Just to address some of the comments below.... 1) we don't get paid by brands to make these videos. We make a living by selling stuff through the Andertons store & all the matters to us is that you get something that you'll love. 2) We use the presets whenever we do these demos because we don't have a week to prepare for each demo. If the presets aren't representative of how the unit sounds, then I'm not really sure what the point of presets are. 3) we plug these types of units direct into our interface so you can hear the cab emulation from the unit - we hear it through our monitors & you hear it through yours (ie, you aren't hearing our monitors). 4) we obviously each have personal preferences about gear & all the presenters are encouraged to voice their opinions - we aren't guns for hire! So take this demo how you will - I thought Tonex was a fine piece of kit for the money, but I'm not sure we'll see it being used by Joe Bonamassa any time soon - I might be wrong & will happily eat my words if thats what happens!! And if you get one & you get the best sounds you've ever had then thats awesome & I hope it inspires you to play more as, after all, thats the whole point of getting new gear!! Cheers, Lee
Nice way to adresse it! It's true that due to some technicalities, the sound may vary depending on the environnement or the audience. It's also good to mention (from an another UA-camr, but I agree to 100%) that the captured sounds are, and will always be a CAPTURE. Not the real deal. May sounds the same, maybe not, but the user should be aware of that, and not EXPECTING to behave the same way. In comparaison to paintings, every piece of art is unique, and a reproduction will appear to be the same, but every connoisseur will know that it ain't. For anyone who has limited resources(money, space, etc..) that's a pretty damn good alternative. Probably if I had a lot of gear at home I'd buy it to capture my own sounds, but in my case I prefer to go the Fractal Audio way, and buying and EXPERTISE of already professionnaly captured gear. You guys are awesome, I've subscribed to your channel many years ago, and watch every single one of your videos. You were adapting your content since the age of time, and were pretty good at it since the beginning. Even though is hard to recreate the feeling of real gear, the feedback you give us from your point of you is spot on. 👌 Continue your good work :)
No worries Lee. I'm sure you'll have a more in-depth look later. We're just giving a heads-up on the accuracy of the captures Tonex is capable of. We still love ya. : )
I've been playing my Kemper for years, mostly using it for amp/cab with my pedalboard in front of it (because I love my pedalboard and use it with my real amps too - Carr Mercury and Brunetti Wizard). I sold a Fractal in favor of the Kemper. No regrets. I've always loved the Kemper. In that context, I bought the tonex not expecting too much. I was wrong. Selling the Kemper. The Tonex is awesome.
I appreciate the hard work you guys do to educate us about all this gear. Had a lot of fun watching you guys mix music with laughter. Been playing for over 45 years and heard and seen it all. But it seems everything I find awesome you guys find issues with. Have a cup of ginger tea and chill! The ToneX is incredible regardless of price. The sounds are first class. But you have to turn the knobs to dial it in just like you would a new amp. Turn the damn knobs and make the sound better. There, I said it! Have a bloody nice day! Going to take a walk now on the Darkside and visit my local music store and turn all the amp knobs to 12 o'clock! See, now you got me doing it!
@@rejuvenator8966 17:25 He just riffs on it for a bit, but it sounds very authentic to the real amp. Lee hits the tubescreamer for a couple of seconds and it sounds like it takes that well too. Sounds great to me.
I was a bit negative at first when I saw this Andertons video as it was the first one I had seen but now after I've seen a lot of other reviews and comparisons of all the contenders, the Tonex is a clear winner by far. Well done boys.... All of these amp models are done on the lowest of the three modelling resolutions due to the long wait unless you have a newer high end nvidia adapter (like I do) so I can use the highest setting and not worry about a 15 minute wait vs a 5 hour wait. Even on the lowest resolution, this unit destroys both the Quad Cortex and Kemper away. I'm a dyed in the wool tube guy but that's the point. I want to capture my custom replica builds and be able to use them at a volume that doesn't damage hearing. This is perfect for that task. I have some amps that only rich rock stars or collectors have available and to be able to have them all in one easy to switch pedal is a dream come true. I have an exact replica of a tube rectified 1967 Black Flag with brand new NOS Drake transformers. I have 20 other replica amps like this and profiling these amps as well as the Tonex does is my dream. I ordered one........We will see how good it does.
They’re being true to themselves, calling this profiling or capturing is a joke. Still haven’t found a single video where their captures sound like the amps captured.
Normally I really love your videos but with all due respect and a lot of love, this one was a bit of an exception. I think you guys need to listen through bigger, better studio monitors, maybe add a subwoofer. If they're small and that far away it's gonna be tough to make them sound engaging to you. Many people, including famous artists, record in the studio while listening to their sound, miked in another room, through the control room monitors. If they are good monitors at a decent volume it can still be a great playing experience. A couple of points that I felt should have been made: It does in fact act as a USB recording interface, and it is extremely low noise and high dynamic range with a huge frequency response. It plays back captures made on your computer or stored within the tonex software, so you don't need your laptop on stage. It takes pedals generally a lot better than fractals, kempers or neural cortexes, and reacts more like an amp would to those. Many times in a live situation or in recording, the delays and reverbs and even modulations are added after the microphone stage, so putting those sort of effects after this pedal would sound essentially identical to that, and would a better analog to the way many a professional setting would work. If you want full range out of those devices you don't run them through your guitar cabinets. We have fractals and kempers here in our studio, and I believe that this keeps up with them from a capture and IR standpoint, irrespective of the price point. When you factor that in too, it becomes quite amazing. You might want to revisit this pedal after a rethink. I think you might have done your sales on this product a disservice.
But I still love anderton's and I'm glad they are out there. Their videos have gotten me through many a tough day. And digital John's playing is always a pleasure.
@TC No, I don't. I have no affiliation with any software, amp or pedal manufacturer. As I said in my comment, I run a recording studio. This is purely my opinion, based on direct experience with gear.
@TC No, but I do. Can I answer any questions for you? You can try TONEX software and see how you like it if you don't trust what others are saying. The software Tone Models are what you load on to the pedal. Who knows, you might even like it.
Given these considerations, I can tell that it doen;t make any sense for the 99% of people who are bedroom player to buy a TOneX, if such a rig is necessary to perceive valuable difference with regular modellers.
You have to use these types of products to their strengths. None of these profiling/ capturing units will give you “amp in the room” tone. You’ll need an actual cabinet if you want real air moving. It can, however, give you “amp mic’d up in the next room” tone. The room, mics, and any boards/mixers that we’re used will all color the tone. So they’re great for consistency if your playing live going to front of house or recording. You don’t have to depend on any sound guys or use their house sm57’s to mic up.
16:10 Guys, the FX chain loops the signals between pre and power amp. The TONEX can be fed directly into a power amp. Put your effects in front of it and that's it. You don't have to find a fly in the ointment now, just because the pricing of the other profilers/modelers becomes obsolete by this device. ;-)
@@n.s.a5661 Well, let me start by welcoming you to our wonderful tribal community of guitar addicts. The effect loop is a feature from the classic amp architecture. The effects you want to loop in are placed between the pre-amp and the power amp. There is a difference between parallel and serial looping. But that is not important here. The ToneX is not intended to be used like a classic amp or an alternative amp setup. Therefore, the objection that an FX loop is missing is actually irrelevant. I hope this was of some help to you.
@@MicCostanzo people are so dogmatic. They act like putting a reverb in line on the front end hasn’t been being done by pro musicians for decades. Not every amp has a loop. 2 of my all time favorite amps I own don’t. Guess what? It’s fine. 🤦🏻♂️
@@tommilitello198 The first amps with loop were already built in the late 60s and in the early 70s it became more and more popular. By the way, it was one of the most requested custom modifications - even for plexis. It only took until the 80s that it became a regular feature. But if it's about terminology for you: It's a classic feature, but maybe not in vintage amps. Better?
Luckily there are plenty of stunning demos on UA-cam and very impressive a/b comparisons from those who've dived in properly. You have a huge following and are quite capable of tainting product sales through laziness. "That sounds like a hundred thousand amp to me *raise eyebrows*" well, that is exactly what it sounded like to the mic in front of it at time of capture. The hardware is spot on, blame the capture. TBH IK should curate the Tonex capture list so the first few are totally killer to circumvent lazy reviews (theyve missed a trick there) because too many digital "reviews" live or die by random patch selection (with an already closed mind). I think an honest description of this video would be "unboxing".
Or maybe Andertons is one of the few honest reviews - because they dont care what they sell as far as they sell - in the middle of a sea of product placement video? (aka IK-sponsored commercials) Weird that Mooer GE200 is a pedal including tone capture released since 5 years and no one pays attention.... Strange that ToneX does not even allow to control fx/vst and is seen as the next revolution.... and in the meanhwile a small company called MOD is making the revolution, but are too weak financially to afford that aggressive marketing and pricing a-la IK, and thus the community doesn't pay attention...
Just think of it as the Amp, get all of the other things from Pedals, HX Stomp or whatever full modeler or pedals you have. With HX Stomp or Helix, you have a ton of power adding different amps, using effects pre and post amp, then can use snapshots, and full midi triggering of the Amps in Tonex seamlessly, without a gap. An FX loop on this pedal would only help with the headphone out. Using it with a modeler like HX, you can pre or post any FX in any order. This and a stomp or HX effects can shrink a pedal board, and allow uses to capture their own amps and not have to take them to a gig. Convenient, but like most things, it's not for everyone. Playing through a tube amp is very cool, and as amazingly close as a lot of units have come, there is always just a little bit of something with a Tube amp and Cab that's awesome. FWIW ,I've been exclusivly in the Modeling/Digital domain since 2008, so my ear adapted long ago to monitor, pa "FRFR" systems. Still love tube amps though, I don't want to deal with them most of the time though.
@@CatchMeOutside361 You can get ToneX and Amplitube 5 free versions and check it out. The ToneX amps if the capture is good sound closer to a real amp than the Amplitube native amps. The best part of having both is you can mix and match ToneX amps with Amplitube 5 amps for stereo rigs within Amplitube 5.
I really like tuning in to your gear testing but amp in the room .. anti digital bias is getting old. I consistently play on silent stages with in ear monitoring and I think this is true for many people. I need insights and advice for the best gear and approaches in this space. I hope we can hear more of that in the future. With that said thanks for all you do to serve the community.
They aren’t using it properly so what do you expect it’s designed for pedal boards not for your laptop and monitors. Obviously if your going to use it that way you would just use Tonex software and the pedal is not needed. Kind of shaking my head at this.
@@BkBk-gy6vr you aren’t comparing the same things? What about people who want to take a capture of their actual amp (or a killer profile of an amp they don’t own) and use it with their own pedalboard? Not everyone wants an all in one. For the record my main unit is an FM9 so I personally wouldn’t use this much either, but what I can say is that in terms of the amp sounds, it’s absolutely amazing and perfect for a lot of purposes.
Would have loved to see this video with Pete over someone who is clearly not interested in this modelling tech. The Captain fumbling through this is just a wet blanket.
Tonex is doing the most accurate amp captures on the planet right now, and this little piece of gear is amazing. Can't believe how dismissive they were of it. The fact that IK brought this to market for 399 is incredible. Kemper rested on their laurels, and Neural _still_ hasn't delivered on their QC promises. This fills a great niche for people that want the most accurate amp tones, but nothing else.
Do you feel that way about the high gain captures too? I really wanted to love Tonex. I pre-ordered, anxiously awaited and when I played the high gain models, they felt quite lifeless to me and way more polite than the real models. Felt the same with Amplitude. Also, you nailed the assessment of Kemper and the Neural QC lol
@TC Mine sounds real to me, although my amps are _loud;_ this allows me to turn way down or just throw headphones on. There will always be a place for amps tho. I already have pedals galore so love that you just use what you already have with this and there's no deep menu fiddling.
