SUHR REACTIVE LOAD

[voodooradio1]

Got mine this week, and all I can say is WOW! This is an awesome device! I have my Suhr Badger hooked up, and have been tweaking with different cab ir's. Right now I am just enjoying being able to use a real amp in my townhouse, but will plug my Two Rock in over the weekend, and post a couple of clips. Like most, my preference is moving air with a nice cab cranked up, but I have good neighbors, and try to be considerate of them. If you are in a similar situation, try one out. You won't be sorry!

 

[slyym]

Awesome!!!! Love mine! I'm sure it holds its own against the torpedo. In a live situation, no torpedo has it there.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Reamp when nobody is around >suhr >torpedo

I love the ongoing debate on this. Reza try to trick my ears. Make an impulse of your setup and I will spot the real cab.

 

[dfrattaroli]

I have one too. Love it. Easy to use and great sounds. I only use mine to go direct, silently into my DAW. I don't use a cab with it. Have been playing around with different IRs and plug ins. All have been good but my favorites are Ownhammer and Redwirez. The Two Notes WOS III plug and IRs are good too but I don't love the interface. At the moment, I prefer the Redwirez MixIR2 plug in. Better file management and easier to use. Plus the interface makes it easier to stack cabs in one block, EQs in another, etc.

The Mellowmuser IR1A plug that Pete Thorn suggests is awaiting a patch in January. Just in case you're looking to use it under El Capitan or Sierra OS Xs.

 

[slyym]

Awesome!!!! Love mine! I'm sure it holds its own against the torpedo. In a live situation, no torpedo has it there.

Huh?
Torpedo fits in a rack..wins right there...

I guess the way I worded that was confusing. I meant the torpedo has it beat in a live situation.

 

[Detroit ABA]

I am considering getting the suhr and I have owned the torpedo live and liked it but I only use maybe 4 different Ownhammer mix IRs so I don't have a need for the Torpedo's full capabilities. I would like some input on if I could run the suhr into a Logidy Epsi without any issues? The EPsi takes an instrument level signal and the Suhr is line level, will that cause it to sound bad?

Thanks

 

[Nitrobattery]

Congrats!

FWIW, I have a Torpedo Reload and am picking up the Suhr because I think it sounds better. The Two Notes stuff is great, but Suhr has it figured out.

 

[voodooradio1]

I bought a Torpedo live last year, and was not impressed. I didn't purchase it to use for live, but for using ir's in my DAW. I'm sure it is a great unit for live situations, but regardless of the ir's I used ( I have everything from Redwirez and Ownhammer) it just didn't cut it for me. Hearing the praise that it gets from everyone makes me wonder if I may have had a faulty unit? Water under the bridge now though, because the Suhr is perfect for what I need. Now if this phone will stop ringing with work shit for a while, I am going to spend some quality time with my toys!

 

[keennay]

Voodooradio1, which interface are you using?

I'm almost certain my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 is to blame for most of my unsatisfactory recordings with my Suhr Reactive Load.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

A lot of the good tones you hear coming out of the IR camp are coming from people who have updated or good interfaces with good converters AND a good mic preamp with a DI in feature. I felt my results were noticeably better going through my gap pre than into the interface. Something to consider. This is why I just ordered another reamp and di box. Play the amp at low level and hear the amp with the thru of the DI so you get the performance and then when my wife is out, crank it. Anyone living in a townhouse, pick a spot under the stairs, build a tent out of home made thick acoustic panels and rigid insulation, throw some moving blankets over top and rip it through a 1x12.

 

[Hung Huy Tran]

Congrats!

FWIW, I have a Torpedo Reload and am picking up the Suhr because I think it sounds better. The Two Notes stuff is great, but Suhr has it figured out.

 

[mudf00t]

A lot of the good tones you hear coming out of the IR camp are coming from people who have updated or good interfaces with good converters AND a good mic preamp with a DI in feature. I felt my results were noticeably better going through my gap pre than into the interface. Something to consider. This is why I just ordered another reamp and di box. Play the amp at low level and hear the amp with the thru of the DI so you get the performance and then when my wife is out, crank it. Anyone living in a townhouse, pick a spot under the stairs, build a tent out of home made thick acoustic panels and rigid insulation, throw some moving blankets over top and rip it through a 1x12.

You hit the nail on the head. The manual for the Reload says you have to use a mic pre. I am using cheap Presonus tubepre right now but I need to get a better one.

 

[slyym]

A lot of the good tones you hear coming out of the IR camp are coming from people who have updated or good interfaces with good converters AND a good mic preamp with a DI in feature. I felt my results were noticeably better going through my gap pre than into the interface. Something to consider. This is why I just ordered another reamp and di box. Play the amp at low level and hear the amp with the thru of the DI so you get the performance and then when my wife is out, crank it. Anyone living in a townhouse, pick a spot under the stairs, build a tent out of home made thick acoustic panels and rigid insulation, throw some moving blankets over top and rip it through a 1x12.

