Suhr PT15IR and other amps with IR loaders

andyg_prs

Having been underwhelmed by the Ironball SE, what has your experience been with other amps that you use direct to powered speaker / FoH with no speaker cabinet?

The PT15IR looks horrendously expensive......but if all three channels do exactly what I need and I can go to FoH and love the sound.....it's cheaper and simpler than an FM9.  Strange comparison?  Well I ping pong between my Ironball, CaptorX and ES-5 based pedalboard......and an AX8.

Btw - I play in rock/metal cover bands........an Americana/Country 7-piece with fiddle/banjo/double bass going.....and an original project that is anywhere from funk/indie to heavy rock...... and I LOVE me some reggae

The AX8 is perfectly well behaved, but sometimes a bit underwhelming live - of course tone is in the fingers, and patches in the mind of the user, so the problem is no doubt with me.....

The Ironball.....well it's great....and I use a Keeley DS-1 and a CM Plexitone over the clean channel for different levels of drive and the Surh gain for more modern stuff....but the interplay of amp volume with the pedals....and the room......and the setup and all the potential points of failure........

So my usage / tonequest goes on.....is it modeller, is it IR equipped 'real' amp.  Who knows?

I'd love to hear your stories!

Cheers,
Andy

TTBZ

How about a Revv G20? Sounds awesome in demos and has all the nice built in stuff!

andyg_prs

TTBZ said:

How about a Revv G20? Sounds awesome in demos and has all the nice built in stuff!

I can't remember which model I once fleetingly tried but it seemed to go straight from clean to super high gain with little in between.....but I'm getting old, I can't remember the exact details....

kennedydream1980

Laney LA studio, Revv G20 & D20, Blackstar St James Amps, Victory V4 pedal amps all have built in reactive load tech. There were a few more at the Naam show which I can’t quite remember. I think one was a Badcat amp.

Ive owned the Revv D20 & G20 and the Victory V4 Kracken and Sheriff amps. I would say for versatility the Revv amps win, the G20 has the purple channel from the bigger Revv amps which is just a killer heavy rock sound. Plus you have a really nice clean channel as well. The D20 is a lovely clean pedal platform so if you are into your pedals this will work for you. 

The Victory amps sound really good as well, but I would have to give the edge to the Revv. The Revv amps also have midi which the Victory amps don’t. Not really sure why they decided not to include midi, especially considering they use the same Two Notes tech as the Revv amps.

guitarmanessex89

Owned a PT15IR. Great amp, but not ‘special’. Swapped with a friend’s helix into a power amp and cab, and equal tones with more versatility at half the price. Have an IR-X now, and I’d say it’s equal, minus having a built in power amp. I have a fryette power station now which will more than make up the shortfall. In short, a helix/equivalent into a power amp and cab will sound as good as a PT15IR, my BE50 kills that amp in terms of tones, and the power amp from my PS2 more than makes up the difference. If you fall into that specific usage where it makes sense then you will be happy. If you don’t, plenty of other ways to achieve a similar if not better result.