The Stomp sounded compressed, the Iridium did sound more like a real amp to me. I ordered one because I’m trying to climb out of the rabbit holes of a million rigs/profiles/patches, etc... Just want a limited, but very good set of options.
Being a Kemper owner(I also owned a Helix Lt), I will say I’m really impressed how the Iridium takes pedal.Probably the best digital solution i ever heard for this purpose.
Honestly friend........that may be the worst sounding tone I've heard in a long time. You need to stay with some real tube amps I believe.!! Me too!! I have made the mistake myself and after a while I couldn't tell WHAT I was doing or hearing from all the digital parameters I was tweaking! Tube amps with 2 or 3 channels and a few good pedals will cover ALL of it I believe. God Bless you and all in good conversation.
@@frankardos4211 hey man, i meant it sounded closer to a tube amp in comparison to the hx imo lol not exactly like one. I have 4 Fender tube amps, and they definitely sound different from both of these. Not necessarily better, because tone is totally subjective, but not the same thats for sure.
@@frankardos4211 good luck playing a tube amp through your headphones at night when people are trying to sleep in the house. Tube amps sound and feel better, but there's some places that they just don't work at all.
@@rangerdoc1029 I couldn't agree more. i LOVE my tube amps, but 90% of the time i'm playing through my board into my JOYO american sound into my interface with headphones. A lot of people don't realize that tube amps might sound "better" but in most home situations aren't always practical.
Fran Kardos I prefer real tube amps and a pedalboard 100% of the time but unfortunately a lot of gigs and sessions these days require going direct for volume and space purposes. So it’s nice to hear that they’re getting a little closer to the real thing at least.
They aren't EQ'd even remotely similar, there's way more mids and low end on the strymon and way more top end on the stomp. You couldn't change stomp amp EQ to get any closer than that?
Yeatzee Guitar you are 100% correct. A lot of these comparison videos miss the high and low pass which you can use to sculpt the eq of the amp. Having a 65 deluxe I can say that the fender tones can get quite spiked at noon so I am a little bit confused by the comments. I think that what I would like to see is can you make the HX sound like the iridium and then can you make the iridium sound like the Hx. That woof low end when driven can be dialed out of the Hx completely with pass filters.
@@jbbourbon178 You hit the nail on the head , the people who want the iridium do want to be spending hours flicking through different screens and options 👍
I'd really like to see the Iridium vs the Atomic Ampli-firebox. AFB is cheaper & has more features. But for me it really boils down to which has the better modelling.
Your comments make perfect sense, Ryan. The Line 6 sounds like a finished, mastered recording. The Iridium sounds like an amp. But, as you also said, they're totally different products.
A better way to have done this would have been to load the same IR to both the HX and the Iridium and then switched between them. The issue with putting the Iridium in the loop of the HX is that the initial interaction between guitar and modeller is always the guitar plugged into the HX. Putting the Iridium into the loop of the HX means that as well as there being an extra round of conversion, the Iridium is getting fed a line level signal. What impact that potentially has, I can’t say, but I know when the HX came out there were a lot of people criticising it for not being relatively that much cheaper than the full size Helixs; the response from Line 6 was that the major part of the actual cost of the Helix line is the analog inputs and not the processing power as such. By putting the Iridium in the loop, how it actually interacts/behaves with a guitar plugged directly into it isn’t really being tested
I returned a Helix because I felt a small amount of latency. It sounds fine, but I just couldn't get used to the feel. I replaced it with the Iridium and I'm much happier with the sound and feel.
great vid. iridium definitely responds well with the different drive pedals specially through the sweep of the level/drive knobs. To my ear, the modded ts9 wasn't obviously a tubescreamer with the iridium compared to the hx stomp where you might still hear that tubescreamer staple parallel distortion-and-clean tones. thanks for using the multiple external drive/boost/fuzz.
Thanks for the vid, I love it! I would love to hear a similar comparison for the Vox and Marshall sounds. I have a few minor concerns that would matter to how many folks would use Iridium. 1) Iridium has a really nice analog JFET input section, and from what I've heard it responds really well to volume knob changes, like a real amp. That is especially important when going for a big Marshall sound. I wonder if using it in a loop on the Stomp prevents the Iridium from living up to its potential? Many boost pedals are designed to interact directly with the front end of an amp and any buffers in-between could change the tone. 2) Iridium supports really long and high quality IRs, and has an excellent room feature that contributes to making Iridium feel like a real amp miked up in a room. I have a number of IR processors, and they all sound great but the longer IRs on the Logidy EPSI sound better than shorter ones on other boxes. I don't know what length the Stomp supports, but the Strymon should be similar to the EPSI. So in short- it might be more "real" to compare each with its own IR, with an A/B box selecting each processor and the outputs summed in stereo so you can hear how natural each room sound is. Thanks again, great vid! I believe, as a fair compa
It's like you said: Line 6 is a Swiss Army Knife - the Strymon Unit ( which I liked better, having a Large Pedalboard ) is like having a Fender Princeton in an ISO Room. Both have their place, depending on your needs. Nice to have Choices & Options.
Yep, this is the key difference: you have pedals already. The Iridum is a pedal platform. The HX Stomp is for people who either don't have much in the way of pedals or don't intend to use them with the Stomp.
Totally understood what you were saying about amp bass vs studio mix bass, and mic on a cab sound, and processed in a final mix sound. And I agree. Great comparison. Also extinguished any idea I may have had that the Stomp was an option for me. The Iridium is definitely the device for me. Keep up the good work there!
Really i just hear EQ differences. HX has more of a scoop with more chime, but tone is similar. Personally I think we’ve been in a place technologically for a while now where amp modeling has reached a point of diminishing returns sans standing in the room moving the air. These were designed as a matter of convenience.
