The polished thing is why i don’t always love the iridium. It really doesn’t sound like the amps but sounds like a re imagined overly polished version. I just got the tonex and it’s blowing me away. I’m a wet effects after guy anyway and if i ever want stereo amps with wets before buying a second one is still way cheaper than buying a QC or two kempers just for amps. Great video. The software convinced me I need the pedal and couldn’t be happier
Tone X will be only as good as the captures or profiles. I think the Tone X will be good because the modeling / profiling community wants it to be good. Blessings to you.
Both very close - I think the ToneX online community will grow very fast so that's the route I will most likely go. I also like the simple layout. Great video!
I had a kemper for years..sounded amazing...BUT with new profiles coming in all the time I found myself just going from amp to amp most of the time and not practicing or making songs... more was definitely not better.. you get that smartphone addiction. Anyway tonex pedal will arrive soon and lets see if I can find just a few amps to stick with :)
On the A/B test, I preferred B for Vox and Fender Clean, and A for Vox driven. Only reason for last was, imo the tone needed an EQ adjust. B, thus the Tonex, was much more deep, complex and 3d than A, aka the Strymon.
Yea I definitely felt that when I was playing around with it. It felt like it had more low end. The Iridium feels a little more compressed and focused. But yea both are great.
Liked them both the Tonex had what I have heard players Call Bloom to it. Tonex seems like it is the Gen 3. of Modelling amps, using Neural captures. One guys video he shows what it sounds like when the Capture of an amp is going on, by time it gets about 75% done, it sounds like an actual guitarist playing. The Technology today is just incredible. Gen 1 would be your early Pods/vox valvetronix tonelab. Gen 2 would be Kemper, they had a great run, but somebody now is really pushing the envelope even further.
@@sundaytone Hey I mainly started playing in the early 70's, back then there was at best a Handful of pedals. And not much til late 70's in a Boutique amp. now you get boutique from a Capture, it is Awesome.
Considering the price and whats included with the tone x, its a really good deal. Both sound great, just depends on what you like better and what you use it for :D
The Iridium is only 3 amps, whereas the Tonex you can load any amp into it. They both handle IR's and they cost the same, and pedals haven't been an issue with the Tonex - they sound great thru it. Either way, you can't go wrong with either if they fit your needs.
@@yurakolesnikov9725 You are aware that this video is comparing the two against each other? You are also aware that the Tonex uses IR's? You are further aware that the Iridium has 3 base amps in it? The better question is: Are you actually aware of anything?
I love the Silver Sky. I preferred Amp B in general. However, the sounds were very similar. I am curious about the TONEX. Although, I have a Quad Cortex and I’m not sure if the TONEX would add much more to what the QC does for me. But, I think the TONEX is great because it will keep NeuralDSP on their toes! Great video. Thank you.
Great video. With closed back headphones, I noticed the bottom end stands out on B making it sound a bit larger. Even though the difference may be minimal in a live worship style mix, I still want to get one.
Iridium sounded better to me (preferred amp A) on this particular comparison. not saying more amp-like. but sounded like it was more polished to be on a mix.
You miss another salient point. IF you want to capture your own amps and use that, then ONLY the Tonex can do that (as compared to Iridium). I ru an Axe FX 3, HX Stomp, used to have a Kemper, and will be getting the TOnex pedal.
Yea that's what is great about the Tonex pedal. All of these amp modelers are so good at this point. It really depends on what you want to do with it and the features you want. But being able to make your own captures is pretty awesome. I am excited to get it and play around with that.
I am in love with some of the tones in the tonex plugin. Especially the jcm800 black angus, until I realized I could get the same exact tone/ richness with my HXStomp. Of course I had to tweak awhile, used the grammatico amp model, added compressors, drive, EQ. Then I pushed it a bit further with a DI in parallel straight trough the IR, now I prefer the tone I got on the Stomp. But yeah, Tonex sounds great, it’s a no brainer if you want to use/ buy pedals to go with it (time based effects).
