The intro thing was funny. So true. Not just for this ToneX thing, but it seems like any new piece of gear that comes out these days, gets the same treatment. The hype-train is real. Way too many "gadgets" in the market now.
Great honest review. It seems too often that some feel compelled to give gear a favorable review, but the proof is really in the sound quality from it in your own environment.
I appreciate the time you took to go through everything and look at not just the positives, but also any kind of things that would trick people up. I just want to say based off the amps I’m looking at in the background there, I definitely would purchase every single one of those if you did captures of them. I know it would be a ton of work, but I think a lot of metal heads like myself, would appreciate it!
Thank you so much for commenting. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate the encouragement regarding capturing the amplifiers . It's going to be a huge task, but I think I should do it for you guys. The income would also help the channel as well.
I am on Jarrod like white on rice about doing captures of his amps. Jarrod mainly just "works out" and "washes cars" so he HAS PLENTY of time to do captures. And I need real Metal Amps that are captured properly. Bad captures for free on all the paid demos do nothing for me.
I've got one on preorder now and I would absolutely be interested in your captures. I can't think of any you tubers aside from maybe Ola, that has the high gain tonal quality of your channel. I can't afford to buy the high gain monsters you have, but I would definitely pay a reasonable price for a capture that is 90 percent there as far as matching the sound of the amp.
As someone who was part of the launch, yeah I had NO idea how many other people were involved as well (you usually don’t). And it was surprising to see. A few things I’ll put here for anyone who is curious. IMO if a company offers to pay you for a review and the product sucks, I think the etiquette is to politely decline. If you like it, or even just think it’s fine, just do your best to demonstrate it in a way that’s helpful and (hopefully) entertaining. Lastly, I think people get way too hung up on the “does it sound better than x,y,x”. They all sound good. They’ll all work for your tech death demo that 15 people will hear. The real difference is the experience. Did you enjoy using it? Does it solve some workflow problem? Those are the things that I think are important with these products. Sorry for the long comment, great intro. Very accurate 😂
I’m glad I watched this all the way through. Too many “polished” videos on RUclips to make a immediate purchase for a Tonex. Maybe later I’ll look at one. Tone Wars thank you for giving me what I needed to hear.. a honest review with an honest opinion. Saved me some $$ to spend on something else more needed.
Best. Intro. Ever... Hilarious man. Great review. Keeping the QC for sure. Loving the ToneWars Hi Watt captures that i bought from you. So good. Thanks
Dude you been cracking me up! I'm telling you should get into acting. The characters that you morph into are funny then shit. Best gear channel on the plane-t. Thanks for all you do A+
Excellent advice from a seasoned pro. I really appreciated your delivery i this one. I gave a future rig to look forward to & thanks to you I have a lot to think about.
Listen, I’m going to start by saying I never offer critiques of these videos because the subject matter is entirely too subjective. W/that said, here it comes… You made it painfully obvious you aren’t getting paid, the you then back peddled saying you weren’t being accusatory of other creators but that’s exactly what you did. Ok… I guess it’s just projection then. Sorry, not sorry… It’s obvious to those that did, that maybe you didn’t do much homework before you jumped in to “deep” end of the intermediate pool. The recording process & procedures for obtaining a capture are simple, straightforward & easy. So easy a caveman could do it…. You had difficulty, that’s ok & I’m not ishing on that… that fact that you’re implying everyone is having or will have the same issue you had aren’t realistic & that all the captures you heard were ish. Yeah, not only do I not believe that, but that’s incoming you’re sending directly back to the other professionals who happen to also be creators & you piss on theirs too!? I’ve listened to a lot of these, and tone wise they might not be in your wheelhouse but there are some extremely dynamic captures out there not fitting into your narrow genre but certainly are more than gig-able on any pro stage. Next issue is 100% pure criticism… over 20 minutes into a 33 minute video & still haven’t heard your idea of a good tone or capture. Finally @ 23:33 we get to hear the only good capture on Tonex 🤫 My summation is this… you missed the point of what this experience of Tonex is. Tonex, in my belief is geared toward those who want to play in the capture game (for the simplicity of downsizing, for example) but can’t afford or justify the price of what amounts to adding a boutique amp to your gear collection just for current capture technology hardware. Some, of said hardware may be slightly dated & a hell of a lot more cumbersome than Tonex, but you barely touched on these 3 incredibly important qualifiers which I suspect never came across to you, they are… sound & feel quality, simplicity of use (sorry) & price, because no matter how you cut it you’re still getting QC & Kemper capture quality (some will argue better) @ a fraction of the cost. That’s Tonex & that’s who Tonex is for. My bonafides: 45yrs playing & 25 as a professional guitar tech.
I didn’t make it to 23:00. When he said “I don’t even own a DAW” I was done. This has to be the most one sided review I’ve seen to date…… maybe with the exception of Rolling Stone back in the day😳
Not sure if any other comments mentioned this yet, but it's actually your computer's graphics card (GPU) which affects how fast TONEX can create its models. Specifically, you need an Nvidia graphics card. This is because most of the neural network and AI research has leveraged the CUDA cores of Nvidia graphics cards to do the heavy lifting, and TONEX works the same way. I have an old gaming laptop from 2015 with an Nvidia GTX970M graphics card. It creates captures at "normal" settings start to finish in 15 minutes, and that's a very outdated GPU by modern standards.
Exactly this. I've been working in IT for 30+ years primarily in support type positions. Nvidia has dominated business graphics and I'm referring to such animals as AutoCAD and 3D CAD. That's where the money is and that's where the development has happened. It makes sense that they leveraged that technology because it's so ubiquitous.
I love all kinds of mics, but there is a reason the SM57 has been used on countless recordings over decades when studios had tons of options including ribbon mics such as the industry standard Royer 121 along with others. "Bigger" tone isn't always what you want in a mix or live - unless you are a bedroom player tone usually needs to fit in a confined specturm to work in the context of everything else. It is missleading to suggest an SM57 isn't good enough plenty of the best engineers have used it when far more expensive options were an arms reach away. And the setup is quite easy for anyone with any experience with re-amping. I do agree IKM didn't do the best job capturing their own amps (you will notice there is plenty of other stuff than SM57s in there) but there are 3rd party captures that sound outstanding.
I agree and I got it just a couple months ago and I hook it up through a tube return in the effects loop and use it on my pedal board. It's now been a year and they just now as of July 10th I believe it was on my birthday that fixed latency issues it has when trying to use it as live rig. It's working great now. I also know what you mean by many of the tones people load onto it. But now people are figuring out how to do it right and I have to say. Some of these captures, especially ODS Dumbles, Two Rock, PRS captures you can find on there now. HOLY SHIT! Some really bad ass tones!~ Many people are finally get clean tones down better with the volume levels as well that were so low! I have to say, I am more than happy with it now.
I appreciate your honesty in all your reviews to start. I do not own one amp other than a quad cortex so I am really in Mercy other people's captures to find my tone that I could work with as far as heavy tones you're the king my man the song freaking awesome I was going to buy tone x but I am glad I watched your video you made a lot of sense. by the way if you have any good chapters for the QC send me a link and I would like to purchase your captures keep up the good work my man I know you're a busy man but it would be nice to see more reviews on your Channel .
I think the pedal is designed for a modern pedal board set up(into front of house or a frfr cab). Goes great into the loop in of a HX Stomp for midi patch controls or the middle of a pedalboard set up. Not a replacement for a Kemper Stage or a Quad QC but a less expensive option to add realistic Amp tones for consistent sound over and over on gigs. Could gig with just it if you don't use FX other than the built in reverb.
Yeah I wouldn't say this is a replacement for an all-in-one modeler rig. But if you already have an existing modeler like a Fractal or Helix, or any kind of multi-FX or even already have a full FX chain and want something for amp/tone captures, this is great.
I have a basic question. Is a “capture” a snapshot of an amp at a given setting? So it is not an amp model really, but a slice of the bigger model? Have I got the right clue so far?
Nice review! I recently picked up the Tonex and matched it with a Helix Effects to handle what I need. I was originally trying to swing for a QC, but that was still a ways out of my budget. Since I won't be making any captures, I think this will do for me everything I need. I hope you do end up keeping the pedal and making some quality captures.