In this video the iridium is clearly represented to receive OD/Boost better. I agree, this isn’t about comparing but, granted I’m not about o start replacing my PB for a helix, the iridium is clearly a great amp replacement where you cannot turn up.
Great video! Just wondering if you aware that the Fender Deluxe reverb has a bright cap on the vibrato channel only. Like having a Twin’s bright switch on. It makes it way more scooped and thin sounding. In my opinion the deluxe vibrato channel does not take gain pedals as well. Most people use the vibrato channel to use the reverb and trem which isn’t available for normal channel unless you mod it (which I have done). Not sure which channel the Iridium is trying to recreate (I assume normal) but that also could have hindered this comparison video slightly. Love your videos! Thanks!
No joke, Iridium sound very authentic. Iridium has to be voiced almost ready to mix without issues, I mean mainly hp and lp, that's why sounds middle focused. Still sounds great alone. Sure there isn't the same listening natural lows vs low harmonics generated by means of digital/analog saturation.
I have a Helix and I love what it can do, but as far as the modeling comparison of these two units I definitely think the Iridium sounds better. The clean sound on the HX sounded kind of dead compared to the Iridium. Also, the Tube Screamer sounded way better with the Iridium. I'm not huge on modeling because I'm not trying to replicate an exact sound, I just find something that sounds good for what I'm trying to do and in that respect the Helix is fine. I don't think I'll ever have a need for a stand alone Modeling unit.
I only needed to get to 2 minutes to decide. The Iridium sounds more buttery, while the line 6 sounds bright like running a guitar direct into a zoom h6.
There's such a big difference in EQ. I think you could tweek a bit to get the sounds closer. Feel, breakup, compression, that's where it's probably at.
the problem i have with line 6 helix native is that it the clean tones dont sound full at all. the iridium seemed to be what i look for in a clean tone almost immediately.
All I did to make the stop sound amazing was I bought a klon clone and put it before the stomp. Adds those overtones that I feel are missing in the stomp. But honestly. The hx Just needs tweaking and you will get the perfect sound I'm just lazy
Great review but the Iridium sounds awesome and I'm buying one cause no one has got that close to edge of break up tones in a box yet (except AFX3 maybe and Im not dropping $2.5k for that ;-)
I really enjoyed the way the Iridium took drives. You're right that in a mix it probably doesn't matter much, but the Iridium just had that "amp" sound especially with the drives.
Actually, it DOES matter in the mix. My Helix always sounds thin and gets lost in a live band mix.... the fatter sounding Iridium would help you “cut through” or standout in the mix....
The best way I can explain what I’m hearing is the HX sounds like Michael Bolton processed electric guitar and the Iridium like Sex Pistols chunky guitar. Another great one thanks Ryan 👍👍
personally, if I had both I think I would swap their jobs. let the iridium be my amp box and use the HX as an effects box. use drive pedals in front. I think you'd be able to cover almost all ground that way in a very small package, with unlimited options. I also would sell either one for the other.
I have both and the Stomp is on my small/travel board. The HX stomp does more but the Iridium does "amp" much better. To me what makes the HX stomp "great" is that it's "pretty good" at so many things, but I wouldn't say it's "great" at any one thing. My biggest gripe with HX Stomp is it's Reverbs.
Really helpful thanks. Iridium for me. I am looking for classic fender cleans and edge of breakup tones. Also the way Iridium handles pedals seems much more realistic.
I own neither of these pedals (yet) but have watched too many vids on each to mention. The Iridium really seems to feel more natural than the stomp for amp modelling in the reviews I watch of both.
Thanks for the video, they both seem like great options depending on the particular application in which they would be utilized. I would be very interested in seeing how the Vox and Marshall settings would stand up to the same test.
To me the Iridium sounds thicker and warmer. Own a Kemper and find the Iridium really appealing. It sounds great and the analog like interface with 3 amps and cabs seams perfect against the Kemper’s digital interface and infinite possibilities...
well it seems that the HX Stomp is a fine piece of gear if you want an all in one style pedal. As for their amp/cab models though, they sound very thin, sterile and digital. However, if you're just looking for the best amp and cab IRs that replicate those great tube amps of yesteryear, the Iridium wins hands down, no contest. It sounds very much like the real amps (Fender, Vox, and Marshall) and a whole lot of thoughtful design has gone into it and it shows. The simplicity of knobs on the front panel are similar to the original amps too so users of those original amps will feel right at home!
I only own the Stomp. Didn't buy it for the amp sims originally. I have experimented with it, though. Created many patches and used some for recording. In many cases, I found myself cranking up the high mids and presence a lot. Otherwise, my sounds where too muddy to be of any use. I'm not a fanboy of the Helix, but I'll say that you can get a very usable tones that will not sound cold and sterile in the context of a band. (what's harder to get is feel. Which is a complicated matter that includes AD/DA conversions, not having the amp in the room etc)
One thing I noticed when doing this test myself (Iridium vs Helix Floor), is that the Iridium sounded worse when it was in the loop of the Helix rather than plugging straight into it. However my conclusion was that they sound equally as good, but slightly different - me preferring the Iridium. I didn't however test how they both reacted to pedals, just the base sound of the amp simulations. I also picked up on the difference in bass you mentioned, I mentioned it on another video that the Helix sounds more "studio"-compressed while the Iridium sounds more like an amp.
See my comments above about the testing method. Iridium is going through multiple DA/AD conversions, probably not helping the quality of the iridium. As a Kemper user, I am wondering if the Iridium sounds more like an amp in the room, or like the Kemper, the sound of a miked cab. I really want an amp in the room sound, and haven't found it yet.
