Fans of the Strymon Iridium

KingsXJJ

Roadie
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989
I’d like to introduce you to something at the same price point that IME completely blows the Iridium out of the water.

The Ampli-Firebox MKII. Here’s where it rises above.

- More and better amp models. Much better.
- All utility delays and reverbs. They are top-notch.
- Various booster and overdrives.
- Noise gate.
- EQ beyond tone stack.

There’s more but I’ll leave that to you to investigate. The bottom line is if you want a small form-factor high quality modeler that comes out of the box ready to go for DI, headphones and recording… this unit is the AxeFX equivalent. It’s that good in tone and feel.

I know there’s lots of fan boys who post honeymoon reviews. I’ve had this puppy for a while and compared it to the Nux Amp Academy, Boss IR-200, Nux MG-30, Blackstar Dept. 10 pedals, Boss OD-200, Zoom, Line 6 and more frankly… IMO it’s kicks the rear out of all of them.

if you have a chance to try one… do so!

As far as firmware updates, I don’t think it will ever need one. It’s the MKII on an established platform and it’s maturity shows.

Interested if others have tried and agree. It’s my first product from this vendor and GEESH!
 
I think that sometimes there are popular areas of discourse and other times not so much.

Kind of a shame, since you never know when the guy doing things differently is on to something.

Like Ty Tabor.
 
I think the Atomic tones are great and I say this all the time , it would not surprise me to see them come out of hibernation and kick ass w a new GUI and a next gen unit
They always had potential
 
I’d like to introduce you to something at the same price point that IME completely blows the Iridium out of the water.

The Ampli-Firebox MKII. Here’s where it rises above.

- More and better amp models. Much better.
- All utility delays and reverbs. They are top-notch.
- Various booster and overdrives.
- Noise gate.
- EQ beyond tone stack.

There’s more but I’ll leave that to you to investigate. The bottom line is if you want a small form-factor high quality modeler that comes out of the box ready to go for DI, headphones and recording… this unit is the AxeFX equivalent. It’s that good in tone and feel.

I know there’s lots of fan boys who post honeymoon reviews. I’ve had this puppy for a while and compared it to the Nux Amp Academy, Boss IR-200, Nux MG-30, Blackstar Dept. 10 pedals, Boss OD-200, Zoom, Line 6 and more frankly… IMO it’s kicks the rear out of all of them.

if you have a chance to try one… do so!

As far as firmware updates, I don’t think it will ever need one. It’s the MKII on an established platform and it’s maturity shows.

Interested if others have tried and agree. It’s my first product from this vendor and GEESH!

I agree .... for live use .... my only issue(s) are that your cant (a) save different presets to patch's and (b) even if you could, there is no way to connect a Midi FSW to it and recall any patches.

But otherwise think its a great unit for home use / recording / playing :)

Ben
 
Been saying for a while that the AFB MKII is a better Iridium than the Iridium. If you like that form factor there's zero reason not to try it out.

I played with one a while ago and though it sounded phenomenal - the only reason i didn't buy it is my HX Stomp already covers the usecase i'd have for it.
 
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How big of an improvement is there from the AFB v1 to v2?

I tried an Amplifire a few years back and thought it sounded decent but hated the interface. I got an AFB in a trade a year or two ago and wasn't nearly as impressed with the sound.
 
Never tried the original one, but i'd put the AFB MKII against Helix, Fractal or any other top-tier modeler out there. The Marshall tones in particular were stellar.

The interface however is pretty much the same as the MKI - and almost identical to the Iridium, from what i can gather. The thing is, you can plug the AFB to your PC and deep-edit the unit in a way the Iridium does not support at all.
 
I’d like to introduce you to something at the same price point that IME completely blows the Iridium out of the water.

The Ampli-Firebox MKII. Here’s where it rises above.

- More and better amp models. Much better.
- All utility delays and reverbs. They are top-notch.
- Various booster and overdrives.
- Noise gate.
- EQ beyond tone stack.

There’s more but I’ll leave that to you to investigate. The bottom line is if you want a small form-factor high quality modeler that comes out of the box ready to go for DI, headphones and recording… this unit is the AxeFX equivalent. It’s that good in tone and feel.

I know there’s lots of fan boys who post honeymoon reviews. I’ve had this puppy for a while and compared it to the Nux Amp Academy, Boss IR-200, Nux MG-30, Blackstar Dept. 10 pedals, Boss OD-200, Zoom, Line 6 and more frankly… IMO it’s kicks the rear out of all of them.

if you have a chance to try one… do so!

As far as firmware updates, I don’t think it will ever need one. It’s the MKII on an established platform and it’s maturity shows.

Interested if others have tried and agree. It’s my first product from this vendor and GEESH!
Good luck with support on that. Does Atomic even exist anymore?
 
And yes, I like it enough to spend $400 in order to have a backup dream box. I’ve been wanting something in this form factor with this level of modeling for some time. It’s a pack and go rig for the studio, home recording and vacation jams.

I think it beats Boss and NUX. I also think it hangs with my previously owned AxeFX3 and FM3 in terms of amp modeling. Although I don’t have as much experience with Line 6, it’s better to me than the POD GO and Catalyst 100 that I’ve tried.

I’d like to see Fractal and Neuro compete in this space. The only thing it is missing IMO is an Aux-in and FX loop. Bluetooth would be sweet as well. It feels like a polished version of greatest hits from Atomic. I’m not trying to sell anyone or anything but if this product area is of interest to you… again, I recommend an audition. I’d love to see a deluxe rack model. 🤤
 
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That's some awesome support right there!!!:beer
Who knows? This might be the pawnshop-searching vintage digital device treasure find someday.

Of all the digital devices I’ve had… I’ve fought with this one the least to get my desired tone. Only Fractal comes close and that’s likely because of the great presets and player packs others engineered. I’d like to see Atomic stay in the running. Competition benefits users generally.
 
I used to have the original Amplifire and the Firebox. I recently picked up an Irridium. The Atomic stuff is way better sounding. No contest.
 
It’s here. The current question is if to send back and get a God Vertex at $400 off as a result.

Sure it’s not a Boss POS but it has mucho potencial.
 
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