@@MotownGuitarJoe I have run the ToneX both ways: One going direct into the HX, and the other using the HX's Effects Loop. If you're using the HX's Dirt pedal models, you'll want to place the ToneX in the Effects Loop - but, if you have any dirt pedals you can simply hit the front of it and out to the HX. The issue of using the Effects Loop is that you essentially use up 2 of the 9 blocks in the HX for the Loop. Not a problem either way. I have a Fuzz, an OD and a Dist pedal, but still run everything through the loop.
I downloaded some captures from The Studio Rats and they sound awesome, but admittedly they are more clean and low gain tones. I don’t play as much high gain or metal stuff, so that may be why I am so much happier with mine. Plus it’s 1/5th the price of the Quad Cortex and Kemper.
Nice views given here - I’ve picked one of these up on the Black Friday deals, so just starting to explore what I can get out of it. My intention is pretty much as you suggested - an easy to travel with way to get some (hopefully) decent tones without lugging a bunch of gear around. You’ve a new sub brother, keep ‘em coming ;)
You can’t judge this unit by it’s presets.…. The presets are made by other people according to their subjective taste to capture THEIR TONE. The whole point of this unit to to capture YOUR TONE and to be able to take it anywhere anytime. The reason for everyone’s excitement is that you can do that without paying $2,000 for a Quad Cortex or Kemper and it’s small enough to integrate into a pedal board.
If you have to buy an additional box to make your captures, buy a very expensive microphone and buy quality multieffects to go with your Tonex, not to mention that you can't capture your pedal sounds at the same time and put in your amp sounds! What's the advantage in the end?
@K G I've owned and played many physical devices such as Line 6 POD and Vox ToneLab SE Etc as well as played dozens of software amplifier sims including from UAD, AmpliTube, Guitar Rig... I can safely tell you that in 75% or more of the cases the default tones sucked balls. I have no idea why this is but it's just the way things are. I can't imagine that the taste of the people that work at these companies is that bad so it must have something to do with personal preference. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, you can't measure the quality of any physical or software Audio guitar amplifier product by the default sounds. You have to judge it by how easily you can tweak it and get it to the sounds that you really like and that those sounds are high enough quality that it merits the price point.
This is only theoretically true, but not in practice. Beauty is also subjective, but 90-95% of the people prefer the same thing, food is subjective but everyone loves pizza etc. Same with sound. People know what a good metal/5150/JCM800/plexi/etc tone is although there may be slight variations. Tone Wars calls this out because he is used to QC and other platforms where 20-30% of the sounds are ok-ish, 10-20% are unsable and rest are more or less awesome. With Tonex and more specifically ToneNET the issue is that 90% are unusable in any context and there is only handful of good tones which usually come from top influencers like Ola Englund. Also let's be real. Most people are not gonna capture anything with these. They buy these so that they don't have to buy amps, cabs, pedals etc. and so that they can access collection of gear worth of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Also the people who want to capture their setup with these surely also want to access cloud and get access to that "unlimited" selection of gear.
I truly like your page, style & appreciate your honest thoughts. The tones you go for & get, are really awesome! A++ on the playing as well. Peace! X-Mann 👊🏻❌🤘🏼
My pleasure! Thanks so much for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. The ToneX is a good product, but it's not without its quirks. The captures are great but not easy to do
I like the honesty! Way I see it is that no computer can perfectly capture something, you have to realize though, that to the untrained ear, there will be no difference. Another awesome thing about it is that you can use stereo, whereas you may need two of the same amp if you were to do it the old fashioned way. The other pull is that it doesn't take two trips, several men, and sometimes 100+ LBS of lifting, personally I DREAD the process of taking stuff down after gigs and whatnot.
I think part of your struggle with the capture process has to do with your familiarity with routing in your digital interface. I already use external effects in my DAW and do reamping. I just turn an old DI box around 🤷🏻♂️. It was $30 it works great. I think this caters most to people who already do home recording. It took me 3 hours from when it arrived from fedex to set up mics and figure out the routing, exporting to the pedal, and also configuring my midi controller to tell it what presets to use. All three channels on my TC50 now on the pedal. That includes processing time. With that said if you have no interest in studio recording either via digital or analog I’d say don’t bother because I’m pretty sure it’s only as good as the captures you can personally make. You might strike gold with a preset in the libraries but, it’s kind of a craps shoot imo because they’re a snapshot of an amp with the knobs fixed in place. So even if they did a great job it’s still set up for someone else’s ears and guitars. I did mine with a Royer and a Lewitt condenser and didn’t even spend a lot of time placing the mics cause I just wanted to get the ball rolling and it turned out great. I half expected it to be kinda meh between not getting tedious with my mics and using the fastest capture method. I think over time I’m gonna dig into really getting that right and just improve upon my captures as I go. I read from someone else that the longer method is like 15 minutes on their computer and I have a newer gaming laptop so processing speed is there 😂😂. I’m still a little confused as to what you did that your amp switcher threw a wrench into the whole thing. I’m actually just curious as to how that made it a whole thing. Seems like it wouldn’t be an issue. At any rate I’m really happy with it but, I can easily see how people would be turned off by it.
... so what is optimal when making captures? ... 1) using the Tonex Capture hardware. 2) using an Axe I/O interface that has reamp function. 3) using a DI box, as you mentioned. Pros/cons of each ?
@@willgo7898 I really couldn’t tell ya what’s best there. I did pick up an x-amp reamp box from radial. I’m hoping it’s better but, the captures I have on the method I mentioned came out really good. After doing more research I kinda learned some of the differences and decided an actual reamp box might give better results. At any rate comparing and contrasting those things. Pros/Cons etc. having only used it one way I couldn’t say. I am looking forward to spending more time really trying to get it right. I mean I threw a condenser and ribbon in front of the amps in approximately where I’ve come to know that I like those mics and just went for it with the amp in the same room so I didn’t really get to nitpick my placement cause monitoring was near impossible 😂😂. As far as getting started though it was pretty easy. I was just saying if I hadn’t already messed with routing post effects in my digital interface I woulda been lost trying to get started. In the course of writing this I realized for most people using the IK branded stuff might be the best route if you don’t already have the stuff to do it. I’d imagine it’s a quicker route to configure it.
The best ToneX video so far - you simply nailed it! Love the intro 😂 To me it's kind of a Kemper with less features for less money - the next generation of a ToneX device could be more interesting for me.
I love your honest tongue in cheek review! I recently bought the pedal and went through a ton of captures on tonenet and I couldn't find a decent high-gain amp tone that I liked. They all sounded like crap! I've been playing a Kemper for several years now and as much as I enjoy playing it, I wanted to make a small pedalboard and hook it up to a HX stomp xl that I have for a grab and go. Sorry to that making captures is such a pain in the ass, but if you decide to make them I would buy them cause they sound awesome!
Thank you so much for commenting and for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I was blown away as well at how many worthless, disgusting, garbage captures there were in the app. It was so bad. I've decided to start making captures for you guys very soon. I just need to carve out some time to get it done. Stay tuned to the channel and I'll be announcing it when I make them for you guys.
I think you can do drive pedals all 3 ways. Pedal stand alone, pedal and amp (can’t be separated post capture), or pedal,amp,& cab with a switchable cab.
You actually can't capture stuff in a DAW with it. The capture mode is only available in standalone mode (which makes sense since you'd use it in a DAW after having captures be ready to use).
I think what would've made this vid more useful as a ratings tool would've been for you to have 1) documented the capturing process, and 2) A/B'd the failed capturing attempt with the one you eventually got. Also, I thought the Quad Cortex sounded better than the ToneX, which sounded a little muffled/less defined in comparison.
Documenting the capturing process would have been an absolute nightmare to do. It literally took me days to get it all plugged in correctly and figured out. I would have needed to hire a film crew to document all that.
@@TONEWARSgearshow That would've been the point. Still, it's pretty refreshing to see someone actually give their honest opinion on a new piece of gear rather than the all too familiar soft sell.
I am enjoying mine, but I also play far more than just metal. I also like using petals in front of modelers. Maybe that’s counterproductive to their purpose, but it allows me to use the modeling just for an amplifier and control time in the same I would on my own amplifier. I really enjoy defender clean tones on the Tonex pedal.
