This Has BECOME A Really Great Direct Solution For Guitarists

The Laney IRT Pulse used with an impulse response is a great sound. When they came out a good few years back, they were a solid offering in a market that wasn't dominated by modelling technology. I reckon there's still a place for a simple valve driven unit like this, for all of us that don't like menus. However, I'd want an IR loader and a stereo output and then it's something I'd be really in to. Failing that, just grab one used for not much money and pair it with an inexpensive loader and you've got a killer recording setup for very little expense.

[@roscius6204]

Opening slide was real nice🤗

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

Thanks man, very kind!

[@antonyfaulkner8649]

Beautiful playing dude!

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

Thanks man, appreciated!

[@GetEspo]

The Laney IRT-X expansion cabs were ACES! Still have mine...

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

I just looked that up, as I had no idea what an IRT-X expansion cab was. Interesting product and concept and can totally see how that would be useful. You certainly can't fault Laney for innovation. It's sort of an FRFR, but for valve amps! Clever.

[@GetEspo]

​​@@BenFletcherGuitar I tap a line out from my amp's speaker output & run that into a L6 HX Effects for IR, time based and mod effects into a pair of IRT-X cabs... wet-dry-wet. Laney should re-imagine Pulse & X! They have in a way though, with the new Lion- & Iron-heart units.

[@batmandeltaforce]

Dude defines Soul:)

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

Far too kind, but thank you!

[@graemero5532]

I have never felt the inclination to, or had a use for buying pedals like that. Back when I used distorted sounds I really liked the Laney amps driven sounds to a point. I say that as if you go to high with the gain they have a very fizzy saturated sound.

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

You had the Lionheart amp that I did, didn't you? I had the L20H. That was a nice sounding amp. I've said it before, but I wish I hadn't sold that one. I think all amps get a bit fizzy if you crank the gain too much though, especially if your power stage isn't working hard enough. This unit ^ isn't really a pedal. You can think of it more as the input stage of an amp, although on a quick review of my video I realised I never actually explained what it was. It was more of an open letter to Laney, so I neglected to cover that ground. It's more than capable of clean sounds, I just didn't demonstrate that because it wasn't really a comprehensive review video. Its strength is in gain tones though, I reckon. Do you never play with gain now? You mentioned using gain in a past-tense. I couldn't possibly play slide without some amount of gain. Not without putting insanely huge strings on and maybe using a compressor.

[@graemero5532]

@@BenFletcherGuitar I had the 5w head & 1x12 cab Lionheart, and in my metal period youth i had a Laney session 45 reverb. I only use a little gain from my amp itself now, but only enough to give body to my clean sound. I have not owned any pedals for six months or so, sold the lot. Most of them added their own thing to the tone and covered the differences in the individual tones from my guitars. The only drive pedal I have ever tried that did not change the core tone of each of my guitars was the DOD Looking Glass.

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

@@graemero5532 Just looked up the Session 45 Reverb, seem to be plenty going for under 80 quid on Reverb, tempted?! I've heard good things about the looking glass. Having never played through a DOD pedal, I was very tempted to put together a Jeff Healey board with all of his main DOD pedals. This was back when they were going for peanuts. Too expensive for me to do that now, but I'm still intrigued by the concept.

[@frankdevroome2697]

I prefer the Laney speaker emulation from my IRT Studio over any IR I've tried... 😬

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

That's fair enough, everyone has a personal preference. I would say quite a lot of players are going to prefer the results with an IR now, especially with one that is of a speaker they'd use in real life. An emulated speaker isn't really close to sounding like a specific speaker on a recording. (If that's even what you want) Emulation is more like an impression of what using a cab is like, versus not using one at all. Although they can still sound good, especially if you enjoy that extra sizzle on the top end. I also find that emulated speakers can sound great with clean tones. Ben

[@jamujesperandersen8699]

Sounds great! I’m Jawdropped with your slide style - please explain😎🎸

[@stevenbrown9495]

The explanation is plenty of practice!!!

[@jamujesperandersen8699]

Off course - it looks like you play the notes behind the slide🤔

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

Thank you, very kind! Yes, it's a take on Sonny Landreth's approach to playing, but with very different note choice. That was who I first saw playing that way. Definitely opens up a lot of possibilities. (You should check out Sonny if you haven't heard of him, he's great!) Ben.

[@jamujesperandersen8699]

@@BenFletcherGuitar I will check him out and thanks for the tip. You sound great man!

[@stevenbrown9495]

👍👍👍

[@MS-Patriot2]

The Sonicake IR has an aggravating 9mS delay that renders it unusable for me in a live situation.. it’s like playing into an aggressive compressor. Nice bit of kit and great value but it’s a no from me.

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

You know I'd never noticed any latency, but this might explain why I like it. If the result of the 9ms is a compressed feel, then that suits me because I favour compressed sounds and dislike immediate sounds. I always face my amp away from me when using a real cab. I always have some form of delay running too, so maybe that masks it? I will say that you're not supposed to be able to perceive anything below 10ms, but maybe you're more attuned to it than most?

[@MS-Patriot2]

@@BenFletcherGuitar Interesting. I like how these forums can discuss different use cases and discover new things. Our band is a classic 2 guitar, bass and drums set up and we cover snappy stuff like old AC/DC and ZZTop. For years we used mic’d up tube amps but venues (and our ageing ears) are getting fussy about sound levels, plus our Sound Engineer is an advocate of ‘silent stage’ to clean up the mix. I moved to a BluGuitar AMP1 and added the Sonicake IR as an embellishment to the static speaker emulation in the AMP1 line out. I do have a sensitive ear for pitch and dynamics so I was picking up something during gigs that was stressing me. Perhaps I’ll slow down with age and it will go away 🧐. Meantime I’m back to zero latency 😎🤟

[@BenFletcherGuitar]

@@MS-Patriot2 Yes, I treat my comments section as just a chat between musicians after a gig, I figure a lot of us guys are playing venues of a similar level (in fact probably most guys are playing bigger things than I am, ha!) Two guitars can definitely get loud in a rush, especially on certain material. I tend to play too quiet these days, so as not to start a volume war, but in the past I was a total idiot with my volume level! I'm not a big fan of the silent stage. I like to hear the backline at a gig, not the PA, as it's designed for the purpose. Even if I'm in the audience that's what I prefer to hear. Guitar through horns can sound evil, even using an IR! That said, if you're playing big venues there's no avoiding going in to a big rig and it'd be tough to argue with the benefits of sound dispersion through the room, instead of killing the person right in front of you! I'm really only playing small pubs, so it's guitar and bass through your own cab and only the vocal in the PA, with no monitors and certainly no engineer! Suits me as I can get to the venue 20 minutes before the gig and set up both my guitar gear and PA in a few minutes. I also play backing track gigs with everything in to the PA, playing social club gigs, but I try not to think about that...

[@MS-Patriot2]

@@BenFletcherGuitar Ha ! Yeah I had a few pairs of jeans that used to flap with the SPL coming out of even a 1x12 with a 20W Marshall head. Our venues are pretty small too and we were competing with a loud drummer, so small wedge monitors were required for vocal and cabs were mic’d for dispersion. Our problem was spill of guitars into vocal mics and your method of pointing the cab off vocal mic axis is something we didn’t try. The DI approach has made the mix more ‘hi-fi’ and we’ve tamed the horn accenting on the guitars, reducing the fizziness. Of course the punters couldn’t care less but as a sixty year-old who has always played through tube amps it’s a bit like sex with a condom.

[@stevenbrown9495]

@@BenFletcherGuitarWhen have ever got to a gig as early as 20mins before??? 🤣🤣🤣