I wrote a thing... (Impulse responses and reactive load boxes - great tone at any volume)

Jonathanthomas83

So a blog is sort of old hat now, but I've found when talking to like minded people that we have similar interests, explore similar stuff and have similar questions. So I'm hoping to put it all in one place as a point of reference for those who are interested. 

I'm not saying I'm a guru or anything, but I am a bit of an evangelist when it comes to stuff that I've learned about and feel passionate about within the realm of guitar things. 

So here's my first post, which talks about getting an amazing tone with reactive load boxes and impulse responses. It also answers a couple of questions I've been asked about how I set up my stereo rig.

https://medium.com/guitar-pedals-amp/how-to-get-a-great-guitar-tone-at-low-volume-without-a-speaker-cabinet-5bfd0371f9f6#.s2z32rold

Hope you enjoy and feel free to give me your feedback/ask questions!

handsomerik

That's great. Thanks. I learned a thing or two :-)

stefken147

Great resource, have been researching this approach for a while and it's definitely a time saver for people to have this.

Jonathanthomas83

Thank you @handsomerik and @stefken147 I really appreciate you taking the time to say so. Means a lot. If you guys have any questions, drop a comment or get in touch, I absolutely love talking about this stuff and have been through the mill with it - in a good way!

garfy

stefken147 said:

Great resource, have been researching this approach for a while and it's definitely a time saver for people to have this.

+1 Spot on! and many thanks 

BintyTwanger77

So the amp used in this approach is an amp head rather than a combo? Apologies for the Luddite question.

Jonathanthomas83

@garfy thank you, as always, mate!

@BintyTwanger77 you know what, right until the last minute I had that very question in the main text then took it out for inclusion on an FAQ post. This works for combos too, unplug the speaker and straight into the load box. Careful to match the impedance, like you would with any other speaker. Hope that helps!

BintyTwanger77

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@garfy thank you, as always, mate!

@BintyTwanger77 you know what, right until the last minute I had that very question in the main text then took it out for inclusion on an FAQ post. This works for combos too, unplug the speaker and straight into the load box. Careful to match the impedance, like you would with any other speaker. Hope that helps!

Cheers, mate.

MrSwanson

Great blog, would be interested in doing this myself but a little scared for whatever reason!

Winny_Pooh

Its very "in my opinion" unless you intend to post micd and di'd sound clips?

NPP

would you say that your setup is significantly superior to a modeller that allows you to load IRs? Put differently, what makes the biggest difference in your setup - the real valve amp, the reactive load, or the IR?

I'm interested in a low-volume setup but thought it might be better to just ditch the amp and get an Amplifire which has everything in one box - but I've never had the chance to play one or any of the other better modellers.

Jonathanthomas83

MrSwanson said:

Great blog, would be interested in doing this myself but a little scared for whatever reason!

Thank you! Understandable mate, I saw it as a huge risk. I had to sell one of my amps to make it financially feasible and went in blindly, with the exception of a few videos I'd seen on YouTube. I did the right thing for me though, it worked out well.

Winny_Pooh said:

Its very "in my opinion" unless you intend to post micd and di'd sound clips?

I don't have a real speaker cab any more to enable me to do that. I agree though, this is very much my opinion. That's why I included Pete Thorn's video at the end, to help people make their own mind up on how close it sounds to the real cab. The included sound clip was there to give you a good idea of if it sounds good or not.

NPP said:

would you say that your setup is significantly superior to a modeller that allows you to load IRs? Put differently, what makes the biggest difference in your setup - the real valve amp, the reactive load, or the IR?

I'm interested in a low-volume setup but thought it might be better to just ditch the amp and get an Amplifire which has everything in one box - but I've never had the chance to play one or any of the other better modellers.

I'm always intrigued by new technology and modellers are an attractive prospect. IR capabilities on the modern ones are a great feature. I'd be hesitant to say my setup is better than a Helix, for example, as it's certainly all subjective.

What I will say though, is that if you're a traditionalist, like me, who likes tube amps and isn't ready to give up the romance of owning and playing through a tube amp, and you need get the volume down and just have an easier time recording and rehearsing...then this is a great solution and one that, when done right, is highly rewarding.

digitalscream

@Jonathanthomas83 - totally in your camp on this. Reactive loads are the absolute best way to record at home, unless you have a ridiculously-tolerant wife and neighbours. In fact, I prefer them to recording with amps acoustically, because I've proven time and again that I'm crap at mic positioning, particularly in terms of repeatability.

