Amazing video. Very thorough and exactly what I was looking for. I do still have a question, though. Is there a delay when selecting midi presets? For example, say I'm using the Chime amp during a verse and the Round amp for a chorus, will the change be instant or will the sound drop for a split second? Thanks again, great work!
Instant changes between presets… I added a Strymon 3 way multi switch to access more tones from the pedal. So now I have a Vox clean an dirty channel, a Fender clean, and a distorted Marshall tone and clean Marshall tone. The Iridium is the 💣! Great for recording. I haven’t done direct to FOH yet.
Awesome!!!! I did learn one new thing from your video. The ability to use it with the amp bypassing The Amp/Cab Sim. Yeah the instructions says don’t use with amp but I knew there had to be a way. I still love my tube amps but on a fly date the Iridium has been a game changer! Thank you and we need more videos on the Strymon Iridium this 2021!
great review, I agree, this is the best review out there. You explain every function, and every sound, make it simple straightforward and concise. Thank you so much!
Just “WOW” guys. This was fantastic! Especially when you added the Julia chorus. I’m not a huge chorus fan, but that sounded mega. I have the Iridium and although I was familiar with the features, your presentation of this was great and the playing was awesome and gave me some ideas to adjust my setup. Plus, was really glad to see you were Lititz, PA. I was born in Lancaster, and grew up there, but live in Memphis now. Next time I get back to PA, I’ll come and visit. Thanks so much!
This video makes me want to get one now! Any one know any forums or videos that can do an in depth explanation on how to the MIDI and Stereo/IR example he showed? I’d love to try those features
Correct. Anything after the Iridium will act as if its in an amps effects loop. Also, don't worry about sending the Iridium's cabinet simulation into your delays and reverbs. They dont care if its before or after and sounds great!
No, when you use both preamp and cab sim it’s like adding effects after the whole amp - like Eric Johnson used to do or like you would do in a recording
The problem with having the Iridium before your pedals is that you then can't use it in stereo which is why I use it last in my chain. Also having pedals before seems logical because if you're equating the Iridium as being the "amp substitute", that's the way you have it if you were going into an actual amp.
I run 3 stereo pedals after my Iridium then straight into my interface and really prefer my recording tones this way rather than at the end of the chain.
Not sure I understand your concern. It has stereo in and out as well as mono, so any combination is possible. I like to think about it like a traditional amp/cabinet recording chain, with volume, wah, overdives and fuzz, and some modulation in mono before the Iridium (even delay if you like that straight-into-the-amp sound), then delay and reverb after the pedal, preferably in stereo, the way I would add them separately at mix down. I use at least one multi effects device like the H9 after the pedal to allow stereo modulation as well as verb and/or delay after the amp if you want it also.
Great video! Do you a tutorial on how to add the presets to the Selah Quartz. I'm trying but am kind of stuck. I can send messages from the quartz to the iridium but seems like I'm not doing it correctly. thank you!
Excellent Iridium review, but what I’m REALLY digging is that book on ‘Astral Destiny’. Otherwise, I wonder how it would take my LPD Eighty7 (JCM800 in a box)?
Ive had one of these for a year and its only been out the box three times. So I plugged it into my scarlett 2I2 interface with direct monitoring ON, and the volume is so low compared with every other bit of audio that I was playing on my laptop I found it unusable... what am I doing wrong? Playing along to a spotify track for example, even with everything maxed out I have to put the spotify volume down to like 10% to be able to play along. Is it because I am expecting to hear this thing through the direct monitoring? If I was to play with a band and plug this into a PA is it really loud enough?
If you're playing directly from the Iridium to the interface, first make sure the input of your interface is set to instrument, or Hi-Z. If you were actually intending to record your Iridium, you'd ideally want to have it peaking at -12 dB or so for optimal headroom down the line. The main difference is finished tracks are mastered to be extremely loud vs a direct signal of a single guitar pedal with no mix bus limiting whatsoever. Perhaps try adding a limiter or bus compressor to your master output within your DAW to get it closer to full recordings.
@@ToneTailors thanks! Yeah I have the iridium set to instrument level, and also the interface. But I was trying to use the iridium through the Scarlett’s “direct monitor” function, and then was wondering why the volume was so low compared to recorded audio on the laptop. But if I play the iridium through a DAW, even not for recording juts to practice, I have much better control over the volume and can actually use it to play along with Spotify. Cheers!
