Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

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griff
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Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by griff »

Couply questions...
I think I'm gonna get a Suhr Reactive Load in the next couple months (done plenty of research and it's pretty much the best one out there) and curious who here uses a load box for recording, what load box is it and what IR's you recommend?
I did think about buying a separate unit also like the Two Notes Cabinet Simulator, but that starts adding up to a lot of money.
Can you tell the difference between using a load box and miking an amp? Cause the demos I've heard, I can't tell.

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by jeremyb »

I don't use a load box, but I've been using IR's quite a bit, what sort of speaker / cab size combination do you want to be using?
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by higainer »

Suhr Reactive Load would've been my go-to as well, unfortunately it's 8 ohm only :(

Fryette Power Station will likely get the nod when I go down that road, multiple ohms etc :thumbup:

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by griff »

Will have to check out the Fryette!
JB, I like the sound of V30's with my Jet City. But I like the idea of IR's because there's such a big selection, so experimenting with them will be great. Greenbacks are nice too.
2X12.

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by jeremyb »

I'd suggest starting with this: http://www.wilkinsonaudio.com/product/gods-cab/ it's free and I've switched to using it with a 5150 model and it sounds bloody great to my ears!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by chur »

I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by griff »

chur wrote:I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
I bet you wish you knew that about the earth before you bought it?

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by codedog »

chur wrote:I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
Interesting. I noticed the current model is V2. Is this "feature" you described in V2 too?

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by chur »

griff7628 wrote:
chur wrote:I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
I bet you wish you knew that about the earth before you bought it?

Somewhat.. my main use for it is to tame my amps and provide a footswitchable volume which it does well.. but I did burn some hours wondering what the hell was going on when trying to connect it to my USB mixer..
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by chur »

codedog wrote:
chur wrote:I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
Interesting. I noticed the current model is V2. Is this "feature" you described in V2 too?

Yep, I have two of the V2 units.. same with both..
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by chur »

codedog wrote:
chur wrote:I wouldn't recommend a Bad Cat Unleash.

Good as a reamper / attenuator which I use it for, but have found via experience and talking to BC the ground from the unit on its line out (and effects loop) isn't earth ground and weird crap happens when you connect it to certain interfaces.. why they made it like this is anyone’s guess..
Interesting. I noticed the current model is V2. Is this "feature" you described in V2 too?

Another undocumented feature is the speaker output of the Unleash isn't earth ground either, so they recommend the use of insulated speaker cables.. found that out the hard way as all of my speaker cables have metal outters on the jack plug, touch that with the back of your hand when your amp is pumping through it and you will feel it.. The unleash speaker output is positive and negative, referenced to our analog ground, although the speaker just sees a large ac voltage across its voice coil.
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by GrantB »

For the uninitiated, and purposefully naive, what is an IR?
"Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible god and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he's destroying is this god he's worshipping." - Hubert Reeves

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by chur »

GrantB wrote:For the uninitiated, and purposefully naive, what is an IR?

Impulse Response.. kind of a software speaker / filter - think Torpedo Live, C.A.B or plugin for a DAW

From google - An impulse response is like a sample that can be superimposed to a signal. It is a linear process which can’t add non-linear compression or saturation to a signal since it’s a linear technique. Using an impulse response the input signal won’t be able to drive the output in non-linear ways. This means that many of the irregularities of a real speaker are not present when using an impulse response. A speaker can breakup in a non-linear way and we’re not able to capture this in an impulse response.

An impulse response of a speaker cabinet captures the frequency spectrum of the speaker cabinet with a fixed amount of breakup plus the ambiance of the room in which the cabinet is placed.
No one ever died of hard work.. but why take the risk..

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by jeremyb »

In laymans terms you can record the characteristics of everything from amps, effects, speakers, cabs, rooms etc into a file that an IR Loader can then use to apply to an input signal and change it so it sounds like it was coming out of the real thing, it's magic!

It's neat really you could have an IR of a famous guitar cab in a famous studio room or similar and have it applied to your amp... neat really!
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Any Reactive Load Box users out there?

Post by bender »

chur wrote:
GrantB wrote:For the uninitiated, and purposefully naive, what is an IR?

Impulse Response.. kind of a software speaker / filter - think Torpedo Live, C.A.B or plugin for a DAW

From google - An impulse response is like a sample that can be superimposed to a signal. It is a linear process which can’t add non-linear compression or saturation to a signal since it’s a linear technique. Using an impulse response the input signal won’t be able to drive the output in non-linear ways. This means that many of the irregularities of a real speaker are not present when using an impulse response. A speaker can breakup in a non-linear way and we’re not able to capture this in an impulse response.

An impulse response of a speaker cabinet captures the frequency spectrum of the speaker cabinet with a fixed amount of breakup plus the ambiance of the room in which the cabinet is placed.
I use them a lot for making people sound like they're inside a bucket… or a nuclear cooling tower.

An impulse response is the key component of a process called Convolution. It's basically a way of sampling the way a processor, speaker or room affect a sound source (e.g. human voice, guitar, whatever) so that you can apply that same effect to anything else.
Last edited by bender on Wed Mar 01, 2017 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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