Laney Ironheart IRT-Pulse Tube Swapping Madness!

Can you swap out the tubes in the Laney Ironheart IRT-Pulse Tube Preamp! Yes indeed! Check out this tube swapping extravaganza as I compare tones using vintage Sylvania and Mullard 12AX7, 12AT7 and 12AU7 tubes.
Original tubes: 1:40
Mullard CV4024/12AT7: 9:24
Sylvania 12AU7: 15:40
Mullard CV4004/12AX7 + CV4024/12AT7: 19:14
#AmbientGuitar #TubeAmps #GuitarPreamp
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Equipment used in this video (in order of the signal chain):
Fender Blacktop Telecaster Baritone
Laney Ironheart IRT-Pulse Tube Preamp amzn.to/2TNQsx3
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[@csharpminorseven]

Thank you so much CoO for this video, and for all the comments guys made that gave their input too. As a result I put a 12AU7/ECC82 in the left hand socket (V1?) and left the 12AX7 in the right, and for my purposes (clean country/blues/jazz) it has transformed my IRT-Pulse: less gain and more clean headroom and it now sits on the end of my mini-pedalboard giving me a lush clean valve sound, mostly through my headphones. I might mention that on that mini-pedalboard I have right after the guitar an old Behringer Preamp Booster set before 12 that really helps the IRT-Pulse sitting at the end of the chain, FWIW. I don't know if this technically 'correct' but it certainly works sound wise! I'd been ready to discard the IRT-Pulse but now its a favourite 'pedal' - "IRT-Pulse Tube Swapping Madness rules OK" for me...

[@clintwhite3021]

I’ve placed a BBE sonic stomp maxed out after mine and brings it (and any analog cabsim) alive also. Bit of a happy accident. Those Joyo American Sound pedals sound fantastic with the sonic stomp also.

[@aussieb1416]

I play thrash/death metal but i can tell by your changing of the tubes you can chuck your favourite pedal infront of it plugged into an effects loop of a solidstate and might find some magic. Great exploring of the Iron heart and cheers for a good efort.

[@AardvarkAdventure]

"A liiiittle delay".... ...The Verve's *A Storm in Heaven* plays. Love it.

[@YOutsider]

thanks for this demo. was wondering about this box. i use a mesa v-twin for clean and crunch-full array of EQ available.

[@StadinBasso]

Loved hearing the differences in sound. I really liked combination 2 and 4.

[@autodivision]

Well that was fun and thank you!

[@chordsoforion]

You are welcome!

[@paulkielt9301]

The 12AT7s sound the best to my ears. I own two of those Mullard inside my Mesa Boogie, as the first preamp tube and the other as phase inverter and they do pretty well their job.

[@chordsoforion]

Nice!!

[@BozowolfnHD]

The Mullard CV4004/12AX7 + CV4024/12AT7 set reminded me very much of a Steve Moris or Eric Johnson type sound circa 1989ish. Myself I would go with the lower gain Sylvania set because of the type of guitar I have (early 1990's Washburn KC series).

[@chordsoforion]

Nice on the Washburn!

[@mattx847]

Hi, Thanks for a really enjoyable video. Loved the sound comparisons and your personal input. Sound-wise I like metal sound (must be in the blood, I grew up 2 miles from Laney) but preferred the last combo (Mullard CV4004/12AX7 + CV4024/12AT7). Very clear, nice n creamy with possibility of a post-punk crunch edge I like. Cheers from England. MJR

[@muhammadrezahaghiri]

I used some Tube amp sims on my recording projects, but I never had the chance to use an actual one, maybe because my family are so sensitive on noises and sounds and I prefer to record most of my music using my laptop and all plugins. But this pre-amp sounds cool! I really enjoyed the sounds you made. Anyway, we only have 3 days to the new Iranian year. I know it's not a celebration of new year in your area, but it doesn't stop me from wishing you a great and wonderful spring :)

[@TheJasdavies]

I use the IRT Pulse with Amplitube as it can be connected with USB. It sound great as it gives real tube sounds.

[@graysonwilson-cacciapalle7989]

TheJasdavies good idea! I like the ability to fine tune the cab section in amplitude, haven’t done it with any of my preamp pedals yet though, I’ve used other IR plugins. I’ll try it tonight!

[@jounikorhonen]

I would REALLY like to hear someone running a compressor and an overdrive into that preamp. Maybe even a serious fuzz. :D ...."A little delay" -And the whole thing expands into space. :D I love that.

[@richardminskip4694]

Swapped the tubes on mine for Marshall 12AX7s and it sounds immense - far more smooth and usable than the original Laney tubes ... it’s a good piece of kit

[@chordsoforion]

Excellent!!

[@richardwilliams1310]

I would like to see some AMT Electronics 12AX7WS WarmStone - 12AX7 tubes solid state equivalents demoed in this pedal and other amps too. Jet City also made Retrovalve too, which are similar to the AMTs. These solid state alternatives should last longer and create less heat than glass tubes/valves but do they hold up with tone? They will probably get rid of that microphonic distortion heard in this demo too from glass tubes/valves

[@TimMer1981]

Can't imagine swapping tubes would void warranty; it's just maintenance in some cases.

[@deanveni638]

Replacing anything that isn’t stock approved generally voids warranty on pedals. It’s tampering if you’re stepping outside of what the unit is intended for unfortunately

[@TimMer1981]

Generally yes, but replacing tubes in a preamp is like changing oil in your car: maintenance. Swapping to non-standard tubes is a different story indeed.

[@chordsoforion]

That's a good point @TimMer1981. I went back and looked at the manual, and it does provide brief instructions for swapping out the tubes.

