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Is this a Kemper killer, end of modellers, or any of the other hype I've seen?
No, not in my opinion.
Will it eat into Kemper and Quad Cortex sales? Yea, I think so. Cause them to create an affordable 'player' pedal as well? Maybe. Hurty Modellers?, maybe a little, but Modellers are different enough. It will really hurt, imho, products like the Iridium though.
But it is a pretty good device/ecosystem.
I still need to run it into the Power Amp In of my Catalyst, Katana and Supro. I’ll get to that. But, here we go, sans that.
FIRST, two HUGE GRIPES. 1. Why is there no on/of switch on the damn thing? You have to unplug it's power supply, or have it on a switchable strip, etc. Sure, I get, being aimed at being on a pedal board, maybe not so big a deal. But stand alone, that's a lot of useless wear and tear 2. With the provided USB cable provided, hooked up to the comp, there is noticeble electronic noise from the computer. Yes, I have cables to minimize that, but, well......
Let's start off by what it is. You get the Pedal, Amplitbue5 Softwae and Tonex software (which consists of Capture software, Librarian, and a player. The Player, you can actuall also construct Presets (see below) and palay audio samples of the tone model
The pedal itself is a Capture player. Well, more to the point it's a preset player. In the Tonex ecosystem, a capture is called a 'tone model'. A tone model is a capture, of a pedal, an amp, amp and cab, or any combination of the 3. The pedal just can't be time or phase based, so basically drive, fuzz and boost pedals. BUT, you can also change the CAB in a particular tone model, in a preset to other captured CABs, VIRs or IRs.
What it ISN'T is a complete 'all in one' answer. Not if you want or need time based, phase etc effects. It is meant to be the centerpiece of a pedal based rig, imho.
I haven't delved into the capture process, yet.
A Preset is a Tone Model coupled with any combination of, or none, of compressor EQ, Noise supressor, Reverb.
Documentation is functional. Not the best, but not unusable. Since the pedal is nothing but a player, it really is as good as what you 'play' on it. Like all capture, or profile tech, it is only as good as the person who captured whatever.
When I had a Kemper, that ws what I always felt was a less desireable aspec of it. What the Unit shipped with, loaded, was a mixed bag, from "OMG, this is heaven" to "WTF were they thinking?" with a majority being so-so to ok.
Not much different for Tonex. with those loaded on the Pedal. That is assuming what I got was what the pedal comes with. I got mine as a "Demo" from Sweetwater, Found out it was returned. SO, It had what last person had on it. I have yet to find any way to load the defaut factory preset set. A RESET doesn't affect presets.
So given that caveat, what I got was mixed bag. Though on the Kemper, I remember more than a few presets that just sounded 'meh', as in, I would never run this amp set like this, or overly dark/muddy. Not so much the case here. Sure there are some like that, but most I don't like are just setup for genres I don't gravitate to. So they could be great modern metal, Djent etc toes, but I wouldn't know.
And quality captures are important on this kind of tech. GIGO applies.
Understand this, they are still a 'snapshot' of an amp, or pedal, or pedal and amp, set a certain way. Sure, you can adjust some things like gain, EQ, etc. But, though they can sound good doing so, they do not react like the gain or EQ of the amp. In fact, this is one area, I think the Kemper excelled. It tried to extrapolate how the Amp's gain control would make the amp react. Tonex, pedal not quite as good at that
But quality of presets, well Tone Models (See above) matter more on the TOnex pedal, because, there is a LOT LESS deeper dive parameters you can adjust after the fact. There is no BIAS, SAG, or other like parameters, like the Kemper or Quad have, that allow you to fine tune, or enhance an otherwise so-so capture after the fact.
Good thing, then, there SEEMS to be a LOT of decent free presets out there, both in the Tonex Tonebank, includin/and the usual Youtube providers. There are also, a growing number of pro-mad captures you can buy. Typically, like the Kemper, that is the only way to get a particular amp, captured, through it's full gain and/or EQ settings
In fact, overall, the Free Tonebank seems to have more good, user created captures, than I remember Kemper having. Chalk that up to whatever reason. That said, SO MANY MADE using an SM57 only. But, there are a lot of free examples from ‘sellers’ as well.
Though I haven't done an exhaustive search yet, one area there seems to be harder to find, is amps set Edge of Breakup, or lightest crunch. PLENTY of Crunch, clean, rock, metal tones to be had. And actually, there are some very good dirt pedal captures. With the Tonex Software, and thus pedal, found a great Wampler Plimsoul capture, Timmy, Boss dirt, and Marshall Guv/nor, that I side by sided the TOnex running just that with the Re-Issue I just got Pretty damn close both going to the same Supro Amp.