So need help I set my crunch settings hold down fav button it blinks green then stops, then when I change the settings to chime clean etc.. I step on fav button to engage my crunch settings but nothing happens what am I doing wrong???
Is it better to run your iridium straight into your audio interface? Or is it better to go stereo out from the iridium to a pinstripe line isolator and XLR out into the audio interface?
Either will be fine, but using a line isolator will give you the right impedence to use as an XLR input and possibly more headroom before hitting your preamps, which can mean a lower noise floor.
Tast playing and on point information man thank you! İ really wonder for example if in in round mode and i save favorite preset in chime amp. Does it move to chime from round when i press the fav? Thank you
I believe it does as the pedal stores presets using MIDI data. The position of each dial, switch and alt setting is recorded when you save a preset and those parameters are instantly recalled when you hit the Fav button. Hitting the button again would go back to the manual settings on the pedal.
If you're going to bypass the cab only, id throw it in your fx loop so you bypass the amps preamp too. then set the amps tone controls in the middle and set the gain to a point where it's not adding crunch
True - but i have mine before my time based fx (comp-drives-volume-boost-Iridium-Timeline-reverb) and then I go from 1/4" to XLR after the reverb, XLR goes to FoH. Constantly getting compliments on tone, no issues so far
You can bypass the cab sim. You can run it in front of an amp, but preamp on preamp isn't going to sound the best. Running it into the fx return will give better results.
Great video! How do you connect to your audio interface? Through line inputs or instrument inputs? There are dozens of Iridium videos on youtube, but none explains this :/
When you played the Iridium through the tonemaster, did you just plug it into the front or into the effects return? It looks like you just plugged it into the front. Strymon's website says this is "not really recommended" (whatever that means), but it sounded great to me!
Yeah we plugged straight into the front! Recording is all about experimentation. In theory, it’s weird to be running a vox into a fender, but we thought it sounded cool!
I tried this out today, loved it. Worked great with headphones, however, if adding effects (like a DIG and Flint), how can I pick up those in the phones as well? The guy at the store tried to help, but couldn't make that fly. Thanks PS: Great demo!
You can’t. If you use the headphone jack on iridium you’ll only hear the iridium and whatever is before it in the signal chain. It’s simply a matter of signal flow. If you want to use headphones and have your wet effects after iridium, you’ll have to hook your pedalboard to your computer and use the headphone output on your recording interface or possibly your monitors if they have a headphone output. I hope this info helps.
@@thedude3364 This does help and makes sense. I did look into reversing the order by putting the Iridium last, but that negatively impacts the sound. I plan to use my recording interface. Thanks for the response.
Wayne Blake Good deal. That’s the one thing strymon overlooked IMO. An effects loop. That’s what an effects loop does. It places your time based effects after the preamp section in your amp. The preamp is what creates gain/ distortion. Having time based effects(such as reverb and delays) before your gain stage can get weird, especially with a lot of gain. That’s why we put drive pedals before delay and reverb pedals in our boards. Sorry if if said a bunch of stuff you already knew! Take care!
I purchased the Iridium and sent it back. Skip the Iridium and buy the RevivalDrive HotRod edition. It's 10x the device the Iridium is and sounds 10x better, and even though it's called a "Drive" it's actually amp circuitry in a pedal form factor. It sounds soooo good and can be tweaked as much as you like. Seriously, it's become the base for my DI/FRFR pedal board.
@@sammmfoley Yes, but you have to load IR's into the Iridium as well and it's very limited in this regard. I had harsh mid EQ I could not get rid of no matter what I did. Now I just use the RevivalDrive with a Torpedo CAB and it's perfect. The Iridium is not an all in one, even though it tries to be. If having it all in one device is a must, then the HX Stomp would be the way to go. If you want analog circuitry that actually sounds good with lots of options, then the RevivalDrive is far superior to the Iridium.
This was the best modern review of this pedal and I'm absolutely sold.
This is hands down the best review of the Strymon Iridium that exists
Had so much with this!! Thanks for the opportunity guys! Looking forward to more 🙏🏽
😎😎😎
14k views 🔥💣💥
@@tonestephens wild!!!
Best Iridium content on yt, by a mile. Shows you really understood its capabilities. Thanks a lot
I love the fact I can have different cabs left and right for a broader stereo spread. So killer
Great video! Iridium has been a real gamechanger for me, not only for recording but even in Live gigs!
