Boss IR-2 Amp and IR Cabinet Pedal Reviews
Boasting 11 spot-on amplifier emulations and a robust IR section, the IR-2 Amp & Cabinet pedal is a full-featured amp simulator pedal the size of a standard BOSS overdrive box. From BOSS amp creations inspired by the Sweetwater-favorite Katana series to exacting emulations of history’s most sought-after tube amps, the IR-2’s 11 amplifier models each come paired with a custom-curated Celestion cabinet IR simulation. Moreover, the IR-2 Also sports a USB-C port for third-party IR loading and doubling in function as a 6-string-specific audio interface for effortless recording. The pedal also features a mono/stereo loop for patching in effects, a headphone jack, and a 4-concentric-knob control setup for an intuitive sound-sculpting workflow. Versatile enough to cover any sonic situation and compact enough to slot onto any pedalboard, the BOSS IR-2 is destined to become the centerpiece of your gigging or recording rig!
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Highest Rated Reviews
WORKS FOR ME!
Just got it - have not gigged with it yet - but I will!
My reasons for buying the Boss IR-2:
Incredible back-up to my gigging amps (Sorry, I will always prefer great amps in live settings – but the IR-2 is gig worthy!)
Small footprint easily fits at the end of my pedal board
Analog dials on front of pedal verses digital screens – much easier to tweak / fix sounds in a live setting
The older I get the harder it is to haul heavy crap, especially in down town alley parked settings with horrible "load ins", etc.
Of course I have other digital solutions. This is latest 2023 technology updated with modern features in a Boss pedal format, too easy!
More and more venues are requesting "silent / in ear" stages. For "no amp" gigs - I plan on using the Boss IR-2 with a direct box and go straight to the house
My long time amazing Sweetwater Engineer Chris McCown said for $ "it was a great buy" – I agreed to get on the "wait list" and pre-ordered this right away
The IR-2 can also be used as a standalone practice device
Initial thoughts after spending a few minutes "dialing it in":
- In about 5 minutes - found 2 very usable settings; a great twin clean tone and a saturated lead rip your face off setting.
- A couple of hours later, had put it on pedal board, looped delay and phaser into the send / return on the IR-2; time delayed effects took perfectly to effects loop and sounded great.
- Added a Timmy overdrive to be used before the pedal to "goose" the input, greater tones / options - sounded even better!
- Unlike earlier digital "things" – my guitar and hands felt attached to the pedal – on older digital units' "latency" lost playing feel for me. After pushing the IR-2 with the Timmy before input, really bonded well with the pedal – great sound – but better playing feel…
- Have not tried the new plethora of digital $ pedals – I am sure they are also great, but I own several older models which were best in class in 2010, the IR-2 sounds better to me, at a fraction of the cost.
Chris was right again, for $ this is a GREAT buy. Might be better solutions if you want to spend $ (probably just a lot more features?) but if you are looking for an inexpensive stage ready pedal - that will provide great FOH sounds – this gets it done!
BOSS does it best
Absolutely stunned at this little guy. Punches way above its weight for the price. If you're looking at something like this for your rig, but don't want to spend $ for one sound, get this you won't be disappointed.
This will be a classic!
I am blown away by this pedal. Great job Boss!
The only feedback I have is that it would be nice to be able to turn the noise gate off completely. I talk about it in my YouTube review.
IR-2 is going to be everywhere!
This is the first pedal I've purchased with almost no research. Saw it was introduced, came straight to Sweetwater and hit pre-order.
NO regrets. It was easy to set up right out of the box. Threw it on my board, set up a clean sound using the Twin and a Marshall tone for the second channel got right back to playing guitar.
The sounds are touch responsive, easy to set up edge of break up, and take pedals like an amp should.
My one concern had been "what happens to the pedals in the effects loop when the pedal is bypassed?" Answer. The loop stays on! So when I want to run into my real amps, I just bypass the IR-2 and everything else stays the same.
Headphone out sounds good too!
EXACTLY what I needed.
For $ and only taking up be pedal space, this is a no brainer!
I have a Walrus ACS1, Ruby 63, Fender Princeton Chorus and Tonex... this beats them all!
This feels and sounds like a real amp and can get you Megadeth, Greenday, Blink 182 or anything in between. The fact its a recording interface, headphone output and dual channel is icing on the cake!
You'll want to sell everything else you own because it's just that awesome. Buy it while it's cheap!
This really depends on your use case.
This is the bang for the buck perfect purchase for anyone who loves their pedal boards and would like to have flexibility of a hybrid setup. It's also perfect for anyone prefer to using knobs instead of graphic user interfaces. However, this might end up in the storage cabinet for anyone who already own Amp modelers and amp plugins. For me it really depends on your use case. This is perfect for small gigs as the last pedal in the pedal board chain. But for home use, the amp modelers still have tons more features. And for demo recording, the amplitube plugin went on sale for half the price of this pedal which turned out to be a better deal for me.
Almost Perfect
This pedal would have been perfect if they added an aux in.
Good for beginners
Great features but lacking in sound quality.
Cheap but much better out there
If your a beginner or on a tight budget and need all the options for recording, stereo and an audio interface then this pedal may be worth it otherwise its a mediocre sounding pedal at best and for just a little more money there are much better options out there , tonally. If you want a better sounding pedal and all the same options this pedal has then your in the 500 or more range.