Tonex is not a competitor for Kemper or Quadcore either in price or functionality. It is a competitor for such devices as Iridium, UA dream 65, Ruby, Walrus AC1, etc. About the same price and much more advanced functionality. Add to this the profiling technology instead of modeling and then it becomes clearer why this product really deserves attention. Very impressive amp in a box
Profilling is great, but... how many tone capture files do one need to buy to cover all the settings of a single amp? My bet iss that in a couple of year, moedlling tech wil have improved so much to make profiling tech obsolete.
As someone living in an apartment, I really like this pedal, because I just want decent guitar sound and guitar recording experience, getting rid of mics, amps or DAW lag, at a decent price. I was going after one of the UAFX pedals before this came out.
The UA units are far better sounding. The Dream actually sounds real. There’s nothing in Tonex that comes close. I’ve got both units by the way but am returning the Tonez as I really don’t like the sound of it at all.
Yeah that is why I got it also. I was looking to get an interface to play through my pc and headphones, I also wanted a gate and a compressor. Then I saw this.. Now I have the things I needed for the same price AND I get amp capturing as a bonus.
Kemper needs a spot in guitar gear museum right next to Line 6 Pod. Once a pioneer, but now obsolete. Line 6 as an innovating company pushed on however, and Kemper did not.
It's a 400 quid unit that has a lot of tones that are great for playing at home and will fool most people down the pub when your doing sseetchild of mine....Lee as a business man probably isn't happy with these as I wouldn't be either....as a player I'm very excited
If you owned a restaurant that did great food that everyone was happy to pay a premium on coz it was the best...but then had to but chip buttys on the menu as there was a shift in tastes etc....would you be happy as a business man?
@@danmillward3480 I say that because it doesn't make business sense to sell a product if it reduces overall profits. People will rush out and buy TONEX, and then in 12 months NDSP will announce their plugins can now be ported over to the Quad Cortex and all the channels will be buzzing about it. End of the day its all about getting players to buy more stuff
I knew the owners of a guitar shop who told me that the low end guitars and amps are what keeps the bills paid. I suspect a lot of folks who can't justify the price of a Kemper will be all over this.
They dismissed it as a subsitute for a modeller, for whom is an end user (aka tone downlaoder only). Otherwise, what is it? A non tweakable good sounding presets library? No flexibility to create its own tone, only to use Joe's tone he decided to upload, wiht his mics, in his room, with his knob settings. ToneX only makes sense for profilling players, and that is probably only 1% of IK customer's base. I think fair that Andertons set the record straight for the average bedroom player, in stating that the tweakability is very reduced, and that the tones are great, but not much more groundbreaking than the great modeller that are out there - and non tweakable, a big weakness.
I have to respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree lol I think this is quite literally one of the worst representations of toneX that I've seen so far, mostly due to them sticking to IK's terrible stock presets and the digital world so clearly not being Captain's thing. The user-posted tone models sound SO much better and I think their impression of the unit would've been much more positive if they had played through some of the most downloaded or most liked models on tone net.
@saint andrew you're correct. It sounds like ass. But presets usually do. Sonic drive studio did a video on it and it's much better using his own profile
@@Almonzo246 I've never used the headrush but I think the answer to that question mostly depends on whether you're needing all the FX the mx5 provides? If you solely need the best amp/cab tones go with the toneX but if you're wanting an all-in-one multi-FX unit the headrush will be much better suited for that.
I have not messed with any of the digital stuff, amp profiles, irs, etc. I use a tube amp and a shitload of effects. But this is really cool. It makes me want to get one and mess with stuff cuz its much more affordable than a kemper or a fractal or whatever the other ones are. It's cool, great vid guys.
Dont. There are plenty of better options that sound better, and are most likely more affordable. Look into the HX stomp, or if you have a decent amount of pedals; the strymon iridium which sounds the best to me
@@nickp440 Don't take our word for it, just look even in just these comments to see that TONEX is what people are saying sounds better. Also, one of the options you mention is double the price (at PROMO pricing) and the other has 3 amps on board... Also, one is a multifx unit which is not what TONEX Pedal ever claimed to be (and again is double the price even at promo pricing). TONEX Pedal has 150 slots and access to 1000 Premium Tone Models via the included software and thousands more on ToneNET (at the same price as the unit you mention which has... 3 amps). Those Tone Models which people say, even in these comments, sound better than other options that cost far far more.
@@ikmultimedia if its anything like amplitube, youll probably have to spend hundreds of dollars on one of your cute little stores. This demo sounded absolutely horrible as well. Coming at a potential customer like this is another reason why i would never consider buying any of your products. Save money and buy a neural DSP plugin; youre not going to use TONEXXXXXXXXXXX anywhere but your bedroom studio; lets be honest.
@@nickp440 Read the other comments about this particular demo, then watch some more videos, try the software for yourself. We "came at" no one - we are allowed to counter misinformation, though. TONEX and TONEX Pedal are bona fide hits, but I am sincerely sorry to hear it isn't for you. Maybe we'll hit the mark for you next time, or we'll continue to have all kinds of musicians (not only the "bedroom studio" musicians you are insulting but also the whole range up through pros) who do prefer to use them make their own choice. I appreciate your feedback, thank you.
I've decided to get the Tonex Pedal because I've tried the free version of the tonex plugin and I loved it ! Try it before you go ahead and spent 400 Bucks in a product that maybe you don't like.
Captain, aka Lovely Lee, I think you should have run it through a FRFR Cabinet, like the Line 6 Powercab or the Headrush for getting more of that air movement feel. Though I could be wrong. Would be nice though to see an in depth follow up video with Digital John on this, using a FRFR and how he would use it with other units like the HX Stomp and Neutral DSP. Also would like to know what kind of equipment you would put with this Tonex pedal on a pedaltrain Nano Max or Nano plus for gigging. With experienced gigger Pete also putting in his two cents. So you would have a very versatile board and if you would for example would use the midi feature of the Tonex and in which way. Anyway, very nice and informative video. Keep up the good work!
Try Joe's Favorite Patch - Bonamassa's Actual Dumble ODS, it's the best capture of the ODS gain I've heard or played on any platform. And Kemper has quite a few good variations to choose from.
So far, the IK profiles sound about the best. People will get better at it though. I think its a cool product. Its not on par with the QC, or Kemper, its better at profiling.
My experience has been the opposite with a lot of time on tone net so far. Granted there is some mud to sift through to find the gold on tone net, but IME the great user-uploaded tone models on there blow 95% of the IK profiles away. Sort tone net by likes/downloads and the top user tone models are fantastic.
@@BkBk-gy6vr I play a Mark V 25 all of the time and I was impressed. I saw a null test done and Tonex beat a Kemper an a QC. Captain really isnt into digital, I think he was quick to write it off, I mean, that and he sells way more expensive things that do the same thing lol
@@saint__andrew I noticed that some tone models have barely any range when it comes to the tone stack then others have quite a bit. But when you find good ones, I think they sound awesome.
@@BkBk-gy6vr LOL how would you know what I've owned? No bullshit, I had an FM3 (which I also love) when I tried out toneX for the first time. I couldn't decide which I liked better, but ultimately decided to sell the FM3 and go all in with the toneX software and pedal because it makes so much more sense for my use case. #1 I had planned to build a pedalboard around the FM3 but makes so much more sense to do that with the toneX pedal because the FM3 is way too big and clunky, and I don't need the extra processing power and FX. #2 I record a lot and using the toneX plugin eliminates my need to re-amp like I would need to with the FM3, and then I can easily take my tones on the go. I posted this comment earlier and I assume andertons deleted it because I hinted at some inherent bias in this vid and the reason why they weren't impressed. Either way I would say there are so many other videos you can find on youtube to give you a better representation of how great this pedal can sound - I would not base your opinion on their first impressions here...
Sorry to be pedantic here, but this is UA-cam so it is my civic duty to point out that, unlike Lee states at 0:22, "digital" actually predates the solid body guitar by quite a bit. The concept of digital calculus, which is called boolean algebra, was introduced by George Boole in 1847. The first computer to use binary numbers, that is 1s and 0s, was the Zuse Z1 in 1937, but it operated more like a calculator. The firt true digital programmable computer by our modern understanding is generally considered to be the Zuse Z3 in 1941. The first fully electronic computer was called Colossus, it used 2500 valves and consumed 4500W and was used to crack the Enigma code. The first programmable electronic computer by modern standards was ENIAC in 1945, and it did something surprisingly similar to spreadsheets. By comparison, the Fender Telecaster was fashionably late, coming out in 1950.
As a harmonica player, this Tonex player seems very enticing, if ... it can be patched with the elusive combination of unobtainably rare & expensive amps that actually sound & work well for amplified harmonica. Whether or not it'll be achievable at any stage it's hard to say, but I love the concept of having an all-in-one tone box, then plug into a clean amp, FR/FR speaker or PA. I think the price point of the Tonex is pretty reasonable considering what other products cost. In the meantime, I'll sit on the fence and think about it.
If this was approached as a dedicated mic less studio tool with conceivably every amp in existence on your desktop indistinguishable from a mic”d amp for 400 bucks how can you not be in awe of this unit . The fact that you can also gig on silent stages anywhere in the world with a suitcase sized rig is astonishing !! Let’s give the tired old “ doesn’t flap my jeans “ comparison a rest and focus what it does do.
14:20 A little odd to ask an opinion for something that can be empirically tested pretty easily. Others have already done it. You make the profile, and then you record the same DI through the mic'd amp as well as the profile. Flip the phase on one, and null test them. Result: TONEX is the most accurate profiler available right now. Significantly better than Kemper, and even a little bit better than the Quad Cortex. It's *quite* accurate.
As a big fan of the channel for many many years, even from the time you still recorded in black and white, i have to say, you totally missed the game changer this pedal is. This device is not simply cheaper then Quad Cortex and Kemper and therefore you can hear the quality drop. This is the normal argument sellers make when they do a review, more expensive is better. 80% of Kemper and Quad cortex owners dont capture/profile themselves. They just use it as a profile/capture player. Those users have been ignored by Kemper and Neural DSP, since there was no competition, so why would they just create a player. That is what IK Multimedia did. Just a capture player. If you want to capture yourself with ToneX, you dont have to buy ADDITIONAL hardware, just use your computer. Once this concept is understood and explained properly, Kemper will go bankrupt, since the ToneX pedal is better as a ordinary player. You put your normal effects pedals before your ToneX pedal, as you would do on your normal pedal board with an amp, and your time based pedals after it. Get an FRFR speaker and you are done. For 1/3 of the price. The standard version comes with 150K Joe Bonemassa Dumble OD amp captures and many, many more. More captures will follow in the ToneX cloud.... Another anticipated use is with a multieffects pedal, e.g. Digital Johns favo pedal, the Valeton GP200. Put the ToneX pedal in the FX send and return loop, disable amp and cabinet on the GP200, and you have the best rig in the world. Or wait 1 year, and IK Multimedia will bring a Amplitube player pedal on the market as well. My expectations from Andertons videos on this pedal were most probably too high, since I think you totally missed the gigantic step in guitar/amp technology this pedal is. They didnt want to compete with Kemper and Neural DSP on the capturing part, they assumed everybody owns a computer already, and that is the smartest business decision they have made. On stage you dont need your computer, just the player. So f****** smart of IK Multimedia, an undercut as they would call it in F1 driving.... 😉
I've an origin amp modeler brilliant piece of kit very tactical and interactive and analog Digital wise the HX stomp gets good reviews kemper always seemed a bit ott for what I'd want
I don't see the point of this unit. It sounds good for 2023, but not outstanding on the market. You need a bunch of other stomp pedals before and after, and a DI box and an frfr and it's still mono, no dual amp. At the end you pay more over 1000 euros and get all the hassle with power supplies and patch cables. No thanks, I stay with my Fractal fm3.
I like Digital John but bear in mind that he does some work for Neural DSP, so he can't really say its better than the QC. When John says no one when making captures get it bang on the money he touches his nose which indicates that he's not being 100% up front about the subject. I imagine Neural and Kemper et al are on the back foot with this surprisingly reasonably priced unit.