But remember, it's a snapshot of said pedal, set a certain way. It isn't like the modelled pedal in an Axe FX or even Katana, that will react similar to the pedal, when you turn it's digital knobs.
Running this through my FRFR setup I use for my Axe FX, either Studio Monitors, or Matrix amp and Xitone 2x12, or a mix of both, it sounds good. I would say it definately hangs with what I remember the Kemper did. Tonally, it hung with my Axe FX, for the most part, with good capture presets. I do think the AXE was better, even just comparing amp/cab tone, feel and response. But, the Tonex is nothing to scoff at.
It's on board Reverb is decent. Limited to 2 spring settings, Plate and Room. The SPring are so-so, room is decent, as is Plate. Nothing to write home about. For me, I think I might use it as the AMP for my HX stomp, in a pedal rig, or maybe the HX Stomp as an FX unit for the Tonex, in the rig.
It’s headphone tap is pretty good. Be prepared to have to tweak a preset that sounds good in a rig above, a little, to sound the same on cans.
One last thing, Although you have the software to make captures, you still need another piece of hardware to do so, either your own, or theirs to get that mic’ed amp into your computer.
At it’s price point, I think it’s an excellent choice ofr a pedalboard rig, assuming you have fx pedals you like, of you need it, particularly if going FOH and SPECIALLY if you want to not take your amps, just their tone with you, I even think it’s a good option in that regard, if you have a pedal power amp, or into a power amp in of an amp, if you want a variety of amp tones, or all your own amp’s tones at once.
For a home user, as your primary rig, I’ll give it a “Depends”. It depends on your use case and wants. Headphone only user, and you want small foot print, and a LOT of tones without having to be hooked into a computer, and don’t need more than basic compression and reverb? Yea it is a decent option. I just think there are as good, or better options. AND if footprint isn’t an option, and/or you don’t want Headphones, and don’t have some way to amplify it already, it can get expensive. Lot of tone in a Katana, Spark or Catalyst for less.
Overall I’m impressed. It can sound very, very good, and is good value for everything you get. But, it’s also not the be all end all "GAME CHANGER".
No, not in my opinion.
Will it eat into Kemper and Quad Cortex sales? Yea, I think so. Cause them to create an affordable 'player' pedal as well? Maybe. Hurty Modellers?, maybe a little, but Modellers are different enough. It will really hurt, imho, products like the Iridium though.
But it is a pretty good device/ecosystem.
I still need to run it into the Power Amp In of my Catalyst, Katana and Supro. I’ll get to that. But, here we go, sans that.
FIRST, two HUGE GRIPES. 1. Why is there no on/of switch on the damn thing? You have to unplug it's power supply, or have it on a switchable strip, etc. Sure, I get, being aimed at being on a pedal board, maybe not so big a deal. But stand alone, that's a lot of useless wear and tear 2. With the provided USB cable provided, hooked up to the comp, there is noticeble electronic noise from the computer. Yes, I have cables to minimize that, but, well......
Let's start off by what it is. You get the Pedal, Amplitbue5 Softwae and Tonex software (which consists of Capture software, Librarian, and a player. The Player, you can actuall also construct Presets (see below) and palay audio samples of the tone model
The pedal itself is a Capture player. Well, more to the point it's a preset player. In the Tonex ecosystem, a capture is called a 'tone model'. A tone model is a capture, of a pedal, an amp, amp and cab, or any combination of the 3. The pedal just can't be time or phase based, so basically drive, fuzz and boost pedals. BUT, you can also change the CAB in a particular tone model, in a preset to other captured CABs, VIRs or IRs.
What it ISN'T is a complete 'all in one' answer. Not if you want or need time based, phase etc effects. It is meant to be the centerpiece of a pedal based rig, imho.
I haven't delved into the capture process, yet.
A Preset is a Tone Model coupled with any combination of, or none, of compressor EQ, Noise supressor, Reverb.
Documentation is functional. Not the best, but not unusable. Since the pedal is nothing but a player, it really is as good as what you 'play' on it. Like all capture, or profile tech, it is only as good as the person who captured whatever.
When I had a Kemper, that ws what I always felt was a less desireable aspec of it. What the Unit shipped with, loaded, was a mixed bag, from "OMG, this is heaven" to "WTF were they thinking?" with a majority being so-so to ok.