"Sorry not sorry" your beginning was only missing, at bare minimum, a single nipple tweak(a double nipple tweak woulda been serious "spritzer")but THIS is why I am your biggest fan!!! Your unbiased, real reviews, and demo's - have seriously added to the best gear I've ever owned (i.e. Friedman Powered Cabs, Synergy, Kemper, etc) you are the REAL deal. I've been asked about this device and given my Kemper and FM9 - I can absolutely say there's no GAS for this device. The ONLY piece of gear that still fans my perpetual GAS flame, that's never satisfied - merely pacified for week or two - is the Quad Cortex. That's only because YOU make captures! Which is why I still love my Kemper..... Keep doing the good stuff!!!!!!!🤘😁🤘
Dude thank you. I’m still on the fence. I got back into guitar and just rely on a computer and amplitube. Someone asked to jam , and I started eyeballing this. Your words on modeling vs capture even opened my eyes to something I didn’t realize in front of my face. And it’s good to know there will be sifting to find the right “thing” on this device and that there’s paid to creator captures as well.
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad this video helped you out. After spending more time with this unit and upgrading my computer and interface, everything is working much easier and faster for me now In fact, as I sit here typing this, I'm doing captures of my Engl Savage MKII, and they are coming out amazing
You are right. Sometimes its best to be honest when you're literally inept at thoroughly evaluating a product. Im sure you'd appreciate someone doing a half ass eval of your hard work as long as they too were honest :)
Thankyou for an unbiased review and explaining the captures and your out-of-the-box experiences. While I am a computer game programmer and understand that technology, I have no idea how to hook up guitar tech to an interface/DAW, so, this made it clear that this product is *NOT* for me. Thankyou from preventing me making a huge mistake.
Watched now the video in it's entirety - a few notes here: - You can actually run a captured pedal. You simply have to decide if you either take a pedal capture or an amp capture. What you can do is saving one capture of the amp alone, on with the amp+pedal and then use the switches to switch - it seems like you have a small interface with only two inputs/two outputs. If that's the case, yes you have to run this through a DAW to route it properly. I got a video on the subject on my channel for the ones watching this that are interested in this stuff. With an interface with more than 2 outputs, the process is way more straightforward. - The firmware version 1.12 had a bug where captures would turn out totally muffled and awful - put me totally off the software, but they fixed it now - ToneX unfortunately is not as accurate as NAM, but more accurate than Kemper and QC, at least in Null-Tests. All in all, I agree, that coming from your place when it comes to gear setup, this must have been a nightmare. For the "PC guitar player generation" however, the process appears much more logical. I had it figured out quite quickly. Not padding myself on the shoulder, simply giving a different perspective here. However, I also have to admit, that I was very active in the NAM Facebook group, where we shared our results in testing ReAmping etc.,.so that speeded up the pace of learning. Anyhow, thanks for you unbiased review and especially thanks for the laugh. The intro was hilarious and 100% true, although I am guilty of all the stuff you make fun of (O-Mouth-Thumbnails, Wiggly guitar dad vibratos and whatnot), but I take it in good spirit! 😎
Thanks so much for commenting. I can't wait to dig into that product. It's been such a busy week. Hopefully I will get time sometime in the next week or so. I appreciate the information you shared here.
Excellent comment. The internet needs more guys like you. AND I am going to check out your channel. Maybe you and Jarrod could do a collab video one day.
I recently watched your how to get great tone from prs mt15 as it is the only amp I have, I've been thinking the tonex would be cool to have, to at least experience some of the awesome high gains that are out there well beyond a mere mortal like myself and your honesty has made hit that subscribe button dude, I would be very interested in purchasing the amps you have behind you if I do, my neighbors won't be so amused though
Good honest review. I'm used to digifal recording. Capture was easy, and my default training takes less than 5 minutes. Plenty of mehh tones. Some incredible 3rd party proper captures. I didnt purchase because I cant put tonex pedals in front. I only use verb. I've had the software 5plus months. Awesome on PC. The hype is for grsat tones- when you find them- and great price.
Hey boss first time commenting but i dig the videos. I ordered a tonex yesterday. I probably wont be doing capturing bc I really only have a jcm800. I will check out some of your captures for my high gain stuff.
Thanks for commenting. Congratulations on the purchase. I'm really digging the tonax. The captures are coming out really good! This product is such a great idea because not everybody can afford a $2000 digital platform.
Glad to see this video. The sort of reaction there has been around the ToneX on the guitar RUclips community has been quite silly, and reading between the lines it's obvious IK Multimedia is pretty good at PR and promotion. It's not just free ToneX units they've sent them, it's also a bunch of other gadgets these RUclipsrs are now giving away amongst their audience. Myself, I've tried the software running it through my clean tube PA plugged into my cabs, and I'm not impressed - I'd much rather use my real amps. Or even the AxeFX or Cortex, given the tweakability, flexibility and effect chains these offer over the ToneX (albeit at a much higher price).
I fell for the RUclips marketing 🤦🏾♂️. I also shared the same first impressions, it took me 3 days to find a decent tone. I feel this will be like the kemper, as time passes and more people do captures we’ll find tones that we like. I don’t know what IK multimedia is smoking but their factory captures sound horrible, and don’t get me started on ampliturd 5, I haven’t been able to make that thing sound half decent. Still debating if I should return it.
Just got mine. I used the software and I didn’t like it. But then I put it through the loop of my old axe fx 2 and used the effects only. And wow. I can’t believe the feel. I hate playing through digital modelers. I just love tube amps. But this thing feels great playing through my pc monitors. I use the soldano, bogner, and plexi capture and they are amazing. The feel is so good. My next step is to turn off the cab and play it through my tube power amp and large pedalboard. And then capture my tube amps. I already own a reamp from dyire for $75. My 2 cents…
Interested in your thoughts on how it sounds through a tube Poweramp. I haven't received mine yet, but will be using it through the effects loop of my amp.
I know I am over stepping here but I plugged it straight in to a mixing board and fed it through 1000 watt Crown amp and every channel so far sounds amazing. I hav a DAW but it is not running. If you want to capture you have to buy the 150 box but that is the price you pay. Instead of a 4 I am going to give it an 11. DAW isa also not needed. You can just use Windows audio settings to route your signal. I will give it as 2 for not coming with the 150 box but some may not want to caprure so 400 for the tones to grab and go is a killer deal if you ask me. I have Line6 Digitech Digitech again and a pedal board. I run time based effects through my mixer. Mixer is tiny so I can bring he mixer, pedals and send an XLR tpo FOH and I am good. \m/ \m/
Thank you for this review, I was looking all over for the review that would MAKE ME want to replace my kemper and found out that I am still to this day happy with the kemper and have no desire to move over to a piece of gear that has very little competing value…even if it is cheaper. Now maybe if I have an extra $400 laying around one of these days I’ll give it a try 🤷♂️
Dude, love your candid review, .thinking about this, tbh, for my Band live, my 100W Katana does what I need, but thinking it would be cool to have captures of classic Amps like Fenders and Vox etc, million dollar question who's tones do you recommend?
we ALL owe something to IK Multimedia, in reality. It's because of competition that products and skills improve. As far as I know, they were the very first to develop amp modelling on computer, and their deals, in my view, are second to none, they give more high quality software than anybody when you buy their hardware, and their software, in my opinion, beats all the other in regard to killer value, for example jampoints. They aren't nothing. They just give you a lot, for less. I don't like everything they do, and like you, I am not impressed by most amp sims, some of them have the sound, but as you know nothing really feels like a good tube amp. But I can't fault IK for killer value. Thanks for your honest review, though.
Why you can capture overdrive but you cant send them into the toneX pedal ? Because you can use it in Tone X on your computer. And because IK have a series of pedals for delays, distortion,who allow you to transfer your preset from your PC. Youre right, it could be good to have the possibility of transfering overdrive into the Tone X pedal, but they sell similar products already! It's a commercial logic.
"I didn't even know I needed a DAW" but still ridicules the process of capturing the profiles. This says a lot about your modern technology competence.
If I didn’t already own the Helix, I would have gotten a QC. But since I have the Helix, I bought the Tonex pedal and I’m running it through the FX loop of Helix. Are all of your captures going to be high gain?
Thanks for commenting. I think you made a good choice. Running it through your helix is a great idea. I'll be doing cleans and mostly high gain stuff. I might be able to do some mid gain stuff as well if there's enough interest. The thing is, it takes so long to make a capture that it's hard to put a lot of variety out there without spending many hours doing it.