I do think that in all the hullabaloo over Tonex, we forget that modeling has come a long way. I've got the Stomp XL but I also like good ol' Amplitube for a lot of things. They sound great.
With the right captures,or profiles,the ToneX sounds amazing to me…I have an AxeFXIII,and owned a Kemper..The Kemper has this cocked Wah thing going on that drives me crazy….I love the AxeFXIII for many things,but I generally run my amp into a load box,then into the AxeFXIII for FX and IR’s…now,with the ToneX,I can use a capture of my amps,and it sounds way better to me than any other amp sim I have used..
ok...I did this backwards lol, I purchased the Tonex pedal and just didnt like it and sent it back, then I decided to to download the software and didnt like that either .
@@robgroden This was literally my first test of the Tonex software and I really just tried a few different AC30s from ToneNET but I really liked the Worship Tutorials (wrshptutorials on ToneNET) AC30 captures. The stock Tonex fender amps sounded really good to me too.
@@sundaytone I have a Kemper and Helix also, and I run those two units though a tube power amp and a real v30 cabinet. I am not a recorder, I play live allot. I tried to run the Tonex the same way with CABS off and it didnt cut it for me. I only used the stock presets like the JCM 800 and SLO and a few others, I liked nothing about it and sent it back the next day. Maybe the Tonex wasnt meant to be used that way, not sure.
Thank for checking it out! In the Iridium I used a York Audio Vox AC30 IR for the Vox stuff but I also really like the stock Cab A IR. For the Fender stuff I was using the stock Cab A. In the Tonex software I was using whatever the stock IR was with each amp model. Tonex has so much you can tweak so I could have probably spent more time dialing it in but I wanted to see what I would get just quickly doing a comparison.
@@sundaytone Really? You use different IR's between the units and call that a fair comparison? "Quickly doing a comparison" is a faulty approach when you had the ability to level the field at the outset. Bad scientific methodology......
@@Vhladd1 Yea like I said it wasn’t scientific at all. More of a first impression of dialing in some quick tones in Tonex that I would use, from the perspective of someone who has used the Iridium for a few years. Thanks for checking it out.
@@sundaytone I get what you're saying, but you are also stating that the Tonex is a "first impression" put up against the Iridium that you HAVE been using for a few years. That's the rub. Don't misunderstand me, I like your take and vid, there's no animosity here. Unfortunately, I don't think some decisions here I have read, based on your video, give a viewer an honest look at the Tonex. Do a straight up comparison of each using a stock amp/IR that comes with the unit.
it’s not a matter of the pedal itself. The pedal is only as good as the captures that you get. The software does an amazing job, the best in my opinion, and profiling amps. It’s the most accurate and highest Fidelity. You have to know who to buy captures from. everyone thinks they can make them but 99% of them are not functional in a mix and a lot of those don’t even sound good on their own. The software and associated hardware pedals are simply tools.
For me, everything ever made by IK for guitar sounds flat and plastic-y. It eats the transients, whereas the Strymon retains so much pick attack and life of the performance. I'm looking to grab the UA dream as well because I've tried every guitar plugin known to man over the last 25 years (including having a Kemper for a while) and the best sounds I've been able to get ITB are the Strymon and the UAD Fender Tweed plugin. I'd love to be proved wrong by trying someone else's Tonex, but after trying Amplitube off and on for decades and the Tonex software, I certainly wouldn't buy one for my work.
Definitely preferred Amp B for one reason, it felt like the notes ring a little clearer/longer. The sound is practically identical otherwise. Currently using a Headrush MX-5. I picked it up to be able to play quiet. I still prefer my actual amps (Peavey XXX and Mesa/Boogie TA-15) when I don't need to be quiet. Wondering if the ToneX is closer to getting me the best of both worlds. Plus, it is cheaper than collecting $1000+ tube amps.
