“Its mission is simple: unleash the power of any amplifier or line-level source without compromise”: Two Notes promises a “watershed” in tube amp control with the Torpedo Reload II

Two Notes has unveiled the Torpedo Reload II, a feature-packed sequel to its reactive load box and attenuator, and it is a serious piece of kit for any player who has a tube amp and needs some extra control over it.

That control might begin with attenuation, and being able to crank up your amp at more neighbour-friendly – or indeed mix-friendly – volumes is one of the fundamental duties performed by the load box. As much as we love tube amps, you’ve really got to turn them up before they start to sing, giving you all that extra harmonic content.

The Reload II has a two-channel design and is “scalable from a whisper to a full-throttle onslaught” and boasts a full transparent dual-mono amplifier/attenuator rated at 215W. Two Notes describes its attenuation as “surgical”.

Its paired speaker outputs “preserve every facet of your tone”. In short, you’re getting a reactive load box that lets the guitar amp be the best version of itself. That’s the theory.

But it has got some serious tricks up its sleeve – in its enclosure – to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive market; chief among them a Celestion Approved load response, an “industry-first” feature that engineers the same sort of feel that you would get if your amp had classic Celestion guitar speakers in it, featuring switchable impedance from four, eight and 16-ohms.

Except, those speakers are not there; the load box’s impedance curve is playing tricks on your amp’s power section making it think they are.

This is a scalable piece of kit in the sense that you can make use of its speaker outputs to expand your rig, and it also has a stereo effects loop so that you can easily integrate your pedalboard.

You can route them in series or parallel, adjust the wet/dry mix on the return, and if you do have a second speaker cabinet at your disposal then that Eddie Van Halen-style Wet/Dry/Wet live rig of your dreams is an option.

On the front panel there are some controls for shaping your electric guitar tone, with Depth and Presence on-hand to apply a gloss-up to your global EQ response. Our favourite control – or button – is for Mojo. Yes, a Mojo button. It’s the guitar amp equivalent of a “press for Champagne” button.

Crank Your Valve Amp at Home?! - Two Notes Reload II Multi-Impedance Reactive Load Box - YouTube

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There are dual mono line inputs, an amp input with level control. Each channel has its own XLR outputs with groundlift.

The unit can be mounted on top of your amp or in your rack, and this being a Two Notes design it ships with a license to Genome, so you can use its DynIR speaker simulations, amp capture tools and built a bespoke hybrid rig, the sort of thing the 21st-century tube amp user might do.

Introducing Torpedo Reload II - YouTube

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The Torpedo Reload II is priced £849/$1,199, and is available to preorder now, shipping June 2025. See Two Notes for more details.