Reactive loads and IRs for home studio

PeteC

Hi folks.  

Looking for sone advice on which reactive loads to use with my amps for home studio use 

i have various valve heads and combos ranging from marshall 18watt through to 50 watt plexi, dumble and trainwreck clones 

i like to track into a neve pre and into Logic X atm. 

Ideally I want to be able to run a 50 watt head with cab IRs ( or apply them in space designer in Logic ). 

I dont need lots of fancy dan options - just a good reliable unit that will preserve as much of the amps character as possibe - realising that it wont be identical of course without the speaker interaction 

Any recommendations - preferably second hand market.  

Cheers
peteC

pintspiller

A Two Notes Captor can sometimes be bought used on eBay for under £100. 

andy_k

Captor X is pretty useful, but the attenuation is limited to a couple of steps-or silent.
Nice suite of software to mess about with for IRs though, Torpedo remote for your phone, and wall of sound as a plugin.
Options for getting a DI at the same time as well, or stereo mics.
Should be fine for low wattage amps, but don't expect to be cranking stuff with the attenuation available.

octatonic

What level of gain do you want to use?

IMHO reactive load works best with clean and higher gain (think JCM800 upwards) amplifier.
If you want a classic rock (Plexi) or, especially, an AC30/Matchless style on the edge of breakup then it gets harder to come across via IR's.

I use my Suhr PT15IR direct all the time and it sounds amazing.
I've never found a reactive load that works with any of the Matchless amps (and Matchless don't recommend using them).

polybius

Boss TAE and TAE Core are well worth a look. I replaced a Torpedo Captor X with one recently and couldn't be happier with it. Running a Silver Jubilee 2525C and a Blackstar through it. The preloaded Celestion IRs are great and the onboard reverbs and delays are so good I've ditched the pedals I had in the Jubilee's loop.

Everythingon10

I've got a Torpedo Captor (first gen). I am about to sell it as it happens, just because I'm also selling my last valve amp. I also used it as an attenuator by reamping through a solid state power amp, which solves the fixed level of attenuation you get normally. I've been totally happy using it with my JCM800 50 watt. I have even used it with the 800 fully cranked for short periods and it's been fine, didn't get uncomfortably hot or anything. And I've found that when I'm running the amp at more normal levels, using the fan in passive mode (unpowered, only runs when you're making noise through the amp) is quite adequate.