Not much different for Tonex. with those loaded on the Pedal. That is assuming what I got was what the pedal comes with. I got mine as a "Demo" from Sweetwater, Found out it was returned. SO, It had what last person had on it. I have yet to find any way to load the defaut factory preset set. A RESET doesn't affect presets.
So given that caveat, what I got was mixed bag. Though on the Kemper, I remember more than a few presets that just sounded 'meh', as in, I would never run this amp set like this, or overly dark/muddy. Not so much the case here. Sure there are some like that, but most I don't like are just setup for genres I don't gravitate to. So they could be great modern metal, Djent etc toes, but I wouldn't know.
And quality captures are important on this kind of tech. GIGO applies.
Understand this, they are still a 'snapshot' of an amp, or pedal, or pedal and amp, set a certain way. Sure, you can adjust some things like gain, EQ, etc. But, though they can sound good doing so, they do not react like the gain or EQ of the amp. In fact, this is one area, I think the Kemper excelled. It tried to extrapolate how the Amp's gain control would make the amp react. Tonex, pedal not quite as good at that
But quality of presets, well Tone Models (See above) matter more on the TOnex pedal, because, there is a LOT LESS deeper dive parameters you can adjust after the fact. There is no BIAS, SAG, or other like parameters, like the Kemper or Quad have, that allow you to fine tune, or enhance an otherwise so-so capture after the fact.
Good thing, then, there SEEMS to be a LOT of decent free presets out there, both in the Tonex Tonebank, includin/and the usual Youtube providers. There are also, a growing number of pro-mad captures you can buy. Typically, like the Kemper, that is the only way to get a particular amp, captured, through it's full gain and/or EQ settings
In fact, overall, the Free Tonebank seems to have more good, user created captures, than I remember Kemper having. Chalk that up to whatever reason. That said, SO MANY MADE using an SM57 only. But, there are a lot of free examples from ‘sellers’ as well.
Though I haven't done an exhaustive search yet, one area there seems to be harder to find, is amps set Edge of Breakup, or lightest crunch. PLENTY of Crunch, clean, rock, metal tones to be had. And actually, there are some very good dirt pedal captures. With the Tonex Software, and thus pedal, found a great Wampler Plimsoul capture, Timmy, Boss dirt, and Marshall Guv/nor, that I side by sided the TOnex running just that with the Re-Issue I just got Pretty damn close both going to the same Supro Amp.
But remember, it's a snapshot of said pedal, set a certain way. It isn't like the modelled pedal in an Axe FX or even Katana, that will react similar to the pedal, when you turn it's digital knobs.
Running this through my FRFR setup I use for my Axe FX, either Studio Monitors, or Matrix amp and Xitone 2x12, or a mix of both, it sounds good. I would say it definately hangs with what I remember the Kemper did. Tonally, it hung with my Axe FX, for the most part, with good capture presets. I do think the AXE was better, even just comparing amp/cab tone, feel and response. But, the Tonex is nothing to scoff at.
It's on board Reverb is decent. Limited to 2 spring settings, Plate and Room. The SPring are so-so, room is decent, as is Plate. Nothing to write home about. For me, I think I might use it as the AMP for my HX stomp, in a pedal rig, or maybe the HX Stomp as an FX unit for the Tonex, in the rig.
It’s headphone tap is pretty good. Be prepared to have to tweak a preset that sounds good in a rig above, a little, to sound the same on cans.
One last thing, Although you have the software to make captures, you still need another piece of hardware to do so, either your own, or theirs to get that mic’ed amp into your computer.
At it’s price point, I think it’s an excellent choice ofr a pedalboard rig, assuming you have fx pedals you like, of you need it, particularly if going FOH and SPECIALLY if you want to not take your amps, just their tone with you, I even think it’s a good option in that regard, if you have a pedal power amp, or into a power amp in of an amp, if you want a variety of amp tones, or all your own amp’s tones at once.
For a home user, as your primary rig, I’ll give it a “Depends”. It depends on your use case and wants. Headphone only user, and you want small foot print, and a LOT of tones without having to be hooked into a computer, and don’t need more than basic compression and reverb? Yea it is a decent option. I just think there are as good, or better options. AND if footprint isn’t an option, and/or you don’t want Headphones, and don’t have some way to amplify it already, it can get expensive. Lot of tone in a Katana, Spark or Catalyst for less.
Overall I’m impressed. It can sound very, very good, and is good value for everything you get. But, it’s also not the be all end all "GAME CHANGER".