That's interesting. What do you think the preamp would be doing to the tone? Adding some tubiness?

 

[born_hard]

You habe To User a hiZ Input in Your interface, thats the Most important Thing. The micpre ist optional.

 

[voodooradio1]

Voodooradio1, which interface are you using?

I'm almost certain my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 is to blame for most of my unsatisfactory recordings with my Suhr Reactive Load.

First off, sorry for kind of abandoning my own thread. Work has interfered with my playing this week, but I have been able to spend some time with the SRL, and have learned a few things that I think make it sound really good.
My setup is decent, but by no means "Pro Level". I am using a Focusrite Pro 40, into a MacBook Pro, running logic X, OwnerHammers studio IR pack, RedWirez Big Box IR pack, Torpedo Wall of Sound 3, and Redwirez IR blend. One issue I had in the beginning was that while things were sounding good, they were not sounding great. There seemed to be a blanket over my tone, and it was mostly in the high mids and above. I had this issue with both the IR Blend, and the WOS 3. After double and triple checking that I wasn't doing anything to contribute to the problem, I started a/b'ing IR Blend with WALL of Sound 3. Blend IR sounded better to my ears, but there was still the blanket, and while I could compensate somewhat with EQ, I still felt that I was missing something.I had gotten so caught up in researching IR's and loaders in prep for getting the SRL, that I hadn't even thought about just using a convolution reverb plug to load my IR's. So, I opened up space designer, loaded my favorite cab and mic, and the difference was night and day. I mean like " HOLY FUCKING SHIT" difference! All of that beautiful clarity, and balance of EQ that had been missing was there, and the signal was a lot hotter. I A/B 'd that with IR Blend, using the same IR with the same mic and placement. The IR Blend does not compare. Not even close.
All of that led me to asking Google "Are all convolution plugins the same?". That landed me on a forum where a 1/2 dozen Rocket Scientists were discussing some pretty complicated math, as well as other shit that went right over my head, but I did feel like I had a better understanding after reading some of the comments. Different convolution plugins use different processes, and it effects the end result. Honestly, I don't completely understand all of it, and would encourage everyone to research it more. I'm sure we have members that could lay it out much better than I. All I know is that using a convolution reverb plugin sounds better than either of the loaders that I mentioned above. Sounds like the real thing to me.
I haven't had much time due to work, so I have spent most of my spare time with the SRL tweaking it and just playing. Hopefully I can get off at a decent hour today and make some comparison clips.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

A lot of the good tones you hear coming out of the IR camp are coming from people who have updated or good interfaces with good converters AND a good mic preamp with a DI in feature. I felt my results were noticeably better going through my gap pre than into the interface. Something to consider. This is why I just ordered another reamp and di box. Play the amp at low level and hear the amp with the thru of the DI so you get the performance and then when my wife is out, crank it. Anyone living in a townhouse, pick a spot under the stairs, build a tent out of home made thick acoustic panels and rigid insulation, throw some moving blankets over top and rip it through a 1x12.

That's interesting. What do you think the preamp would be doing to the tone? Adding some tubiness?

No, because there is no tube in my mic preamp.. there is however a transformer. In much higher end mic pre with a line input, the parts are that much better. I have good quality inputs on my Audient interface but the line in on the mic pre just sounds better. It has more character. It is bigger, clearer, and has a better top end. Most Hi Z inputs are clear and neutral but neutral tends to lack character in my opinion. It isn't that it sounds bad, it is just that is sounds much better once you hear it through another interface.

I would be interested in hearing the difference between the diff loaders though... blanket over the tone is interesting as well because I heard that with a lot of the IR's I tried as well. Either too gritty and fizzy or too smooth... they seemed to lack depth when you compare back to back with a mic'ed signal. But let's be honest, playing a midnight, yeah IR's will totally do the trick.

 

[voodooradio1]

A lot of the good tones you hear coming out of the IR camp are coming from people who have updated or good interfaces with good converters AND a good mic preamp with a DI in feature. I felt my results were noticeably better going through my gap pre than into the interface. Something to consider. This is why I just ordered another reamp and di box. Play the amp at low level and hear the amp with the thru of the DI so you get the performance and then when my wife is out, crank it. Anyone living in a townhouse, pick a spot under the stairs, build a tent out of home made thick acoustic panels and rigid insulation, throw some moving blankets over top and rip it through a 1x12.

That's interesting. What do you think the preamp would be doing to the tone? Adding some tubiness?

