IK expanded its AmpliTube amp and guitar tone creation ecosystem earlier this year with the Tonex Pedal. A hardware multi-FX stomp box unit made to allow guitar players and sound designers to load up and design their own amp and tone rigs onto a stage- and studio-ready unit, it also doubles as an audio interface for recording and is backed up by thousands of premade amps patches. We have had a chance to crank this thing up to 11 over the past few weeks, and it’s time to break down the experience for folks interested in this sort of hybrid guitar sound design experience as part of the latest entry to our Tested with 9to5Toys series.
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Hands-on with IK Multimedia’s latest Tonex Pedal
Tonex is more than just the pedal on display here. It combines the brand’s software and apps so creatives can design, store, and transport their sounds and patches anywhere. Whether you’re at home on your Mac and making patches on the Tonex iPhone/iPad app, all of these customizations can be moved over to and loaded up as presets on the pedal – this allows for a seamless system that further supports computer-free creativity when wanted/needed while still retaining the flexibility and detailed sound design those types of platforms provide. It is a simple way to bring patches to the stage and collect them all for future use when recording into DAWs, either at home or anywhere else.
There are hundreds of amps, cabinets, and pedals, as well as complete channel strip rigs at the ready here. In fact, you’ll find 1,000 downloadable Tone Models with unlimited user access as well as multi-IR cabinets, the ability to load up your own impulse response files (these are more for pro users or those really digging in), five stereo reverbs, EQ, compression, and a noise gate to really customize your tones further. All of which can be loaded up into the 150 preset slots on the hardware itself and taken with you anywhere.
The Tonex Pedal is also more than just a multi-effect and emulation guitar pedal unit, though. The Tonex hardware also doubles as an audio interface with both audio and MIDI I/O as well as a headphones output. In other words, you can record your guitar and all of the sounds you have loaded up/created on the machine directly into your DAW of choice (essentially anything with a USB input) without needing to buy or use any other gear.
Ultra-low noise 24-bit, 192 kHz converters, 5 Hz–24 kHz frequency response and 123 dB dynamic range offers incredible sound quality.
Here’s a closer look at the spec sheet:
- 150 customizable presets
- MIDI IN/OUT
- Ultra-low noise, 24-bit/192 kHz converters.
- 5 Hz–24 kHz frequency response
- Up to 123 dB dynamic range
- USB connection/ 24-bit/44.1 kHz audio interface
- Expression pedal input to control any parameter
- Headphone output
- Doubles as a high-quality USB audio interface
- Noise gate
- Parametric EQ
- Compressor
- Five stereo reverbs
- Including FREE AmpliTube 5 Guitar amp & FX modeling software
- Including FREE AmpliTube TONEX MAX – create, play and share Tone Models.
9to5Toys’ Take
IK’s Tonex really shines for folks that are looking to take their guitar from the home studio to the stage. You can explore and experiment with the thousands of amp and FX setups at home or in the jam room and then take those exact same rigs directly to the stage.
Having said that, I also think it works well with home studio musicians that like to get creative outside of the box (computer) before recording into the DAW. I, more typically, fall into this category and tend to spend time programming patches on hardware synths and tinkering with guitar pedals/amp emulation before I even start recording – removing the mouse-based workflow from at least part of the creative process – before capturing those sounds. The stomp pedal on the unit adds to the creative immersion here, as well, even when you’re not playing live, and further highlights the point I’m trying to make here. IK’s Tonex pedal is absolutely brilliant when it comes to this type of workflow, whether you play live on stage or not.
For me, there are just enough hardware controls on the unit to really dig into tone creation, computer/smartphone-free, without being overly complex. EQ, compression, reverb, tonal shaping, loads of amp emulations to flip through, and more are all accessible right on the unit. But you can, of course, dive into the app side of things to dig in deeper, find and design new patches, and then load them up on the hardware for use away from the screen.
The value here for folks interested in this kind of thing is clear as far as I’m concerned and is just enhanced further with the built-in hybrid audio interface the Tonex Pedal provides. Whether or not that’s enough value for you to drop the $400 it will cost you to own one is up to you. But I think for guitar players looking to get creative away from the screen, whether you’re looking to take your entire guitar rig out of the home studio without renting a van or not, the IK Tonex Pedal is very much worth the consideration.
By the IK Multimedia Tonex Pedal
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