Editor's Note: This week, Jake was the victim of an apparently random act of violence while out walking his dog. All of us here at Reverb are wishing him a speedy recovery. guitarsoverguns.org
Joining Friedman's powerful IR-X and IR-D is the new IR-J—another extremely powerful amp-in-a-box that promises to be everything tube amp lovers are looking for in a pedalboard-friendly package.
Like the previous two IR units, the IR-J features dual channels, an all-tube preamp, and a whole host of IR cab and power amp simulation. This time, the IR-J is built around tones derived from Dave Friedman and Jake E. Lee, a guitar hero famous for his work with Ozzy Osbourne.
The two fully independent channels are based on Friedman's legendary Jake E. Lee signature heads—the JEL-100 and JEL-20—which are rooted in Dave Friedman's modded 800 Plexi circuits. The IR-J is powered by two genuine 12A7 preamp tubes and feature 18 Friedman cabinet IRs. Three of those cabs come shipped from the factory and the rest of the them can be accessed via the Friedman editor software.
Like the IR-D and IR-X, the unit features two independent channels with their own separate sets of controls. Channel one can go from a bluesy and British-voiced clean tone to a richly saturated Plexi-style tone when pushed. Channel two, meanwhile, features the higher-gain JEL voice that you know from the JEL-100 and JEL-20 and also features a two-position gain switch. For even more versatility, each of the two channels has it's own boost with a dedicated tone and volume knob for each.