“You know, digital really isn’t my-“ WE KNOW. Why not have two hosts who are actually into digital and respect it? It’s not like valve amp demos have one host constantly proclaiming, “You know, I’m not really into valve amps.”
@@jan-paulvanderhoeven1639 I used to be a snob too and then I learned to play and that's when I understood , that’s ok Modeling Amps sounds so good if you take the time to adjust absolutely all the details Most of the mistakes people make is that they take the basic presets or barely modify them and then complain about the sound quality
It's not about snobbery. I have a Helix floor unit that I used to use for small gigs, and it worked great for that. There's no way I could ever use it to it's full potential. It's got too much stuff. It's option overload. I haven't played a gig in years and my Helix hasn't left it's backpack until about two weeks ago, when I was looking for a certain cable. I'd forgotten just how big and heavy the Helix is. It's still smaller than a medium sized pedalboard. I don't really use pedals at home though. I plug straight into my little Vibro-Champ and just play. It's simple and relaxing. For me, that's what music is supposed to be. If I plugged the Helix into the front of my amp, I'd spend more time messing with menus than actually enjoying the gear. The Helix has great sounds and, for folks who like messing with all the options, that's great. I'm not judging anyone for that. I just prefer to plug and play these days. You know, the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I'm still keeping the Helix, for now. Who nows if I'll need it for a future gig?
@@jimmyparris9892 The principle itself of modeling is that it sounds much better because you have access to absolutely all settings. However, I agree it's quite tedious because you have to take the time to adjust everything. So, no judgment here, I prefer it because everything is in the same package, it's much better than all the tube apps I've owned in my life. What do you personally use now?
@@alexdenton6586 I actually only have 2 amps, a little Tweed Champ clone and a Vibro Champ reverb amp. They can still be too loud if I want some dirt, so I may plug in an ODR1 or a Marshall BB2 pedal. I'm just too lazy to mess with anything else.
I've messed about a fair bit with digital, in fact my entire set up now is on guitar rig on pc....and that was as clear as mud in parts I've got to say lol
The general consensus is that the captures are actually better than kemper and QC. Some accuracy tests have been done and ToneX nails it the closest. I will admit some of the preset captures aren’t that good though.
@@neildeakin4454 Forums, UA-cam comparisons, etc. Check out the video by Mendel bij de Leij ,especially the portion where he does the reverse phase test. People are admittedly selling their kempers for this. But these are all just opinions in the end…..
@@neildeakin4454 There is a youtube vid where they compare all 3 profilers. They use a null test- reversing phase. Perfect reproduction (or original amp) yields NO sound. TONEX is miles ahead in this scientific test. MILES.
ua-cam.com/video/Avhih6805YU/v-deo.html 20:00 mark. Its a scientific comparison. Like what you like, but there is very good reason why some are really enjoying tonex amp tones. Btw. NAM (freeware profile) is even more scientifically accurate than Tonex, but no community/hardware.
I'm sure this is a great product - I use their X-Space pedal - and for those who spend their lives on chasing or modeling amps it should work fine. It's all too much like falling down a rabbit hole for me and I just want to play guitar and make music. The reverb pedal is twiddly enough already. Have fun modelers!
I’ve been using Tone-X software since it’s release, picked 8 of my favourite captures and set them as presets, control it via a midi controller. I’ve actually spent less time down the rabbit hole than with Amplitube. So while there is a glut of choice, once you’ve found what you want, you just add it to presets and you’re done. Midi controller means no faffing with a mouse. Biggest downfall of my set-up was the necessity of launching software and sitting near the PC. The Tone-X pedal solves this problem for me and the quality is excellent. I can now play and practice away from my PC w/ my pedalboard, Tone-X and speakers or headphones. YMMV of course.
Lee is totally uninformed in this video. And it's not about his roots being in tube-amp world. He just didn't do any homework. ToneX is your amp and cab for live performances. The rest of what it offers (compressor, reverb, etc.) is interesting, but in the context of a full pedalboard, probably not very useful. Especially since there is no FX loop. You will want your fx outboard from the ToneX. ANd, moreover, the idea of capturing a drive pedal ONLY makes sense if it is a VERY expensive drive pedal (like a real Klon Centaur) since this things costs $400 - why would I dedicate the ToneX to a capture of a Tube Screamer or a Timmy that I could buy and put on my board much more cheaply (and stack them if I want to)? The ToneX Pedal is an amp replacement. I sort of wish it didn't provide cabs as part of the capture. I wish they were amp only (I know they can be, but many creators will be capturing amp and cab together). If a capture (Tone Model) is amp only, you can then add in your own IR in something like a Mooer Radar, and you can insert your time based pedals after amp/before cab. And for me, I use a power amp and guitar cabinet, so I really don't want cabs to be part of the capture. Finally, keep in mind that most presets from MultiFX companies really suck (I deleted all factory presets in my HX Stomp day one - they are just terrible). So why would you expect that these Tone Models / Presets would sound fantastic? At minimum, they need tweaking. But more likely, you need to buy better captures, or create your own from your own amps with your favorite settings.
I love this thing. For 1/6 th the price of a Kemper, I can capture my favorite amps and drive pedals and take them with me. Add a GT1000 core and a EXP pedal and you have a super small portable rig with all your favorite tube amps and pedals, for far less than a Kemper, QC, Fractal, etc
I’ve tried a dozen different amp modeling systems, but they all sound terrible on headphones.. I had the MX5 , but couldn’t vibe with it. None felt like an amp in a room. With Tonex, however I can finally play something that sounds and reacts like a real amp. Like any system, including a new amp, it takes a bit to fine tune them. There is a particular fumble capture that sounds better than anything I have played. The Princeton capture is great. In fact, many are amazing. I have a 10 watt VOX that I love, but I can’t play it at the sweet spot unless nobody is home! This lets me try a bunch of amps that sound great and actually see what amps I would even build a rig around. For me this is a great alternative to getting an attenuator for my amp.
I just don’t understand why with the Quad Cortex they did a 30 minutes video comparing the real amp vs the capture and with the Tonex pedal is like “let’s hear a few presets and that’s it”.
I have a nice little hand wired Marshall that sounds better in my friends living room than my living room , and don't forget the Electrical set up(feed) you have in your Home can make a difference to.
Bad review. Sorry guys. I get you dont like these pedals cpt. its obvious. you can buy every amp / pedal / gutar you want but thats not the most of us...
They seem a bit worried about the ton of sales they are going to loose with higher margin products such as the quad cortex/kemper etc. They fail to mention that this is the best proposition for home studio use because the software that is included not only allows you to capture any amp/pedal or combination of both, not only it does include any effect you may want in amplitube where youncam import both you amps AND pedal captures, it also works as a plug in wich is a HUGE advantage over the quad cortex, fractal, helix or kemper proposition. They also FAIL to mention that it does the best caputres of them all. They emphazise ad infinitum the lack of modulations in the pedal itself, though you do get them in the software suite, and the pedal itself has a very good compresor, noise gate, eqs and reverbs (the pedam is meant to be used in the contrxt of a pedal board or with a multi fx unit, it does have midi). It does not need an effects loop so it is a moot point. The fact that you can get infonite sounds out of any capture by changing the cabs is alsp not mentioned or showned. They deliberately choose to focus on the least important and weaker feature of the pedal which are the captures that are included, which i a lot pf people dont really care for but it is another moot point because of the fact that there are endless great profiles in the net. Finally, they DO know and understand that every single professional studio / profiler that makes a livong out of capturing this profiles will mograte to this platform because at 1/4 or 1/5 of the proce, PLUS the fact that it is an infinately better tool for home studio, most people will migrate to this eco system. They clearly understand that this is going to change the industry because everybody is going to buy one, and therefore, stop buying a lot of the lther stuff they hoped to keep selling at much higher price points and bigger margins. Its just so obvious and lame, It's sad. I hope people see through this dishnonest review and choose to buy this stuff and everything else... elsewhere.
Yes, as profiler it's probably the best solution. The real revolution would be an Amplitube pedal. That would have been a game changer. The ToneX stomp box for tone capture switching is basically useless... how many time does one change amp/amp settings during a set? 2? 3 times maybe? That can be done on a computer on the side in between songs. And then... no need for ToneX, because there's NAM. And it's free. But that's true that the inclusion of AT5 in the ToneX pedal+ToneXmax package is attractive, even without a pedal (a midi pedal is a pain to configure...). Even if AT5 included in that package is only the standard version, not the max... but ok.
Just wanted to say thank you for this review. I like the skepticism. I'm still on the simple valve amp side of the fence and every now and then I'm tempted to buy something like this, but each time I look the message I get is "nearly there". Still it would be great to hear reviews that cover critique of "clean" tones compared to valve; distortion and effects make it difficult to hear the nuances.
Amen to clean tones. I get so tired of distortion and fuzz when a product is demonstrated. The clean tone is brushed over. I have plenty of drive pedals including the Tube Screamer so I need to hear the tones clean 1st.
comparing this to one of UA/ walrus/ strymon PEDALS Is probably a better comparison than to any of the floor modellers and what you might get at a price point.
I have a Friendman Smallbox 50. I used a Kemper Stage, a Quad Cortex, the TONEX, and NAM to profile/capture that amp. Only NAM really manages to recreate it properly. But, the TONEX pedal does it well enough, that it makes me picking up my guitar more. It sits on my desk and when I feel like it I plug in the guitar and the headphones and just jam around. As simple as that. The Quad Cortex added a raspiness to the capture, that made me go, "this is not my amp at all". Even the other models/captures available for QC don't really do it for me and I always feel quite disconnected from my guitar, as it were. The Kemper-experience was also underwhelming, as it couldn't really capture the sound of my amp. Thus my personal ranking is 1. NAM, 2. TONEX (yeah, also the pedal), 3. QC, 4. Kemper.
This basically is the QC for the price of an Iridium… and yeah they feel very unbalanced “for the price can it be as good” actually isn’t the question: “ha the tech evolved so it’s actually better”?
@@masterofreality230 I am on the fractal forum and there it was a welcome addition. People there are eager to use it in combination with their Fractal devices. Myself included...
I’ve spent over 2k on a custom built 1974x and pedals to get one good tone. Not flexible at all. This lets me configure whatever I want without having to spend thousands for each amp. I can load them up and go play and the audience wouldn’t know the difference. Hell in a dark room you wouldn’t know the difference. Selling all my shit tomorrow.
I hoping somebody does a “full IK” video. Capture an amp with Tonex. Build a rig around it in Amplitube. Then push things to the X-Gear and Tonex pedals for use without a computer. I’m not even sure how possible that it, but it’d be good to see how close we are.
If you are an "AmpliTube" user at home and you want to take your tone(s) to the stage ... this is the - easy - way to go ... and it is pedalboard friendly
If only they issued a regular Amplitube fx/modelling pedal with IR loader, priced under $500, on which users can save personal presets... THAT would have killed the floor multi fx/modeller market, and probably made amp profilers obsolete, for how great the amp models are in Amplitube, and how well designed is the software. Or even better: a fusion of Amplitube and ToneX, both as software and floor mutlifx+modeller/profiler+IR loader... basically a BOSS GX-100 paired with Amplitube computer software, that could also load amp tone captures (as a nice non essential extra)... that would be nice. Not impossible that some multi fx/modeller pedal board makers partners with NAM at some point to make that happen....
@@andythefrenchy8026 ... see my other answer ... AND Ja! ... would be great to have standard format for profiling data files .... like the MIDI protocol. Standardization seems to rise an the IRs format ... so let's hope for the best.
So essentially, it is isolating the capture and "profile" concept at a lower price point than was previously available. This is great if you are a player who enjoys using a pedal board and wants to bundle up your amp (and possibly cab) tone into a pedal format for live gigs. I don't see much use for it in the studio or for anyone already using full modelling capabilities of existing units like Helix, Kemper etc.