[@TimMer1981]

@@chordsoforion Thought so. Just trying to take unneeded doubts away, nothing more. :)

[@JonathanKillstring]

I love the Ironheart IRT stuff. My main tone comes from the IRT studio, which I just flat-out adore. The Pulse is more or less the same preamp stage, so this was fun to see some of the differences. Good stuff as always! (Edit: I realize that I neglected to talk about the differences. Swapping tubes is always going to be pretty subtle, in my opinion. That said, the 12AT7 opened up some really nice low-gain settings: which would be great if you wanted to push your Laney closer to Fender territory. The 12AU7 was a little too low output for me.

[@poockoo]

How about using with conjunction with the HX stomp to make to more tube like?

[@chordsoforion]

It should work. the manual says that the inputs can be used with guitars, keyboards and even other modelers. Definitely worth experimenting with.

[@SunTeleLeo]

I'm geeting this one to complement my home studio recording stuff (para driver, blackstar duel, tech21 liverpool, voodoo sparkle drive)... I guess it will go together well with my G&L tele (which is on the bright side) and the price is ok with me....

[@HewittH]

This was awesome and full of magic science! TC Electronic makes the very inexpensive Tube Pilot pedal and every demo I've heard of it sounds really terrible. I wonder what IT would sound like with different tubes? HINT HINT Thanks for your awesome vids!

[@JMal883]

Excellent review as always, but you’re costing me a fortune! Just kidding keep up the good work, can’t blame your for my GAS. 😉 (Edited to say I agree with you about the change in sound, especially the Mullard combo)

[@koozerzz]

it sounds great, very clean and beautiful sound. I also got an IRT pulse, it has a lot of noise, did you use the original power supply?

[@chordsoforion]

Yes - I use the original power supply.

[@koozerzz]

@@chordsoforion Thanks for the reply. Very helpful.

[@biakhui5580]

@@koozerzz OK, so what's the conclusion ? He's not having the noise, you are ? How did this help you ?

[@koozerzz]

@@biakhui5580 So th noise problem maybe is not from the power supply, I need to check all other issue. I 　need to check less problem.Hah!

[@thraxas79]

Great Review! I would like to use this unit with my Boss MS-3 as a flyrig, but the the IRT Pulse isn't able to switch anything by a footswitch :( is there any chance to control the Hot-Button and maybe Bright, EQ and Dark by MIDI over USB (so its class complient so theres a little hope) ? Or would it be possible to open it and modifi the hardware by soldering to hock up the Hot Button to the FS1 connector instead of the bypass function?

[@clintwhite3021]

Did you ever experiment with this? I’d like to have a “hot” foot switch also. Doubt it’d be hard for the savvy.

[@clintwhite3021]

Just received mine and the volume jump from clean would be too great to have the Hot button connected to a foot switch unfortunately :(

[@PietropaaxD]

can I put it in a pedalboad and connect it to a transistor amplifier?

[@Michael_Moon4242]

Yes. You can connect the audio output to any amp or mixer input. If you don't have any amp it has a headphone output. You can also record the signal via USB into any DAW or device you like digitally. I'm producing on a low budget and I think it sounds really good, not considering all this tube discussion. Will get me one for a studio band project, for 173€ it's not too bad.

[@jst601]

How do you use that preamp? For direct gigs, recording? Into a cab sim device or into a power amp & speaker of some kind? Curious....

[@chordsoforion]

I strictly use it for recording. put a compressor in front of it, follow it with volume pedal, delays and reverbs. And I use the built-in cab sim.

[@jst601]

@@chordsoforion So this is a cool Eleven Rack replacement? Nice.

[@lightaces]

The term you are after is cathode biased, which isn't really pertinent - any tube can be cathode biased, that's just the type of circuit. What you are referring to is a particular type of dual triode tube, all of which fall into the 12a_7 line. (There are other names, of course - ecc8_, etc.) And of course they sound different, you are making a major change to the circuit, particularly to the amount of gain in the circuit. Not rocket science here, just electrical engineering.

[@chordsoforion]

Thanks for the clarification!!

[@barndawg77]

I dig your style, dude.

[@Basurahrock]

YOu Know whats anoyying? Having the unit upside down in the video

[@DivKid]

Madness?

[@natef226]

Dual triode tubes

[@stefangolubek8219]

I really don't know why this guy is so popular? He is mediocre guitar player, who has no idea what the music is about, but still, for many amateur guitar He is almost ....God. And, by the way, He is just amateur, who can't tune up his guitar.

[@kingmafw]

Stefan Golubek why are you bitching and trolling to him? Your comments here don't make any sense as long you have no content on your channel by yourself dude. Are you jealous or what?

[@stefangolubek8219]

@@kingmafw Jealous of what? You are really funny. I don't have my channel, as He has one himself. Nobody forced Him to go for the worldwide public, so everybody (including myself) has rights to express different opinions on a content of His channel. Different opinions, not the praise only!

[@tobyhacking8492]

@@stefangolubek8219 yeah but noone here is being a suck up for the sake of it are they, but youre being a dick for the sake of it so- i dont think anyone cares what you think tbh x have a lovely day and dont forget to brush ya peggys in the mornin x

[@stefangolubek8219]

@@tobyhacking8492 I don't care what anybody think of my opinion. Including You.

[@organjoe]

Disagree - I think he's an excellent player, interesting musician, and a great equipment demo guy!

[@electricmeatpuppet]

The original amp sounds amazing, but that's a four stage preamp... great heavy rock or metal gain tones...

[@chordsoforion]

Apparently, this is also a 4 stage preamp. At least that is what the manual says.