@@javsmith86 Haven't tried the Kemper, but the Iridium sounds more like an amp in the room than the Helix at least. The reason being that the Helix sound more processed, not by much but the Helix sounds more like a guitar on a record and the Iridium sounds more like an amp. Tried the Iridium through monitors on the cheaper side and through the poweramp of a Roland Jazzchorus with the cab-sim turned off. With the monitors the sound was almost there (but then again, small cheap-ish monitors), and through the poweramp, well at that stage it is an amp in the room and it sounded great. Don't take my word for it though, this is something you'd have to try yourself to determine, but if you're after the amp-in-the-room-sound in this kind of format you should definitely try it out.
I don’t disagree with what your ears tell ya but what I took from the video that I think you inadvertently showed me is that if you are the guy who doesn’t want to embrace technology and just wants a telecaster with some pedals and a tube amp (ok so that’s me) and will Take a box sitting at the end of a pedal board to replace his amp, the iridium is for you. If you are a tinkerer, programmer mayb, and you want 1 box to replace you’re whole rig, effects and all, the stomp is for you. I have been debating ordering an iridium for home recording thru garage band and possibly for my backup amp on stage. Because of this video I will be ordering it. Thanks.
the hx stomp sounds with the pedals in front like a cheap palmer pocket amp over headphones or even worse. iridium is doing it for me, even it will not replace my fender blues deluxe. but for small gigs it's the best compromise i guess. contraband is a crazy good fuzz btw.
Hi Ryan! Great demo! I have to say I like simple and the Iridium would be my first choice. I do see how these two pedals would be fine together on my pedal board. Nice job!
Thanks for this demo. I had one Iridium. Pros: small and powerfull, three great sounds, very usefull. Easy of use. Cons: I don't like with headphones (Audio Technica ATH50), and I need loop FX. Now I'm going to buy one HX Stomp XL. "Alea iacta est".
Sold my Helix LT to buy HX Stomp and Iridium.. Of course had to get a pedal train Nano+, Dunlop Mini and 2 button foot switch and power supply but hey, no looking back or questioning my gear anymore! sounds way better both isolated and in a band mix. Def better tone and same flexibility!
Nice Letterkenny reference! The Iridium seems to cut more frequencies out when running pedals into it. The HX stomp, not so much. I always cut the low end at around 80 and the high end around 6000 on the hx to get a more warm tone. Maybe the iridium kind of does that on it's own. The reason I do that is because that's the frequency range of most cabs.
Quick summary: The iridium is for someone who wants and is only capable of plug and play type tones. The HX is for someone that knows how to tweak or produce the amp to suite what they need. Both can take drives extremely well, one just takes a little bit more studio knowledge.
An amp is a plug and play tone, the Iridium models that. The Iridium owner wants to further shape their sound with hand picked pedals and not do several button pushes to see if the generic digital approximation pedal with a green icon would sound better with the tone value moved a little. It's two different mind sets rather than different skill sets.
I had the stomp and the effects were fantastic. As soon as I turned on the amp and effects it became overly bright for my taste. It sounds good if you want that bright sheen sound. The stomp certainly sounded clear and full but I like that my amp was just a bit muddled in a good way. The iridium sounds a little muddled as well. I like that.
Listening to this with my IEMs (5-driver Westone)… wow the differences are night and day. There’s a lot of digital fizz every time the drives get in there. Idk what it is, but the Iridium just absolutely slaps
I prefer the Iridium sound. Ryan, would you use the iridium with a flat response powered cab or good studio monitor and mic it? To see how it sounds for example as a "bedroom amp"
I listened on a decent set of studio monitors, and it wasn’t even close. Iridium was the best by far. HX Stomp sounded like it had all sorts of digital clipping. Thanks for this!
So the only thing on the HX is looks like the drive, and bass are not the same? There are definite differences in the tone. I think your incite that they are different things and a lot of the reviews are trying to compare them as being the same. Good job.
This should not trick people into thinking the Hx stomp is thinner. Just have to tweak some things, use another amp on the Hx stomp to get a sound just as good or better. If you think all the amp sounds are thin, then use the global EQ, or use the high cut and low cut setting on the cab/IR. The Hx stomp is a much better buy due to all the extra features as well if you can only get one.
Ian Nichols it depends on what people need or want for their rig. I’ve gotten great tones out of my stomp but it’s taken me hours to build those patches. The iridium is much quicker to work with. That’s going to be attractive to a lot of people. And plenty of people will prefer the wide assortment of features the stomp has to offer.
Yoooo! That’s the one. Not a lot of videos of people running drives and fuzz into iridium yet. I was apprehensive until I saw this. I know you mention the bass a bunch but to me the difference is in the high end. Solid state amps and modelers have that weird fizzy blanket on top of every drive you feed into them but the iridium stays fat, punchy, and natural . Definitely going to have to get myself one ASAP.
This duel between the Iridium and the HX reminds me of the "Amps & Stomps" vs. "Rackmount Rig" shift that was happening in the late-80's/early 90's. Based on that experience I can definitely see a better value in the simplicity of the Iridium due to its hassle free "set-it-and-forget-it" design. After seeing the HX Stomp in action I'll definitely be adding it to my studio gear wish list but being that I'm still in my noob phase of PC recording I think going with the Iridium just makes more sense due to its simplistic design and low-to-no learning curve.
I feel this is like the Helix/Kemper argument. The Iridium does amp really well buts that it. The Helix does Amps, FX, Audio Interface. It is a jack of all trades master of none.
Thank you for this! I’ve been trying to decide between the line 6 pod go and the iridium and have had a difficult time finding direct tonal comparisons. Since the pod go uses the HX engine hopefully this is close enough.I love all my strymon pedals and I’ve never owned any hardware from line 6, but all those features are appealing for sure.
