I did too, but i really don't feel i'm missing out. the D can get boosted and/or different IR's etc to achieve these tones pretty easily. I'm not after this tone, my ears lean towards a cleaner drive with lots of character and mids. the IR-D ticks all the right boxes for me.
@@MRxr400 same here. when i bought it I compared with the X, i liked the D more. I play from Jazz to shred and i don´t like the feel of most modelers. This thing works fine for me.
Hi Sensei... now i'm waitingt for a IR-J vs IR-D video!!! Ok... i have the IR-J (and i love it... tons of different Marshall tones inside)... and i'm toying with the idea of a full stereo bi-amp rig with my IRJ and another IR(?) in a HX FX (two indipendent path) and before the two Friedman IRs one TIM for one and a Fulltone FULL-DRIVE 2 (or a tube-drive). So... the question is... should i go with two "near" sounding like the IR-J and the IR-X (both with a clean channel and a gain channel) ... or is better to push on the "difference" and go with the IR-J (on the plexi/800 side) and the IR-D (but both channel are identical) that is more on the JTM45ish side? NEED HELP!!! PS: both the IRs only "preamp"... and will go in a couple of EH Magnum45 power amps and in two Marshall 4x12 cabs... one with G12-75 (candidate for a swap with 4 Greenbacks) and one with the V30.
I'm surprised how similar they are, IR-X is just a bit thicker sounding. Here's a tip, my JEL 20 loves the Wampler Tumnus, the Moxie and especially the LPD Eighty Seven. 👌
I have the IR-J and love it. I use a M-Vave Chocolate 4 button midi controller to switch channels, boost settings and IR options. Thinking of putting a noise gate in the EFX loop.
I would be happy with either of the two, if they were available in my country. I could import, but that would push the cost to double, due to the distance.
Great video! 👏 I'm thinking of getting the IR-X to use when i play live. I'm gonna use it with a poweramp pedal into cab on stage and FOH also. Love the stuff you put out and the playin' is awesome! 👌
I'm really leaning on getting the ir j as I really only use 800 type tones. To have the plexi side for more dirty clean seems perfect to me. I can't find definitive info on if you can save different channels and volumes to be recalled with midi. I plan on using it in front of my fractal or Kemper for live playing to give me a little more girth.
Great video Mike, exactly what I wanted to see...i was goin for the x until the red beauty come out.... Im running it into a bluguitar amp 1 iridium effects return, should sound pretty bad ass. Also a 4x12 cab
I'm listening through high-end Sony earbuds, and with my eyes closed I can't really tell when he switches from one pre-amp to another, except maybe hearing a very slight difference on low-end thump/chug.
I absolutely love my IRX ever since I bought one. On one hand I don't want anything else because it's just so perfect for what I want, but at the same time it'd be cool to alternate between it and the IRD and IRJ for different stuff :)
IR-X had clean(ish) tones with more character, warmth, body and sustain with rich harmonic overtones. The clean tones display the differences between these two pedals more than the gained up tones do. The IR-J has a tighter more focused bottom end overall, but the IR-X has richer mids with more singing harmonic overtones. I'm really hoping for Friedman to release an IR pedal in this series that tackles the Vox AC30 Top Boost channel's clean and edge of breakup tones. That would be the perfect compliment to the IR-X and I think the two of them would make a really amazing stereo pair.
Love my IRX - Questions: how's the IRJ compare to the JEL 20? Curious on the 20 vs 50 as well if you've had exposure to both. I'm guessing that each one can be dialed in very similar in the home studio environment.
I have the JEL 20 and just bought the IRJ. I'm using the 20 watt head for bigger gigs and the IRJ for cover gigs in small clubs and they sound very close to each other. Very happy with both. Haven't tried the 50 watt but the 20 is more than loud enough. The direct out on the 20 is very good. No need to mic it.