16:20 A delay before an IR is no different than a delay after an IR. Mathematically, IRs are linear transforms, and when using them with other linear effects (which delay and reverb are), you get the same result regardless of order. Note: putting delay and reverb in a real amp's effects loop IS a bit different, because power amp compression is nonlinear. But no modeler I'm aware of has a "virtual effects loop" which actually inserts between the pre and power amp of the amp model.
hey lee, why dont you make a comparison between for example a marshal jcm 800 tone x profile to a real jcm 800, to make it more interesting make it a blindfold challenge.
Presumably, the box takes over a lot of the processing your computer would normally do too? I think this thing is a godsend for people who already use Amplitube or similar. I've had too many bad times with modelling to use it myself but younger brains should embrace it!
It does all the processing, its independent though it doesn't do the capturing, that is what your computer will have to do. It is pretty much a baby kemper where your computer does the capturing.
Probably your nightmare experiences were because of trying to have to many Presets taken to the stage level. And the learning curve on different units, it is hard to remember everything you need to do and takes away from playing time. At best I would think a gigging musician, would realistically use between 15-20 presets, and to my Mind that is really pushing it. All these units seem to have and it is fun to mess with them on The computer and play thru them we are talking 1000's of Captures, I heard TONENET has like 3000 plus and growing and it has not even been out a full YEAR yet. It can be like a KID in a CANDY shop, but become if used to excess like a Bull in a CHINA shop.
@@ksharpe10 Never had a problem with presets or operating them. Problems were down to cheap components, many failures, crappy tech support and companies who abandon their products a couple of years after release. My valve amp uses technology an electrical engineer from the second world war could understand and I have no problems getting spares or repairs.
There is couple of hundred of modellings and basically your realistic job is to find only that golden one from any given style. I can tell there is some real gems there. Others(most) you just can(must) just skip in one second. But the essence is how the model compares to real tube chain touch wise? I can get the exact copy of the sound as reamped but it totally feels different and is not playable. That makes sense as the tones crosses at that exact playing touch but deviate grossly if played just a little bit differently. Other model can be playable too. But then there is some models which sound truely heavenly when reamped. They are not to be played but to be recorded. i think Tonex on PC (I would say Tonex SE) is the best tool there to learn about different types of amps and cabs. So if you use traditional say real Marshall JCM 800 style tube amp and couple of SM57s and 10" speakers in a closet to record your track and then reamp with say Ampilitube 5 and Tonex Max then you've got inifinite possibilities and good learning space to find a way get it right out of the bat. But I like more the big chance Tonex offers learning about amp/cab combinations.
Not sure what to make of this review. Usually love these videos but it seems rhe Captain has already made up his mind. The real strength of this pedal is to capture amps. Going through the capture presets in the box is mever gonna show the best of it. The Quad Cortex is the same as is the kemper. A real review capturing an amp would be better. I own and Axe 3 and had and sold a QC. The captures on tbis are as good or better than the kemper or qc. I guess the Captain wont want to sell these over the price of a kemper or qc.....thats just business i guess. The effects loop question has been answered also.....Iridium and QC don't have them. Just feels like a "don"t buy this we want to sell amps,qc and kempers" no malice intended. Maybe you can do a capture of a real amp or better a still a classic blindfold test between the tone x , qc and kemper. Now that would be a fun video.
Should they have transfered the captures to the pedal and then put it on a pedal board to output to a powered cab or pa system to get a more convincing sound?
We'd definitely love to see our gear used as intended so here's one vote for you. Another popular use case is in the fx loop of a multifx unit (since TONEX Pedal never looked to be that multifx pedal, we weren't coming for your multifx pedals... yet).
@@ikmultimedia Yet? Oooh, that sounds like I'll be buying the ToneX pedal now and then whatever 'yet' turns into later! And yeah, as someone already mentioned, blindfold Lee and see if he can hear the difference between this and the actual physical setup the capture was based on.
There is an issue where you can have both the pedal + software running at the same time as well, and some of these sound like that (feedback, lots of gain, etc.) It's pretty clear these guys have not really spent time with this or thought about this review at al. It's probably the WORST review of this on UA-cam now and they're just going to stick to their initial opinion that they don't like it. Lost a lot of respect for them from this review.
Why are these guys not mentioning that this is better than a Kemper for $400? End of story and paradigm shifting game changer. These guys are like "let's try out amplitube pedal"? They miss the point I think.
Its all about the tonenet and captures. Hand in hand with the ToneX app, 6000+ user tone models plus capture your own Amp. Then put that in the middle of your pedal board. You didn't showcase your own captures but trust me it does what the Kemper and Quad C does in a smaller more affordable setup minus the effects. Pair it with HX Stomp and a power pedal you got a gig rig on the floor.
I think this is more intended as a Strymon Iridium killer than as a full-blown multieffect. In that regard, an FX loop would be a good thing to have - frankly, I'd want my signal chain to be as amp-like as possible, and that generally involves putting modulation, reverbs, delays etc between the pre-amp and the IR in a (partially) digital rig. I also think a lot of these products have pre-sets that aren't necessarily representative of what the unit can *really* do - which is a shame for demo videos and especially first-impressions.
Nice to see another affordable amp pedal for players who do silent stage gigs ...I can see this being a handy bit of kit for IEM players....presets seem a little overblown tho but they often are
This unit is a recording interface, but the lack of xlr forces you into using another interface or their tone x capture/reamp box to actually capture. Clunky, but probably done to keep the footprint and price small.
I watched lots of videos of the QC before i purchased. It wasn't my first choice, the FM3 was, but that wasn't available and there was a waiting list (suddenly became available as soon as I ordered the QC from Andertons lol). Anyway, I have heard videos of the TONEX by other channels and was blown away. Sounded superb. I was equally blown away by videos of the QC, sounded superb. Very happy with the QC, the built in amps are superb. Just be careful with online reviewers because they may not be telling you the whole story, example... The Studio rats, another channel I enjoy a lot. Paul's review of the QC and his playing really helped sell me the QC, describing how it felt just like playing through a real amp and immediate. Now, 1 yr later he does a live stream with a friend, Episode 140, and basically dismisses the QC and says 'they' didn't like it, didn't like the feel. He had already shown us his 'TONEX' pedal board by this point.
XLR out and simple effects loop and they could’ve charged double. Every time I picture how I’d use this, I just end up realising I only need the plug in, as I wouldn’t use it live. At $399 I want one in spite of that. But if it had those features, I’d have paid for one already.
It a suitcase for amps and tones. And they're missing that part of it. The average musicians could capture his amp and take this pedal to band practice with any speaker configuration and be able to practice
*The average musician can capture some tones of his amp. In order to 'capture his amp', one would need to do ~ 1,000,000 captures for each amp in order to have a (just decent) coverage of the various combinations of knob settings.
Interesting that the impression of the pedal is "it's cool for £400". I've been checking other vids where they A/B vs the real amp they captured and they sound identical.
Andertons does not like that kind of stuff. Oblvious. He can afford all the amps / Pedals he wants so I get it but thats not what most players deal with...
Many videos also do that with $200 floor modelers loaded with a decent IR, and there also they sounded identical. No need for an extra gadget to do that, imo. Current modeler are already ultra close, and no difference as soon as soon as a couple of effects are added, let alone in a mix. I think profilers only make a sense to profile. For tone 'copies', modelers are way superior given the tweakability possibilities, even if sometimes these are 'just' 98% idendtical instead of ToneX 99%... but again, unnoticeable as soon as the gain is slightly up or in a mix - even with clean tones. Only A/B could have us spot a difference, but without that, after 5min it's the same. Like for HD vs UHD tv... only in a store can one really notice a difference with a lot of attention, but after 5min of the movie start, the image quality doesn;t have any impact on the enjoyment.
Just to address some of the comments below.... 1) we don't get paid by brands to make these videos. We make a living by selling stuff through the Andertons store & all the matters to us is that you get something that you'll love. 2) We use the presets whenever we do these demos because we don't have a week to prepare for each demo. If the presets aren't representative of how the unit sounds, then I'm not really sure what the point of presets are. 3) we plug these types of units direct into our interface so you can hear the cab emulation from the unit - we hear it through our monitors & you hear it through yours (ie, you aren't hearing our monitors). 4) we obviously each have personal preferences about gear & all the presenters are encouraged to voice their opinions - we aren't guns for hire! So take this demo how you will - I thought Tonex was a fine piece of kit for the money, but I'm not sure we'll see it being used by Joe Bonamassa any time soon - I might be wrong & will happily eat my words if thats what happens!! And if you get one & you get the best sounds you've ever had then thats awesome & I hope it inspires you to play more as, after all, thats the whole point of getting new gear!! Cheers, Lee
well said
Nice way to adresse it! It's true that due to some technicalities, the sound may vary depending on the environnement or the audience. It's also good to mention (from an another UA-camr, but I agree to 100%) that the captured sounds are, and will always be a CAPTURE. Not the real deal. May sounds the same, maybe not, but the user should be aware of that, and not EXPECTING to behave the same way.
In comparaison to paintings, every piece of art is unique, and a reproduction will appear to be the same, but every connoisseur will know that it ain't. For anyone who has limited resources(money, space, etc..) that's a pretty damn good alternative.
Probably if I had a lot of gear at home I'd buy it to capture my own sounds, but in my case I prefer to go the Fractal Audio way, and buying and EXPERTISE of already professionnaly captured gear.
You guys are awesome, I've subscribed to your channel many years ago, and watch every single one of your videos. You were adapting your content since the age of time, and were pretty good at it since the beginning. Even though is hard to recreate the feeling of real gear, the feedback you give us from your point of you is spot on. 👌
Continue your good work :)
Good call mate.
No worries Lee. I'm sure you'll have a more in-depth look later. We're just giving a heads-up on the accuracy of the captures Tonex is capable of. We still love ya. : )
How incredibly unreasonable of you! 😂
I've been playing my Kemper for years, mostly using it for amp/cab with my pedalboard in front of it (because I love my pedalboard and use it with my real amps too - Carr Mercury and Brunetti Wizard). I sold a Fractal in favor of the Kemper. No regrets. I've always loved the Kemper.
In that context, I bought the tonex not expecting too much. I was wrong. Selling the Kemper. The Tonex is awesome.
I’m keeping the Kemper especially now with liquid. But I do like and use the tonex software 😀👍
No delay. $750 Australia
No delay for $750 Australia. And there even adding tube screamers.
I appreciate the hard work you guys do to educate us about all this gear. Had a lot of fun watching you guys mix music with laughter. Been playing for over 45 years and heard and seen it all. But it seems everything I find awesome you guys find issues with. Have a cup of ginger tea and chill! The ToneX is incredible regardless of price. The sounds are first class. But you have to turn the knobs to dial it in just like you would a new amp. Turn the damn knobs and make the sound better. There, I said it! Have a bloody nice day! Going to take a walk now on the Darkside and visit my local music store and turn all the amp knobs to 12 o'clock! See, now you got me doing it!
😂
As somebody who owned a real AFD100 for many years, I think the profile here sounded really great. Best tone in the video for sure.
What time signature is that in the video? I'm too lazy to watch the whole thing but want to hear the AFD :/
@@rejuvenator8966 17:25 He just riffs on it for a bit, but it sounds very authentic to the real amp. Lee hits the tubescreamer for a couple of seconds and it sounds like it takes that well too. Sounds great to me.
@@Simto Wow, that definitely sounds like AFD record sound right there! Can't believe how underwhelmed these guys were 😂
Haha yeah, it sounded great. I was surprised about their reaction to that tone specifically. It sounds like it'll sit great in a rock mix too.
@@rejuvenator8966 I think it was in 4/4 but I didn't get my metronome out
I was a bit negative at first when I saw this Andertons video as it was the first one I had seen but now after I've seen a lot of other reviews and comparisons of all the contenders, the Tonex is a clear winner by far.
Well done boys....