Hilarious, I felt this when the slo pedal came out. All these modelers and finding the “tone” gets pretty overwhelming. I always go back to putting my cord into the amp input and then I’m happy. Lol
Yeah that was ridiculous as well. I remember when that pedal came out, for like 3 days all I saw were SLO pedal demos. I had an opportunity to demo it but I didn't want to. It was just too much. Besides that, I'm not much of a amp in a Box guy.
Pretty much that. In the last 15 years I’ve been the whole merry go round of AxeFx, Kemper etc etc etc to come back to an amp and few pedals. The whole option paralysis crept in with me personally and just went back to one simple tone and now I play more. At home I use a Two Notes Live to rehearse or record.
I don't have pedals or amps anymore. I'm old, I don't want to lug gear around. I play covers in all different genres so I need to cover a wide range of tone. I'm confused about what to buy. I'm thing QC. Help?
I was into ToneX app before the hype pre-ordered and got a discount from IK so for about 75$ I could get my live Amp tone for free. Spent about 20 hours capturing on a M1 Mac but I didn't have to use my Daw(Logic). Just plugged a Scarlett 2i2 in by USB plug a guitar cable into the Scarlett plug a cable into the left output on the back then into a Boss(buffered) pedal for a reamp box(po guy trick) then into my Amp. Then set up mic plug it into the other input on the front of the Amp and capture. Took a few tries to get Amp eq right for good sounds at about 45 minutes per advanced capture though. Afterwards I was happy to share my basement tones for free but there's a few I wish I didn't upload. Sorry you had such a bad time of it I had never reamped so I think I didn't overthink it and got lucky. Liked your vid despite the criticism, your capture sounds great.
I plug into my amp and cab....still trying to figure out all the Sims and IRs, it's so much to take in because there's so many options available now. One thing I will say is that it's not hard to plug in, dial in YOUR tone and have fun
Jared, didn't you say on one of your videos that you had some squealing going on in the effects loop of one of your amps or in your switching system with the tone x ? what did you do to get around it. I plan on using this in the loop of my existing preamp /effects processor, utilizing a switching system and a stereo line mixer to take it in and out of the loop. I've had great results with other preamps in that loop. It allows me to use the built-in preamp in my head, and various other preamps called up via midi and route them all through effects.
Thanks for asking. The problem I had was when I was doing captures. I found out that the issue was that my interface need to be upgraded. I ended up getting the focusright and the problem went away.
I agreed with you about maybe the capture process, the more gear that one need to capture an amp and the fact that i.e. the QC - with the same quality - is a more complete full chain replacement with the onboard fxs. BUT this is talking about capturing. But if one don't have that wall of amps to capture thatyou have behind you... i think 300 bucks is a very good and a cheap (cheaper than the QC) way to thake some (good) captured amps and put the TONEX on the pedalboard.
Funny how you mentioned, would I sell this for that. I only see this competing with or replacing synergy modules. I recently sold my 2 Syn 2 racks and all my modules for the quad cortex. I even sold my axe fx 3. Now it's just quad cortex and h90. Less space and easy to lug around.
You made some good choices there. I honestly think modeling is on its way out. It'll be with us for a while because it'll be cheaper than the units that do profiling and capturing. I just think profiling and capturing sounds and feels much better than modeling.
I have to admit I found most high gain presets were crap, way too much spikey top end and flubby bottoms. But when I see the dudes on youtube demoing it, it sounds superb, I guess there setups are better I dont know.
Finally real unbiased no-BS review. Thank you. TONEX Pedal really made me re-evaluate the people I follow in the youtube guitar scene. I haven't tried the pedal, but I did trial the TONEX plugin on my PC as well as on the iPad and I had the same experience as you. All the ToneNET captures that I tried sounded like absolute shit. Like one of the worst sounds I've ever heard in any plugin. Most of them were also lacking gain big time and turning the knob didn't help much. As for the part about allowing the TONEX pedal to also have overdrives and other pedals along with the amp, I don't think they necessarily left it out because they f'd up. Instead it could just be that the TONEX pedal doesn't have enough horse power to run multiple captures or actual complex signal chains. The pedal is already quite affordable (400-500 EUR/USD) so obviously there has to be some tradeoffs. I wouldn't be suprised if they were already selling the pedal and the ecosystem at a loss. (= trying to aggressively undercut the competition).
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your insight. I'm glad I'm not the only one that had trouble with the captures that were in the app. They all sounded so bad lol. I can't believe people actually thought it was cool to upload those. I would be embarrassed if I made those and Uploaded them.
on my headphones, the QC capture compared with the Tonex was straight tiring to hear, so for me straight away the Tonex was better and more enjoyable to hear than QC.
Agree that the capture tiem is very long, I would do this only occasionaly, but is was not difficult at all. Plug and play for me. AND...you do NOT need a DAW at all.
I thought that one of the major major plusses with this thing is that you can load the captures into your Amplitude or whatever and change all your tones easily, after the fact, without having to reamp with the Kemper etc which is in itself a total PITA. So far, the only digital pedal system that has this capability is the Line 6 stuff, albeit without captures... Just their modelling stuff. I suppose most other companies don't want to cannibalize their hardware sales... With IK, their main focus is software anyway. In the end, I think that IK's angle is mainly a computer based system and the TONEX is just a way to make your captures portable. If you want delays and stuff, just stick a Strymon or whatever after it. Pedals? I still use my real overdrives over any digital solution. The real deals just sound better to me and preserve the same feel etc like when I use real amps, because at least the overdrive is interacting with my pickups the same exact way.
Awesome video bro. I thought all the tonex presets sounded like ass. But you captured some great tone and if everyone uploaded tones like yours it would be worth using tonex. 🎸🎶💥
The intro thing was funny. So true. Not just for this ToneX thing, but it seems like any new piece of gear that comes out these days, gets the same treatment. The hype-train is real. Way too many "gadgets" in the market now.
Great honest review. It seems too often that some feel compelled to give gear a favorable review, but the proof is really in the sound quality from it in your own environment.
I appreciate the time you took to go through everything and look at not just the positives, but also any kind of things that would trick people up. I just want to say based off the amps I’m looking at in the background there, I definitely would purchase every single one of those if you did captures of them. I know it would be a ton of work, but I think a lot of metal heads like myself, would appreciate it!
Thank you so much for commenting. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate the encouragement regarding capturing the amplifiers . It's going to be a huge task, but I think I should do it for you guys. The income would also help the channel as well.
@@TONEWARSgearshow any idea ballpark how much they’d each be?
I am on Jarrod like white on rice about doing captures of his amps. Jarrod mainly just "works out" and "washes cars" so he HAS PLENTY of time to do captures. And I need real Metal Amps that are captured properly. Bad captures for free on all the paid demos do nothing for me.
That’s was a great intro.edited best vid on the Tonex in a honest way. Well done
I've got one on preorder now and I would absolutely be interested in your captures. I can't think of any you tubers aside from maybe Ola, that has the high gain tonal quality of your channel. I can't afford to buy the high gain monsters you have, but I would definitely pay a reasonable price for a capture that is 90 percent there as far as matching the sound of the amp.
As someone who was part of the launch, yeah I had NO idea how many other people were involved as well (you usually don’t). And it was surprising to see.
A few things I’ll put here for anyone who is curious.
IMO if a company offers to pay you for a review and the product sucks, I think the etiquette is to politely decline. If you like it, or even just think it’s fine, just do your best to demonstrate it in a way that’s helpful and (hopefully) entertaining.
Lastly, I think people get way too hung up on the “does it sound better than x,y,x”. They all sound good. They’ll all work for your tech death demo that 15 people will hear. The real difference is the experience. Did you enjoy using it? Does it solve some workflow problem? Those are the things that I think are important with these products.
Sorry for the long comment, great intro. Very accurate 😂
I’m glad I watched this all the way through. Too many “polished” videos on RUclips to make a immediate purchase for a Tonex. Maybe later I’ll look at one. Tone Wars thank you for giving me what I needed to hear.. a honest review with an honest opinion. Saved me some $$ to spend on something else more needed.
The first 4 minutes was GLORIOUS. I couldn't smash the subscribe button sooner.
Thank you for your honesty. It makes me look around a little harder to shop around to get what I'm looking for.
Brutal sounding capture you made bro with the Tone X. Awesome stuff man!
