, still feel the same way. However lately I’ve realized there’s just too much of a compromise for me with loadboxes in general compared to micing a cab. But, for me personally yes rhe driftwood is still the best I think, and I still own it and use it all the time. The low end on all these things are just never going to be right, but luckily @easstudios was kind enough to give me a workaround for this that works dead on to using a “real” cabinet when actually using IR’s in the daw. These boxes just compress the low end so much, in an unnatural way, but the driftwood is still absolutely fantastic. It’s just easier for me personally to get a phenomenal tone just hooking up a mic, not sure why, but it just works much more easily with less eq always. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the driftwood though, it’s still the best in my opinion and you may not even hear these things I’m talking about.
MaxF
New member
Hey @VESmedic! Would you be able to tell us more about the workaround?
No prob max.
Basically, if you have an amp with a slave out, it’s the perfect setup for the work around. The slave out on just about every amp I know of, is post pre and power amp. This is the key. All you need to do is run line out of the slave out directly into your daw, and of course hook your amp up to a real cabinet at the same time to protect the amp/get the right interaction between the power amp and cab. These two are the key like I said, because since you are using a real cab, the slave out ( that you are running directly into your interface/in to your daw) is sending a direct signal with the real power amp and real cabinet interaction “baked in”. It works best if, say, I’m using a recto traditional cab IR In my daw: I will use my real recto traditional cab hooked up to my amp, and then run the slave out into my interface/ daw and use IR’s of the recto traditional cab; it is as far as I’m concerned , absolutely identical in feeling and performance as a real cab mic’d up.
Now, I realize this is completely overkill and completely defeats the purpose of using your amp quietly, but it is the best way to get the truest real sound from your amp into your daw using IR’s. Why do this if I have real cabs and can mic them up you ask? Sometimes, there are IR’s I absolutely love and want to use , so this is a great way for me to do that. Sometimes this works better than micing up a cab for me.
Oh, your amp doesn’t have a slave out? No problem. Get yourself a DI box ( check out the behringer one that’s about 30 bucks), run your amp head into this, and then there is an input that says “to cabinet”. Plug your speaker cabinet into it. Other side goes directly to your daw. Done. It’ll accomplish exactly the same thing. Again, it works best if you are using the same cab with the type of IR you are using, but even if I use say, my real Marshall cab in the room but am using a recto cab IR in the daw, it still sounds better than just simply using a load box.
Might sound confusing, it’s really not, let me know if that makes sense. May sound stupid, and I can totally understand why people would feel this way, but if you want the actual response and feel of your amp direct into your daw to use with IR’s. ( especially in the low end and low mids) it’s the best way to do it by far in my opinion.
Bram576
Well-known member
Two notes was cool when it came out and was the first of its kind… but ALL two notes products have the same incorrect impedance curve when it comes to how a cab actually responds. It is the worst sounding out of the major names now. The ox box, also cool when it first came out used that same incorrect impedance curve in a way more expensive device, LAME. And that’s coming from someone who uses UAD Apollo and their plugins religiously for mixing. Nowadays the two notes is definitely the worst option amongst the load boxes. The best out there imo is the st rock because you can actually tweak it and the capture function is crazy spot on, lasse lammert has a video showcasing how spot on it is, it’s actually nuts how good it is. I know how you’ve mentioned the Havok album sounding so good, and it does Mark Lewis is the fucking man, but even he says the st rock is indistinguishable with capturing your own micd set up. Truly nuts.
Yep, I think the st rock is every bit as good as the driftwood. Actually, I just found out supposedly driftwood makes the reactive load portion of the st rock, so there ya go. Yea mark loves it, he doesn’t use it on records, but for him to say it’s that good is saying something for sure, dude is a neurotic with guitar tone.
Bram576
Well-known member
Yeah, the actual computer portion of the st rock takes it over the top for me. I’m fairly certain that’s what lasse used to create the irs for his plug-in, I could be wrong though. The video where he a/bs an ir versus his micd up cab is nuts.
I wouldn't be surprised. I've talked to driftwood and the IR loader they use in their amps was designed by St Rock, so there is definitely some partnership between the two companies.
I have the St. Rock React IR. One of the best pieces of gear I've ever purchased. It's really that good.
Man, I feel like I knew this would be the case . I was trying to be optimistic, but I also knew there was probably zero chance they upgraded their tech for those. Not that I’m buying one, but I hope in the era of less dudes ever actually playing a high gain amp with a 4x12 cab and understanding what that’s like, I would hope they would make it as close as possible to a real cabs impedence response, which it is not at all.
TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Aw man, how has it never occurred to me to use this slave out routing? It's so simple, too. Use a real cab to serve as the "reactive load" and the Slave Out to feed whatever you're using as an IR loader. 100% authentic amp response along with the consistency and calculated mic positioning of well-made IR's.
All I need to do now is build a sound proof box for my jet engine loud cabs and I'll be good. I'm only half-joking when I say that. I wonder how difficult / expensive it would actually be to build something like that.
All I need to do now is build a sound proof box for my jet engine loud cabs and I'll be good.
I'm only half-joking when I say that. I wonder how difficult / expensive it would actually be to build something like that.Well… I kinda did thatAw man, how has it never occurred to me to use this slave out routing? It's so simple, too. Use a real cab to serve as the "reactive load" and the Slave Out to feed whatever you're using as an IR loader. 100% authentic amp response along with the consistency and calculated mic positioning of well-made IR's.
All I need to do now is build a sound proof box for my jet engine loud cabs and I'll be good.
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TheGreatGreen
Well-known member
Well… I kinda did that
LOL, awesome!
How quiet is it?
How much of a PITA was it to build?
How much did it cost?
Webb
Active member
Doesn’t the Driftwood have a “thru” connection? I use this a lot with the Suhr RL by connecting my real cab to the thru jack. This bypasses the internal load of the Suhr and the amp will see the load provided by the real cab.
blackba
Well-known member
MaxF
New member
Thanks! And no, absolutely not confusing but well explained! And I actually realised I know the technique already just didn't think of it! Cool that works out for you and nice iso box / walls you built there!
Do you have experience with the Suhr in comparison to the Driftwood or with a Fractal XLoad?
I'm torn about which to get.... I would love to get the React:IR but get no answer from St. Rock and fear they are out of business due to the war or worse
Bram576
Well-known member
Check your spam box. St rock went to my spam initially. He’s usually real good about replying.Thanks! And no, absolutely not confusing but well explained! And I actually realised I know the technique already just didn't think of it! Cool that works out for you and nice iso box / walls you built there!
Do you have experience with the Suhr in comparison to the Driftwood or with a Fractal XLoad?
I'm torn about which to get.... I would love to get the React:IR but get no answer from St. Rock and fear they are out of business due to the war or worse