All of these amp models are done on the lowest of the three modelling resolutions due to the long wait unless you have a newer high end nvidia adapter (like I do) so I can use the highest setting and not worry about a 15 minute wait vs a 5 hour wait. Even on the lowest resolution, this unit destroys both the Quad Cortex and Kemper away.
I'm a dyed in the wool tube guy but that's the point. I want to capture my custom replica builds and be able to use them at a volume that doesn't damage hearing. This is perfect for that task. I have some amps that only rich rock stars or collectors have available and to be able to have them all in one easy to switch pedal is a dream come true. I have an exact replica of a tube rectified 1967 Black Flag with brand new NOS Drake transformers. I have 20 other replica amps like this and profiling these amps as well as the Tonex does is my dream.
I ordered one........We will see how good it does.
Would you consider selling your captures?
@@DarkMatter09 so far 'm uploading them for free. Getting into a money generating venture seems more work than play so I'm not.
How'd it do?
@@landon.cunningham Sounds good on it's own but comparing them, the original amps sound a lot better.
I'm surprised they're not more impressed with this unit. I think it's incredible.
They don't understand it. I'm running a Dumble with a Klon Centaur. You can do whatever you want with it. It's jaw droppingly amazing.
It's clear a biased demo there should be a reason.
It is not payed vid, mate. They try to be objective as they can.
@@DaringDan They didn't hook it up to a real cab yet.
They’re being true to themselves, calling this profiling or capturing is a joke. Still haven’t found a single video where their captures sound like the amps captured.
Normally I really love your videos but with all due respect and a lot of love, this one was a bit of an exception. I think you guys need to listen through bigger, better studio monitors, maybe add a subwoofer. If they're small and that far away it's gonna be tough to make them sound engaging to you. Many people, including famous artists, record in the studio while listening to their sound, miked in another room, through the control room monitors. If they are good monitors at a decent volume it can still be a great playing experience. A couple of points that I felt should have been made: It does in fact act as a USB recording interface, and it is extremely low noise and high dynamic range with a huge frequency response. It plays back captures made on your computer or stored within the tonex software, so you don't need your laptop on stage. It takes pedals generally a lot better than fractals, kempers or neural cortexes, and reacts more like an amp would to those. Many times in a live situation or in recording, the delays and reverbs and even modulations are added after the microphone stage, so putting those sort of effects after this pedal would sound essentially identical to that, and would a better analog to the way many a professional setting would work. If you want full range out of those devices you don't run them through your guitar cabinets. We have fractals and kempers here in our studio, and I believe that this keeps up with them from a capture and IR standpoint, irrespective of the price point. When you factor that in too, it becomes quite amazing. You might want to revisit this pedal after a rethink. I think you might have done your sales on this product a disservice.
But I still love anderton's and I'm glad they are out there. Their videos have gotten me through many a tough day. And digital John's playing is always a pleasure.
@TC No, I don't. I have no affiliation with any software, amp or pedal manufacturer. As I said in my comment, I run a recording studio. This is purely my opinion, based on direct experience with gear.
@TC No, but I do. Can I answer any questions for you? You can try TONEX software and see how you like it if you don't trust what others are saying. The software Tone Models are what you load on to the pedal. Who knows, you might even like it.
What studio monitors are they even using? Depending on the model, should they be listening to it that far away? Kinda stupid.
Given these considerations, I can tell that it doen;t make any sense for the 99% of people who are bedroom player to buy a TOneX, if such a rig is necessary to perceive valuable difference with regular modellers.
It's been said many times, but still - I'm in awe when I see and hear Digital John short intro. So funny :)
You have to use these types of products to their strengths. None of these profiling/ capturing units will give you “amp in the room” tone. You’ll need an actual cabinet if you want real air moving. It can, however, give you “amp mic’d up in the next room” tone. The room, mics, and any boards/mixers that we’re used will all color the tone. So they’re great for consistency if your playing live going to front of house or recording. You don’t have to depend on any sound guys or use their house sm57’s to mic up.
Spot on. use the unit to it's strength. Wow Las Vegas bro, that's some distance to go gear shopping. 🙏
Damn, if only people can read.
Yeah, I really like the idea of this, and I'm pretty sure that it's going on my would like to buy list.
16:10 Guys, the FX chain loops the signals between pre and power amp. The TONEX can be fed directly into a power amp. Put your effects in front of it and that's it. You don't have to find a fly in the ointment now, just because the pricing of the other profilers/modelers becomes obsolete by this device. ;-)
@GaryBaldy, I’m a guitar newbie, can you please clarify your comment to a lower level guitar player please :)
@@n.s.a5661 Well, let me start by welcoming you to our wonderful tribal community of guitar addicts.
The effect loop is a feature from the classic amp architecture. The effects you want to loop in are placed between the pre-amp and the power amp. There is a difference between parallel and serial looping. But that is not important here.
The ToneX is not intended to be used like a classic amp or an alternative amp setup. Therefore, the objection that an FX loop is missing is actually irrelevant.
I hope this was of some help to you.
@@MicCostanzo people are so dogmatic. They act like putting a reverb in line on the front end hasn’t been being done by pro musicians for decades. Not every amp has a loop. 2 of my all time favorite amps I own don’t. Guess what? It’s fine. 🤦🏻♂️
Classic amps didn’t have effects loops unless you consider the eighties as classic amp era
@@tommilitello198 The first amps with loop were already built in the late 60s and in the early 70s it became more and more popular. By the way, it was one of the most requested custom modifications - even for plexis. It only took until the 80s that it became a regular feature.
But if it's about terminology for you: It's a classic feature, but maybe not in vintage amps. Better?
Luckily there are plenty of stunning demos on UA-cam and very impressive a/b comparisons from those who've dived in properly. You have a huge following and are quite capable of tainting product sales through laziness. "That sounds like a hundred thousand amp to me *raise eyebrows*" well, that is exactly what it sounded like to the mic in front of it at time of capture. The hardware is spot on, blame the capture. TBH IK should curate the Tonex capture list so the first few are totally killer to circumvent lazy reviews (theyve missed a trick there) because too many digital "reviews" live or die by random patch selection (with an already closed mind). I think an honest description of this video would be "unboxing".
Or maybe Andertons is one of the few honest reviews - because they dont care what they sell as far as they sell - in the middle of a sea of product placement video? (aka IK-sponsored commercials)
Weird that Mooer GE200 is a pedal including tone capture released since 5 years and no one pays attention.... Strange that ToneX does not even allow to control fx/vst and is seen as the next revolution.... and in the meanhwile a small company called MOD is making the revolution, but are too weak financially to afford that aggressive marketing and pricing a-la IK, and thus the community doesn't pay attention...
Just think of it as the Amp, get all of the other things from Pedals, HX Stomp or whatever full modeler or pedals you have. With HX Stomp or Helix, you have a ton of power adding different amps, using effects pre and post amp, then can use snapshots, and full midi triggering of the Amps in Tonex seamlessly, without a gap.
An FX loop on this pedal would only help with the headphone out. Using it with a modeler like HX, you can pre or post any FX in any order. This and a stomp or HX effects can shrink a pedal board, and allow uses to capture their own amps and not have to take them to a gig. Convenient, but like most things, it's not for everyone. Playing through a tube amp is very cool, and as amazingly close as a lot of units have come, there is always just a little bit of something with a Tube amp and Cab that's awesome.
FWIW ,I've been exclusivly in the Modeling/Digital domain since 2008, so my ear adapted long ago to monitor, pa "FRFR" systems. Still love tube amps though, I don't want to deal with them most of the time though.
Do you think the amp/cabs sound better that the HX Stomp? Seems like the stomp just has everything you need 🤷♂️
@@CatchMeOutside361 You can get ToneX and Amplitube 5 free versions and check it out. The ToneX amps if the capture is good sound closer to a real amp than the Amplitube native amps. The best part of having both is you can mix and match ToneX amps with Amplitube 5 amps for stereo rigs within Amplitube 5.
I really like tuning in to your gear testing but amp in the room .. anti digital bias is getting old. I consistently play on silent stages with in ear monitoring and I think this is true for many people. I need insights and advice for the best gear and approaches in this space. I hope we can hear more of that in the future. With that said thanks for all you do to serve the community.
It’s widely recognised that the captures are every bit as good as QC or Kemper also. This isn’t a “cheap” product in that sense.
They aren’t using it properly so what do you expect it’s designed for pedal boards not for your laptop and monitors.
Obviously if your going to use it that way you would just use Tonex software and the pedal is not needed.
Kind of shaking my head at this.
@@markntexas8265 I agree it isn't the best showcase, seemed a bit rushed and not thought through.
@@BkBk-gy6vr it’s not a all in one solution. This in the loop of an HX Stomp for example gives you an amazing small rig.
@@BkBk-gy6vr you aren’t comparing the same things? What about people who want to take a capture of their actual amp (or a killer profile of an amp they don’t own) and use it with their own pedalboard? Not everyone wants an all in one. For the record my main unit is an FM9 so I personally wouldn’t use this much either, but what I can say is that in terms of the amp sounds, it’s absolutely amazing and perfect for a lot of purposes.
@@BkBk-gy6vrno fx loop?
Seriously?
Would have loved to see this video with Pete over someone who is clearly not interested in this modelling tech. The Captain fumbling through this is just a wet blanket.
Tonex is doing the most accurate amp captures on the planet right now, and this little piece of gear is amazing. Can't believe how dismissive they were of it. The fact that IK brought this to market for 399 is incredible. Kemper rested on their laurels, and Neural _still_ hasn't delivered on their QC promises. This fills a great niche for people that want the most accurate amp tones, but nothing else.
Amp modeling? Sure you didn’t mean amp capturing?
@@trolololo8000 Yep - noticed that after posting...lol.
If you think their captures sound good you need your ears to be checked
Do you feel that way about the high gain captures too? I really wanted to love Tonex. I pre-ordered, anxiously awaited and when I played the high gain models, they felt quite lifeless to me and way more polite than the real models.
Felt the same with Amplitude.
Also, you nailed the assessment of Kemper and the Neural QC lol
@TC Mine sounds real to me, although my amps are _loud;_ this allows me to turn way down or just throw headphones on. There will always be a place for amps tho. I already have pedals galore so love that you just use what you already have with this and there's no deep menu fiddling.
Tonex is not a competitor for Kemper or Quadcore either in price or functionality. It is a competitor for such devices as Iridium, UA dream 65, Ruby, Walrus AC1, etc.
About the same price and much more advanced functionality. Add to this the profiling technology instead of modeling and then it becomes clearer why this product really deserves attention. Very impressive amp in a box
Profilling is great, but... how many tone capture files do one need to buy to cover all the settings of a single amp?
My bet iss that in a couple of year, moedlling tech wil have improved so much to make profiling tech obsolete.
Sounds pretty OK to me. Keep in mind the levels from the studio monitors in the room are peaking at a very conservative 80db
As someone living in an apartment, I really like this pedal, because I just want decent guitar sound and guitar recording experience, getting rid of mics, amps or DAW lag, at a decent price. I was going after one of the UAFX pedals before this came out.
The UA units are far better sounding. The Dream actually sounds real. There’s nothing in Tonex that comes close. I’ve got both units by the way but am returning the Tonez as I really don’t like the sound of it at all.
Yeah that is why I got it also. I was looking to get an interface to play through my pc and headphones, I also wanted a gate and a compressor. Then I saw this.. Now I have the things I needed for the same price AND I get amp capturing as a bonus.
How do you set yours up to record? Do you use the pedal itself as the interface?
Kemper needed this form factor about 10 years ago 😂
Hard facts. Kemper didn’t innovate, and now they will lose market share.
Kemper innovated massively. The problem is they then stopped and laid back on their laurels. They'll pay the price now.
Kemper needs this form factor, still.
Kemper needs a spot in guitar gear museum right next to Line 6 Pod. Once a pioneer, but now obsolete. Line 6 as an innovating company pushed on however, and Kemper did not.