Amazing video. Very thorough and exactly what I was looking for. I do still have a question, though. Is there a delay when selecting midi presets? For example, say I'm using the Chime amp during a verse and the Round amp for a chorus, will the change be instant or will the sound drop for a split second?
Thanks again, great work!
It is instant!
Instant changes between presets… I added a Strymon 3 way multi switch to access more tones from the pedal. So now I have a Vox clean an dirty channel, a Fender clean, and a distorted Marshall tone and clean Marshall tone. The Iridium is the 💣! Great for recording. I haven’t done direct to FOH yet.
@@taurushamilton2739 but with the internal FAV switch, there is a drop out. this is not happening with midi?
@ I really haven’t noticed that! If it is, it so minimal as to be non existent… IMHO🫡
Awesome!!!! I did learn one new thing from your video. The ability to use it with the amp bypassing The Amp/Cab Sim. Yeah the instructions says don’t use with amp but I knew there had to be a way. I still love my tube amps but on a fly date the Iridium has been a game changer! Thank you and we need more videos on the Strymon Iridium this 2021!
Just bought one after a 2 min tone dial in for a ampless casino gig….sounded amazing!
Rock on!
Awesome work. This was super helpful. Fantastic playing, as well! Thank you!
great review, I agree, this is the best review out there. You explain every function, and every sound, make it simple straightforward and concise. Thank you so much!
Really lovely playing. Fab.
Awesome demo! Thanks! I’ve been using the Iridium for a couple years and it’s pretty much replaced my tube amps. It sounds that good.
The best pedal/amp i ever bought
Just “WOW” guys. This was fantastic! Especially when you added the Julia chorus. I’m not a huge chorus fan, but that sounded mega. I have the Iridium and although I was familiar with the features, your presentation of this was great and the playing was awesome and gave me some ideas to adjust my setup. Plus, was really glad to see you were Lititz, PA. I was born in Lancaster, and grew up there, but live in Memphis now. Next time I get back to PA, I’ll come and visit. Thanks so much!
Thanks, look forward to having you visit!
This was a fantastic video!
Nice and concise !
Great video! Love that Veritas Portlander😍
Nice! Is there a tutorial on how to program the selah pedal to control the iridium? That would be awesome.
awesome demo of this nice piece of gear !!
Woof you were playing with us until that lick at :32 😤🔥
Great review and wonderful guitar
good idea to have the wet effects after. but what about saturation and chorus? before or after?
This video makes me want to get one now! Any one know any forums or videos that can do an in depth explanation on how to the MIDI and Stereo/IR example he showed? I’d love to try those features
So if I put the Delay and Reverb AFTER the Iridium it's like if I placed them in a FX Loop?
Hello- not quite. There is no actual FX loop with the iridium
Correct. Anything after the Iridium will act as if its in an amps effects loop. Also, don't worry about sending the Iridium's cabinet simulation into your delays and reverbs. They dont care if its before or after and sounds great!
No, when you use both preamp and cab sim it’s like adding effects after the whole amp - like Eric Johnson used to do or like you would do in a recording
The absence of an FX loop is a weakness.
ur intro is sick man
this is the best review and super useful. please do acs1 n tell us how well does it take gain pedals.
This was an awesome video
Sucks that the Iridium midi preset change have momentary signal cutoff.
The problem with having the Iridium before your pedals is that you then can't use it in stereo which is why I use it last in my chain. Also having pedals before seems logical because if you're equating the Iridium as being the "amp substitute", that's the way you have it if you were going into an actual amp.
would be awesome if it had an effects loop.
I run 3 stereo pedals after my Iridium then straight into my interface and really prefer my recording tones this way rather than at the end of the chain.
Not sure I understand your concern. It has stereo in and out as well as mono, so any combination is possible. I like to think about it like a traditional amp/cabinet recording chain, with volume, wah, overdives and fuzz, and some modulation in mono before the Iridium (even delay if you like that straight-into-the-amp sound), then delay and reverb after the pedal, preferably in stereo, the way I would add them separately at mix down. I use at least one multi effects device like the H9 after the pedal to allow stereo modulation as well as verb and/or delay after the amp if you want it also.
Great video! Do you a tutorial on how to add the presets to the Selah Quartz. I'm trying but am kind of stuck. I can send messages from the quartz to the iridium but seems like I'm not doing it correctly.
thank you!