Best. Intro. Ever... Hilarious man. Great review. Keeping the QC for sure. Loving the ToneWars Hi Watt captures that i bought from you. So good. Thanks
Thank you so much! I'm glad you loved the video and you are enjoying the captures. I really appreciate the support very much.
Dude you been cracking me up! I'm telling you should get into acting. The characters that you morph into are funny then shit. Best gear channel on the plane-t. Thanks for all you do A+
Thank you!! I'm glad you enjoy the channel!!
#truth
Excellent advice from a seasoned pro. I really appreciated your delivery i this one. I gave a future rig to look forward to & thanks to you I have a lot to think about.
The Quad Cortex capture always has that high fizzy noises I real hate, that’s why I went 100% ToneX
Not only quad cortex did sound fizzy in this demo..But it kind of make this weird choked sound.. Hard to explain
That first capture is mind blowing! Is this available anywhere?
Regards from the UK 👍
Listen, I’m going to start by saying I never offer critiques of these videos because the subject matter is entirely too subjective.
W/that said, here it comes… You made it painfully obvious you aren’t getting paid, the you then back peddled saying you weren’t being accusatory of other creators but that’s exactly what you did. Ok… I guess it’s just projection then. Sorry, not sorry…
It’s obvious to those that did, that maybe you didn’t do much homework before you jumped in to “deep” end of the intermediate pool. The recording process & procedures for obtaining a capture are simple, straightforward & easy. So easy a caveman could do it…. You had difficulty, that’s ok & I’m not ishing on that… that fact that you’re implying everyone is having or will have the same issue you had aren’t realistic & that all the captures you heard were ish. Yeah, not only do I not believe that, but that’s incoming you’re sending directly back to the other professionals who happen to also be creators & you piss on theirs too!? I’ve listened to a lot of these, and tone wise they might not be in your wheelhouse but there are some extremely dynamic captures out there not fitting into your narrow genre but certainly are more than gig-able on any pro stage.
Next issue is 100% pure criticism… over 20 minutes into a 33 minute video & still haven’t heard your idea of a good tone or capture. Finally @ 23:33 we get to hear the only good capture on Tonex 🤫
My summation is this… you missed the point of what this experience of Tonex is. Tonex, in my belief is geared toward those who want to play in the capture game (for the simplicity of downsizing, for example) but can’t afford or justify the price of what amounts to adding a boutique amp to your gear collection just for current capture technology hardware. Some, of said hardware may be slightly dated & a hell of a lot more cumbersome than Tonex, but you barely touched on these 3 incredibly important qualifiers which I suspect never came across to you, they are… sound & feel quality, simplicity of use (sorry) & price, because no matter how you cut it you’re still getting QC & Kemper capture quality (some will argue better) @ a fraction of the cost. That’s Tonex & that’s who Tonex is for.
My bonafides: 45yrs playing & 25 as a professional guitar tech.
I didn’t make it to 23:00. When he said “I don’t even own a DAW” I was done. This has to be the most one sided review I’ve seen to date…… maybe with the exception of Rolling Stone back in the day😳
Not sure if any other comments mentioned this yet, but it's actually your computer's graphics card (GPU) which affects how fast TONEX can create its models. Specifically, you need an Nvidia graphics card. This is because most of the neural network and AI research has leveraged the CUDA cores of Nvidia graphics cards to do the heavy lifting, and TONEX works the same way. I have an old gaming laptop from 2015 with an Nvidia GTX970M graphics card. It creates captures at "normal" settings start to finish in 15 minutes, and that's a very outdated GPU by modern standards.
Exactly this. I've been working in IT for 30+ years primarily in support type positions. Nvidia has dominated business graphics and I'm referring to such animals as AutoCAD and 3D CAD. That's where the money is and that's where the development has happened. It makes sense that they leveraged that technology because it's so ubiquitous.
I love all kinds of mics, but there is a reason the SM57 has been used on countless recordings over decades when studios had tons of options including ribbon mics such as the industry standard Royer 121 along with others. "Bigger" tone isn't always what you want in a mix or live - unless you are a bedroom player tone usually needs to fit in a confined specturm to work in the context of everything else. It is missleading to suggest an SM57 isn't good enough plenty of the best engineers have used it when far more expensive options were an arms reach away. And the setup is quite easy for anyone with any experience with re-amping. I do agree IKM didn't do the best job capturing their own amps (you will notice there is plenty of other stuff than SM57s in there) but there are 3rd party captures that sound outstanding.
😂 Loved the intro. The review as well :)
I buy one thing... then the next thing comes out.
But then I plug into my amps and I remember why I love to play.
I agree and I got it just a couple months ago and I hook it up through a tube return in the effects loop and use it on my pedal board. It's now been a year and they just now as of July 10th I believe it was on my birthday that fixed latency issues it has when trying to use it as live rig. It's working great now. I also know what you mean by many of the tones people load onto it. But now people are figuring out how to do it right and I have to say. Some of these captures, especially ODS Dumbles, Two Rock, PRS captures you can find on there now. HOLY SHIT! Some really bad ass tones!~ Many people are finally get clean tones down better with the volume levels as well that were so low!
I have to say, I am more than happy with it now.
Incredible, and yet pretty accurate intro!! That made my morning Tone Wars, thank you!
Gotta love unbiased reviews. Thanks for that.
I appreciate your honesty in all your reviews to start. I do not own one amp other than a quad cortex so I am really in Mercy other people's captures to find my tone that I could work with as far as heavy tones you're the king my man the song freaking awesome I was going to buy tone x but I am glad I watched your video you made a lot of sense. by the way if you have any good chapters for the QC send me a link and I would like to purchase your captures keep up the good work my man I know you're a busy man but it would be nice to see more reviews on your Channel
.
I think the pedal is designed for a modern pedal board set up(into front of house or a frfr cab). Goes great into the loop in of a HX Stomp for midi patch controls or the middle of a pedalboard set up. Not a replacement for a Kemper Stage or a Quad QC but a less expensive option to add realistic Amp tones for consistent sound over and over on gigs. Could gig with just it if you don't use FX other than the built in reverb.
Realistic sound?Hm...
Yeah I wouldn't say this is a replacement for an all-in-one modeler rig. But if you already have an existing modeler like a Fractal or Helix, or any kind of multi-FX or even already have a full FX chain and want something for amp/tone captures, this is great.
its for people who cant afford a real amp.
You didn't hold back man and it is refreshing to hear the truth and not a sales pitch!
Time to make ToneWars RawSewage 100W signature amp
That would be awesome!
I have a basic question. Is a “capture” a snapshot of an amp at a given setting? So it is not an amp model really, but a slice of the bigger model? Have I got the right clue so far?
My first impressions of the pedal presets were the same. But your tones make me wanna rock this damn learning curve!
Thanks for the honesty, i'm having the same experience with the GX100 as far as the presets go and thinking of sending it back every other day.
This is my kind of review!! Would've like to have heard what you heard in the other captures that tipped you off that they were captured wrong...
Nice review! I recently picked up the Tonex and matched it with a Helix Effects to handle what I need. I was originally trying to swing for a QC, but that was still a ways out of my budget. Since I won't be making any captures, I think this will do for me everything I need. I hope you do end up keeping the pedal and making some quality captures.
Jarrod's statement of "There are no great captures to use on the Tonex" will be null and void when he creates his captures.... :-)
I had the same thought. How's that working out with your HX Effect? Are you placing the Tonex in HX Effects effect loop?
@@MotownGuitarJoe I have run the ToneX both ways: One going direct into the HX, and the other using the HX's Effects Loop. If you're using the HX's Dirt pedal models, you'll want to place the ToneX in the Effects Loop - but, if you have any dirt pedals you can simply hit the front of it and out to the HX. The issue of using the Effects Loop is that you essentially use up 2 of the 9 blocks in the HX for the Loop. Not a problem either way. I have a Fuzz, an OD and a Dist pedal, but still run everything through the loop.
Totally honest as usual! Thank you
I downloaded some captures from The Studio Rats and they sound awesome, but admittedly they are more clean and low gain tones. I don’t play as much high gain or metal stuff, so that may be why I am so much happier with mine. Plus it’s 1/5th the price of the Quad Cortex and Kemper.
Glad you found some good captures. I'm working on some high gain stuff soon.