Just a suggestion, while I appreciate the video, going through an effects loop is probably not the best way to do a comparison. By inserting the iridium in the loop, you are probably doing 2 AD/DA conversions. I don't know what the quality of the DA/AD in the strymon, but I would guess they are better than the HX Stomp. You would be better going through an analog switcher to minimize conversions to do those sound comparisons. I don't have a horse in this race, I am a Kemper user :-). I do have a question, I owned a Line 6 amp that crapped out, that was probably 10 years ago, so I am wondering what your experience has been with Line 6 since Yamaha bought them. Is the build quailty good?
i tested it before hand and didn't notice a change in the quality in the signal using the loop. im sure its not perfect, but to me it wasn't a perceivable difference.
@@60CycleHumcast Thanks for letting me know. I place higher value on your in the room opinion, since UA-cam adds it's own compression etc, making my hearing of a youtube test not so valuable :)
I try to publish audio that sounds as close to what i was hearing in room as possible. but yeah, youtube screws stuff up a bit and theres no way for me to mix for the incredible variety of speakers people listen through.
Mids are just way too different. Could've at least tried putting both mids at unity. 5 on the Stomp and 12:00 on the Iridium. You sure the Deluxe Nrm wouldn't have been a better closer comparison? Afterall, you are trying to compare both same amps : the Deluxe Reverb normal channel.
neither would have sounded good with flat eq. i tried to dial them in both sound good but also in a similar amp character. If you watch the video all the way through i show the eq settings on the stomp
Great video, Ryan! Oh, that Iridium, man! I hope that Strymon release a full-blown modeller some time in the future. With all of that investment into making such a great sounding pedal, there ought to be more to come :) Oh, and I am sure that the lovely Jennings Navigator helped a lot when making those great tones, ha ha!
You really need to familiarise yourself thoroughly with the mid control on the Iridium before doing any form of comparison, and plugging it into the Line 6 HX Stomp is not a great way to start.
The clean tones were very different, maybe try to match those first? I think with all the parameters in HX you can get closer to the iridium tone than it is now.
I run a heap of filthy analogue distortion / fuzz dirt boxes into the stomp . Fact is it takes some dialling in and you can get it to sound pretty much any way youd like with the stomps eq. Hes right for the tweaker its a dream. Was really impressed with the iridium in this vid but it was a poor showcase of the stomp, could have really easily assigned an eq block there to showcase how easy it is to pull out all those terrible frequencies that your hearing. They are two completely different animals but i feel like for a shoot out vid for running analogue pedals in front of each of them the stomp hasnt been done justice. Both fantastic and VERY different processor pedals.
I've never heard a helix sound good to my ears, ever. Not live, not recorded, not tweaked. It sounds like a synthetic tone sucking toy to me. The Iridium on the other hand.
The Stomp sounded compressed, the Iridium did sound more like a real amp to me. I ordered one because I’m trying to climb out of the rabbit holes of a million rigs/profiles/patches, etc... Just want a limited, but very good set of options.
now how you pedalboard? i think gonna use iridium with hx effects
Being a Kemper owner(I also owned a Helix Lt), I will say I’m really impressed how the Iridium takes pedal.Probably the best digital solution i ever heard for this purpose.
Both sound great in my opinion, but I think the iridium has more of an "authentic" tube amp sound to my ears anyway.
Honestly friend........that may be the worst sounding tone I've heard in a long time. You need to stay with some real tube amps I believe.!! Me too!! I have made the mistake myself and after a while I couldn't tell WHAT I was doing or hearing from all the digital parameters I was tweaking! Tube amps with 2 or 3 channels and a few good pedals will cover ALL of it I believe. God Bless you and all in good conversation.
@@frankardos4211 hey man, i meant it sounded closer to a tube amp in comparison to the hx imo lol not exactly like one. I have 4 Fender tube amps, and they definitely sound different from both of these. Not necessarily better, because tone is totally subjective, but not the same thats for sure.
@@frankardos4211 good luck playing a tube amp through your headphones at night when people are trying to sleep in the house. Tube amps sound and feel better, but there's some places that they just don't work at all.
@@rangerdoc1029 I couldn't agree more. i LOVE my tube amps, but 90% of the time i'm playing through my board into my JOYO american sound into my interface with headphones. A lot of people don't realize that tube amps might sound "better" but in most home situations aren't always practical.
Fran Kardos I prefer real tube amps and a pedalboard 100% of the time but unfortunately a lot of gigs and sessions these days require going direct for volume and space purposes. So it’s nice to hear that they’re getting a little closer to the real thing at least.
I’ve been looking for demo of boost pushing the Iridium for days now. Thanks for coming through! Sounds Boss
I honestly should do a stand alone video of just boosting it at different settings, it sounded really good boosted. im kind of shocked.
That would be cool for sure. I was considering putting my gear budget towards building a 15-watt Tweed, but now...
@@60CycleHumcast Do it!
They aren't EQ'd even remotely similar, there's way more mids and low end on the strymon and way more top end on the stomp. You couldn't change stomp amp EQ to get any closer than that?
Yeatzee Guitar you are 100% correct. A lot of these comparison videos miss the high and low pass which you can use to sculpt the eq of the amp. Having a 65 deluxe I can say that the fender tones can get quite spiked at noon so I am a little bit confused by the comments. I think that what I would like to see is can you make the HX sound like the iridium and then can you make the iridium sound like the Hx. That woof low end when driven can be dialed out of the Hx completely with pass filters.
Glenn Cohen that is the very reason that the Iridium is so loved...you don’t have to menu dive to make it sound like something else
@@jbbourbon178 You hit the nail on the head , the people who want the iridium do want to be spending hours flicking through different screens and options 👍
I thought I was the only one who noticed. Looks like my comment was echoing yours.
Dial once and save.. nuff said
In order for line 6 to come out on top,they can make a new amp model called Iridium #2.
I'd really like to see the Iridium vs the Atomic Ampli-firebox. AFB is cheaper & has more features. But for me it really boils down to which has the better modelling.
i dont have that one
Your comments make perfect sense, Ryan. The Line 6 sounds like a finished, mastered recording. The Iridium sounds like an amp. But, as you also said, they're totally different products.
