Friedman IR-X Dual Tube Preamp

I really had high expectations for this product. Featurewise it's got everything and it's well thoughtout....expect for those players who like to have a clean tone.....you can do that but the overall output of the irx gets way too low. The boost on that channel also is too weak for getting it into crunch territory....the lead channel is nice but the tonecontrols lack the ability to get a more mellow, round tone....presence and thump controls as well as other ir's that are excessable through the computer don't change things enough in this regards....it's greatly built, very fine features etc but it's not for me in terms of delivering the tones I'd like to hear....

I'll start with a short preface. I play mostly heavy music. I own 3 amplifiers: ENGL Ironball, Peavey 5150 and Dual Rectifier. My friends from the cover band needed a new guitarist, as they had a tour of Asia very soon, and their current guitarist was having trouble getting a visa. I needed a compact portable device that could reproduce the classic Plexi and jcm800 sound. At first, my choice fell on various processors. When I went to the local local store, I tried helix and headrush. Yes, these are great processors, but their price and weight made me look for a cheaper and easier solution (I recently splurged on a bunch of synthesizers). After returning home, I got in Internet and started looking for various options. After spending half a day on YouTube and various forums, my eyes fell on friedman ir-x. It was hard not to notice him, because Friedman was running a very aggressive advertising campaign(It seemed that he sent them to all the bloggers on the planet). After listening to various demos, I found its sound acceptable and ordered it from Thomann. It was delivered very quickly, considering that I live very far from Germany, very securely packed, thanks Thomann. When I first tried it at home, its sound did not make a big impression on me, although I made allowances for the fact that my ears are very used to my hi gain monsters. First of all, I loaded my IRs (I made them myself based on my own Marshall 4x12 with a mix of v30 and creamback, but I had to do a little magic in STL IGNITE - LIBRA for this preamp), Then I started trying different overdrive pedals. I liked the sd-1w and maxon od808 the most. Time was very tight and as a result, my mini pedalboard for the tour consisted of Ir-x, boss sd-1w and CAE Wah. What can I say at the end of the tour, which lasted 3 weeks. I had a great time, but that's not what I'm talking about right now:) The device sounds not bad (maybe I'm used to it), but there are strange jambs that cause complete bewilderment.
1)First of all, I want to note the handles of the potentiometers, they are very close and rotate easily at the slightest touch. If you want to change the cabinet or the bright parameter, get ready to rebuild the equalization from scratch, since it is very difficult not to touch the nearby handles. I fixed this problem at home by installing rubber rings under each potiknob.
2) The reserve of volume of the first channel is categorically not enough, fortunately I was saved by an amplifier with a dibox installed under my pedalboard.
3) I don't know what this is related to, but when you turn on the device, the cabinet is not selected by the toggle switch, but always random, which is why you have to click again.
4) When you type gain, it makes a lot of noise, you have to be restrained .
5) If the device had an XLR output and not 6.3, it seems to me it would look more professional, but I understand that this is done for the sake of size.
6) I think it would be cool to organize a similar scheme with the Four Cable Method as in the Victory preamps, which would allow you to add a couple more channels to your amplifier, but alas, the ir-x does not have a bypass.

In conclusion, I can say, ir-x has a acceptable sound, but if you close the Friedman label, it is hardly worth your money:). I apologize for my bad English, I hope my feedback will be useful.

P.S. In one of the venues where we performed, there was a Reissue jcm800. Arriving very early at the soundcheck, I compared them for several hours. I tried various options, connected the ir-x in FX Loop Return of JCM800. I can note that it is not for nothing that many people say that the JCM is the king of all amplifiers. It has an incredible impact, very nicely balanced frequencies and gain. Friedman is also not bad, but alas it is noticeably weaker. Before the performance, I gave a blind test to listen to which one to play. The band and a couple of sound engineers definitely chose JCM

I bought this to try and at first I did not like it. The factory IR’s weren’t appropriate for my taste. I purchased some trusted third party IR’s and with those you can make this unit very versatile. All it takes is some good quality 2x12 cab sims for Ch1 and you can even get edge of breakup cleamish sound. For Ch2 some additional 4x12’s capturing Marshall, Mesa or Orange cabs make a difference especially if you A/B those with factory cabs. You can also switch the pedal cab sims off and connect to an OX Stomp or similar. For home studio the Synergy modules sound a bit better but for pedal board direct applications this actually works.

