Qs for current or former Laney IRT Studio owners.

[Aquila Rossa]

Few things I am wondering about this amp and if others who have or have had one may know:

The foot controller. I can get clean and crunch, or clean and lead. Not all three controlled by foot. Is it possible?

What is the Laney 2x12" cab like? Any other cabs you find it paired well with (especially less expensive ones like Blackstar etc).

Two inputs. One is to run at 1 watt, the other 15w. When no cab is used it is supposed to only run a 1 watt no matter what input you are using. But the two inputs do definitely sound different using when running no speaker cab sim mode. Anybody know why?

Does it like pedals, especially wah and phaser which i like to run before any distortion or overdrive (either amp or pedal). What pedals do you like to run with it?

The USB audio is not very high resolution as far as I can tell. I have only been able to get 44100 16 bit. Is that it?

Did running XLR into a good interface sound different or better than USB?

Did anybody wear out the EL-84s in the time they had the amp? Valve life in other words.


p.s this thing is awesome running into DAW with a cab attached. I couldn't be happier. Tried so many solutions for getting good tones to DAW and then out of studio monitors.

Not miked up an actual amp, but the reason for DAW is to have low volume playing at home. I have tried POD, Plugins, Sansamp, Palmer load box, etc, etc. Nothing I have tried does as well as this thing, although there are some options I have nto tried yet like Iso cabs or very high end modelling.

[codedog]

Re: the footswitch, the toggles on the amp themselves have to be set in particular positions, of which I cannot remember. You can get all three channels on the footswitch. The Lead switch "trumps" everything, but once that's off the Clean switch toggles between clean and crunch. Does that make sense?

Pedals work well, especially pushing a barely dirty crunch channel. As far as dirt goes I still preferred the builtin tones though. I never use wah and phaser so can't comment. The only pedals I used were delay and reverb, especially if I felt like doodling dripping wet ambient-ish stuff. The builtin reverb is very nice but didn't quite ring my blues bell.

USB was mucho meh... definitely go with XLR. Perhaps use USB if you want to get the dry signal too? However, someone once piped in and said it sounds better through USB with a cab actually connected. I never tried because that somewhat defeats the purpose for me. I have tried mic'ing my 2x12 and comparing it to XLR DI... a bit different but both are very workable, one being a heck of a lot more convenient than the other.

[Aquila Rossa]

Cheers Codedog. I thought it must be the switches, because it does not make sense to not be able to switch all three. I've been too brain dead the last few days to suss it out.

I like the reverb too, but I am a plate reverb junkie so use plugins. Same for delay, i.e, plugins. For clean I sometimes like a spring though and that would be best in the loop. Not that I play clean much lol. I prefer crunch and clean up with guitar volume knob. I am keen to try a Carbon Copy or some thing into the front end rather than the loop, because running delay into a dirty amp can sound great.

I can not see any need for dirt pedals either. The dirt tones in this amp are great. However, using a t-u-b-e screamer instead of the built in boost would be interesting I guess, because it would give the mid range thing screamers do.

I USB sounds good to my ears after running nothing but plugins for ages, but I can't help but wonder what higher res would sound like. Already wondering what it would take to mod the amp's digital interface. Only downside of using XLR instead of USB is you lose the reamping feature.

Did you notice the inputs sound different when not using a cab? 15 watts input is supposed to switch to 1 watt if no cab is used, but it does sound different. More open, less compressed.

[codedog]

Actually, while I like the stock channels I hardly used the boost. I preferred boosting with the Bad Cat Siamese. If I remember correctly rather low to moderate gain on crunch, boosted with first half of the Siamese, and lead tones by adding the second half. I really liked that going through the 2x12, it physically felt nice... missing it just thinking about it...

[codedog]

For plate reverb I used my Joyo Ironman until that kicked the bucket. Now I have a Digitech Polara in the mail.

[Aquila Rossa]

All the different gear I have bought, i have got on this forum and grumbled about not being able to get the tones i like or some other grumble. The sold it and moved on to the next disappointment. Not complaint this time. So far, so good with this amp. Fu<kin' lovin' it.

no plans for trannie mods, mustard caps and carbon comp resistors...yet No need.

[Aquila Rossa]

Actually, while I like the stock channels I hardly used the boost. I preferred boosting with the Bad Cat Siamese. If I remember correctly rather low to moderate gain on crunch, boosted with first half of the Siamese, and lead tones by adding the second half. I really liked that going through the 2x12, it physically felt nice... missing it just thinking about it...