A better way to have done this would have been to load the same IR to both the HX and the Iridium and then switched between them. The issue with putting the Iridium in the loop of the HX is that the initial interaction between guitar and modeller is always the guitar plugged into the HX. Putting the Iridium into the loop of the HX means that as well as there being an extra round of conversion, the Iridium is getting fed a line level signal. What impact that potentially has, I can’t say, but I know when the HX came out there were a lot of people criticising it for not being relatively that much cheaper than the full size Helixs; the response from Line 6 was that the major part of the actual cost of the Helix line is the analog inputs and not the processing power as such. By putting the Iridium in the loop, how it actually interacts/behaves with a guitar plugged directly into it isn’t really being tested
That’s totally true. There’s already D/A conversion from the HX before it even gets to the Iridium.
I returned a Helix because I felt a small amount of latency. It sounds fine, but I just couldn't get used to the feel. I replaced it with the Iridium and I'm much happier with the sound and feel.
oh thanks! nobody talks about the latency! I asked under many vids but nobody said nothing about it...
Great video man. Best comparison I've seen with these yet.
VERY insightful - can’t wait for an Iridium live! Thanks
Iridium = RAW photograph. HX Stomp = Final JPEG. Both sound really nice in their own way, but Iridium seems way more fun to actually play.
great vid. iridium definitely responds well with the different drive pedals specially through the sweep of the level/drive knobs. To my ear, the modded ts9 wasn't obviously a tubescreamer with the iridium compared to the hx stomp where you might still hear that tubescreamer staple parallel distortion-and-clean tones. thanks for using the multiple external drive/boost/fuzz.
Thanks for the vid, I love it! I would love to hear a similar comparison for the Vox and Marshall sounds.
I have a few minor concerns that would matter to how many folks would use Iridium.
1) Iridium has a really nice analog JFET input section, and from what I've heard it responds really well to volume knob changes, like a real amp. That is especially important when going for a big Marshall sound. I wonder if using it in a loop on the Stomp prevents the Iridium from living up to its potential? Many boost pedals are designed to interact directly with the front end of an amp and any buffers in-between could change the tone.
2) Iridium supports really long and high quality IRs, and has an excellent room feature that contributes to making Iridium feel like a real amp miked up in a room. I have a number of IR processors, and they all sound great but the longer IRs on the Logidy EPSI sound better than shorter ones on other boxes. I don't know what length the Stomp supports, but the Strymon should be similar to the EPSI.
So in short- it might be more "real" to compare each with its own IR, with an A/B box selecting each processor and the outputs summed in stereo so you can hear how natural each room sound is.
Thanks again, great vid!
I believe, as a fair compa
It's like you said: Line 6 is a Swiss Army Knife - the Strymon Unit ( which I liked better, having a Large Pedalboard ) is like having a Fender Princeton in an ISO Room. Both have their place, depending on your needs. Nice to have Choices & Options.
Yep, this is the key difference: you have pedals already. The Iridum is a pedal platform. The HX Stomp is for people who either don't have much in the way of pedals or don't intend to use them with the Stomp.
Totally understood what you were saying about amp bass vs studio mix bass, and mic on a cab sound, and processed in a final mix sound. And I agree. Great comparison. Also extinguished any idea I may have had that the Stomp was an option for me. The Iridium is definitely the device for me. Keep up the good work there!
Is there a reason why you are not using the high and low cuts in the IR block on the stomp?
Daniel Rogers It sounds like the Iridium has a high cut on it already
Really i just hear EQ differences. HX has more of a scoop with more chime, but tone is similar. Personally I think we’ve been in a place technologically for a while now where amp modeling has reached a point of diminishing returns sans standing in the room moving the air. These were designed as a matter of convenience.
In this video the iridium is clearly represented to receive OD/Boost better. I agree, this isn’t about comparing but, granted I’m not about o start replacing my PB for a helix, the iridium is clearly a great amp replacement where you cannot turn up.
Great video! Just wondering if you aware that the Fender Deluxe reverb has a bright cap on the vibrato channel only. Like having a Twin’s bright switch on. It makes it way more scooped and thin sounding. In my opinion the deluxe vibrato channel does not take gain pedals as well. Most people use the vibrato channel to use the reverb and trem which isn’t available for normal channel unless you mod it (which I have done). Not sure which channel the Iridium is trying to recreate (I assume normal) but that also could have hindered this comparison video slightly. Love your videos! Thanks!
No joke, Iridium sound very authentic. Iridium has to be voiced almost ready to mix without issues, I mean mainly hp and lp, that's why sounds middle focused. Still sounds great alone. Sure there isn't the same listening natural lows vs low harmonics generated by means of digital/analog saturation.
Yes to the Vox and Marshall comparisons. The Iridium sounded beefier to me than the HX.
Happy Fender Ultra Series day!
I have a Helix and I love what it can do, but as far as the modeling comparison of these two units I definitely think the Iridium sounds better. The clean sound on the HX sounded kind of dead compared to the Iridium. Also, the Tube Screamer sounded way better with the Iridium. I'm not huge on modeling because I'm not trying to replicate an exact sound, I just find something that sounds good for what I'm trying to do and in that respect the Helix is fine. I don't think I'll ever have a need for a stand alone Modeling unit.
I only needed to get to 2 minutes to decide. The Iridium sounds more buttery, while the line 6 sounds bright like running a guitar direct into a zoom h6.
There's such a big difference in EQ. I think you could tweek a bit to get the sounds closer. Feel, breakup, compression, that's where it's probably at.
I got my Strymon today and yes it is buttery smooth and super responsive, they've done a great job!
@@burado1974 Awesome! I watched a few more reviews and bought one myself. it's on the way. I'm super stoked. thanks for confirming!