OK, for a total newbie...how do I download and test this? I dont have any hardware for this... I have no idea how to use the free download.. Do you have vids or links to how to set this up? How do I try this out without the pedal? I must be stoopid...I dont understand.. Thanks
The Strymon sounded better with a little more clarity and sparkle in the high end, where the Tonex seemed duller. Of course huge price difference there too.
Will this Tonex pedal will it allow me to capture my amp for blues and then roll off my guitar volume for fine gain adjustment, or does the amp need to be captured several times? I don't want to be having to push the pedal for different gain levels (clean/mild overdrive/crunch)
Yes it does react like a real amp so you can roll your volume down for less gain. I don't know that it is 100% as good as doing that through a real amp but it works pretty well. It might depend on the specific capture and how much gain was used in it.
Yes - normal 60 cycle hum. It wouldn’t stop me from using it though I just noticed it seemed a little louder then my normal setup when running multiple drives. On cleaner settings it is was pretty silent. So it isn’t anything out of the ordinary. I would just test it out with your rig and see what you think. I think it sounds great and gives you a lot of options. Especially if you like to try different amps out.
Wow, there is a bigger difference than I thought there would be. .To my ears the Iridium kills the Tonex... The Iridium sounds way more natural, hence you said noise. Thats more like the real amps.... The ToneX sounded more compressed , the opposite to what you thought.
I think it depends on where and how you are using it. If you are playing out a lot at places where you can't use an amp or need to have a quiet stage - I think getting an Iridium or the Tonex pedal would be perfect. If you are playing at home and out a couple places and don't need to play silently I would start with an amp (the AC15 is amazing!). I've used amps for a really long time and still prefer the feel of playing with one. Amp modelers are great for recording stuff and practicing silently and for the convenience in how small they are.
I agree about having a real amp so that you can feel the sound as well as hear it (through headphones). You can go and jam with other musicians. Do check on where you will play the amp as some amps do not sound good at low volumes. There are so many great amps to choose from. Go to a store and test amps in your budget at various volumes… either take your guitar or use one in the store that is similar to yours. Good luck.
I’m actually making a video about this right now. I got the Tonex pedal this week. Short answer is Tonex if you want a lot of options and like to tweak lots of settings and try out different amps. ACS1, Iridium, UA Dream/Ruby, if you want something super simple and straightforward. That’s my opinion right now but all of them will get you great tones.
you didn't gain match, so the entire exercise is worthless (the ToneX is higher, might be the reason the Strymon sounds compressed), anyway you compare apples (analog circuits) to oranges (AI NN model), higher levels also = more noise. And diff quality of models (that you didn't capture yourself), is unrealistic wish, If I have a low gain guitar, and I capture the amp in it's sweet spot, and you try to use the capture with high gain guitar, it will not sound so good, and respond very bad to OD pedals, because if you would do the capture with your guitar, the amp gain will be lower, this is only one 1/1000's variables that are coupled to the guitar used to set the amp for capture (and it's vol., tone,...). next time record a DI, and use a DAW to reamp (so we will actually listen to the SAME performance).
Yea those are all good points. This was just a quick first try of the software for me. I actually did record DI for the first Vox example and run it through each. Thanks for checking it out!
Yea - I only noticed it when I was monitoring things at first and switching between amps. I was also running a dual overdrive into it so that definitely adds to it. I think ultimately it comes down to the features and the footprint you want. I think you can get a great sound out of it.
@@sundaytone It's quite noisy in my setup too, and the pedal also seems noisier than any other amp sim pedal I've tried. Both the plugin and the pedal have built in noise gates though, so not a huge deal.
I just want a helix with the feel of the tonex. The tonex falls very short for me for live use, almost zero flexibility, I can put together a full useable pedal board/amp in 5 mins with the helix. But having used helix for years, and just getting a tonex, the tonex is vastly superior in sound/feel.