My IRX did not make that 'wrrrrrp' sound when the firmware was updating. What am I doing wrong? :P I want the IR-J too. After Xmas and all that stuff. In time for a harvest moon, so I can bark at it :D (summer down under). I did not initially think the IR-J was lower gain than my IR-X. This vid has made me wonder. I actually want more gain than the IR-X, but without the polish of the high and low pass etc. Nasty like a boosted 2203 can do, or a boosted 2203 that's been messed with inside a bit to give it more horsepower. I do however question it. I am not exactly rolling in money these days due to my health going tits up. Is it different enough to justify having both? I dunno. I have a bunch of drive pedals for slightly different flavours, so why not tube preamps too?
@@Wladimir-y8h I started off seeing if they can match up. The. I think I sort of naturally gravitated towards similar sounds. But you’ll see the knobs in very different places. In hindsight I probably should let them be super different more often. They do feel different and when I sit down with one the approach is pretty different, even though (I agree) I probably pushed them too similar in this video.
The X has more low mid thump (that 5150 kinda thing) and the J doesnt, the J has a broader and more open top end like "taking the blanket off" and there a bit more of that like 2-4k crunch. Both are amazing... I literally wouldnt put money on either one in a blind test, I also wouldnt kick either one out of bed..LOL
Now that would be nice. the midi control of the pedal could have it off your pedal board if you desired. One thing i get a little nervous of is a valve pedal getting stopped on constantly during gigs, changing channels/ boost etc. So far, my IR-D has been faultless
@@BigHairyGuitars Usually just beyond or right at a broken up clean. Typically to the point that I can hit it with a drive boost to do classic rock/blues or roll my volume back just a bit and shave off that grit and be fairly clean. I've gigged with all 3 and both the D and J were able to give a pretty great clean~ish sound that I was able to work with and I don't know if it was the voicign or the structure of the IR-X that turned me off or what. I DID really like the 2nd channel on the IRX though. It was just too expensive to just use 1 channel though.
Not the same price, not the same features, not the same use, not the same sound. it’s like comparing potatoes with bananas … A good comparaison should be between Engl Morse 20 vs Runt 20 for example. And in that case I will always choose EL34 against EL84=> Engl.
they CAN sound quite similar, but they definitely sound different at their extremes. I'm going to have to do another video. I don't think I conveyed that well.
Ive had the IR-X since it came out, but I'm also a long time JCM800 fan. Maybe what i need is a bigger pedal board to fit both
I bought the IRD. This things sound great.
I did too, but i really don't feel i'm missing out. the D can get boosted and/or different IR's etc to achieve these tones pretty easily. I'm not after this tone, my ears lean towards a cleaner drive with lots of character and mids. the IR-D ticks all the right boxes for me.
@@MRxr400 same here. when i bought it I compared with the X, i liked the D more. I play from Jazz to shred and i don´t like the feel of most modelers. This thing works fine for me.
Bought a used IR-D a month ago and it’s the gain range I was looking for. But the J does indeed look and sound pretty badass
Very interesting to listen to comparison with IR-D also!
good idea!
Please!
Hi Sensei... now i'm waitingt for a IR-J vs IR-D video!!!
Ok... i have the IR-J (and i love it... tons of different Marshall tones inside)... and i'm toying with the idea of a full stereo bi-amp rig with my IRJ and another IR(?) in a HX FX (two indipendent path) and before the two Friedman IRs one TIM for one and a Fulltone FULL-DRIVE 2 (or a tube-drive). So... the question is... should i go with two "near" sounding like the IR-J and the IR-X (both with a clean channel and a gain channel) ... or is better to push on the "difference" and go with the IR-J (on the plexi/800 side) and the IR-D (but both channel are identical) that is more on the JTM45ish side? NEED HELP!!!
PS: both the IRs only "preamp"... and will go in a couple of EH Magnum45 power amps and in two Marshall 4x12 cabs... one with G12-75 (candidate for a swap with 4 Greenbacks) and one with the V30.
