Strymon Iridium

[Splattle101]

Is anybody in here looking at the new Strymon Iridium? It's a pedal size modelling amp that seems to be aimed at a price point a little lower than the HX Stomp.

Iridium - Amp Modeler & Impulse Response Cabinet - Strymon

Iridium gives you three iconic amplifiers, with a total of nine impulse response speaker cabinets that complement the tonality of the amp.

www.strymon.net

It models three amps (Fender blackface, Vox, Marshall) and various cabinets. It has a bunch of IRs, and you can load your own. It looks to me to aimed at the player who'd stick this on their existing pedal board and plug straight into the desk, or turn off the IRs and plug into a conventional amp.

 

[PierM]

Looks another great idea from Strymon, and sounds great too. Im tempted...

Id really like to test it with a pair of Powercabs. Would be a great featherlight alternative to my Helix rack.

The winner point here seems the way they do record the stereo IRs, so I do believe loading standard IRs isnt really working as good as the sounds onboard.

 

[mdubya]

It looks very interesting.

Rhett Schull has a great video on it. It sounds really good.

It would have appealed to me a few years ago, but one of the great things about something like a Helix or Axe FX is the unbelievable possibilities at hand. You don't have to unleash all of that possibility, but it is extraordinarily inspiring. And I am a guy who didn't even use reverb for 25 years. 2204 and a Champ and a fuzz pedal and that was it, for years and years.

The little Fender Mustang I kind of changed my world with onboard reverb and delay and tremolo and vibe. And also having a high gain option. I rarely use high gain, but it was there when the mood struck.

Rhett's video. Like I said, it sounds very good!

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Dang, would be perfect for me with an FX loop.

 

[Splattle101]

Yeah, saw Rhett's video before (he could make a tin can and a couple of bits of string sound good!). What appeals to me about this device is that it could sit on a normal pedal board where it would function as the mother of all overdrives into any conventional amp, or it could go straight to the desk as a pure modelling amp.

So you'd bring the same board to every gig. The only thing that would vary is whether you BYO amp, and that would depend in large part on whether the PA can handle the monitoring and FoH duties for the guitar modelling amp. If the PA's not up to it (or you're unsure), you BYO. If you know the PA's cool, just bring the board.

Anyways, I just thought it was an interesting toy, and Rhett made it sound very cool.

 

[Splattle101]

Dang, would be perfect for me with an FX loop.

The HX Stomp might be more your thing, then.

 

[PierM]

Im saying this as a +20 years L6 user...I believe this is gonna sounds better than HX modeling.

 

[Splattle101]

Im saying this as a +20 years L6 user...I believe this is gonna sounds better than HX modeling.

I find that surprising. Are you not a fan of Line 6 models, or do you just think Strymon have got something special going on?

 

[PierM]

I find that surprising. Are you not a fan of Line 6 models, or do you just think Strymon have got something special going on?

It's 20 years I'm a L6 customer, but I never approach brands as a fan...(I'm more of a pragmatic/critique customer)

Strymon has built-in 24bit 96kHz 500 milliseconds impulses. This means having 48.000 sample points, instead 1024 (or 2048) in the Helix technology. I'm expecting this to change the overall feeling of the complex dynamics happening in a speaker, especially when on the edge.

Also, L6 has great guys at the factory, but Strymon engineers are the top of the top in the industry. Just compare each of their pedals, to each of the L6 counterpart models, that's easy to prove. Compare the Strymon El Capistan with the Tape Echo simulation in the Helix, or the Helix Reverbs with the Strymon counterparts, etc...

L6 and Helix are great all-in packages, with a beautiful interface and routing capabilities (imho they are the best in that aspect), but if we go granular and we analyze every single aspect of their simulation, there is higher quality options in the market, and I think this is gonna be one of those. Of course I'm just assuming now, based on what I've listened online, so I need to put my hands on one of these asap, to confirm my thoughts.

I also really like the lack of over-engineering in this pedal. Something like that was missing in the market.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

The HX Stomp might be more your thing, then.

I bought one last year. I wasn’t ready to make it my sole rig, so I traded it in for an Orange. All I really want is a unit for rehearsals. We are totally in-ear, and it would be nice to have two cases to carry for simple rehearsals. I’m looking at a Mooer GE-200, I just need to sell a guitar to finance (presently gear broke, very comfortable otherwise!)

 

[mdubya]

Im saying this as a +20 years L6 user...I believe this is gonna sounds better than HX modeling.

