M-Vave IR Box review

[ETJ]

I haven't seen this one discussed here, but wow this is a cool piece of kit and it is dirt cheap. I think I paid $25ish from AliExpress.

This is basically an IR loader, but it does a lot more that hasn't been emphasized in the marketing:

• It has both balanced and unbalanced outputs, so it can fill the role of a DI box (no ground lift though).
• It has headphone output
• It shows up on your computer (Windows, in my case) as an audio input/output device so it can act an audio interface.
• It has a 9 band EQ - HPF and LPF, high and low shelving, plus five other bands that are fully parametric (freq, level, and Q). This alone is worth the price of admission.

It has 32 memory slots. Each slot can store an IR, have EQ settings, or both. As shipped, EQ is turned OFF on all slots. It comes preloaded with a variety of IRs. The bass ones are slots 26-32. They're literally ALL 4x10s, so that is a bit disappointing. I'll attach the manual page that shows the cabs included.

Of course, you can add your own IRs. It uses 44100hz 24bit sampling rate, 1024/2048 sampling point IR files. I think its software converts other formats, but I've had no trouble finding 44.1/24bit files. I bought some of the ridiculously inexpensive IRs from @dr bonkers Dr. Bonkers Sound Lab and have several from his packs I like.

There are numerous cheap and free bass cab IRs out there.

Physically, the IR Box is the size of a mini pedal.

Controls and interfaces:

• 1/4 in / out
• XLR out
• USB C
• Headphone Out
• Power (usual 9v effects style). It does not come with a power supply.
• External low-cut and hi-cut knobs
• Volume Knob
• Up/Down buttons to select preset. Press both to bypass.
• LED display that shows the selected preset or BP if bypassed.

I will follow up later with some views of the iPhone and PC software and show off the capabilities of the EQ.

 

[bassbrad]

M-Vave is a bit of a sleeper with some cool products, but I just hate those cheezy knobbies.

 

[BassmanNate]

I've been curious about some of these. Does this one use special software to load? I know one of the less expensive ones just shows up as a mass storage device and you drop your responses in with a file browser. Linux user here so I hate having to futz around with windows software for a niche product.

 

[ETJ]

I've been curious about some of these. Does this one use special software to load? I know one of the less expensive ones just shows up as a mass storage device and you drop your responses in with a file browser. Linux user here so I hate having to futz around with windows software for a niche product.

This one uses software, though there's a iOS app in addition to the PC. There's probably a mac app too. They call the software "CubeSuite".

 

[ETJ]

Ok this shows off a little of the CubeSuite software. This shows on this preset I've turned on both IR and EQ.
On the EQ side, I've turned on the High Pass, High Shelf, and Low Pass filters. Additionally, I've turned on a wide parametric bump (#2) and a notch parametric cut (#4).

You can drag/drop these points.

 

[ETJ]

Here's the same EQ as above, as viewed in the iOS app:

 

[newfuture]

Thanks for posting this. I've had the Jaymz branded variant in my cart for a couple months. Haven't pulled the trigger as I have a few other IR loaders and want to find out the latency first.
The sonnicake and m-vave loaders I have are both too laggy for me (over 9ms). The NUX pulse 4 is what I'm using and it's fast enough (under 2ms)

Edit: found the manual and it claims sub 1.5ms latency. That would work!

 

[Flatwound]

Just ordered it. My first order from AliExpress. I ordered the one that says ships from USA. We’ll see.

 

[ETJ]

I

Thanks for posting this. I've had the Jaymz branded variant in my cart for a couple months. Haven't pulled the trigger as I have a few other IR loaders and want to find out the latency first.
The sonnicake and m-vave loaders I have are both too laggy for me (over 9ms). The NUX pulse 4 is what I'm using and it's fast enough (under 2ms)

Edit: found the manual and it claims sub 1.5ms latency. That would work!

Yes I've seen what appears to be the same device sold under various names.

I don't know enough about IR to speak about latency.

 

[deepestend]

Interested for sure!

 

[NeilJazz]

Cool! I have one that I got for cheap and essentially forgotten about as I run my HX Stomp board most of the time. I will put this on my analog board coupled with the Sansamp for a bit more option for IR.

 

[stubbsonic]

Even just the EQ seems useful— especially if it can be edited via iOS & Bluetooth.

How difficult is to edit the EQ. I didn’t see any video of the EQ editing.

The reviews for the iOS App are pretty bad; though most seem to refer to other products.

 

[ETJ]

Editing the EQ is pretty easy once you understand the bands. They call it a 9-band EQ but once you dig into it you realize it’s Lpf, hpf, high and low shelves, plus 5 fully parametric.