Nice views given here - I’ve picked one of these up on the Black Friday deals, so just starting to explore what I can get out of it. My intention is pretty much as you suggested - an easy to travel with way to get some (hopefully) decent tones without lugging a bunch of gear around. You’ve a new sub brother, keep ‘em coming ;)
As funny as the intro was, this was the most thorough, thought out and RAW video about the tonex and I appreciate that
You can’t judge this unit by it’s presets.…. The presets are made by other people according to their subjective taste to capture THEIR TONE. The whole point of this unit to to capture YOUR TONE and to be able to take it anywhere anytime. The reason for everyone’s excitement is that you can do that without paying $2,000 for a Quad Cortex or Kemper and it’s small enough to integrate into a pedal board.
If you have to buy an additional box to make your captures, buy a very expensive microphone and buy quality multieffects to go with your Tonex, not to mention that you can't capture your pedal sounds at the same time and put in your amp sounds!
What's the advantage in the end?
The issue is that IK typically has default tones that sound like rubbish.
@K G I've owned and played many physical devices such as Line 6 POD and Vox ToneLab SE Etc as well as played dozens of software amplifier sims including from UAD, AmpliTube, Guitar Rig... I can safely tell you that in 75% or more of the cases the default tones sucked balls. I have no idea why this is but it's just the way things are. I can't imagine that the taste of the people that work at these companies is that bad so it must have something to do with personal preference. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, you can't measure the quality of any physical or software Audio guitar amplifier product by the default sounds. You have to judge it by how easily you can tweak it and get it to the sounds that you really like and that those sounds are high enough quality that it merits the price point.
@@Joe-mz6dc yea preset tones are horseshit idk how or why
This is only theoretically true, but not in practice. Beauty is also subjective, but 90-95% of the people prefer the same thing, food is subjective but everyone loves pizza etc. Same with sound. People know what a good metal/5150/JCM800/plexi/etc tone is although there may be slight variations. Tone Wars calls this out because he is used to QC and other platforms where 20-30% of the sounds are ok-ish, 10-20% are unsable and rest are more or less awesome. With Tonex and more specifically ToneNET the issue is that 90% are unusable in any context and there is only handful of good tones which usually come from top influencers like Ola Englund.
Also let's be real. Most people are not gonna capture anything with these. They buy these so that they don't have to buy amps, cabs, pedals etc. and so that they can access collection of gear worth of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Also the people who want to capture their setup with these surely also want to access cloud and get access to that "unlimited" selection of gear.
I truly like your page, style & appreciate your honest thoughts. The tones you go for & get, are really awesome! A++ on the playing as well. Peace! X-Mann 👊🏻❌🤘🏼
Huge thank you for having the balls to being honest! All these super duper positive game changing "reviews" are ridiculous
My pleasure! Thanks so much for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
The ToneX is a good product, but it's not without its quirks.
The captures are great but not easy to do
I like the honesty! Way I see it is that no computer can perfectly capture something, you have to realize though, that to the untrained ear, there will be no difference. Another awesome thing about it is that you can use stereo, whereas you may need two of the same amp if you were to do it the old fashioned way. The other pull is that it doesn't take two trips, several men, and sometimes 100+ LBS of lifting, personally I DREAD the process of taking stuff down after gigs and whatnot.
I think part of your struggle with the capture process has to do with your familiarity with routing in your digital interface. I already use external effects in my DAW and do reamping. I just turn an old DI box around 🤷🏻♂️. It was $30 it works great. I think this caters most to people who already do home recording. It took me 3 hours from when it arrived from fedex to set up mics and figure out the routing, exporting to the pedal, and also configuring my midi controller to tell it what presets to use. All three channels on my TC50 now on the pedal. That includes processing time.
With that said if you have no interest in studio recording either via digital or analog I’d say don’t bother because I’m pretty sure it’s only as good as the captures you can personally make. You might strike gold with a preset in the libraries but, it’s kind of a craps shoot imo because they’re a snapshot of an amp with the knobs fixed in place. So even if they did a great job it’s still set up for someone else’s ears and guitars.
I did mine with a Royer and a Lewitt condenser and didn’t even spend a lot of time placing the mics cause I just wanted to get the ball rolling and it turned out great. I half expected it to be kinda meh between not getting tedious with my mics and using the fastest capture method.
I think over time I’m gonna dig into really getting that right and just improve upon my captures as I go. I read from someone else that the longer method is like 15 minutes on their computer and I have a newer gaming laptop so processing speed is there 😂😂.
I’m still a little confused as to what you did that your amp switcher threw a wrench into the whole thing. I’m actually just curious as to how that made it a whole thing. Seems like it wouldn’t be an issue.
At any rate I’m really happy with it but, I can easily see how people would be turned off by it.
... so what is optimal when making captures? ... 1) using the Tonex Capture hardware. 2) using an Axe I/O interface that has reamp function. 3) using a DI box, as you mentioned. Pros/cons of each ?
@@willgo7898 I really couldn’t tell ya what’s best there. I did pick up an x-amp reamp box from radial. I’m hoping it’s better but, the captures I have on the method I mentioned came out really good. After doing more research I kinda learned some of the differences and decided an actual reamp box might give better results.
At any rate comparing and contrasting those things. Pros/Cons etc. having only used it one way I couldn’t say. I am looking forward to spending more time really trying to get it right. I mean I threw a condenser and ribbon in front of the amps in approximately where I’ve come to know that I like those mics and just went for it with the amp in the same room so I didn’t really get to nitpick my placement cause monitoring was near impossible 😂😂. As far as getting started though it was pretty easy. I was just saying if I hadn’t already messed with routing post effects in my digital interface I woulda been lost trying to get started.
In the course of writing this I realized for most people using the IK branded stuff might be the best route if you don’t already have the stuff to do it. I’d imagine it’s a quicker route to configure it.
The best ToneX video so far - you simply nailed it! Love the intro 😂 To me it's kind of a Kemper with less features for less money - the next generation of a ToneX device could be more interesting for me.
Please do captures of the Mark VII, thanks
I love your honest tongue in cheek review! I recently bought the pedal and went through a ton of captures on tonenet and I couldn't find a decent high-gain amp tone that I liked. They all sounded like crap! I've been playing a Kemper for several years now and as much as I enjoy playing it, I wanted to make a small pedalboard and hook it up to a HX stomp xl that I have for a grab and go. Sorry to that making captures is such a pain in the ass, but if you decide to make them I would buy them cause they sound awesome!
Thank you so much for commenting and for the kind words. I really appreciate it. I was blown away as well at how many worthless, disgusting, garbage captures there were in the app. It was so bad.
I've decided to start making captures for you guys very soon. I just need to carve out some time to get it done. Stay tuned to the channel and I'll be announcing it when I make them for you guys.
@@TONEWARSgearshow That's great news! I'll keep an eye out for them. TIA!
@@TONEWARSgearshow Hey there - did you do the captures by now? And where can i find them? Tonenet? Best regards
I think you can do drive pedals all 3 ways. Pedal stand alone, pedal and amp (can’t be separated post capture), or pedal,amp,& cab with a switchable cab.
you don't need a DAW, I did all my captures standalone.
You actually can't capture stuff in a DAW with it. The capture mode is only available in standalone mode (which makes sense since you'd use it in a DAW after having captures be ready to use).
I think what would've made this vid more useful as a ratings tool would've been for you to have 1) documented the capturing process, and 2) A/B'd the failed capturing attempt with the one you eventually got.
Also, I thought the Quad Cortex sounded better than the ToneX, which sounded a little muffled/less defined in comparison.
Documenting the capturing process would have been an absolute nightmare to do. It literally took me days to get it all plugged in correctly and figured out. I would have needed to hire a film crew to document all that.
@@TONEWARSgearshow That would've been the point. Still, it's pretty refreshing to see someone actually give their honest opinion on a new piece of gear rather than the all too familiar soft sell.
@@TONEWARSgearshow Breakfast, lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch.....gets expensive for film crews... ;-)
@@TheChicagoTodd Yes it does. It's expensive enough just to feed me.
Intro was the best thing in months! Hahaha
I am enjoying mine, but I also play far more than just metal. I also like using petals in front of modelers. Maybe that’s counterproductive to their purpose, but it allows me to use the modeling just for an amplifier and control time in the same I would on my own amplifier. I really enjoy defender clean tones on the Tonex pedal.
