Your IR experience, good/bad/ugly?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ZEN Amps
  • Start date Start date
ilikehats said:
well well well. as a non-IR RL user, this is interesting news to me. does it change the math if im using the XLR balanced output?
Click to expand...
No, same thing.

The non-IR model has an output Z of 10kΩ (max) and with its output level at noon it's closer to 5kΩ. Best practice is for the input Z of the receiving device to be at least 10x that of the source's output Z. In this case you'd want 50-100kΩ, which is unusually high.

The Focusrite Scarlett line input is ok as it's an outlier at ~50kΩ, but the UA Apollo, Apogee, RME, MOTU etc. are in the more typical 10kΩ range. An instrument input is typically 100x higher than the line input (the 1MΩ region), hence the recommendation.

Try recording clips using both the line and instrument inputs if available. In theory the high end is most affected, but in practice the low end can suffer and distortion be introduced - the unwanted kind.

You won't necessarily have these problems, but the potential is there and worth experimenting to check.
 
ZEN Amps said:
No, same thing.

The non-IR model has an output Z of 10kΩ (max) and with its output level at noon it's closer to 5kΩ. Best practice is for the input Z of the receiving device to be at least 10x that of the source's output Z. In this case you'd want 50-100kΩ, which is unusually high.

The Focusrite Scarlett line input is ok as it's an outlier at ~50kΩ, but the UA Apollo, Apogee, RME, MOTU etc. are in the more typical 10kΩ range. An instrument input is typically 100x higher than the line input (the 1MΩ region), hence the recommendation.

Try recording clips using both the line and instrument inputs if available. In theory the high end is most affected, but in practice the low end can suffer and distortion be introduced - the unwanted kind.

You won't necessarily have these problems, but the potential is there and worth experimenting to check.
Click to expand...
I’m not technical on this stuff, why did Suhr design it this way?
 
ZEN Amps said:
No, same thing.

The non-IR model has an output Z of 10kΩ (max) and with its output level at noon it's closer to 5kΩ. Best practice is for the input Z of the receiving device to be at least 10x that of the source's output Z. In this case you'd want 50-100kΩ, which is unusually high.

The Focusrite Scarlett line input is ok as it's an outlier at ~50kΩ, but the UA Apollo, Apogee, RME, MOTU etc. are in the more typical 10kΩ range. An instrument input is typically 100x higher than the line input (the 1MΩ region), hence the recommendation.

Try recording clips using both the line and instrument inputs if available. In theory the high end is most affected, but in practice the low end can suffer and distortion be introduced - the unwanted kind.

You won't necessarily have these problems, but the potential is there and worth experimenting to check.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explainer. I'll experiment with the line/instrument input on my interface tonight!
1744167879199.png
 
Chubtone said:
So would the Fryette Power Station be a better match to a UA Apollo interface than the non ir Suhr Reactive Load?
Click to expand...

They're both equally good at that specific task, but otherwise it's kind of apples and oranges

The Suhr will probably be the easiest to plug-and-play and sound good without very much fiddling. Just mind what @ZEN Amps said about the output impedance into your interface. That's the only real "better" here, is that you don't need to worry about that with the PS.

The power station will sound just as good, but also have a million other options and possible applications for non-recording stuff
 
Chubtone said:
So would the Fryette Power Station be a better match to a UA Apollo interface than the non ir Suhr Reactive Load?
Click to expand...
I mean technically yes if you're going into a line input - but just use the instrument input on your interface and the Suhr performs beautifully.
 
Just tried this very quickly and through the line in at the back of my apollo i'm getting a slight bump around 500hz - makes it slighly less 'open' vs the through the HZ it sounds a bit more balanced across the frequency range. we're talking marginal difference though..
 
I made IRs years ago, and don't use them anymore. They just don't compete with a mic, for the most part. I recently got the GGD Contenders IR thing, and it is by far the best, most mic'd sounding IRs I've used.
 
NinjaRaf said:
I made IRs years ago, and don't use them anymore. They just don't compete with a mic, for the most part. I recently got the GGD Contenders IR thing, and it is by far the best, most mic'd sounding IRs I've used.
Click to expand...
Curious about Contenders vs the Cali and Goldstack that I already have.
 
ZEN Amps said:
I mean technically yes if you're going into a line input - but just use the instrument input on your interface and the Suhr performs beautifully.
Click to expand...
I have had issues running my guitar direct into the front HZ input on my Apollo with it peaking the hell out of the input with just medium output pickups. In reading up on it there seems to be a lot of people who experience this and complaints about how the HZ instrument input is designed on the Apollo. I bought a Countryman direct box and run my guitar into that and then into the line level input on the back which solves that. Would that be a better way to run the Suhr Reactive Load into the Apollo?

The reason I ask is that I have spent 10 million hours using my Reactive Load and trying IR's and still am not thrilled with any of them. Thanks!
 
Chubtone said:
I have had issues running my guitar direct into the front HZ input on my Apollo with it peaking the hell out of the input with just medium output pickups. In reading up on it there seems to be a lot of people who experience this and complaints about how the HZ instrument input is designed on the Apollo. I bought a Countryman direct box and run my guitar into that and then into the line level input on the back which solves that. Would that be a better way to run the Suhr Reactive Load into the Apollo?

The reason I ask is that I have spent 10 million hours using my Reactive Load and trying IR's and still am not thrilled with any of them. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hmm that is a problem, and an oversight from UA. But no incorporating a DI isn't a great solution - it's now taking a raging amp down to mic level, just to boost it back up (I assume you meant the Countryman is going into the mic input, not line?).

Running the Suhr with it's output level quite low into the Hi-Z input is the preferred approach. It may feel weird having the pot down at 9:00 but it's fine - one of it's main functions is to dump level and interface with something other than a cab.

I suspect this stuff isn't the source of you IR unthrilledness though, what does that side look like?

Catthan said:
Just tried this very quickly and through the line in at the back of my apollo i'm getting a slight bump around 500hz - makes it slighly less 'open' vs the through the HZ it sounds a bit more balanced across the frequency range. we're talking marginal difference though..
Click to expand...
Interesting. I wonder if you're losing a little lows and highs, rather than getting a small boost at 500? Either way I'm glad it's only subtle.

As I said in practice, and for a pretty lo-fi signal like an amp's output, the effects may not be present or at least not noticeable. I don't have a Suhr box anymore but years ago I did notice that on certain preamps (using the line in) the high end was attenuated.
 
Chubtone said:
I have had issues running my guitar direct into the front HZ input on my Apollo with it peaking the hell out of the input with just medium output pickups. In reading up on it there seems to be a lot of people who experience this and complaints about how the HZ instrument input is designed on the Apollo. I bought a Countryman direct box and run my guitar into that and then into the line level input on the back which solves that. Would that be a better way to run the Suhr Reactive Load into the Apollo?

The reason I ask is that I have spent 10 million hours using my Reactive Load and trying IR's and still am not thrilled with any of them. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I would try suhr > countryman > apollo if you haven't already to compare
 
I have really grown to love IR setups! I use Suhr reactive load with my 1987x and XTC101B and could not be happier! So far my favorite IRs are the York Audio Marshall M25s... Guitar -> amp -> Suhr RL IR -> SSL2+ -> Genelec G Three speakers. I am also using my quad cortex a lot and it is so easy to try out the different IRs with it.
 
To solve the high impedance output problem of the Suhr RL, could you use a separate Line Out box and just route the amp and Suhr RL through it, using the Suhr as a dummy cab, and use the Line Out from the Line Out box?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top