I think you might have a point.

Sure, Rhett can make anything sound good, but he makes this sound particularly good. Like he could have said it was a Lazy J or a Divided By 13, and people would have been like, "Yeah! That sounds good!"

On the Andertons demo, I don't like the plexi so much.

 

[PierM]

I think you might have a point.

Sure, Rhett can make anything sound good, but he makes this sound particularly good. Like he could have said it was a Lazy J or a Divided By 13, and people would have been like, "Yeah! That sounds good!"

On the Andertons demo, I don't like the plexi so much.

Im a Deluxe Reverb addicted, in any form, from any era. I have 2 real ones, and all the possible models of it lol. The strymon version sounds really good.

Never been a Marshal user, apart when I was a metal kid, back in the early 80, didnt last long.

 

[PierM]

Looks like you can totally bypass both amp and cab simulation, so in the above review, there is a wrong information.

 

[fleahead]

I bought one last year. I wasn’t ready to make it my sole rig, so I traded it in for an Orange. All I really want is a unit for rehearsals. We are totally in-ear, and it would be nice to have two cases to carry for simple rehearsals. I’m looking at a Mooer GE-200, I just need to sell a guitar to finance (presently gear broke, very comfortable otherwise!)

I have a Mooer GE200, going into a Baby Bomb 30watt amp mini-pedal and that goes into an open-back 2-12" with Warehouse speakers (two types). And sounds great both thru the amp and simultaneously into PC....

 

[mdubya]

Another Iridium demo from a slightly less "gifted" reviewer.

Still very impressive sounding and maybe a bit more in depth than Rhett's demo.

 

[mdubya]

I really like the Iridium. But you cannot argue with the endless possibilities offered by the HX.

 

[Mike J.]

Not flexible enough. No XLR out. The Iridium might sound a slight bit better to some ears (not to mine)...but the Helix is the better overall package. I personally find the sound samples so and so. Especially the Andertons stuff sounds really meh.

 

[Splattle101]

It's 20 years I'm a L6 customer, but I never approach brands as a fan...(I'm more of a pragmatic/critique customer)

Strymon has built-in 24bit 96kHz 500 milliseconds impulses. This means having 48.000 sample points, instead 1024 (or 2048) in the Helix technology. I'm expecting this to change the overall feeling of the complex dynamics happening in a speaker, especially when on the edge.

Also, L6 has great guys at the factory, but Strymon engineers are the top of the top in the industry. Just compare each of their pedals, to each of the L6 counterpart models, that's easy to prove. Compare the Strymon El Capistan with the Tape Echo simulation in the Helix, or the Helix Reverbs with the Strymon counterparts, etc...

L6 and Helix are great all-in packages, with a beautiful interface and routing capabilities (imho they are the best in that aspect), but if we go granular and we analyze every single aspect of their simulation, there is higher quality options in the market, and I think this is gonna be one of those. Of course I'm just assuming now, based on what I've listened online, so I need to put my hands on one of these asap, to confirm my thoughts.

I also really like the lack of over-engineering in this pedal. Something like that was missing in the market.

Yeah, I see what you mean. I too am a fan of the L6 interface. I'm not an L6 user (or any other brand of modelling amp, for that matter: but I keep trying them out from time to time), but the Helix is still the pick of the pro-level gear of that type for me. It sounds good straight up, and it's (comparatively) easy to use. I'm yet to play a Fractal because the agent for that brand doesn't deal locally.

But I like this Strymon thing for the same reason I like the Katana: it's simple and behaves like a 'conventional' piece of guitar gear, while still sounding good. In the case of the Katana, it sounds pretty good. In the case of Rhett playing the Strymon thing, it sounds very good indeed!

I think you're right about the simplicity / lack of over engineering. That's the first thing that caught my attention about this toy. It's really well designed. Yeah, I confess I'm a design snob.

 

[Splattle101]

Looks like you can totally bypass both amp and cab simulation, so in the above review, there is a wrong information.

Yeah, that came up in the comments. I think Rhett stickied the reply, didn't he?

 

[mdubya]

Dan and Mick get a little whiny about the Iridium and modeling in general, but listen to Mick with a vintage Strat through the Marshall mode, especially once the fuzz kicks in.

Being able to do this at laptop or TV volume is what it is all about - imho. And I know from experience, not all monitoring setups are the same. You have to find what works best for you. I think Mick and Dan could have had a better experience monitor wise, which was their main complaint.