Aahzz
Bluebeard Member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2012
- Messages
- 6,575
So - I've been wanting to try an IR-2 since Boss released it, had toy cash set aside, but alas, no one has them in stock. Saw a couple used ones go on Reverb for full retail, and GC had a used one that showed up for 5 minutes at $140 and then it was gone.
Browsing Craigslist last night, not even thinking one would be listed there yet, and lo and behold, a local listing appeared for an as new in box IR-2 at the lovely price of $125. I immediately emailed an "I'll take it", not bothering with questions or anything since I figured it'd vanish quickly. A couple hours went by and I got a text to set up a meeting time and place, which happened today - huzzah!!!
Just spent an hour playing around with it. At first, I didn't think it sounded great, couldn't dial in anything remotely good...and then I realized I was using the concentric knobs wrong
. You don't get more treble if you're actually turning up gain...so, figured that out about 5 minutes in, then decided to do a factory reset anyway, because who knows what the previous dude might have loaded in terms of IRs. Also cycled through all 3 ambience settings.
Initial impressions: I dig the Crunch setting, and the Brit. Don't care for the Rectifier, but the Diamond, Tweed, and Twin have potential. It plays well with the SD-1 and the Purple Nurple. Actually, it plays well with the Great Wide Open too, I'm just reaching the decision that the GWO isn't the distortion pedal for me. Also, not sure I need it with the higher gain amps available.
The Ambience doesn't do much that I can tell, but I haven't played through headphones or at significant volume as of yet.
So, a lot of potential, and I think I'm going to like it. Not sure if it'll become a primary part of my rig, but at the price it's an absolute no-brainer for a backup/practice solution.
The board as it stands today - once I have it more finalized I'll clean up the spaghetti. I keep thinking I should replace the Donner power supply, but man, I get no noise and it seems to work well, so not sure I'll bother.
Browsing Craigslist last night, not even thinking one would be listed there yet, and lo and behold, a local listing appeared for an as new in box IR-2 at the lovely price of $125. I immediately emailed an "I'll take it", not bothering with questions or anything since I figured it'd vanish quickly. A couple hours went by and I got a text to set up a meeting time and place, which happened today - huzzah!!!
Just spent an hour playing around with it. At first, I didn't think it sounded great, couldn't dial in anything remotely good...and then I realized I was using the concentric knobs wrong

Initial impressions: I dig the Crunch setting, and the Brit. Don't care for the Rectifier, but the Diamond, Tweed, and Twin have potential. It plays well with the SD-1 and the Purple Nurple. Actually, it plays well with the Great Wide Open too, I'm just reaching the decision that the GWO isn't the distortion pedal for me. Also, not sure I need it with the higher gain amps available.
The Ambience doesn't do much that I can tell, but I haven't played through headphones or at significant volume as of yet.
So, a lot of potential, and I think I'm going to like it. Not sure if it'll become a primary part of my rig, but at the price it's an absolute no-brainer for a backup/practice solution.
The board as it stands today - once I have it more finalized I'll clean up the spaghetti. I keep thinking I should replace the Donner power supply, but man, I get no noise and it seems to work well, so not sure I'll bother.