@@rejuvenator8966 exactly
Its the best part of a Kemper.. only better.. in a $400 pedal. Why is that so hard to understand?
It's a 400 quid unit that has a lot of tones that are great for playing at home and will fool most people down the pub when your doing sseetchild of mine....Lee as a business man probably isn't happy with these as I wouldn't be either....as a player I'm very excited
Lee as a business man wouldnt do a video review or stock them if he wasn't happy about them.
@@neildeakin4454 why do you say that
If you owned a restaurant that did great food that everyone was happy to pay a premium on coz it was the best...but then had to but chip buttys on the menu as there was a shift in tastes etc....would you be happy as a business man?
@@danmillward3480 I say that because it doesn't make business sense to sell a product if it reduces overall profits. People will rush out and buy TONEX, and then in 12 months NDSP will announce their plugins can now be ported over to the Quad Cortex and all the channels will be buzzing about it. End of the day its all about getting players to buy more stuff
I knew the owners of a guitar shop who told me that the low end guitars and amps are what keeps the bills paid. I suspect a lot of folks who can't justify the price of a Kemper will be all over this.
This video will go down in history as the time Andertons misunderstood and dismissed the most significant product of the decade.
They dismissed it as a subsitute for a modeller, for whom is an end user (aka tone downlaoder only). Otherwise, what is it? A non tweakable good sounding presets library? No flexibility to create its own tone, only to use Joe's tone he decided to upload, wiht his mics, in his room, with his knob settings.
ToneX only makes sense for profilling players, and that is probably only 1% of IK customer's base. I think fair that Andertons set the record straight for the average bedroom player, in stating that the tweakability is very reduced, and that the tones are great, but not much more groundbreaking than the great modeller that are out there - and non tweakable, a big weakness.
One of the best tone X videos to date. As so funny seeing the Captain trying to like the world of digital amps.
😃
I have to respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree lol I think this is quite literally one of the worst representations of toneX that I've seen so far, mostly due to them sticking to IK's terrible stock presets and the digital world so clearly not being Captain's thing. The user-posted tone models sound SO much better and I think their impression of the unit would've been much more positive if they had played through some of the most downloaded or most liked models on tone net.
@saint andrew you're correct. It sounds like ass. But presets usually do. Sonic drive studio did a video on it and it's much better using his own profile
@@saint__andrew you sir that seems to have been using the ToneX, this unit vs Headrush mx5, is comparable?
@@Almonzo246 I've never used the headrush but I think the answer to that question mostly depends on whether you're needing all the FX the mx5 provides? If you solely need the best amp/cab tones go with the toneX but if you're wanting an all-in-one multi-FX unit the headrush will be much better suited for that.
@@shreder75 'his own profile': cool, that's one. Now I need another 10,000 to cover all the amps I want with a variety of knob settings on the amp.
I have not messed with any of the digital stuff, amp profiles, irs, etc. I use a tube amp and a shitload of effects. But this is really cool. It makes me want to get one and mess with stuff cuz its much more affordable than a kemper or a fractal or whatever the other ones are. It's cool, great vid guys.
Dont. There are plenty of better options that sound better, and are most likely more affordable. Look into the HX stomp, or if you have a decent amount of pedals; the strymon iridium which sounds the best to me
@@nickp440 Don't take our word for it, just look even in just these comments to see that TONEX is what people are saying sounds better. Also, one of the options you mention is double the price (at PROMO pricing) and the other has 3 amps on board... Also, one is a multifx unit which is not what TONEX Pedal ever claimed to be (and again is double the price even at promo pricing). TONEX Pedal has 150 slots and access to 1000 Premium Tone Models via the included software and thousands more on ToneNET (at the same price as the unit you mention which has... 3 amps). Those Tone Models which people say, even in these comments, sound better than other options that cost far far more.
@@ikmultimedia if its anything like amplitube, youll probably have to spend hundreds of dollars on one of your cute little stores. This demo sounded absolutely horrible as well. Coming at a potential customer like this is another reason why i would never consider buying any of your products. Save money and buy a neural DSP plugin; youre not going to use TONEXXXXXXXXXXX anywhere but your bedroom studio; lets be honest.
@@nickp440 Read the other comments about this particular demo, then watch some more videos, try the software for yourself. We "came at" no one - we are allowed to counter misinformation, though. TONEX and TONEX Pedal are bona fide hits, but I am sincerely sorry to hear it isn't for you. Maybe we'll hit the mark for you next time, or we'll continue to have all kinds of musicians (not only the "bedroom studio" musicians you are insulting but also the whole range up through pros) who do prefer to use them make their own choice. I appreciate your feedback, thank you.
@@ikmultimedia Yeah idk, duking it out in the UA-cam comments isn't a good look, no matter what your intention is lol.
I've decided to get the Tonex Pedal because I've tried the free version of the tonex plugin and I loved it ! Try it before you go ahead and spent 400 Bucks in a product that maybe you don't like.
Captain, aka Lovely Lee, I think you should have run it through a FRFR Cabinet, like the Line 6 Powercab or the Headrush for getting more of that air movement feel. Though I could be wrong. Would be nice though to see an in depth follow up video with Digital John on this, using a FRFR and how he would use it with other units like the HX Stomp and Neutral DSP. Also would like to know what kind of equipment you would put with this Tonex pedal on a pedaltrain Nano Max or Nano plus for gigging. With experienced gigger Pete also putting in his two cents. So you would have a very versatile board and if you would for example would use the midi feature of the Tonex and in which way. Anyway, very nice and informative video. Keep up the good work!
Try Joe's Favorite Patch - Bonamassa's Actual Dumble ODS, it's the best capture of the ODS gain I've heard or played on any platform. And Kemper has quite a few good variations to choose from.
What’s the name of that preset when I look in the librarian? Or is it one of the presets?
Still, it's just one capture of a single setting of that amp.
So far, the IK profiles sound about the best. People will get better at it though. I think its a cool product. Its not on par with the QC, or Kemper, its better at profiling.
My experience has been the opposite with a lot of time on tone net so far. Granted there is some mud to sift through to find the gold on tone net, but IME the great user-uploaded tone models on there blow 95% of the IK profiles away. Sort tone net by likes/downloads and the top user tone models are fantastic.
@@BkBk-gy6vr tbh sounds like either user error or you didnt spend the 5 mins it takes to find the great sounds on tone net 🤷♂
@@BkBk-gy6vr I play a Mark V 25 all of the time and I was impressed. I saw a null test done and Tonex beat a Kemper an a QC. Captain really isnt into digital, I think he was quick to write it off, I mean, that and he sells way more expensive things that do the same thing lol
@@saint__andrew I noticed that some tone models have barely any range when it comes to the tone stack then others have quite a bit. But when you find good ones, I think they sound awesome.
@@BkBk-gy6vr LOL how would you know what I've owned? No bullshit, I had an FM3 (which I also love) when I tried out toneX for the first time. I couldn't decide which I liked better, but ultimately decided to sell the FM3 and go all in with the toneX software and pedal because it makes so much more sense for my use case. #1 I had planned to build a pedalboard around the FM3 but makes so much more sense to do that with the toneX pedal because the FM3 is way too big and clunky, and I don't need the extra processing power and FX. #2 I record a lot and using the toneX plugin eliminates my need to re-amp like I would need to with the FM3, and then I can easily take my tones on the go.
I posted this comment earlier and I assume andertons deleted it because I hinted at some inherent bias in this vid and the reason why they weren't impressed. Either way I would say there are so many other videos you can find on youtube to give you a better representation of how great this pedal can sound - I would not base your opinion on their first impressions here...
Sorry to be pedantic here, but this is UA-cam so it is my civic duty to point out that, unlike Lee states at 0:22, "digital" actually predates the solid body guitar by quite a bit.
The concept of digital calculus, which is called boolean algebra, was introduced by George Boole in 1847.
The first computer to use binary numbers, that is 1s and 0s, was the Zuse Z1 in 1937, but it operated more like a calculator.
The firt true digital programmable computer by our modern understanding is generally considered to be the Zuse Z3 in 1941.
The first fully electronic computer was called Colossus, it used 2500 valves and consumed 4500W and was used to crack the Enigma code.
The first programmable electronic computer by modern standards was ENIAC in 1945, and it did something surprisingly similar to spreadsheets.
By comparison, the Fender Telecaster was fashionably late, coming out in 1950.
Would like to see them setup and shootout ToneX into a power amp against the heads of a Fender, Marshall, etc. through the same mic'd up cab.
As a harmonica player, this Tonex player seems very enticing, if ... it can be patched with the elusive combination of unobtainably rare & expensive amps that actually sound & work well for amplified harmonica. Whether or not it'll be achievable at any stage it's hard to say, but I love the concept of having an all-in-one tone box, then plug into a clean amp, FR/FR speaker or PA. I think the price point of the Tonex is pretty reasonable considering what other products cost. In the meantime, I'll sit on the fence and think about it.
If this was approached as a dedicated mic less studio tool with conceivably every amp in existence on your desktop indistinguishable from a mic”d amp for 400 bucks how can you not be in awe of this unit . The fact that you can also gig on silent stages anywhere in the world with a suitcase sized rig is astonishing !! Let’s give the tired old “ doesn’t flap my jeans “ comparison a rest and focus what it does do.
Think of this unit as The pre amp section of the amp, put the delay and chorus between the tonex pedal and whatever you may be using as a power amp.
14:20 A little odd to ask an opinion for something that can be empirically tested pretty easily. Others have already done it. You make the profile, and then you record the same DI through the mic'd amp as well as the profile. Flip the phase on one, and null test them. Result: TONEX is the most accurate profiler available right now. Significantly better than Kemper, and even a little bit better than the Quad Cortex. It's *quite* accurate.
As a big fan of the channel for many many years, even from the time you still recorded in black and white, i have to say, you totally missed the game changer this pedal is. This device is not simply cheaper then Quad Cortex and Kemper and therefore you can hear the quality drop. This is the normal argument sellers make when they do a review, more expensive is better.
80% of Kemper and Quad cortex owners dont capture/profile themselves. They just use it as a profile/capture player. Those users have been ignored by Kemper and Neural DSP, since there was no competition, so why would they just create a player. That is what IK Multimedia did. Just a capture player. If you want to capture yourself with ToneX, you dont have to buy ADDITIONAL hardware, just use your computer. Once this concept is understood and explained properly, Kemper will go bankrupt, since the ToneX pedal is better as a ordinary player. You put your normal effects pedals before your ToneX pedal, as you would do on your normal pedal board with an amp, and your time based pedals after it. Get an FRFR speaker and you are done. For 1/3 of the price. The standard version comes with 150K Joe Bonemassa Dumble OD amp captures and many, many more. More captures will follow in the ToneX cloud....
Another anticipated use is with a multieffects pedal, e.g. Digital Johns favo pedal, the Valeton GP200. Put the ToneX pedal in the FX send and return loop, disable amp and cabinet on the GP200, and you have the best rig in the world. Or wait 1 year, and IK Multimedia will bring a Amplitube player pedal on the market as well.
My expectations from Andertons videos on this pedal were most probably too high, since I think you totally missed the gigantic step in guitar/amp technology this pedal is. They didnt want to compete with Kemper and Neural DSP on the capturing part, they assumed everybody owns a computer already, and that is the smartest business decision they have made. On stage you dont need your computer, just the player. So f****** smart of IK Multimedia, an undercut as they would call it in F1 driving.... 😉
@@tc-1870 I want an HX Stomp to use with the Tonex.
I've an origin amp modeler brilliant piece of kit very tactical and interactive and analog
Digital wise the HX stomp gets good reviews kemper always seemed a bit ott for what I'd want
I don't see the point of this unit. It sounds good for 2023, but not outstanding on the market. You need a bunch of other stomp pedals before and after, and a DI box and an frfr and it's still mono, no dual amp. At the end you pay more over 1000 euros and get all the hassle with power supplies and patch cables. No thanks, I stay with my Fractal fm3.
