Clean
The Ironheart was predominantly conceived for distortion mongers, the cleans on offer are generally appealing. It's nothing in the Fender ballpark, definitely, but more of the British-voiced cleans- think Fender & Orange. What you hear coming from this channel benefits humbuckers more than single coils. Great jazz warmth for neck pickups, didn't know this was in store.
Rhythm drive
This is the crunch mode, meaning, the maximum drive from this channel isn't quite metal but it's by no means mild-mannered. Since Laney is flying the British flag, you might be expecting a Marshall-esque crunch here but not quite. It's not as thumping but there's lots of bite in store.
Lead drive
Splendid in terms of intensity, you will love your bridge humbucker's chugging tone. The amp was made for aggression anyway & it's making its worth heard here. That said, if you solo in the neck humbucker, there are lots of clarity to be heard. No surprises because it sounds great in clean mode so in drive mode there is likewise expectation & it's true to form.
Other drive-shaping ingredients
The plus points of this amp are definitely the pre-amp boost & wattage variant features. These controls add quite significantly to saturation & intensity. While you work on the primary gain settings, be sure to formulate your intentions with these controls in mind; the drive range in its entirety, is therefore very wide. My initial experience here says that the wattage control shouldn't be overlooked when it comes to drive shaping, it's not exclusively a volume tamer.