This is really well done. Well thought out and easy to compare. Nice
To me the Strymon is more amp like
the problem i have with line 6 helix native is that it the clean tones dont sound full at all. the iridium seemed to be what i look for in a clean tone almost immediately.
The Stymon sounds like an amp the hx though.... Your church setting sounded amazing. Saying that again. Sounded like an actual amp
All I did to make the stop sound amazing was I bought a klon clone and put it before the stomp. Adds those overtones that I feel are missing in the stomp. But honestly. The hx Just needs tweaking and you will get the perfect sound I'm just lazy
Great review but the Iridium sounds awesome and I'm buying one cause no one has got that close to edge of break up tones in a box yet (except AFX3 maybe and Im not dropping $2.5k for that ;-)
I really enjoyed the way the Iridium took drives. You're right that in a mix it probably doesn't matter much, but the Iridium just had that "amp" sound especially with the drives.
Actually, it DOES matter in the mix. My Helix always sounds thin and gets lost in a live band mix.... the fatter sounding Iridium would help you “cut through” or standout in the mix....
Those two pedals coupled together are like a perfect travel board.
at a two button switch and bingo you got a killer board.
I have both and thought the same, however the Stomp kinda tone sucks. It’s an all Helix or an all Strymon situation. Ymmv
@@eddiecancelmusic What about if you run the stomp through the Iridium?
I'll go Helix Stomp 9/10 out of ten... The one time i pick the IRIDIUM, is when i'm feeling like an old blues dad, and don't like tweaking options.
Don't tweaking and you prefer HX? it's valid I suppose.
Any difference you can hear on youtube is more about difference in the style, rather than the actual quality
The best way I can explain what I’m hearing is the HX sounds like Michael Bolton processed electric guitar and the Iridium like Sex Pistols chunky guitar. Another great one thanks Ryan 👍👍
personally, if I had both I think I would swap their jobs. let the iridium be my amp box and use the HX as an effects box. use drive pedals in front. I think you'd be able to cover almost all ground that way in a very small package, with unlimited options.
I also would sell either one for the other.
hx effects maybe good way to change yo hx stomp
I think what you’re struggling to say is the Line 6 sounds like a modeler and the Strymon sounds like an amp.
It would be nice a comparison between NUX Solid Studio and Strymon Iridium
HX sounds excellent here, would go right into a recorded or live mix without much messing around required for a premium result.
I have both and the Stomp is on my small/travel board. The HX stomp does more but the Iridium does "amp" much better. To me what makes the HX stomp "great" is that it's "pretty good" at so many things, but I wouldn't say it's "great" at any one thing. My biggest gripe with HX Stomp is it's Reverbs.
Really helpful thanks. Iridium for me. I am looking for classic fender cleans and edge of breakup tones. Also the way Iridium handles pedals seems much more realistic.
I own neither of these pedals (yet) but have watched too many vids on each to mention. The Iridium really seems to feel more natural than the stomp for amp modelling in the reviews I watch of both.
I had a Helix Floor and Powercab. I sold it. I need an amp. I don’t have any pedals. Would an iridium work as the only thing I need?
Thanks for the video, they both seem like great options depending on the particular application in which they would be utilized. I would be very interested in seeing how the Vox and Marshall settings would stand up to the same test.
To me the Iridium sounds thicker and warmer. Own a Kemper and find the Iridium really appealing. It sounds great and the analog like interface with 3 amps and cabs seams perfect against the Kemper’s digital interface and infinite possibilities...
well it seems that the HX Stomp is a fine piece of gear if you want an all in one style pedal. As for their amp/cab models though, they sound very thin, sterile and digital. However, if you're just looking for the best amp and cab IRs that replicate those great tube amps of yesteryear, the Iridium wins hands down, no contest. It sounds very much like the real amps (Fender, Vox, and Marshall) and a whole lot of thoughtful design has gone into it and it shows. The simplicity of knobs on the front panel are similar to the original amps too so users of those original amps will feel right at home!
I only own the Stomp. Didn't buy it for the amp sims originally. I have experimented with it, though. Created many patches and used some for recording. In many cases, I found myself cranking up the high mids and presence a lot. Otherwise, my sounds where too muddy to be of any use. I'm not a fanboy of the Helix, but I'll say that you can get a very usable tones that will not sound cold and sterile in the context of a band. (what's harder to get is feel. Which is a complicated matter that includes AD/DA conversions, not having the amp in the room etc)
One thing I noticed when doing this test myself (Iridium vs Helix Floor), is that the Iridium sounded worse when it was in the loop of the Helix rather than plugging straight into it. However my conclusion was that they sound equally as good, but slightly different - me preferring the Iridium. I didn't however test how they both reacted to pedals, just the base sound of the amp simulations. I also picked up on the difference in bass you mentioned, I mentioned it on another video that the Helix sounds more "studio"-compressed while the Iridium sounds more like an amp.
See my comments above about the testing method. Iridium is going through multiple DA/AD conversions, probably not helping the quality of the iridium. As a Kemper user, I am wondering if the Iridium sounds more like an amp in the room, or like the Kemper, the sound of a miked cab. I really want an amp in the room sound, and haven't found it yet.
@@javsmith86 Haven't tried the Kemper, but the Iridium sounds more like an amp in the room than the Helix at least. The reason being that the Helix sound more processed, not by much but the Helix sounds more like a guitar on a record and the Iridium sounds more like an amp. Tried the Iridium through monitors on the cheaper side and through the poweramp of a Roland Jazzchorus with the cab-sim turned off. With the monitors the sound was almost there (but then again, small cheap-ish monitors), and through the poweramp, well at that stage it is an amp in the room and it sounded great. Don't take my word for it though, this is something you'd have to try yourself to determine, but if you're after the amp-in-the-room-sound in this kind of format you should definitely try it out.