I got a little frustrated because it took me a while to realize you can turn on/off each of the 9 controls altogether, and they defaulted to OFF, so when I was dragging the points around, it wasn’t changing the displayed curve. I >like< how they do it once I realized how it works.

I haven’t used the EQ much yet but I think at a minimum I’ll at least put HPF on my favorite presets to keep any subsonic rumble out of the mix.

 

[stubbsonic]

I hope you don't mind a few more questions. How is working in the iOS app via Bluetooth? Is it tiny (fiddly)? Can you enter the values numerically? Does each band have a limited frequency range? And lastly, are the HPF & LPF knobs on the pedal part of that EQ? I.e., Does moving a knob temporarily override that band in the EQ? Thanks!!

 

[stubbsonic]

I went ahead and ordered one. I'm not that familiar with AliExpress, but there were quite a few similar products-- I went with a listing that already showed a high number of units sold (over 150). Just got a notice that it already shipped. Probably will be a 2-3 weeks.

 

[stubbsonic]

I checked the manual, and it DOES say that it will connect for editing using Bluetooth, but it doesn't clearly say whether it could alternatively connect via USB.

One of the online manuals says that the power interface is "positive inside and negative outside" which directly contradicts other references I've seen, including the ink on the unit itself!

 

[ETJ]

I checked the manual, and it DOES say that it will connect for editing using Bluetooth, but it doesn't clearly say whether it could alternatively connect via USB.

One of the online manuals says that the power interface is "positive inside and negative outside" which directly contradicts other references I've seen, including the ink on the unit itself!

iOS connects via Bluetooth, and it turns out to be really easy to use.

PC connects via USB-C.

Power is center negative like most pedals. Thats how I'm using it. I'm not willing to see if it will work the other way

I hope you don't mind a few more questions. How is working in the iOS app via Bluetooth? Is it tiny (fiddly)? Can you enter the values numerically? Does each band have a limited frequency range? And lastly, are the HPF & LPF knobs on the pedal part of that EQ? I.e., Does moving a knob temporarily override that band in the EQ? Thanks!!

There seems to be no restriction on frequencies/bands. You can set each of the 9 bands from 30hz to 18khz. Adjustments in iOS are with a slider.
dB ranges are /- 12 dB.
Q ranges are 1.0 to an astonishingly 160.0

The Volume, Low Cut and Hi Cut knobs seem to be completely independent of the software controlled filters.

 

[InkCow]

iOS connects via Bluetooth, and it turns out to be really easy to use.

PC connects via USB-C.

Power is center negative like most pedals. Thats how I'm using it. I'm not willing to see if it will work the other way

There seems to be no restriction on frequencies/bands. You can set each of the 9 bands from 30hz to 18khz. Adjustments in iOS are with a slider.
dB ranges are /- 12 dB.
Q ranges are 1.0 to an astonishingly 160.0

The Volume, Low Cut and Hi Cut knobs seem to be completely independent of the software controlled filters.

Is the 1/4” out affected, too? Or is it configurable?

 

[stubbsonic]

Power is center negative like most pedals. Thats how I'm using it. I'm not willing to see if it will work the other way

Yea, no need. My comment was just that the manual had one little dangerous typo.

There seems to be no restriction on frequencies/bands. You can set each of the 9 bands from 30hz to 18khz.

The manual mentions some range limits for the HPF and LPF, but those must pertain to the knobs and not the 9-band.

dB ranges are /- 12 dB.
Q ranges are 1.0 to an astonishingly 160.0

A bit of underkill for the dB range. And a bit of overkill for the Q range. Talk about surgical.

The Volume, Low Cut and Hi Cut knobs seem to be completely independent of the software controlled filters.

If the knobs are separate, then it is almost like 11 bands. It's possible that the knobs HPF & LPF could act to make the EQ's HPF & LPF have steeper slopes at a the point where they combine forces.

If the level setting in the preset is independent of the level knob on the unit, I think that's a good thing. As you can gain match your presets in the editor and just the level knob (as well as the HPF/LPF knobs) to adjust the level & tone per venue.

With the minimal display and (only?) 24 bit processing, it will be important to be aware of clipping. Is there any kind of clipping indicator (either clipping the inputs or outputs)? If not, I'd probably do some 'science' to see if my pedal chain would maintain safe headroom.

 

[ETJ]

For what it’s worth I spent quite a bit of time getting all my presets to sound roughly the same volume (and same as bypass) so I wouldn’t be surprised when I made a preset change.