Just one thing you might want to mention on there...the AMT PE-15 is a 15W reactive load box which works fantastically well. I've used it with my 20W and 50W Jet City amps - as long as you keep the volume reasonable and stay out of the red on the indicator, there's no danger at all. Even a 50W amp running at less than 15W sounds great like that. The main point here is the price - £110 or thereabouts, and about £100 if you use The Fretboard's discount on the AMT UK site

MrSwanson

Is the Torpedo also used as a interface with the comp?

Jonathanthomas83

digitalscream said:

@Jonathanthomas83 - totally in your camp on this. Reactive loads are the absolute best way to record at home, unless you have a ridiculously-tolerant wife and neighbours. In fact, I prefer them to recording with amps acoustically, because I've proven time and again that I'm crap at mic positioning, particularly in terms of repeatability.

Just one thing you might want to mention on there...the AMT PE-15 is a 15W reactive load box which works fantastically well. I've used it with my 20W and 50W Jet City amps - as long as you keep the volume reasonable and stay out of the red on the indicator, there's no danger at all. Even a 50W amp running at less than 15W sounds great like that. The main point here is the price - £110 or thereabouts, and about £100 if you use The Fretboard's discount on the AMT UK site

Absolutely, that's next on my list, a list of good gear in certain price brackets. Im looking to replace the Torpedo CAB with a Pangea, so this is topical for me too :-) thanks for your support @digitalscream !

MrSwanson said: Is the Torpedo also used as a interface with the comp? Unfortunately not. USB is for firmware and loading third party IRs only, audio cannot be passed from or to the device via USB...they'd be on a winner if it did. It's still a fantastic pedal.

MrSwanson

Jonathanthomas83 said:

digitalscream said:

@Jonathanthomas83 - totally in your camp on this. Reactive loads are the absolute best way to record at home, unless you have a ridiculously-tolerant wife and neighbours. In fact, I prefer them to recording with amps acoustically, because I've proven time and again that I'm crap at mic positioning, particularly in terms of repeatability.

Just one thing you might want to mention on there...the AMT PE-15 is a 15W reactive load box which works fantastically well. I've used it with my 20W and 50W Jet City amps - as long as you keep the volume reasonable and stay out of the red on the indicator, there's no danger at all. Even a 50W amp running at less than 15W sounds great like that. The main point here is the price - £110 or thereabouts, and about £100 if you use The Fretboard's discount on the AMT UK site

Absolutely, that's next on my list, a list of good gear in certain price brackets. Im looking to replace the Torpedo CAB with a Pangea, so this is topical for me too :-) thanks for your support @digitalscream !

MrSwanson said: Is the Torpedo also used as a interface with the comp? Unfortunately not. USB is for firmware and loading third party IRs only, audio cannot be passed from or to the device via USB...they'd be on a winner if it did. It's still a fantastic pedal.

Can't have it all I suppose what do you use out of interest? I have literally no idea when it comes to this stuff!

Jonathanthomas83

@MrSwanson indeed! You don't need a computer or to interface with one with this setup, if all you want to do is to practice/play at home/live. If you want to record and have the abilty to play along with software drum beats and backing tracks then interfacing with a computer is really handy and a lot of fun.

I use an RME Babyface Pro. Which is expensive. You can get lot cheaper and good units. Look into Line 6, Focusrite etc.

MrSwanson

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@MrSwanson indeed! You don't need a computer or to interface with one with this setup, if all you want to do is to practice/play at home/live. If you want to record and have the abilty to play along with software drum beats and backing tracks then interfacing with a computer is really handy and a lot of fun.

I use an RME Babyface Pro. Which is expensive. You can get lot cheaper and good units. Look into Line 6, Focusrite etc.

Great will do thanks again looks like something I might be looking to invest in the near future

Jonathanthomas83

@MrSwanson it's a step into the unknown, admittedly. I mean, you can rarely try this stuff out in the shops. Try and align everything with a returns policy, if you can. I didn't have that luxury, but I certainly didn't need it either. I think it's an awesome and flexible way to do it and wouldn't do it any other way now.