Roland and Boss have a long history of developing guitar amp modelling, but somehow they’ve managed to cram their latest technology into a Boss compact pedal format, making the new IR‑2 one of the most compact amp modeller pedals out there. Even for a digital pedal, that’s no mean feat, as the case houses six quarter‑inch jacks, a headphone mini‑jack output, a USB‑C port and a power inlet, as well as three dual‑concentric knobs and one rotary switch. There are 11 amp models to play with, and each one loads with an appropriate Celestion Digital IR, but you can also load your own IRs over USB, using the free IR‑2 Loader app (for Mac and Windows).
Looking at those connections first, on the right there’s the input, a socket for a channel‑select footswitch (if connected, the integral footswitch just works as a bypass) and a TRS return for an internal effects loop. The loop supports stereo operation when needed, sending stereo effects to the IR‑2’s audio output jacks, which are on the left along with the FX Send jack.
On the rear, the USB‑C port facilitates connection to a computer — the pedal can operate as an audio interface as well as load user IRs using the app ‑and there’s also the headphone jack. As with other Boss compact pedals, there’s a battery compartment under the pedal, but using a power supply is recommended, as the digital circuitry can be a touch power hungry; this pedal takes 160mA. We’re informed that the DSP utilises 32‑bit floating‑point processing at a 96kHz sample rate.
The centre sections of the three dual‑concentric knobs control Ambience, Level and Gain, with the right‑most knob being the model selector. The outside rings of the knobs controls Bass, Middle and Treble. Ranging from clean to super hot, the 11 amp types are: Clean, Twin, Tweed, Diamond, Crunch, Brit, Hi‑Gain, SLDN, Brown, Modded and Rfier. The Ambience knob adds some natural roominess to the sound.
The in‑built footswitch alternates between two channels of amp settings or, when held down, engages bypass. There’s no ‘save’ routine: you just set the knobs as you like, press the footswitch (which toggles the LED between red and green), then dial in new settings for your second ‘channel’, and then wait a couple of seconds before changing channels to allow time for the parameters to be updated. The amp and cabinet sections can be turned on or off independently, so you can bypass the cab when plugging into a regular guitar amp.
While there’s virtually no learning curve for using the IR‑2, a downloadable manual details more advanced features, many of which are accessed through specific power‑up routines. These include bypassing the amp or cab sections, and it’s also possible to change the ambience from Room to Hall or Plate, and to configure the return jack for mono or stereo use.
The USB‑C port will work without drivers in Generic mode but defaults to Vendor, which needs the downloadable Boss drivers. The Generic driver setting allows it to work with iOS devices. There are settings to match the sound to different types of amp (some Boss and Roland models, plus a few generic ones). If you connect to the IR‑2 Loader app, there’s an Editor tab that will let you switch the amp and cab sections on or off, select the ambience type, select the output mode and switch the return to mono or stereo. You can also switch from Generic to Vendor driver modes, activate a loopback function and adjust the effects out, mix in and loopback levels.
On the IR page, you get to see what drivers and mic IRs are used for each amp type, with the option to locate a third‑party IR and load that into the amplifier type slot instead. There’s also a Menu page that allows for data backup and accessing the manual, if you haven’t downloaded it already.
Sonics
Sonically, this pedal sounds much like its ‘grown‑up’ Boss counterparts, though as there are no onboard effects other than the Ambience options, you may wish to combine it with other pedals or plug‑ins; the effects send and returns are a useful addition in that respect. The sounds respond well to playing dynamics and those tricky on‑the‑edge breakup sounds come over convincingly. Clean sounds have a comfortable playing feel and don’t sound at all sterile, while more assertive rock sounds are great fun and cut through nicely without getting fizzy. DI’ed into my DAW and adding just a hint of reverb produced plenty of amp timbres I’d be happy to record with when miking an amp is impractical.
Given its impressive sound quality, ease of use, modest cost and five‑year warranty, the IR‑2 looks destined to become very popular.
Whether you need a pedal that can conjure up 11 amp types only you can say, but the amp types cover just about any genre and you can have a different amp type with different control settings loaded into each channel too. For the live musician, an IR‑2 on a pedalboard could provide a good direct‑to‑PA solution, be used as an overdrive, or just live in your gig bag as a backup option. Given its impressive sound quality, ease of use, modest cost and five‑year warranty, the IR‑2 looks destined to become very popular.
Information
£179 including VAT.
$199.99
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