I ordered Friedman IR-X from Thomann and it arrived in Dubai flawlessly and on-time. As my first order from Thomann, it was a very good experience.

Now let's talk about the IR-X. I have used this unit for over 8 months now and I am really impressed by it. Having used digital modelers for many years, the best thing I like about this unit that it has no digital screen and menus to scroll through. You can dial in EQ and Gain instantly. This helps specially when you have to perform at different venues and need to adjust your EQ and Gain on the fly. Having two channels (low & high) with their own boost setting is very helpful and avoids the need to have a separate boot pedal. I don't use any modulation effects so my signal chain consists of an Overdrive > IR-X > FOH (That's all). I use Reverb/Delay in the loop. Just three pedals and I can get all the tones I need to play Classic Rock and Blues. IR-X is very dynamic, which means it reacts very well to light/hard picking and guitar volume control.

I mostly use channel 1 on the IR-X as a pedal platform. It produces clean to slightly overdriven tones. I prefer getting more saturation through stacked OD pedals, this helps me to add gain, saturation and volume in steps. The beauty of using OD pedals is that you can change the character of the amp. For example, if I use a Dirty Shirley OD pedal in the front then I can make the IR-X sound like a JTM 45.

Whilst I love the IR-X and how it sounds, there are some areas where IR-X could have been even better.

1) The pots on the IR-X are very soft which means they have little to no resistance. I am not sure why Friedman could not get better pots same as we see on Boss and other pedals. Some people add a rubber o-ring under the knobs to create resistance or add an additional protective cover on top. I have seen similar units with better ergonomics.

2) The plastic knobs could have been of better quality; like we get on Marshall amps. To me they look and feel cheap for a US$ 500 unit.

In conclusion IR-X is a great unit and I love it for what it is. However, I also enjoy using ToneX One as a pedal platform, which can offer a lot more than the IR-X.

Overall I think that the idea of a tube preamp with digital output for modern usage at home, for recordings and on stage is great and I would be happy to see more products like this from other companies.

In this particular case we have great sounding device with some flaws that need to be addressed. First problem is a lack of grounding when you are using device standalone with an ac adapter that comes with the preamp. The noise is significant and there is a great chance your dedicated pedal power supply wouldn’t be able to handle it because Friedman requires 800mA and 9-12 volts (which is great on the other side, tubes require power) so please consider that. However when you go to the audio interface it’s usually grounded and you have relatively low hum. Also hp output and balanced output sound different, hp being more bright.

Other thing that can be improved is software. It feels outdated in terms of user experience. The ir uploading process is clunky, and it’s not very easy to go through you library of irs to choose what fits best. The toggles are not showing what they are actually doing so you don’t know if you’ve switched off brightness or went to position I. Firmware updates automatically and no one asks you if you’ve switched off want to do it, but to update the app you have to go to the Friedman website and download it.

Boost setting on the side of the preamp are plastic, very small and are hard to turn. Looks like they are made for a screwdriver, but I didn’t want to mess with them with a screwdriver because they are plastic and the screwdriver probably will damage them so I’ve never used them.

Would be great if the preamp felt a little more expensive, I think it deserves it.

Overall I recommend it. In my opinion it’s better than digital emulations, more natural and organic sounding. It’s good, but still a full sized 100w amp head would beat it, so if someday it can be on par it would be awesome. For now relatively easy fixes are power supply and software. Can’t wait to see updates for this product.