Free Impulse Response Loader
Katariina Washuk
I don't know much about them, but I've heard that ir's can greatly improve the sound from your firehawk. I'm considering getting something like a mooer radar to stick in the fx loop but am unsure as to its use. Anyone with any experience? Does it really make that much of a difference? Do you need to change ir when switching between presets? Any advice would be appreciated.
There's a lot of opinion that has to be sorted through. What very few people know and understand is that the Firehawk's cabs are also impulse responses. So this belief going around that impulse responses are some sort of secret sauce that Line 6 stubbornly refuses to use themselves is not at all accurate. Nevertheless, even with real cabs, preferences abound. What that means is preferences for impulse responses abound too. What one person might adore (Line 6's cabs) another might prefer someone else's. So it's always been possible that if you don't prefer Line 6's you might enjoy another companies cab models.
Further, the Firehawk is an older budget device, and impulse responses have improved since then. The Strymon Iridium arguably has far higher quality cab models than the Firehawk FX, but also costs a decent chunk of change. At that price, you're nearing the cost of an HX Stomp, which, in my opinion, is better than the Firehawk or the Iridium combined or separate.
Thanks for the input, much appreciated. My concern is not so much cost, as many ir loaders are fairly cheap, but more to do with functionality; on the firehawk itself the pressing of one switch can take you from heavenly cleans to the most gain-y distorted tones. Obviously this (usually) requires a patch change with different amp and cab blocks. If you were to use an ir loader, the cab would now be on the loader, not on the block, so changing from one tone to another could now possibly require two switch presses, the one on the firehawk and one on the loader; unless you use the same cab for both tones, but doing this, in my head, means the combination might not sound best, eg using a marshall cab with mesa boogie amp.
I haven't used it with an external IR loader pedal, but DI into the DAW with IRs and it works well. For me personally, I prefer to use one cab (stock or IR, I use a Helix for my live/recording rig and the Firehawk FX is my backup/home jam rig) for my live tones anyways. My thought process is that if I had a real cab on stage, even if I had a rack full of preamps, I'm not gonna be switching cabs out to use them live, so I dial in my cleans and means to sound good on the same cab IR. For recording, it doesn't really matter how you load the IR, or if you use a different one for every amp model, but for live stuff I stick with the "Keep it Simple, Stupid" philosophy.
I get what you're saying in terms of making your own sound, just pick one cab that sounds good with the amp models you're going to use and build your sound around that. However, if you're doing covers and want an authentic sound, this might not work so well.
Well if anyone is interested in this topic, i decided to find the cheapest ir loader pedal i could find, which happened to be the nux mini studio, under 50. This pedal has 8 preloaded ir's which can be replaced with third party responses. On this pedal switching of presets is done manually by turning a knob, so there's no way to change cabs whilst playing.
Incorporating it into the fx loop (disabling the fhfx stock cab) i find that there is not much of a difference for clean tones, but for distortion patches the tone acquires a more realistic feel, and patches sound generally better than with the equivalent line 6 modelled cabs.
All in all i would say this is a good way to improve the sounds from your fhfx at a very decent price. Infact i had already incorporated a Zoom MS 50g to my fx loop for modulation and boost capabilities, and together with the mini studio, i would say my fhfx has become a very versatile and excellent-sounding machine. Would recommend these two purchases to anyone.
An impulse response loader replaces your guitar cabinet, by simulating the sound of a guitar speaker. They can be software or hardware-based and are typically used with a physical preamp, amp head, or with plugins. A pedal-based impulse response loader prevents you from having to carry your guitar cabinet around with you, allowing for much easier transportation of your rig.
An impulse response is a measurement of the sound of a guitar cabinet, usually through a microphone and then sometimes into a desk. When you record a guitar in the studio it goes through lots of different processes and hardware before you hear it coming out of the monitors, impulse responses allow you to capture that sound and play it anywhere.
Amp and cab simulation is now firmly in the mainstream of modern guitar thanks to their improved usability and nigh-on indistinguishable sound from the real thing. Using one of the best impulse response loader pedals, you can take your favorite tone from the studio to your next show, then back to the practice room without compromising your sound.
Matt is a Junior Deals Writer at Guitar World and has been playing guitar as his main instrument for well over 20 years. He also plays drums, bass, and keys producing out of his home studio in Manchester, UK. He has previously worked for Dawsons Music, Northwest Guitars, and freelanced for various magazines and blogs, writing reviews, how-to's, and features. When he's not downloading the latest VSTs or justifying yet another guitar pedal purchase, you'll find him making a racket with Northern noise hounds JACKALS. "}), " -0-10/js/person.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Matt McCrackenSocial Links NavigationMatt is a Junior Deals Writer at Guitar World and has been playing guitar as his main instrument for well over 20 years. He also plays drums, bass, and keys producing out of his home studio in Manchester, UK. He has previously worked for Dawsons Music, Northwest Guitars, and freelanced for various magazines and blogs, writing reviews, how-to's, and features. When he's not downloading the latest VSTs or justifying yet another guitar pedal purchase, you'll find him making a racket with Northern noise hounds JACKALS.
PULSE was built to be the most powerful yet easy to use impulse response loader on the market. It was designed for both the aspiring engineer and seasoned pro to be able to utilize Impulse Responses to their fullest potential. PULSE has been optimized with real-time sample rate conversion, the achilles-heel of all other IR loaders, and introduces zero latency to your DAW environment.
ALL PRODUCTS AND BRAND NAMES SEEN ON THIS WEBSITE ARE NOT AFFILIATED WITH LANCASTER AUDIO. THESE PRODUCTS AND BRAND NAMES ARE ONLY LISTED ON THIS WEBSITE TO DESCRIBE THE INSTRUMENT BEING SAMPLED OR IMPULSE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ANY USE OF MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING REPRODUCTION, MODIFICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR REPUBLICATION, WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION FROM LANCASTER AUDIO, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Hey everyone, Jeremy here. Today, I'm going to go over a couple of ways to use impulse responses. Specifically, via an IR loader built into an amp sim and standalone IR loaders. So let's go ahead and get started.
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