Awesome review! Thank you
"Sorry not sorry" your beginning was only missing, at bare minimum, a single nipple tweak(a double nipple tweak woulda been serious "spritzer")but THIS is why I am your biggest fan!!! Your unbiased, real reviews, and demo's - have seriously added to the best gear I've ever owned (i.e. Friedman Powered Cabs, Synergy, Kemper, etc) you are the REAL deal. I've been asked about this device and given my Kemper and FM9 - I can absolutely say there's no GAS for this device. The ONLY piece of gear that still fans my perpetual GAS flame, that's never satisfied - merely pacified for week or two - is the Quad Cortex. That's only because YOU make captures! Which is why I still love my Kemper..... Keep doing the good stuff!!!!!!!🤘😁🤘
Between the Fractal FM9 and Kemper Stage I am good on guitar tones. If you didn't already have something then Tonex is an option to consider.
Imma get it anyway.. I gotta have all the tones!
I subscribed on the strength of the sarcastic intro alone. 🤣
Dude thank you. I’m still on the fence. I got back into guitar and just rely on a computer and amplitube. Someone asked to jam , and I started eyeballing this. Your words on modeling vs capture even opened my eyes to something I didn’t realize in front of my face. And it’s good to know there will be sifting to find the right “thing” on this device and that there’s paid to creator captures as well.
Thanks for commenting, I'm glad this video helped you out.
After spending more time with this unit and upgrading my computer and interface, everything is working much easier and faster for me now
In fact, as I sit here typing this, I'm doing captures of my Engl Savage MKII, and they are coming out amazing
You are right. Sometimes its best to be honest when you're literally inept at thoroughly evaluating a product. Im sure you'd appreciate someone doing a half ass eval of your hard work as long as they too were honest :)
Well done for delivering a no nonsense review, thanks.
Thankyou for an unbiased review and explaining the captures and your out-of-the-box experiences. While I am a computer game programmer and understand that technology, I have no idea how to hook up guitar tech to an interface/DAW, so, this made it clear that this product is *NOT* for me. Thankyou from preventing me making a huge mistake.
Now go check out NAM! :-) I have a video on that with an O-FACE THUMBNAIL and I put it to the test against ToneX ;-)
Looking forward to your Tonex captures when they become available.
Like your review, honest with full useful information.
Thank you!
Watched now the video in it's entirety - a few notes here:
- You can actually run a captured pedal. You simply have to decide if you either take a pedal capture or an amp capture. What you can do is saving one capture of the amp alone, on with the amp+pedal and then use the switches to switch
- it seems like you have a small interface with only two inputs/two outputs. If that's the case, yes you have to run this through a DAW to route it properly. I got a video on the subject on my channel for the ones watching this that are interested in this stuff. With an interface with more than 2 outputs, the process is way more straightforward.
- The firmware version 1.12 had a bug where captures would turn out totally muffled and awful - put me totally off the software, but they fixed it now
- ToneX unfortunately is not as accurate as NAM, but more accurate than Kemper and QC, at least in Null-Tests.
All in all, I agree, that coming from your place when it comes to gear setup, this must have been a nightmare. For the "PC guitar player generation" however, the process appears much more logical. I had it figured out quite quickly. Not padding myself on the shoulder, simply giving a different perspective here. However, I also have to admit, that I was very active in the NAM Facebook group, where we shared our results in testing ReAmping etc.,.so that speeded up the pace of learning.
Anyhow, thanks for you unbiased review and especially thanks for the laugh. The intro was hilarious and 100% true, although I am guilty of all the stuff you make fun of (O-Mouth-Thumbnails, Wiggly guitar dad vibratos and whatnot), but I take it in good spirit! 😎
Thanks so much for commenting. I can't wait to dig into that product. It's been such a busy week. Hopefully I will get time sometime in the next week or so.
I appreciate the information you shared here.
Ahhhh the DAW requirement makes sense now. I have the Axe I/O interface and it has the amp out jack so that portion is covered.
Excellent comment. The internet needs more guys like you. AND I am going to check out your channel. Maybe you and Jarrod could do a collab video one day.
Thanks for your truthful perspective.
Thank you man. I took the dive and went thru the same thing. 👍🎸
I listened to the captures in 4 headphone , PC monitors and random speaker and I didn't heard a diference. And btw, nice vids dude, as always 🤘🤘🤘🤘
I recently watched your how to get great tone from prs mt15 as it is the only amp I have, I've been thinking the tonex would be cool to have, to at least experience some of the awesome high gains that are out there well beyond a mere mortal like myself and your honesty has made hit that subscribe button dude, I would be very interested in purchasing the amps you have behind you if I do, my neighbors won't be so amused though
Thanks for commenting. I really appreciate it.
I will be releasing tonex captures very soon. That product is really impressing me lately.
Good honest review. I'm used to digifal recording. Capture was easy, and my default training takes less than 5 minutes.
Plenty of mehh tones. Some incredible 3rd party proper captures. I didnt purchase because I cant put tonex pedals in front. I only use verb. I've had the software 5plus months. Awesome on PC. The hype is for grsat tones- when you find them- and great price.
Hey boss first time commenting but i dig the videos. I ordered a tonex yesterday. I probably wont be doing capturing bc I really only have a jcm800. I will check out some of your captures for my high gain stuff.
Thanks for commenting. Congratulations on the purchase.
I'm really digging the tonax. The captures are coming out really good! This product is such a great idea because not everybody can afford a $2000 digital platform.
Glad to see this video. The sort of reaction there has been around the ToneX on the guitar RUclips community has been quite silly, and reading between the lines it's obvious IK Multimedia is pretty good at PR and promotion. It's not just free ToneX units they've sent them, it's also a bunch of other gadgets these RUclipsrs are now giving away amongst their audience.
Myself, I've tried the software running it through my clean tube PA plugged into my cabs, and I'm not impressed - I'd much rather use my real amps. Or even the AxeFX or Cortex, given the tweakability, flexibility and effect chains these offer over the ToneX (albeit at a much higher price).
I fell for the RUclips marketing 🤦🏾♂️. I also shared the same first impressions, it took me 3 days to find a decent tone. I feel this will be like the kemper, as time passes and more people do captures we’ll find tones that we like. I don’t know what IK multimedia is smoking but their factory captures sound horrible, and don’t get me started on ampliturd 5, I haven’t been able to make that thing sound half decent. Still debating if I should return it.
This was a very good video 👊🏼
I made a bonfire with all my amps in the backyard as soon as I saw the thumbnail, so this thing better be good.
Good review. Thanks.
Just got mine. I used the software and I didn’t like it. But then I put it through the loop of my old axe fx 2 and used the effects only. And wow. I can’t believe the feel. I hate playing through digital modelers. I just love tube amps. But this thing feels great playing through my pc monitors. I use the soldano, bogner, and plexi capture and they are amazing. The feel is so good. My next step is to turn off the cab and play it through my tube power amp and large pedalboard. And then capture my tube amps. I already own a reamp from dyire for $75. My 2 cents…
Interested in your thoughts on how it sounds through a tube Poweramp. I haven't received mine yet, but will be using it through the effects loop of my amp.
I know I am over stepping here but I plugged it straight in to a mixing board and fed it through 1000 watt Crown amp and every channel so far sounds amazing. I hav a DAW but it is not running. If you want to capture you have to buy the 150 box but that is the price you pay. Instead of a 4 I am going to give it an 11. DAW isa also not needed. You can just use Windows audio settings to route your signal. I will give it as 2 for not coming with the 150 box but some may not want to caprure so 400 for the tones to grab and go is a killer deal if you ask me. I have Line6 Digitech Digitech again and a pedal board. I run time based effects through my mixer. Mixer is tiny so I can bring he mixer, pedals and send an XLR tpo FOH and I am good.
\m/ \m/
Thank you for this review, I was looking all over for the review that would MAKE ME want to replace my kemper and found out that I am still to this day happy with the kemper and have no desire to move over to a piece of gear that has very little competing value…even if it is cheaper.