Thanks for doing this, just what I wanted to see.
can you do a new comparison now in 2022/23? Line 6 has put out a new update... I much much prefer the tone of the Iridium in this video
I’m gearing up for one. The new cab sims sound awesome.
I don’t disagree with what your ears tell ya but what I took from the video that I think you inadvertently showed me is that if you are the guy who doesn’t want to embrace technology and just wants a telecaster with some pedals and a tube amp (ok so that’s me) and will Take a box sitting at the end of a pedal board to replace his amp, the iridium is for you. If you are a tinkerer, programmer mayb, and you want 1 box to replace you’re whole rig, effects and all, the stomp is for you. I have been debating ordering an iridium for home recording thru garage band and possibly for my backup amp on stage. Because of this video I will be ordering it. Thanks.
Iridium sounded great with the boost and fuzz! Using both seems the way to go! Thanks man.
Great informative vid! Please do one running the stomps pedals into the iridium like stacking overdrives and delays. Very curious how that would go 🤘
the hx stomp sounds with the pedals in front like a cheap palmer pocket amp over headphones or even worse. iridium is doing it for me, even it will not replace my fender blues deluxe. but for small gigs it's the best compromise i guess. contraband is a crazy good fuzz btw.
Hi Ryan! Great demo! I have to say I like simple and the Iridium would be my first choice. I do see how these two pedals would be fine together on my pedal board. Nice job!
Thanks for this demo.
I had one Iridium.
Pros: small and powerfull, three great sounds, very usefull. Easy of use.
Cons: I don't like with headphones (Audio Technica ATH50), and I need loop FX.
Now I'm going to buy one HX Stomp XL. "Alea iacta est".
Excellent review. And I agree 100% with the comparison 👍
Sold my Helix LT to buy HX Stomp and Iridium.. Of course had to get a pedal train Nano+, Dunlop Mini and 2 button foot switch and power supply but hey, no looking back or questioning my gear anymore! sounds way better both isolated and in a band mix. Def better tone and same flexibility!
Nice Letterkenny reference!
The Iridium seems to cut more frequencies out when running pedals into it. The HX stomp, not so much. I always cut the low end at around 80 and the high end around 6000 on the hx to get a more warm tone. Maybe the iridium kind of does that on it's own. The reason I do that is because that's the frequency range of most cabs.
Quick summary: The iridium is for someone who wants and is only capable of plug and play type tones. The HX is for someone that knows how to tweak or produce the amp to suite what they need.
Both can take drives extremely well, one just takes a little bit more studio knowledge.
An amp is a plug and play tone, the Iridium models that. The Iridium owner wants to further shape their sound with hand picked pedals and not do several button pushes to see if the generic digital approximation pedal with a green icon would sound better with the tone value moved a little.
It's two different mind sets rather than different skill sets.
I had the stomp and the effects were fantastic. As soon as I turned on the amp and effects it became overly bright for my taste. It sounds good if you want that bright sheen sound. The stomp certainly sounded clear and full but I like that my amp was just a bit muddled in a good way. The iridium sounds a little muddled as well. I like that.
I always cut the frequency on the cab to 80 and 6000 or so because that's the range, roughly, of most cabs and it seemed to warm it up a bit.
Out of curiosity, I wonder how the two compare with a Fulltone OCD in front of it.
i dont have an ocd anymore, sorry.
Good for you 🤣
Most ppl never get over theirs
Great comparison video! Cheers!
I'm down for some Marshall and Vox demos here. Great vid
Listening to this with my IEMs (5-driver Westone)… wow the differences are night and day.
There’s a lot of digital fizz every time the drives get in there. Idk what it is, but the Iridium just absolutely slaps
I prefer the Iridium sound. Ryan, would you use the iridium with a flat response powered cab or good studio monitor and mic it? To see how it sounds for example as a "bedroom amp"
Yes, please!
"Let them be lovers" Two pedals enter, one pedal leaves
Sounded equal, then he ran a pedal into them ...
which did you prefer?
I listened on a decent set of studio monitors, and it wasn’t even close. Iridium was the best by far. HX Stomp sounded like it had all sorts of digital clipping.
Thanks for this!
When you used fuzz. Did you changed the impedance properly on the HX stomp?
So the only thing on the HX is looks like the drive, and bass are not the same? There are definite differences in the tone. I think your incite that they are different things and a lot of the reviews are trying to compare them as being the same. Good job.
Awesome video! The Iridium is way better! Man! I just didn’t get how anyone could think the Stomp sounds even close to a real Deluxe sound.
How about a demo for HX Stomp's reverb patches? Digging the drip sound, whether it has or not?
This should not trick people into thinking the Hx stomp is thinner. Just have to tweak some things, use another amp on the Hx stomp to get a sound just as good or better. If you think all the amp sounds are thin, then use the global EQ, or use the high cut and low cut setting on the cab/IR. The Hx stomp is a much better buy due to all the extra features as well if you can only get one.
Ian Nichols they both have their charms.
@@60CycleHumcast true that. I suppose I just think the HX stomp is a better value for the money, but that is subjective.
Ian Nichols it depends on what people need or want for their rig. I’ve gotten great tones out of my stomp but it’s taken me hours to build those patches. The iridium is much quicker to work with. That’s going to be attractive to a lot of people. And plenty of people will prefer the wide assortment of features the stomp has to offer.
Yoooo! That’s the one. Not a lot of videos of people running drives and fuzz into iridium yet. I was apprehensive until I saw this. I know you mention the bass a bunch but to me the difference is in the high end. Solid state amps and modelers have that weird fizzy blanket on top of every drive you feed into them but the iridium stays fat, punchy, and natural . Definitely going to have to get myself one ASAP.