No, because there is no tube in my mic preamp.. there is however a transformer. In much higher end mic pre with a line input, the parts are that much better. I have good quality inputs on my Audient interface but the line in on the mic pre just sounds better. It has more character. It is bigger, clearer, and has a better top end. Most Hi Z inputs are clear and neutral but neutral tends to lack character in my opinion. It isn't that it sounds bad, it is just that is sounds much better once you hear it through another interface.

I would be interested in hearing the difference between the diff loaders though... blanket over the tone is interesting as well because I heard that with a lot of the IR's I tried as well. Either too gritty and fizzy or too smooth... they seemed to lack depth when you compare back to back with a mic'ed signal. But let's be honest, playing a midnight, yeah IR's will totally do the trick.

I am on the way out to take care of a small job, and hopefully no more calls after that. When I get back I will set up a comparison of the loaders. I was also struggling with what you mention. Seemed like there was no middle ground when it came to gain. It was "Box of Bees" at moderately high settings, or mud when going for break up settings. Space Designer got rid of that, and also made it feel and sound like a real amp. (to me)

 

[JiMB]

I love working with it at home. Here's a couple examples with mine using Ownhammer ir's in Torpedo Wall of Sound III:

 

[slyym]

I love working with it at home. Here's a couple examples with mine using Ownhammer ir's in Torpedo Wall of Sound III:

Wow sounds awesome!! Anything special about your setup? What are you using as far as interface or preamps?

 

[dfrattaroli]

Voodooradio1, which interface are you using?

I'm almost certain my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 is to blame for most of my unsatisfactory recordings with my Suhr Reactive Load.

First off, sorry for kind of abandoning my own thread. Work has interfered with my playing this week, but I have been able to spend some time with the SRL, and have learned a few things that I think make it sound really good.
My setup is decent, but by no means "Pro Level". I am using a Focusrite Pro 40, into a MacBook Pro, running logic X, OwnerHammers studio IR pack, RedWirez Big Box IR pack, Torpedo Wall of Sound 3, and Redwirez IR blend. One issue I had in the beginning was that while things were sounding good, they were not sounding great. There seemed to be a blanket over my tone, and it was mostly in the high mids and above. I had this issue with both the IR Blend, and the WOS 3. After double and triple checking that I wasn't doing anything to contribute to the problem, I started a/b'ing IR Blend with WALL of Sound 3. Blend IR sounded better to my ears, but there was still the blanket, and while I could compensate somewhat with EQ, I still felt that I was missing something.I had gotten so caught up in researching IR's and loaders in prep for getting the SRL, that I hadn't even thought about just using a convolution reverb plug to load my IR's. So, I opened up space designer, loaded my favorite cab and mic, and the difference was night and day. I mean like " HOLY FUCKING SHIT" difference! All of that beautiful clarity, and balance of EQ that had been missing was there, and the signal was a lot hotter. I A/B 'd that with IR Blend, using the same IR with the same mic and placement. The IR Blend does not compare. Not even close.
All of that led me to asking Google "Are all convolution plugins the same?". That landed me on a forum where a 1/2 dozen Rocket Scientists were discussing some pretty complicated math, as well as other shit that went right over my head, but I did feel like I had a better understanding after reading some of the comments. Different convolution plugins use different processes, and it effects the end result. Honestly, I don't completely understand all of it, and would encourage everyone to research it more. I'm sure we have members that could lay it out much better than I. All I know is that using a convolution reverb plugin sounds better than either of the loaders that I mentioned above. Sounds like the real thing to me.
I haven't had much time due to work, so I have spent most of my spare time with the SRL tweaking it and just playing. Hopefully I can get off at a decent hour today and make some comparison clips.

I was going through, basically, the same exact foot steps as you about 2-3 weeks ago. SRL into a Focusrite Saffire 24 Pro, Logic Express 9 on an iMac. I've never tried IR Blend but I have used both the WOS III and MixIR2 from Redwirez. WOS III sounds best with Two Notes IRs IMO but not as good overall as the Ownhammer and Redwirez plugs. Plus, holy shit I hate the WOS interface. The MixIR2 plug is a much better design and user friendly. In order of preference, I like the Ownhammer IRs, then the Redwirez Big Box and lastly the Two Notes IRs. Granted, the Two Notes stuff sounds really good.

As for using a convolution plug, Pete Thorn has always said he uses the Mellowmuse IR1A, which is a reverb convolution plug. Last I checked, it was buggy under Mac Sierra and El Capitan. I rolled back Sierra because Logic and MixIR2 didn't like it. I contacted Mellowmuse about the issue and they said they'd have a patch in early January which I believe has been published. It's $49 but you can demo it. I have yet to do it but I will ASAP.

Hoping I hear the same improvement you did because I too felt the other plugs sounded a big "cloaked". Truth of the matter is, I always wondered if different plugs sounded different but thought I might be running off into the weeds with that notion.

Dave