Great. I am using the Valeton preamps with my Torpedo CAB (cab and Poweramp sim). That sounds great!
With the FREE Neural Amp Modeler you don`t need CORTEX, KEMPER, or TONEX anymore !!!
ua-cam.com/users/shortswuw9m4PdgjE
I like Digital John but bear in mind that he does some work for Neural DSP, so he can't really say its better than the QC.
When John says no one when making captures get it bang on the money he touches his nose which indicates that he's not being 100% up front about the subject.
I imagine Neural and Kemper et al are on the back foot with this surprisingly reasonably priced unit.
As the Cap gets older, he's sounding more and more like an old eccentric British scientist in some mockumentary - I love it!
These things are great, now all I have to do is get a computer science degree and an Audio Engineers degree and I
ll be able to use it.
Possibly the worst, rushed review I've seen on this channel... They've missed the point completely.
do a video with it in the effects loop!
“You know, digital really isn’t my-“
WE KNOW.
Why not have two hosts who are actually into digital and respect it? It’s not like valve amp demos have one host constantly proclaiming, “You know, I’m not really into valve amps.”
I thought digital john was especially hired for that?
@@Poepopdestoep he sucks
Who needs a tube amps anymore in our era , apart from snobs I mean
I do…
@@jan-paulvanderhoeven1639 I used to be a snob too and then I learned to play and that's when I understood , that’s ok
Modeling Amps sounds so good if you take the time to adjust absolutely all the details
Most of the mistakes people make is that they take the basic presets or barely modify them and then complain about the sound quality
It's not about snobbery. I have a Helix floor unit that I used to use for small gigs, and it worked great for that. There's no way I could ever use it to it's full potential. It's got too much stuff. It's option overload. I haven't played a gig in years and my Helix hasn't left it's backpack until about two weeks ago, when I was looking for a certain cable. I'd forgotten just how big and heavy the Helix is. It's still smaller than a medium sized pedalboard. I don't really use pedals at home though. I plug straight into my little Vibro-Champ and just play. It's simple and relaxing. For me, that's what music is supposed to be. If I plugged the Helix into the front of my amp, I'd spend more time messing with menus than actually enjoying the gear. The Helix has great sounds and, for folks who like messing with all the options, that's great. I'm not judging anyone for that. I just prefer to plug and play these days. You know, the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). I'm still keeping the Helix, for now. Who nows if I'll need it for a future gig?
@@jimmyparris9892 The principle itself of modeling is that it sounds much better because you have access to absolutely all settings. However, I agree it's quite tedious because you have to take the time to adjust everything. So, no judgment here, I prefer it because everything is in the same package, it's much better than all the tube apps I've owned in my life. What do you personally use now?
@@alexdenton6586 I actually only have 2 amps, a little Tweed Champ clone and a Vibro Champ reverb amp. They can still be too loud if I want some dirt, so I may plug in an ODR1 or a Marshall BB2 pedal. I'm just too lazy to mess with anything else.
It would have been nice to hear a strat played as well.
Doesn't need an effects loop
I've messed about a fair bit with digital, in fact my entire set up now is on guitar rig on pc....and that was as clear as mud in parts I've got to say lol
The general consensus is that the captures are actually better than kemper and QC. Some accuracy tests have been done and ToneX nails it the closest. I will admit some of the preset captures aren’t that good though.
Whos general consensus and where can I view these accuracy tests?
@@neildeakin4454 Forums, UA-cam comparisons, etc. Check out the video by Mendel bij de Leij ,especially the portion where he does the reverse phase test. People are admittedly selling their kempers for this. But these are all just opinions in the end…..
@@neildeakin4454 There is a youtube vid where they compare all 3 profilers. They use a null test- reversing phase. Perfect reproduction (or original amp) yields NO sound. TONEX is miles ahead in this scientific test. MILES.
@@65pancakes82 Please post the link.
ua-cam.com/video/Avhih6805YU/v-deo.html
20:00 mark. Its a scientific comparison. Like what you like, but there is very good reason why some are really enjoying tonex amp tones.
Btw. NAM (freeware profile) is even more scientifically accurate than Tonex, but no community/hardware.
Did you purposefully have the gain far of centre in all your tests....as this deviates from the intended capture?
I'm sure this is a great product - I use their X-Space pedal - and for those who spend their lives on chasing or modeling amps it should work fine. It's all too much like falling down a rabbit hole for me and I just want to play guitar and make music. The reverb pedal is twiddly enough already. Have fun modelers!
I’ve been using Tone-X software since it’s release, picked 8 of my favourite captures and set them as presets, control it via a midi controller. I’ve actually spent less time down the rabbit hole than with Amplitube. So while there is a glut of choice, once you’ve found what you want, you just add it to presets and you’re done. Midi controller means no faffing with a mouse. Biggest downfall of my set-up was the necessity of launching software and sitting near the PC. The Tone-X pedal solves this problem for me and the quality is excellent. I can now play and practice away from my PC w/ my pedalboard, Tone-X and speakers or headphones. YMMV of course.
For $399 this is the best option if you just wanted a hyper accurate amp profiler without any extra fluff. It's also the cheapest of any amp profiler.
I had amplitube on my ipads from like 2010 - fun to mess with. This looks fun too
Lee is totally uninformed in this video. And it's not about his roots being in tube-amp world. He just didn't do any homework. ToneX is your amp and cab for live performances. The rest of what it offers (compressor, reverb, etc.) is interesting, but in the context of a full pedalboard, probably not very useful. Especially since there is no FX loop. You will want your fx outboard from the ToneX. ANd, moreover, the idea of capturing a drive pedal ONLY makes sense if it is a VERY expensive drive pedal (like a real Klon Centaur) since this things costs $400 - why would I dedicate the ToneX to a capture of a Tube Screamer or a Timmy that I could buy and put on my board much more cheaply (and stack them if I want to)?
The ToneX Pedal is an amp replacement. I sort of wish it didn't provide cabs as part of the capture. I wish they were amp only (I know they can be, but many creators will be capturing amp and cab together). If a capture (Tone Model) is amp only, you can then add in your own IR in something like a Mooer Radar, and you can insert your time based pedals after amp/before cab. And for me, I use a power amp and guitar cabinet, so I really don't want cabs to be part of the capture.
Finally, keep in mind that most presets from MultiFX companies really suck (I deleted all factory presets in my HX Stomp day one - they are just terrible). So why would you expect that these Tone Models / Presets would sound fantastic? At minimum, they need tweaking. But more likely, you need to buy better captures, or create your own from your own amps with your favorite settings.
Cant wait to profile all 78 amps and 101 effects of my Spider V amp in this thing! 🔥🔥🔥
I love this thing. For 1/6 th the price of a Kemper, I can capture my favorite amps and drive pedals and take them with me.
Add a GT1000 core and a EXP pedal and you have a super small portable rig with all your favorite tube amps and pedals, for far less than a Kemper, QC, Fractal, etc
We need a blind test with Lee, real amp vs Tonex capture, on both studio monitors and a 4x12!
Its like a Helix Amp. Just the amps. Which as an HX effects user, I'd like to have just for those direct gigs.
I’ve tried a dozen different amp modeling systems, but they all sound terrible on headphones.. I had the MX5 , but couldn’t vibe with it. None felt like an amp in a room. With Tonex, however I can finally play something that sounds and reacts like a real amp. Like any system, including a new amp, it takes a bit to fine tune them. There is a particular fumble capture that sounds better than anything I have played. The Princeton capture is great. In fact, many are amazing. I have a 10 watt VOX that I love, but I can’t play it at the sweet spot unless nobody is home! This lets me try a bunch of amps that sound great and actually see what amps I would even build a rig around. For me this is a great alternative to getting an attenuator for my amp.
I just don’t understand why with the Quad Cortex they did a 30 minutes video comparing the real amp vs the capture and with the Tonex pedal is like “let’s hear a few presets and that’s it”.
They make more money selling a QC...
I have a nice little hand wired Marshall that sounds better in my friends living room than my living room , and don't forget the Electrical set up(feed) you have in your Home can make a difference to.
Bad review. Sorry guys. I get you dont like these pedals cpt. its obvious. you can buy every amp / pedal / gutar you want but thats not the most of us...
They seem a bit worried about the ton of sales they are going to loose with higher margin products such as the quad cortex/kemper etc. They fail to mention that this is the best proposition for home studio use because the software that is included not only allows you to capture any amp/pedal or combination of both, not only it does include any effect you may want in amplitube where youncam import both you amps AND pedal captures, it also works as a plug in wich is a HUGE advantage over the quad cortex, fractal, helix or kemper proposition. They also FAIL to mention that it does the best caputres of them all. They emphazise ad infinitum the lack of modulations in the pedal itself, though you do get them in the software suite, and the pedal itself has a very good compresor, noise gate, eqs and reverbs (the pedam is meant to be used in the contrxt of a pedal board or with a multi fx unit, it does have midi). It does not need an effects loop so it is a moot point. The fact that you can get infonite sounds out of any capture by changing the cabs is alsp not mentioned or showned. They deliberately choose to focus on the least important and weaker feature of the pedal which are the captures that are included, which i a lot pf people dont really care for but it is another moot point because of the fact that there are endless great profiles in the net. Finally, they DO know and understand that every single professional studio / profiler that makes a livong out of capturing this profiles will mograte to this platform because at 1/4 or 1/5 of the proce, PLUS the fact that it is an infinately better tool for home studio, most people will migrate to this eco system. They clearly understand that this is going to change the industry because everybody is going to buy one, and therefore, stop buying a lot of the lther stuff they hoped to keep selling at much higher price points and bigger margins. Its just so obvious and lame, It's sad. I hope people see through this dishnonest review and choose to buy this stuff and everything else... elsewhere.
Well said. Judging from all the other positive reviews and comments I've seen, people seem to get this.
Yes, as profiler it's probably the best solution.
The real revolution would be an Amplitube pedal. That would have been a game changer.
The ToneX stomp box for tone capture switching is basically useless... how many time does one change amp/amp settings during a set? 2? 3 times maybe? That can be done on a computer on the side in between songs. And then... no need for ToneX, because there's NAM. And it's free.
But that's true that the inclusion of AT5 in the ToneX pedal+ToneXmax package is attractive, even without a pedal (a midi pedal is a pain to configure...). Even if AT5 included in that package is only the standard version, not the max... but ok.
Just wanted to say thank you for this review. I like the skepticism. I'm still on the simple valve amp side of the fence and every now and then I'm tempted to buy something like this, but each time I look the message I get is "nearly there".
Still it would be great to hear reviews that cover critique of "clean" tones compared to valve; distortion and effects make it difficult to hear the nuances.
Amen to clean tones. I get so tired of distortion and fuzz when a product is demonstrated. The clean tone is brushed over. I have plenty of drive pedals including the Tube Screamer so I need to hear the tones clean 1st.
There's a catch to the Pedal. It's not a profiler, it's a profile loader/player.
comparing this to one of UA/ walrus/ strymon PEDALS Is probably a better comparison than to any of the floor modellers and what you might get at a price point.
Compare it to anything out there, doesnt matter, as long as we are just talking amp profiles.
We need a shootout!!! Kemper vs Quad Cortex vs ToneX. I think the ToneX will stand its ground...
I have a Friendman Smallbox 50. I used a Kemper Stage, a Quad Cortex, the TONEX, and NAM to profile/capture that amp. Only NAM really manages to recreate it properly. But, the TONEX pedal does it well enough, that it makes me picking up my guitar more. It sits on my desk and when I feel like it I plug in the guitar and the headphones and just jam around. As simple as that. The Quad Cortex added a raspiness to the capture, that made me go, "this is not my amp at all". Even the other models/captures available for QC don't really do it for me and I always feel quite disconnected from my guitar, as it were. The Kemper-experience was also underwhelming, as it couldn't really capture the sound of my amp. Thus my personal ranking is 1. NAM, 2. TONEX (yeah, also the pedal), 3. QC, 4. Kemper.