This duel between the Iridium and the HX reminds me of the "Amps & Stomps" vs. "Rackmount Rig" shift that was happening in the late-80's/early 90's. Based on that experience I can definitely see a better value in the simplicity of the Iridium due to its hassle free "set-it-and-forget-it" design. After seeing the HX Stomp in action I'll definitely be adding it to my studio gear wish list but being that I'm still in my noob phase of PC recording I think going with the Iridium just makes more sense due to its simplistic design and low-to-no learning curve.
To my ears, in the front pedal comparison, Iridium sounds really natural. And I found particularly more digital the HX Stomp.
I feel this is like the Helix/Kemper argument. The Iridium does amp really well buts that it. The Helix does Amps, FX, Audio Interface. It is a jack of all trades master of none.
The point of the video is all about the amps & IR cabs 😑
Cool video. Would you consider comparing this to Nux Solid Studio? They seem more similar to me than the line 6
i will, i have the solid studio.
Well... Theres no preamp (sim) in the nux so that might be complicated.
Thank you for this! I’ve been trying to decide between the line 6 pod go and the iridium and have had a difficult time finding direct tonal comparisons. Since the pod go uses the HX engine hopefully this is close enough.I love all my strymon pedals and I’ve never owned any hardware from line 6, but all those features are appealing for sure.
It would be great to hear using the Iridium for the amp/ir sound and the Stomp for the effects only. Possible?
its totally possible, i dont know if ill ever get around to filming it though
Just a suggestion, while I appreciate the video, going through an effects loop is probably not the best way to do a comparison. By inserting the iridium in the loop, you are probably doing 2 AD/DA conversions. I don't know what the quality of the DA/AD in the strymon, but I would guess they are better than the HX Stomp. You would be better going through an analog switcher to minimize conversions to do those sound comparisons. I don't have a horse in this race, I am a Kemper user :-). I do have a question, I owned a Line 6 amp that crapped out, that was probably 10 years ago, so I am wondering what your experience has been with Line 6 since Yamaha bought them. Is the build quailty good?
i tested it before hand and didn't notice a change in the quality in the signal using the loop. im sure its not perfect, but to me it wasn't a perceivable difference.
@@60CycleHumcast Thanks for letting me know. I place higher value on your in the room opinion, since UA-cam adds it's own compression etc, making my hearing of a youtube test not so valuable :)
I try to publish audio that sounds as close to what i was hearing in room as possible. but yeah, youtube screws stuff up a bit and theres no way for me to mix for the incredible variety of speakers people listen through.
But isn't IRs the strong point of the IRIDIUM ? Bypassing them is then not the best comparison
The Bass on Iridium is at 8 or 9 and the Stomp is at 4.6
It would be weird for Strymon to invest this much on research simulation and not do a full fledged unit next. Wait and see.
Nice review dude. I gotta give it to the Iridium, it just sounded real. The Stomp came off like a cassette copy at times, and that is never good.
Mids are just way too different. Could've at least tried putting both mids at unity. 5 on the Stomp and 12:00 on the Iridium. You sure the Deluxe Nrm wouldn't have been a better closer comparison? Afterall, you are trying to compare both same amps : the Deluxe Reverb normal channel.
the other IR just sounded closer out of the gate. Sometime soon ill be doing a video where i try to get them to sound much closer.
The Iridium seems to have a heavy EQ on it. Did the L6? Shouldnt you be testing both flat?
neither would have sounded good with flat eq. i tried to dial them in both sound good but also in a similar amp character. If you watch the video all the way through i show the eq settings on the stomp
Thank you! Great comparison, as always. I really would like to hear the differences with the Marshall and Vox amps!
For us low volume bedroom players that use smaller digital amps, can you run the HX into a small practice amp like an ID Core 10, Spark, etc?
Great video, Ryan! Oh, that Iridium, man! I hope that Strymon release a full-blown modeller some time in the future. With all of that investment into making such a great sounding pedal, there ought to be more to come :) Oh, and I am sure that the lovely Jennings Navigator helped a lot when making those great tones, ha ha!
You really need to familiarise yourself thoroughly with the mid control on the Iridium before doing any form of comparison, and plugging it into the Line 6 HX Stomp is not a great way to start.
You should just run the stomp into the iridium and to the board. Save the effects loop block on the stomp for something else.
The clean tones were very different, maybe try to match those first? I think with all the parameters in HX you can get closer to the iridium tone than it is now.
The HX Stomp seems to have more of a chime and less mids - I agree. I bet all the modeling products would sound slightly different to each other.
What a stupid comparison.
“I’m going to compare the hx stomp and the iridium except I’m going to run the strymon through the stomp and bypass the IR”
I have the same feeling. The Helix sounds too processed
I’d like to see this comparison today. Hx has come a long way in 3 years
and Vox (Chime) e Punch (Plexi) mode in Strymon Iridium Vs Vox and Plexi on HX Stomp?
The drive pedal really emphasized the difference between the two.
It does seem like the HX had less mids and more highs.
That is because he has the bass on the Hx at 4.6 and the bass on the Iridium almost dimed (around 8). That is why the Hx sounds thin in comparison
I run a heap of filthy analogue distortion / fuzz dirt boxes into the stomp . Fact is it takes some dialling in and you can get it to sound pretty much any way youd like with the stomps eq. Hes right for the tweaker its a dream. Was really impressed with the iridium in this vid but it was a poor showcase of the stomp, could have really easily assigned an eq block there to showcase how easy it is to pull out all those terrible frequencies that your hearing. They are two completely different animals but i feel like for a shoot out vid for running analogue pedals in front of each of them the stomp hasnt been done justice. Both fantastic and VERY different processor pedals.
I've never heard a helix sound good to my ears, ever. Not live, not recorded, not tweaked. It sounds like a synthetic tone sucking toy to me. The Iridium on the other hand.
10000% agree