I have used a few tube powered floor units over the last year. The IR-X, the IR-D, Two Notes Revolt, and the Bluguitar Amp1 Mercury. I prefer the tone of the IR-D over all of them. I like the gain structure and having duplicate channels works best for me. It’s a very Marshall-esque gain but without the overly present high end sizzle that puts some people off. There is plenty of gain in the pedal and it can go from slightly broken up clean to chewy classic 80’s and 90’s metal on either channel. It sits well in the mix and the built in boost can easily cut through for solos. It also takes gain pedals very well and loves TS9 and SD1’s. It responds to your guitar volume just like all Friedman amps will do. I really enjoy the tones I get from this box.

There are so many great features here. I like that it can be used in the return of a normal amp and/or use the balanced out and IR to go to front of house. I love having 2 identical channels. Being able to tweak them so differently but still have the same general feel is a big plus. The individual boosts for each channel is also a great feature. Depending on how you set them you can use them to push the amp a little harder, or crank the volume and use it to boost solos above the band. The only real downsides I have found is that if you want to use both an amp return AND use the IR to go to FoH you need to split the effects send out so you can insert the amp in the loop. Not a huge deal and easily overcome with a splitter. The other one is lack of an on/off switch. Sometimes I forget to shut off my power strip and it will stay on for a few hours until I realize it. Speaking of power, it runs just fine on a Cioks DC7 with the current doubler cable and Mr Friedman has said multiple times in various forums that it will run just fine off 9 volts.

It’s as easy as any good tube amp. Start with everything at noon and adjust to taste. You have 3 onboard IR on each channel that you can change with the flick of a switch and they all sound good. If you want to get deeper you can use the editor software to pull down more IR and adjust the presence and resonance and even set up MIDI for programming PC and CC messages. You can switch channels, boost status, IR etc. but not any analog functions. I could see this being very handy in conjunction with a multi effect of loop switcher.

By all accounts it seems to be made very well. This is my 4th one and they withstand the abuse of life on a pedalboard pretty well.

Considering what it is and what it does, I think it’s priced fair. Especially for something made in USA.

I’ve owned a few Freidman amps and other products over the years and their support email has always been really good. The man himself has even responded back to me a couple of times. Other than questions, I’ve not dealt with any repair or warranty issues.

For $500 at the time of writing you get a 2 channel made in USA Friedman tube preamp that sounds awesome and isn’t a gimmick. These Synergy based preamp pedals from Boutique Amp Distribution are definitely becoming a ‘thing’. Anyone who wants a pedalboard based rig without the menus and deep diving modelers can bring should definitely check out one of the Friedman IR pedals!

Been around the block

Rock, Classic Rock, Prog, CCM