I'm surprised how similar they are, IR-X is just a bit thicker sounding. Here's a tip, my JEL 20 loves the Wampler Tumnus, the Moxie and especially the LPD Eighty Seven. 👌
I think you can get the IR-X to sound like the JEL with an EQ. But you can't make the JEL sound like an IR-X. It's not fat enough
Nice stereo option 😊
I have the IR-J and love it. I use a M-Vave Chocolate 4 button midi controller to switch channels, boost settings and IR options. Thinking of putting a noise gate in the EFX loop.
I would be happy with either of the two, if they were available in my country. I could import, but that would push the cost to double, due to the distance.
Great video! 👏 I'm thinking of getting the IR-X to use when i play live. I'm gonna use it with a poweramp pedal into cab on stage and FOH also.
Love the stuff you put out and the playin' is awesome! 👌
I use mine with a KSR PA50 6L6. And it's great. I really must try to connect it to the Poweramp of my Runt 50 one day.
That sound efx you made is important for the update to install correctly.😊
Of the vids I’ve seen, I kind of prefer the IR-D but I definitely could make any of the IR series work.
Both are awesome and would love to have both to make a W/D/W setup with the Boss EVH SDE3000 delay pedal 🤟🏻Amazing work as always love the content!
I'm really leaning on getting the ir j as I really only use 800 type tones. To have the plexi side for more dirty clean seems perfect to me. I can't find definitive info on if you can save different channels and volumes to be recalled with midi. I plan on using it in front of my fractal or Kemper for live playing to give me a little more girth.
I am going with both in a 2U rack chassis. 🤪
Great video Mike, exactly what I wanted to see...i was goin for the x until the red beauty come out....
Im running it into a bluguitar amp 1 iridium effects return, should sound pretty bad ass. Also a 4x12 cab
I was just listening, so maybe I missed some words on the screen, but doesn’t the IRJ have a couple of built in Tube Screamers?
Yeah. The IRX is clean boost. The boost on the IRJ is tube screamer circuits
My Presonus monitors must be of poor quality, because these two boxes sound almost indistinguishable from one another.
I'm listening through high-end Sony earbuds, and with my eyes closed I can't really tell when he switches from one pre-amp to another, except maybe hearing a very slight difference on low-end thump/chug.
Thank you for the comparison, I have the IR-X and thought the IR-J had more gain, I will keep my IR-X!
I absolutely love my IRX ever since I bought one. On one hand I don't want anything else because it's just so perfect for what I want, but at the same time it'd be cool to alternate between it and the IRD and IRJ for different stuff :)
IRJ is deeply chunky. Hats off to Dave for making both! Mix context with the syle of music you play would make the decsion.
Thank you for the video Michael!!!!
Soldano Astro or IRx / IRJ for club, cover gigs. I cant decide !
Synergy
IR-X had clean(ish) tones with more character, warmth, body and sustain with rich harmonic overtones. The clean tones display the differences between these two pedals more than the gained up tones do. The IR-J has a tighter more focused bottom end overall, but the IR-X has richer mids with more singing harmonic overtones. I'm really hoping for Friedman to release an IR pedal in this series that tackles the Vox AC30 Top Boost channel's clean and edge of breakup tones. That would be the perfect compliment to the IR-X and I think the two of them would make a really amazing stereo pair.
Add the IR D to either one of these and you are covered.
Wet dry wet rig 😊
Love my IRX - Questions: how's the IRJ compare to the JEL 20? Curious on the 20 vs 50 as well if you've had exposure to both. I'm guessing that each one can be dialed in very similar in the home studio environment.
I have the JEL 20 and just bought the IRJ. I'm using the 20 watt head for bigger gigs and the IRJ for cover gigs in small clubs and they sound very close to each other. Very happy with both. Haven't tried the 50 watt but the 20 is more than loud enough. The direct out on the 20 is very good. No need to mic it.
Great tones! IR-J is awesome piece of gear! 🔥
Dude, these are killer, but I've gotta say, the x88IR has my attention. These are killer, though.
I own the IR-X & IR-D and both sound great.
You beat me to it!!! dang! They are different but I love both!
IR-J, but as a Synergy module. I prefer the rawer, more offensive tones of the Jake E. Lee and Phil X amps.
