The Sonic IR is a mini pedal allowing you to apply a cabinet IR to your guitar or bass signal coming from a guitar pre-amp, a distortion pedal, an overdrive or a pre-amp type pedal . Its single input is designed for line level: you could connect an amplifier speaker output to it only by going first through a load-box, in order to produce a line level signal.

The Sonic IR pedal is NOT a load-box, do not directly connect the speaker output of a tube amp to the pedal, otherwise your amp and the pedal will be damaged.

The input jack is on the right side and the pedal provides two outputs on the left side: a jack and a balanced output with an XLR connector. Two controls are available: the IR selection via a notched potentiometer (11 positions = 11 IRs) and a small volume knob. There is no light indicating that the pedal is turned on : it would have been nice and practical, so that one can quickly check that the pedal is well powered and in operation… The pedal package is quite minimalist but it comes in a small box, well protected by some foam. A user manual -in mini-card format- and a USB cable are provided (mini-USB format connector). A power supply is not provided: you will need to feed the pedal with 9 volts (200 mA). The pedal measures 9.3 cm x 4.2 cm x 5.2 cm (height), for a weight of 270 grams. It seems to be very robust – it is made of a die-cast zinc alloy – and the potentiometers also seem solid and well assembled: they do not float and they offer a good response to manipulations. This is also the case with the USB connector, which does not move around in its slot when you connect a cable to it. A good point for the construction. Also note that there is NO footswitch: it is a pedal intended to be ON in your signal chain all the time…. The specs

The loader provides 11 slots and offers support for IRs with a length of 1024 points (23.2 ms).

The following specifications are provided by Sonicake: 24-bits IR support, 44.1kHz, 1024 point length Signal to noise ratio: 100dB Frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz

The latency is not specified: searching forums on the web, I could spot some answers presented as coming from Sonicake mentioning 8 to 9 ms, which is higher than competing chargers, but useable in my opinion (a latency number to be compared to the 1.2 ms announced for the Torpedo Cab M+ in 20 ms mode, and to the 2 ms for the Mooer Radar). We will get back to this point at the end of this review. The pedal does not offer additional functions such as an equalizer or a power amp simulation: it is the pure and direct IR, with volume adjustment, and that’s it ! Factory IRs and first tests The pedal’s 11 slots come loaded from the factory with 9 guitar cabs IRs and 2 IRs for bass players: Number Name Based on 1 Champion 1x8 Fender® Champ* 1x8" cabinet 2 Voks 2x12 VOX® AC30* 2x12" cabinet 3 TR65 2X12 Fender® ‘65 Twin Reverb* 2x12" cabinet 4 UK 2550 2x12 Marshall® 2550* 2x12" cabinet 5 BM59 4X10 Fender® ‘59 Bassman* 4x10" cabinet 6 Tanger 4x12 Orange® PPC412* 4x12" cabinet 7 UK 1960 4x12 Marshall® 1960AV* 4x12" cabinet 8 6505 4x12 Peavey® 6505* 4x12" cabinet 9 Mebo 4x12 Mesa/Boogie® Rectifier* 4x12" cabinet 10 M Bass 2x10 Mark Bass®* 2x10" bass cabinet 11 A Bass 8x10 Ampeg® SVT-810F* 8x10" bass cabinet

Owner's manual

Product specs