Suhr reactive load I.R. and Celestion IR review

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mniel8195

mniel8195

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I love my new suhr reactive load IR. I owned the standard version and a torpedo live before that. I think it the best bang for you buck all in one unit that is currently available on the market. I have also tried every IR made and the celestion IR's are the best on the market second to Two notes wall of sound. They may even be equal in some ways but I like the Suhr Celestion IRs because you can just set it and forget it. I did end up buying both Suhr v30 and greenback cab packs because the Suhr unit does not ship with everything. It does allow you to find which cabs and speakers you will probably like the most. So far I like the v30 sm57 bright and greenback sm57 bright the most. I do play through headphones the majority of the time and at that volume the IRs need a bit more brightness for me. Thats the only reason I purchased the full cab packs. I have it hooked up to my Friedman smallbox 50 with SAT switch. Both irs are by far the best irs I have tried and I have tried them all. I doubt they would need very much eq in the mix. That has always been my issue with Ownhammer. A few things I would note for Suhr and those who are thinking of picking one up.

I would love to see Suhr bring out a sexier IR loading software. The way you load them is fine but I feel like it could be a little bit more engaging.

If you have high impedance headphones and plan on going direct into the suhr unit you will need a headphone amp. If you are going into your interface you probably won't. Mid tear headphones work best with the Suhr unit when going into the speaker input of the unit.

It would be nice if the complete cab packs were available for people who purchased the unit. Or at least at a discount. Not a big deal though.

Those are the only things I would mention. I know everyone harps about the load only being 8ohm. My amp sounds great at that setting so it does not bother me. The unit is a must buy and the Celestion irs are killer.
 
I am using a Suhr RL into a Torpedo CAB right now. Having used two IRs or two Mics on one CAB (usually one of them for spike and the other for fullness/warmth) I feel I couldn't get along with just one single IR anymore. It has been key to my tone since hte Alpha Firmware of the C.A.B. has supported the second IR/MIC. Don't you find it limiting to just being able to load one single IR?
 
hunter":1ewiiguf said:
I am using a Suhr RL into a Torpedo CAB right now. Having used two IRs or two Mics on one CAB (usually one of them for spike and the other for fullness/warmth) I feel I couldn't get along with just one single IR anymore. It has been key to my tone since hte Alpha Firmware of the C.A.B. has supported the second IR/MIC. Don't you find it limiting to just being able to load one single IR?
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Well I almost always prefer the sound of one sm57 and nothing else for high gain. At least with the gear I’m running. Maybe for mid to lower gain I could use more mics. I just feel like the celestion irs are the best.
 
I sold my kemper and decided to get the Reactive load IR to play with my mark v 25. Still waiting it arrives. I didn't know Celestion is selling more Suhr cab IRs. Wish suhr would provide more options.
 
I also sold my Kemper last year and started going back to real amps, recently picking up the Reactive Load IR since I have been impressed by some of the recordings And clips I have heard. What it does, it does well. It sounds far more natural than some other seemingly similar products from the past (like the Weber load boxes) that turn your tone into a flat, mushy mess. There is still perhaps some softening of the attack/attenuation of presence or treble with the Suhr RL but it’s fairly subtle and by far the best device of it’s type I have tried. The feel is correct when you’re playing, which is a big thing. For me, this is a superior solution to the Kemper and I am spending way more time playing and writing music now.

The IR’s the Suhr comes with are very good. I went and bought the Suhr V30 and Greenback 4x12 packs and to be honest I still probably find the “balanced sm57” IRs that we’re included with the device to be the best for my tastes. I think for most people’s uses the selection of IRS that the device comes with are a very good place to start. I have found it worthwhile to buy some of the other Celestion packs, particularly some of the ones with alnico speakers for use with clean and breakup tones.

There are other IR makers out there like Ownhammer, but you have to realize the rabbit hole you’re going down with the sheer amount of IR’s they give you. There is something nice about firing up the Suhr RL on that first greenback IR and it just sounds right.
 
I find most it’s color the sound and make everything the same
 
If you like two reactive load you would be blown away by what a real cabinet and a good microphone sound like instead. I did some recording and comparison when I borrowed one of those heads and it was night and day. Of course you can always e q the crap out of anything and perhaps make it sound just as good but without any cute it was just that, crappy.
 
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