“For 400 quid, its ok” ha! Somebody doesn’t want to admit defeat, and I think Digital John might be on the Neural payroll
I saw some massive cope in a Quad Cortex group I was in.
@@masterofreality230 QC devotees are going to need a 12 step program
This basically is the QC for the price of an Iridium… and yeah they feel very unbalanced “for the price can it be as good” actually isn’t the question: “ha the tech evolved so it’s actually better”?
@@masterofreality230 I am on the fractal forum and there it was a welcome addition. People there are eager to use it in combination with their Fractal devices. Myself included...
@@gtz999 Yea, it can be really good for that. There were just some people saying some odd things and being very sensitive, I guess.
I’ve spent over 2k on a custom built 1974x and pedals to get one good tone. Not flexible at all.
This lets me configure whatever I want without having to spend thousands for each amp. I can load them up and go play and the audience wouldn’t know the difference. Hell in a dark room you wouldn’t know the difference. Selling all my shit tomorrow.
I hoping somebody does a “full IK” video. Capture an amp with Tonex. Build a rig around it in Amplitube. Then push things to the X-Gear and Tonex pedals for use without a computer. I’m not even sure how possible that it, but it’d be good to see how close we are.
If you are an "AmpliTube" user at home and you want to take your tone(s) to the stage ... this is the - easy - way to go ... and it is pedalboard friendly
If only they issued a regular Amplitube fx/modelling pedal with IR loader, priced under $500, on which users can save personal presets... THAT would have killed the floor multi fx/modeller market, and probably made amp profilers obsolete, for how great the amp models are in Amplitube, and how well designed is the software. Or even better: a fusion of Amplitube and ToneX, both as software and floor mutlifx+modeller/profiler+IR loader... basically a BOSS GX-100 paired with Amplitube computer software, that could also load amp tone captures (as a nice non essential extra)... that would be nice. Not impossible that some multi fx/modeller pedal board makers partners with NAM at some point to make that happen....
@@andythefrenchy8026
... see my other answer ... AND
Ja! ... would be great to have standard format for profiling data files .... like the MIDI protocol. Standardization seems to rise an the IRs format ... so let's hope for the best.
The Capt is totally right being critical of the ToneX. I think the Boss IR-2 is a better option because it has an effects loop!
ToneX on the go for $399?!
And Digital John for the cherry on top!
Fuck me these are great days!
Sounds good. If you set it up better you for sure get great results...Itll see well for sure. Wait and see.
So essentially, it is isolating the capture and "profile" concept at a lower price point than was previously available. This is great if you are a player who enjoys using a pedal board and wants to bundle up your amp (and possibly cab) tone into a pedal format for live gigs. I don't see much use for it in the studio or for anyone already using full modelling capabilities of existing units like Helix, Kemper etc.
16:20 A delay before an IR is no different than a delay after an IR. Mathematically, IRs are linear transforms, and when using them with other linear effects (which delay and reverb are), you get the same result regardless of order. Note: putting delay and reverb in a real amp's effects loop IS a bit different, because power amp compression is nonlinear. But no modeler I'm aware of has a "virtual effects loop" which actually inserts between the pre and power amp of the amp model.
I’m assuming they really mean being able to put delays and reverb after the distortion from the amp sim.
hey lee, why dont you make a comparison between for example a marshal jcm 800 tone x profile to a real jcm 800, to make it more interesting make it a blindfold challenge.
You really should have captured some of your amps for a video on tonex
I’m very excited for the ToneX pedal to finally join the ampless world.
I was not a fan of anything digital, not that I tried all the high end stuff. But I like it.
Think of this more like the next gen of the Iridium or the UA amplifier pedals.
Presumably, the box takes over a lot of the processing your computer would normally do too? I think this thing is a godsend for people who already use Amplitube or similar. I've had too many bad times with modelling to use it myself but younger brains should embrace it!
It does all the processing, its independent though it doesn't do the capturing, that is what your computer will have to do. It is pretty much a baby kemper where your computer does the capturing.
Probably your nightmare experiences were because of trying to have to many Presets taken to the stage level. And the learning curve on different units, it is hard to remember everything you need to do and takes away from playing time. At best I would think a gigging musician, would realistically use between 15-20 presets, and to my Mind that is really pushing it. All these units seem to have and it is fun to mess with them on The computer and play thru them we are talking 1000's of Captures, I heard TONENET has like 3000 plus and growing and it has not even been out a full YEAR yet. It can be like a KID in a CANDY shop, but become if used to excess like a Bull in a CHINA shop.
@@ksharpe10 Never had a problem with presets or operating them. Problems were down to cheap components, many failures, crappy tech support and companies who abandon their products a couple of years after release. My valve amp uses technology an electrical engineer from the second world war could understand and I have no problems getting spares or repairs.
There is couple of hundred of modellings and basically your realistic job is to find only that golden one from any given style. I can tell there is some real gems there. Others(most) you just can(must) just skip in one second. But the essence is how the model compares to real tube chain touch wise? I can get the exact copy of the sound as reamped but it totally feels different and is not playable. That makes sense as the tones crosses at that exact playing touch but deviate grossly if played just a little bit differently. Other model can be playable too. But then there is some models which sound truely heavenly when reamped. They are not to be played but to be recorded. i think Tonex on PC (I would say Tonex SE) is the best tool there to learn about different types of amps and cabs. So if you use traditional say real Marshall JCM 800 style tube amp and couple of SM57s and 10" speakers in a closet to record your track and then reamp with say Ampilitube 5 and Tonex Max then you've got inifinite possibilities and good learning space to find a way get it right out of the bat. But I like more the big chance Tonex offers learning about amp/cab combinations.
Not sure what to make of this review. Usually love these videos but it seems rhe Captain has already made up his mind. The real strength of this pedal is to capture amps. Going through the capture presets in the box is mever gonna show the best of it. The Quad Cortex is the same as is the kemper. A real review capturing an amp would be better. I own and Axe 3 and had and sold a QC. The captures on tbis are as good or better than the kemper or qc. I guess the Captain wont want to sell these over the price of a kemper or qc.....thats just business i guess. The effects loop question has been answered also.....Iridium and QC don't have them. Just feels like a "don"t buy this we want to sell amps,qc and kempers" no malice intended. Maybe you can do a capture of a real amp or better a still a classic blindfold test between the tone x , qc and kemper. Now that would be a fun video.
Should they have transfered the captures to the pedal and then put it on a pedal board to output to a powered cab or pa system to get a more convincing sound?
We'd definitely love to see our gear used as intended so here's one vote for you. Another popular use case is in the fx loop of a multifx unit (since TONEX Pedal never looked to be that multifx pedal, we weren't coming for your multifx pedals... yet).
@@ikmultimedia Yet? Oooh, that sounds like I'll be buying the ToneX pedal now and then whatever 'yet' turns into later! And yeah, as someone already mentioned, blindfold Lee and see if he can hear the difference between this and the actual physical setup the capture was based on.
There is an issue where you can have both the pedal + software running at the same time as well, and some of these sound like that (feedback, lots of gain, etc.)
It's pretty clear these guys have not really spent time with this or thought about this review at al. It's probably the WORST review of this on UA-cam now and they're just going to stick to their initial opinion that they don't like it. Lost a lot of respect for them from this review.
Did Lee say Too much reverb?
Is it THAT big of a deal if your time-based effects are after the amp and cab as they would be in a studio recording?
Yea, it might be a nice thing to have, but it is not as big of a deal as people are making it.
It's no big deal at all IMO
No different at all as many have explained already
Why are these guys not mentioning that this is better than a Kemper for $400? End of story and paradigm shifting game changer. These guys are like "let's try out amplitube pedal"? They miss the point I think.
Its all about the tonenet and captures. Hand in hand with the ToneX app, 6000+ user tone models plus capture your own Amp. Then put that in the middle of your pedal board. You didn't showcase your own captures but trust me it does what the Kemper and Quad C does in a smaller more affordable setup minus the effects. Pair it with HX Stomp and a power pedal you got a gig rig on the floor.
Wait, what's the difference between this and the HX stomp, aren't they the same thing?
The guy with a jacket seemed so bored. I think he's more excited to film another QC ad :D
Librarian girl... that´s why I watch your videos. 👌
Meanwhile I thought it was some of the best tones I’ve ever heard on your channel lol.
I think this is more intended as a Strymon Iridium killer than as a full-blown multieffect. In that regard, an FX loop would be a good thing to have - frankly, I'd want my signal chain to be as amp-like as possible, and that generally involves putting modulation, reverbs, delays etc between the pre-amp and the IR in a (partially) digital rig.
I also think a lot of these products have pre-sets that aren't necessarily representative of what the unit can *really* do - which is a shame for demo videos and especially first-impressions.
Neural DSP almost got me but the QC doesn’t work with their plugins. Now that IK got hardware for their amp plugins…that’s pretty neat
Nice to see another affordable amp pedal for players who do silent stage gigs ...I can see this being a handy bit of kit for IEM players....presets seem a little overblown tho but they often are
I've got the origin pedal easy to use once you get the hang of it then guitar rig through the comp not sure this is that useful
This unit is a recording interface, but the lack of xlr forces you into using another interface or their tone x capture/reamp box to actually capture. Clunky, but probably done to keep the footprint and price small.
Agree, should have an XLR as the outputs.
@@nickwinkler8231 or both. Other interfaces (focusrite, etc) have combined xlr/quarter inch jacks
That's a bummer and can't even go into the font of the house when playing live
@Maximum Guitarage you are correct. Not a very good design choice
Very nice, but.... how many sounds do you really need as a guitarist?
I watched lots of videos of the QC before i purchased. It wasn't my first choice, the FM3 was, but that wasn't available and there was a waiting list (suddenly became available as soon as I ordered the QC from Andertons lol). Anyway, I have heard videos of the TONEX by other channels and was blown away. Sounded superb. I was equally blown away by videos of the QC, sounded superb. Very happy with the QC, the built in amps are superb. Just be careful with online reviewers because they may not be telling you the whole story, example... The Studio rats, another channel I enjoy a lot. Paul's review of the QC and his playing really helped sell me the QC, describing how it felt just like playing through a real amp and immediate. Now, 1 yr later he does a live stream with a friend, Episode 140, and basically dismisses the QC and says 'they' didn't like it, didn't like the feel. He had already shown us his 'TONEX' pedal board by this point.
XLR out and simple effects loop and they could’ve charged double. Every time I picture how I’d use this, I just end up realising I only need the plug in, as I wouldn’t use it live. At $399 I want one in spite of that. But if it had those features, I’d have paid for one already.
It a suitcase for amps and tones. And they're missing that part of it. The average musicians could capture his amp and take this pedal to band practice with any speaker configuration and be able to practice
*The average musician can capture some tones of his amp. In order to 'capture his amp', one would need to do ~ 1,000,000 captures for each amp in order to have a (just decent) coverage of the various combinations of knob settings.
Interesting that the impression of the pedal is "it's cool for £400". I've been checking other vids where they A/B vs the real amp they captured and they sound identical.
Andertons does not like that kind of stuff. Oblvious. He can afford all the amps / Pedals he wants so I get it but thats not what most players deal with...
Many videos also do that with $200 floor modelers loaded with a decent IR, and there also they sounded identical. No need for an extra gadget to do that, imo. Current modeler are already ultra close, and no difference as soon as soon as a couple of effects are added, let alone in a mix.
I think profilers only make a sense to profile. For tone 'copies', modelers are way superior given the tweakability possibilities, even if sometimes these are 'just' 98% idendtical instead of ToneX 99%... but again, unnoticeable as soon as the gain is slightly up or in a mix - even with clean tones.
Only A/B could have us spot a difference, but without that, after 5min it's the same. Like for HD vs UHD tv... only in a store can one really notice a difference with a lot of attention, but after 5min of the movie start, the image quality doesn;t have any impact on the enjoyment.