Awesome video. Thank you for so thoroughly explaining the Iridium.
wow the stereo IR cabs at the end sounds better: which IR / cab was on left an which one on the right?
Bypassing the cab sim works great into a power amp or effects return.
How do you SAVE the fav set ups??
good video! one question, if the pedal is off and you hit the "fav" switch, does it activate? Or does the "on" have to be previously activated?
“On” must be previously activated
Excellent Iridium review, but what I’m REALLY digging is that book on ‘Astral Destiny’.
Otherwise, I wonder how it would take my LPD Eighty7 (JCM800 in a box)?
What is the typw of Quartz midi player are you using? Thank you from Canada
Is that a custom shop Tele?? Very cool
What IRS were using for this video? The tone is very nice man!
All IRs were stock except for the Stereo IR segment. I made that myself, but it’s still in the works. I was using Cab C for all of the Amps
@@nobesmusic if there any chance you could share it with me? I’ll really appreciate it
@@Duesy_Sam for sure! Follow me on Instagram @nobesmusic. I will be posting there when it’s ready 👌🏽
You still using the iridium?
dude what are the post-rock songs you're using as the background music?
Ive had one of these for a year and its only been out the box three times. So I plugged it into my scarlett 2I2 interface with direct monitoring ON, and the volume is so low compared with every other bit of audio that I was playing on my laptop I found it unusable... what am I doing wrong? Playing along to a spotify track for example, even with everything maxed out I have to put the spotify volume down to like 10% to be able to play along. Is it because I am expecting to hear this thing through the direct monitoring? If I was to play with a band and plug this into a PA is it really loud enough?
If you're playing directly from the Iridium to the interface, first make sure the input of your interface is set to instrument, or Hi-Z. If you were actually intending to record your Iridium, you'd ideally want to have it peaking at -12 dB or so for optimal headroom down the line. The main difference is finished tracks are mastered to be extremely loud vs a direct signal of a single guitar pedal with no mix bus limiting whatsoever. Perhaps try adding a limiter or bus compressor to your master output within your DAW to get it closer to full recordings.
@@ToneTailors thanks! Yeah I have the iridium set to instrument level, and also the interface. But I was trying to use the iridium through the Scarlett’s “direct monitor” function, and then was wondering why the volume was so low compared to recorded audio on the laptop. But if I play the iridium through a DAW, even not for recording juts to practice, I have much better control over the volume and can actually use it to play along with Spotify. Cheers!
Hello my friend. What settings do you use for the lead tones? Do you use another overdrive pedal?
Can i use iridium straight directly to a tube amp?
So need help I set my crunch settings hold down fav button it blinks green then stops, then when I change the settings to chime clean etc.. I step on fav button to engage my crunch settings but nothing happens what am I doing wrong???
If it blinks green I think it is waiting or a midi program change message.
How about this (preamp) running into an Orange Pedal Baby 100 (power amp) into a 1x12 cab loaded with a 16 ohm Jensen Jet Tornado?
Is it better to run your iridium straight into your audio interface? Or is it better to go stereo out from the iridium to a pinstripe line isolator and XLR out into the audio interface?
Either will be fine, but using a line isolator will give you the right impedence to use as an XLR input and possibly more headroom before hitting your preamps, which can mean a lower noise floor.
Find you somebody who looks at you the same way Richie looks at the Iridium
Do you just use your studio monitors for listening the the iridium out loud?
Tast playing and on point information man thank you! İ really wonder for example if in in round mode and i save favorite preset in chime amp. Does it move to chime from round when i press the fav? Thank you
I believe it does as the pedal stores presets using MIDI data. The position of each dial, switch and alt setting is recorded when you save a preset and those parameters are instantly recalled when you hit the Fav button. Hitting the button again would go back to the manual settings on the pedal.
Let say i bypass the cab, just use the preamp, do i connect it to my actual amp fx loop send or just infront of the amp?
If you're going to bypass the cab only, id throw it in your fx loop so you bypass the amps preamp too. then set the amps tone controls in the middle and set the gain to a point where it's not adding crunch
Still trying to understand how having the iridium before time based makes it sound cleaner?
If you have reverb/delay going into a dirtorted/crunchy amp tone, it would dirtort the reverb/delay tails.