Arrghh. You make me feel guilty. You can have dibs, but might be waiting a while...............................

Yeah, that crunch channel really responds well to being boosted. I like the built in boost, but pedal boosters will add different flavors. I want to try an EP Booster with it.

Really well defined crisp and snappy palm muting on this amp huh? Even with lower gain. However, it is no so damn dynamic and revealing that it is intimidating like some amps can be. More user friendly.

Guy on YouTube demo saying this amp is fizzy must have had a bad valve or was talking out his ass. It gets a little fizzy if you overdo the treble and gain on the lead channel, but that is more human error misuse than the amp i guess. It has its sweet spots and they are not fizzy.

[Mattallica]

I have one but i can only answer a few q's

The foot controller. I can get clean and crunch, or clean and lead. Not all three controlled by foot. Is it possible?

You can control all three with the footswitch, but you can't do them all in one click. You need to look at it as a two channel amp with switchable gain for the first channel. You can switch between "clean/rythym" (first channel) and "lead" (second channel) by turning the lead footswitch button on and off. Then you pick whether the first channel is set to "clean" or "rythym" with the clean footswitch button.

What is the Laney 2x12" cab like? Any other cabs you find it paired well with (especially less expensive ones like Blackstar etc).

Which Laney 2x12" cab are you referring to? The amp itself is quite dark so pair it with whatever speakers you want to shift the overall eq to.

I'm using this one: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... eventy-80s

It was cheap new, the speakers have a flat eq (to me) and its closed back. So it's dark but not too dark and i still get some low end thump

Does it like pedals, especially wah and phaser which i like to run before any distortion or overdrive (either amp or pedal). What pedals do you like to run with it?

Well, it doesn't hate pedals i've ran everything into it and had no problems

Did anybody wear out the EL-84s in the time they had the amp? Valve life in other words.

I got mine xmas 2014 and the valves are fine. I've only used once or twice every fortnight though, for an hour at a time. Have taken it to band practice twice.

[Mattallica]

I wrote that response while you guys were chatting and couldn't be arsed editting it so sorry if it's doubling up

[codedog]

I used it with my monitors for a while until I built a 2x12, whole new level! Even with the low input it made me feel things! Damn that need a combo and acoustic amp...

You need to get yourself at least a 2x12 at some stage. Check out that Jack Thammarat blues demo on the IRT-Studio into an IRT 2x12. It will make you want to splurge for one in short order! Someone on the forum has that cab, can't remember who... sizzlingbadger?

[Aquila Rossa]

I got mine xmas 2014 and the valves are fine. I've only used once or twice every fortnight though, for an hour at a time. Have taken it to band practice twice.

I play mine for hours at a time every day, so i expect the v-a-l-v-e-s (hehe) might need replacing every few months. Will do myself.

Bright side of government retiring me early due to injury is i have time to play. Downside is if i have GAS. The 245 and the Laney work well, so don't need much more (I am very utilitarian and not a hoarder/collector type). A wah, phaser, cab, interface upgrade. Would like another SG one day, but the 245 has me pretty content. Already made most of the frets flat on top by playing it so much.

Thanks for info on footswitch. I used to love sussing out technical things. now days not so much.

Will wait until I move to get cab. Volume is an issue here. Upgrade my interface first I think. Going to build a Marshall 18 watter, but that is a thing i am not in a hurry on. A bit here and there. More of a bucket list thing I have wanted to do for ages than I want one because I want that tone etc.

[sopachrga]

It certainly does sound different via USB if you have a cab connected.
I used to plug my cab in to do my final reamp as it did sound quite a bit better.
I did a demo ages ago showing the difference, but can't track it down now.

Awesome amps though.

[sizzlingbadger]

I have the 1x12 Laney IRT cab, its built as well as an Orange cab in my opinion. The HH speaker is bright and scooped (to suite the IRT amps I expect). They are excellent value for money, I think the 2x12 is only $399 new. An upgrade to better speakers later is then an option.

[sizzlingbadger]

I play mine for hours at a time every day, so i expect the v-a-l-v-e-s (hehe) might need replacing every few months. Will do myself.

Unless a pre-amp tube goes bad/faulty they will last years without tone degradation. The power tubes will probably last pretty well at home volumes too.

[Mini Forklift]

I had a Laney 212 cab for a while. Wasn't too bad but did have a lot of top-end to it. I suppose for the money it was a good buy but just a little too bright for my taste.