Now maybe if I have an extra $400 laying around one of these days I’ll give it a try 🤷♂️
Hell I'm just sitting back waiting on a tonex capture of the stealth !!!!😍😍
It's coming soon
@@TONEWARSgearshow bout the time I posted this I saw your red channel demo...shat myself lol
Dude, love your candid review, .thinking about this, tbh, for my Band live, my 100W Katana does what I need, but thinking it would be cool to have captures of classic Amps like Fenders and Vox etc, million dollar question who's tones do you recommend?
we ALL owe something to IK Multimedia, in reality. It's because of competition that products and skills improve. As far as I know, they were the very first to develop amp modelling on computer, and their deals, in my view, are second to none, they give more high quality software than anybody when you buy their hardware, and their software, in my opinion, beats all the other in regard to killer value, for example jampoints. They aren't nothing. They just give you a lot, for less. I don't like everything they do, and like you, I am not impressed by most amp sims, some of them have the sound, but as you know nothing really feels like a good tube amp. But I can't fault IK for killer value. Thanks for your honest review, though.
I agree with your review 100%... I am still hoping that you will make some high end captures for the ToneX
Why you can capture overdrive but you cant send them into the toneX pedal ? Because you can use it in Tone X on your computer. And because IK have a series of pedals for delays, distortion,who allow you to transfer your preset from your PC. Youre right, it could be good to have the possibility of transfering overdrive into the Tone X pedal, but they sell similar products already! It's a commercial logic.
"I didn't even know I needed a DAW" but still ridicules the process of capturing the profiles. This says a lot about your modern technology competence.
If I didn’t already own the Helix, I would have gotten a QC. But since I have the Helix, I bought the Tonex pedal and I’m running it through the FX loop of Helix. Are all of your captures going to be high gain?
Thanks for commenting. I think you made a good choice. Running it through your helix is a great idea.
I'll be doing cleans and mostly high gain stuff. I might be able to do some mid gain stuff as well if there's enough interest. The thing is, it takes so long to make a capture that it's hard to put a lot of variety out there without spending many hours doing it.
You had me at the "O face" montage.
Hilarious, I felt this when the slo pedal came out. All these modelers and finding the “tone” gets pretty overwhelming. I always go back to putting my cord into the amp input and then I’m happy. Lol
Yeah that was ridiculous as well. I remember when that pedal came out, for like 3 days all I saw were SLO pedal demos.
I had an opportunity to demo it but I didn't want to. It was just too much. Besides that, I'm not much of a amp in a Box guy.
Pretty much that. In the last 15 years I’ve been the whole merry go round of AxeFx, Kemper etc etc etc to come back to an amp and few pedals. The whole option paralysis crept in with me personally and just went back to one simple tone and now I play more. At home I use a Two Notes Live to rehearse or record.
Great review
I don't have pedals or amps anymore. I'm old, I don't want to lug gear around. I play covers in all different genres so I need to cover a wide range of tone. I'm confused about what to buy. I'm thing QC. Help?
I was into ToneX app before the hype pre-ordered and got a discount from IK so for about 75$ I could get my live Amp tone for free. Spent about 20 hours capturing on a M1 Mac but I didn't have to use my Daw(Logic). Just plugged a Scarlett 2i2 in by USB plug a guitar cable into the Scarlett plug a cable into the left output on the back then into a Boss(buffered) pedal for a reamp box(po guy trick) then into my Amp. Then set up mic plug it into the other input on the front of the Amp and capture. Took a few tries to get Amp eq right for good sounds at about 45 minutes per advanced capture though. Afterwards I was happy to share my basement tones for free but there's a few I wish I didn't upload. Sorry you had such a bad time of it I had never reamped so I think I didn't overthink it and got lucky. Liked your vid despite the criticism, your capture sounds great.
I plug into my amp and cab....still trying to figure out all the Sims and IRs, it's so much to take in because there's so many options available now.
One thing I will say is that it's not hard to plug in, dial in YOUR tone and have fun
Jared, didn't you say on one of your videos that you had some squealing going on in the effects loop of one of your amps or in your switching system with the tone x ? what did you do to get around it. I plan on using this in the loop of my existing preamp /effects processor, utilizing a switching system and a stereo line mixer to take it in and out of the loop. I've had great results with other preamps in that loop. It allows me to use the built-in preamp in my head, and various other preamps called up via midi and route them all through effects.
Thanks for asking. The problem I had was when I was doing captures. I found out that the issue was that my interface need to be upgraded. I ended up getting the focusright and the problem went away.
I agreed with you about maybe the capture process, the more gear that one need to capture an amp and the fact that i.e. the QC - with the same quality - is a more complete full chain replacement with the onboard fxs.
BUT this is talking about capturing.
But if one don't have that wall of amps to capture thatyou have behind you... i think 300 bucks is a very good and a cheap (cheaper than the QC) way to thake some (good) captured amps and put the TONEX on the pedalboard.
What are these DVD players and Blu ray players you speak of?
Funny how you mentioned, would I sell this for that. I only see this competing with or replacing synergy modules. I recently sold my 2 Syn 2 racks and all my modules for the quad cortex. I even sold my axe fx 3. Now it's just quad cortex and h90. Less space and easy to lug around.
You made some good choices there. I honestly think modeling is on its way out. It'll be with us for a while because it'll be cheaper than the units that do profiling and capturing. I just think profiling and capturing sounds and feels much better than modeling.
What am I missing with the pedal capture? Maybe I'm not understanding. I have just pedal captures in mine
I have to admit I found most high gain presets were crap, way too much spikey top end and flubby bottoms. But when I see the dudes on youtube demoing it, it sounds superb, I guess there setups are better I dont know.
The free ones are all not very good as far as I've seen. The 3rd party paid ones are really good. The ones I'm doing are coming out fantastic.
So funny, keep em coming guitar pimp !!!!
Finally real unbiased no-BS review. Thank you. TONEX Pedal really made me re-evaluate the people I follow in the youtube guitar scene.
I haven't tried the pedal, but I did trial the TONEX plugin on my PC as well as on the iPad and I had the same experience as you. All the ToneNET captures that I tried sounded like absolute shit. Like one of the worst sounds I've ever heard in any plugin. Most of them were also lacking gain big time and turning the knob didn't help much.
As for the part about allowing the TONEX pedal to also have overdrives and other pedals along with the amp, I don't think they necessarily left it out because they f'd up. Instead it could just be that the TONEX pedal doesn't have enough horse power to run multiple captures or actual complex signal chains. The pedal is already quite affordable (400-500 EUR/USD) so obviously there has to be some tradeoffs. I wouldn't be suprised if they were already selling the pedal and the ecosystem at a loss. (= trying to aggressively undercut the competition).
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your insight. I'm glad I'm not the only one that had trouble with the captures that were in the app. They all sounded so bad lol. I can't believe people actually thought it was cool to upload those. I would be embarrassed if I made those and Uploaded them.
This was me 100 percent. The captures were abysmal. Man do people have bad tone
on my headphones, the QC capture compared with the Tonex was straight tiring to hear, so for me straight away the Tonex was better and more enjoyable to hear than QC.
Hi , I purchased my Tonex in the US. Can I use it at Dubai where they have a different voltage with the same adapt
Good question, I would definitely reach out to ik multimedia with that one. Sorry, I do not know the answer to that
@@TONEWARSgearshow Good news! It does work with different voltages . Just needs a plug adapter to fit well into the plug socket .
Agree that the capture tiem is very long, I would do this only occasionaly, but is was not difficult at all. Plug and play for me. AND...you do NOT need a DAW at all.
Man tonex , qc or kemper you feel is more accurate ?
I thought that one of the major major plusses with this thing is that you can load the captures into your Amplitude or whatever and change all your tones easily, after the fact, without having to reamp with the Kemper etc which is in itself a total PITA.
So far, the only digital pedal system that has this capability is the Line 6 stuff, albeit without captures... Just their modelling stuff.
I suppose most other companies don't want to cannibalize their hardware sales... With IK, their main focus is software anyway.
In the end, I think that IK's angle is mainly a computer based system and the TONEX is just a way to make your captures portable. If you want delays and stuff, just stick a Strymon or whatever after it. Pedals? I still use my real overdrives over any digital solution. The real deals just sound better to me and preserve the same feel etc like when I use real amps, because at least the overdrive is interacting with my pickups the same exact way.
Awesome video bro. I thought all the tonex presets sounded like ass. But you captured some great tone and if everyone uploaded tones like yours it would be worth using tonex. 🎸🎶💥
Thank you so much. I will be working on capturing some good tones for everybody so that they can enjoy the unit more.