With the synergy stuff you will never have a true clean channel
A synergy system with a captor x is also an option for flexibility
My IRX did not make that 'wrrrrrp' sound when the firmware was updating. What am I doing wrong? :P
I want the IR-J too. After Xmas and all that stuff. In time for a harvest moon, so I can bark at it :D (summer down under).
I did not initially think the IR-J was lower gain than my IR-X. This vid has made me wonder. I actually want more gain than the IR-X, but without the polish of the high and low pass etc. Nasty like a boosted 2203 can do, or a boosted 2203 that's been messed with inside a bit to give it more horsepower.
I do however question it. I am not exactly rolling in money these days due to my health going tits up. Is it different enough to justify having both? I dunno. I have a bunch of drive pedals for slightly different flavours, so why not tube preamps too?
Answer: both
I agree
If you are rich...
I'm holding out for the IR-SLO
Unfortunately I think it will never happen.
Both great! I liked the IR-J.
Thanks!!
up til minute 5:35 they sound almost identical ....isnt it more the IR or cabinet that influences the sound more than anything?
@@Wladimir-y8h I started off seeing if they can match up. The. I think I sort of naturally gravitated towards similar sounds. But you’ll see the knobs in very different places. In hindsight I probably should let them be super different more often. They do feel different and when I sit down with one the approach is pretty different, even though (I agree) I probably pushed them too similar in this video.
Another great demo!!!! PS: I'll take which ever one you don't want to keep :)
The X has more low mid thump (that 5150 kinda thing) and the J doesnt, the J has a broader and more open top end like "taking the blanket off" and there a bit more of that like 2-4k crunch. Both are amazing... I literally wouldnt put money on either one in a blind test, I also wouldnt kick either one out of bed..LOL
When will the Friedman Preamp rack come out!!
Now that would be nice. the midi control of the pedal could have it off your pedal board if you desired. One thing i get a little nervous of is a valve pedal getting stopped on constantly during gigs, changing channels/ boost etc. So far, my IR-D has been faultless
Now imagine a Soldano IR-SLO...
This IR just sounds amazing!
both are phenomenal but that J just has the chug to the gut
I use so many plugins in tandem with my Quad Cortex live, I can’t justify this. But damn.
like, QC into a laptop with plugins? Or do you mean the FX blocks in the QC?
Maybe you can feel the difference under the fingers but through a pair of good headphones they sound exactly the same. 🤷
Well if you can afford. Why not buy both ?? We can never have enough gear 😅😅. ✌️✌️🎸
Couldn’t go wrong with either.
I've been waiting for a video like this. There's just something a little more unfriendly about the IR-J that I dig
Of the 3, the J was my favorite. I couldn't find a usable clean~ish sound in the IR-X to save my life :/
interesting. What kind of clean tones do you typically go for? SUPER clean, or more slightly broken up?
@@BigHairyGuitars Usually just beyond or right at a broken up clean. Typically to the point that I can hit it with a drive boost to do classic rock/blues or roll my volume back just a bit and shave off that grit and be fairly clean.
I've gigged with all 3 and both the D and J were able to give a pretty great clean~ish sound that I was able to work with and I don't know if it was the voicign or the structure of the IR-X that turned me off or what. I DID really like the 2nd channel on the IRX though. It was just too expensive to just use 1 channel though.
Waiting for IR-P(plex)
IR-J just a bit more bright… but IR-X still sounds better.
I’m craving a JEL so bad…
I’m torn between IR-J and Steve Morse 20 watt. 😢
Not the same price, not the same features, not the same use, not the same sound. it’s like comparing potatoes with bananas … A good comparaison should be between Engl Morse 20 vs Runt 20 for example. And in that case I will always choose EL34 against EL84=> Engl.
“They sound very different” (proceeds to play and both sound the same)
BOTH, indulge your GAS addiction.
Answer: none of them
Not a fan of the platform?
Neither
Very similar, so it's better to buy the less expensive.
they CAN sound quite similar, but they definitely sound different at their extremes. I'm going to have to do another video. I don't think I conveyed that well.