just a quick quote from Cliff:

I've compared the 11R, KPA, HD500, etc. and the Axe-Fx comes closest to the real thing. The 11R with the right IRs can come pretty close (but you can't load IRs into it so it's an awkward solution) but I can still pick it out 80% of the time or more. In A/B tests I can pick the KPA out every time. It has a signature to the distortion and pick attack that differs greatly from the real amps. I have had no luck getting the HD500 to sound like the real amp.

i just thought that it was cool that he mentioned the 11R as one of the better modelers of the bunch.

Sure he is gona say his is best and maybe it is.....

to bad Avid scrapped the team working on the 11r or maybe we would have ir loading by now...

+1

It is nice to hear this, but we've all know this for quiet awhile now.

I do appreciate the fact that a guy with Cliff's talent can recognize others.

i don't think the "right" IR is needed to get a good sound. you just have to know how to tweak what is already onboard. not sure how much time he spent with it, but at least he gives a nod to the tonal quality....which he didn't do for the kemper (his direct competition).

just imagine if Avid would have kept working on the eleven rack....well maybe DON'T think about it, you may get pissed off.

Glad I have both!

But he didn't say anything about my beloved little cheap G3..

Man..he really hates Kemper..

I played around with a Kemper for most of a day with a Pro that is ALL about the Kemper and the damn things sound amazing!

I good friend of mine, and also a good guitar player, came to my home last Saturday. He picked-up my guitar and I plugged into my 11R (rig output no cab into Peavey tube power amp and Peavey 4x12" cab). He used to have Marshall and Mesa amps and was totally blown away.

I then plugged the 11R into my studio monitors (rig output) and he was also blown away, so loading IR is maybe not a necessity...

i don't think the axe-fx IR's are any better than the eleven rack. seems like all IR's need some type of high cut. why? because the IR is made by close micing the cab. have you ever put your ear in front of your cabinet even at low volume? tons of highs. so if you roll off some highs, you are there. i also find a lot of the better sounding IR's have too much low end. it's crazy, if a cab IR has the right amount of highs, then the lows seems obsessive.

i think that adding IR's to the eleven rack would only turn it into a Pandora's box...much like the axe-fx. it took me a couple years to work with the existing cabs on the eleven rack and get good tone. in contrast, i'm still not at the same level of confidence with the axe-fx. just too many IR's to choose from; and not all IR's sound good with all amps.

what we have in the eleven rack is good enough to get just about any tone imaginable....which i've done with the Singtall Superpack. and not only myself, but countless others have made such a wide variety of presets using only the humble tools the eleven rack provides.

OK, please forgive this stupid question - I'm not the tone guru most here are. But what are IR's and what does loading them do? I haven't come across anything I've needed to do that 11R couldn't handle.

So could someone shed some light on what IR means, and what one does with them?

Thanks!

IR is "impulse response". The 11r cannot load them, but you can use them in the recording process.

Google will yield much info as to the merits of using IR's.