What would D.I box would you recommend for the Strymon Iridium? Do I need one if I go direct at church?
I use a Radial JDI passive.
Song ?
But with it before reverb and delays.. you can’t go to direct to front of house.. if it’s not last in chain
True - but i have mine before my time based fx (comp-drives-volume-boost-Iridium-Timeline-reverb) and then I go from 1/4" to XLR after the reverb, XLR goes to FoH. Constantly getting compliments on tone, no issues so far
Why can't you? That makes no sense at all.
This is incorrect. I play live regularly this way and it sounds great.
Hi what is that guitar
a Veritas
Its an ugly. Just kidding, as per Lucas, its a Veritas.
So, you can use it direct or in front of a real amp because it's pre-amp, correct?
You can bypass the cab sim. You can run it in front of an amp, but preamp on preamp isn't going to sound the best. Running it into the fx return will give better results.
Great video! How do you connect to your audio interface? Through line inputs or instrument inputs? There are dozens of Iridium videos on youtube, but none explains this :/
I would go with the line inputs. Thanks!
Line.
How do you save the FAVE?
Just hold the button once your settings are set?
That VERITAS 🥵🥵🥵
When you played the Iridium through the tonemaster, did you just plug it into the front or into the effects return? It looks like you just plugged it into the front. Strymon's website says this is "not really recommended" (whatever that means), but it sounded great to me!
Yeah we plugged straight into the front! Recording is all about experimentation. In theory, it’s weird to be running a vox into a fender, but we thought it sounded cool!
Definitely! Did you try that high gain marshall sound in the favorite position through the amp?
Nope, that was straight into the interface!
I tried this out today, loved it. Worked great with headphones, however, if adding effects (like a DIG and Flint), how can I pick up those in the phones as well? The guy at the store tried to help, but couldn't make that fly. Thanks PS: Great demo!
You can’t. If you use the headphone jack on iridium you’ll only hear the iridium and whatever is before it in the signal chain. It’s simply a matter of signal flow. If you want to use headphones and have your wet effects after iridium, you’ll have to hook your pedalboard to your computer and use the headphone output on your recording interface or possibly your monitors if they have a headphone output. I hope this info helps.
@@thedude3364 This does help and makes sense. I did look into reversing the order by putting the Iridium last, but that negatively impacts the sound. I plan to use my recording interface. Thanks for the response.
Wayne Blake Good deal. That’s the one thing strymon overlooked IMO. An effects loop. That’s what an effects loop does. It places your time based effects after the preamp section in your amp. The preamp is what creates gain/ distortion. Having time based effects(such as reverb and delays) before your gain stage can get weird, especially with a lot of gain. That’s why we put drive pedals before delay and reverb pedals in our boards. Sorry if if said a bunch of stuff you already knew! Take care!
@@thedude3364 I appreciate the response! Still just a rookie in the world of pedals, every bit helps.
yeah I've been thinking about the same thing. I even thought about buying another one or acs1 just for the headphones output. jeeezzus
Sounded like silent hill music for a minute ;)
So you still use a real amp along with this?
Out of the box, no amp is needed. Plug the output straight into an interface or into a DI box and run an xlr to FOH/mixer
I purchased the Iridium and sent it back. Skip the Iridium and buy the RevivalDrive HotRod edition. It's 10x the device the Iridium is and sounds 10x better, and even though it's called a "Drive" it's actually amp circuitry in a pedal form factor. It sounds soooo good and can be tweaked as much as you like. Seriously, it's become the base for my DI/FRFR pedal board.
Aren't you still having to use a cab sim of some sort though or no?
@@sammmfoley Yes, but you have to load IR's into the Iridium as well and it's very limited in this regard. I had harsh mid EQ I could not get rid of no matter what I did. Now I just use the RevivalDrive with a Torpedo CAB and it's perfect. The Iridium is not an all in one, even though it tries to be. If having it all in one device is a must, then the HX Stomp would be the way to go. If you want analog circuitry that actually sounds good with lots of options, then the RevivalDrive is far superior to the Iridium.
@@dezertson1165 thanks for clearing that up, I appreciate the info! Looking for a good amp free rig for home practice.
I use the RD hotrod into an iridium and it sounds amazing.
That guitar has hard angles in all the wrong places.
Thats beautiful tone from Iridium.
But, really thats a hella Ugly guitar youve got.
Burn it