IK Multimedia Group Buy 2025

[bucephalus]

When I ordered my Tonex One directly from IK back in September '24, I didn't get free shipping (I paid €20). And since IK doesn’t remove EU/Italian VAT when exporting from the EU to Norway (where I live), I had to pay both EU/Italian and Norwegian VAT. So even after using JamPoints, I would have been better off buying locally at full price.

That said, IK has been clear that purchases from authorized dealers do qualify for this group buy. I'm considering picking up another Tonex One—but I’ll never order directly from IK again, at least not until they start removing EU VAT for non-EU customers.

I’m still on the fence about joining this group buy, though, since as a current Total Studio 5 MAX and Brown Sound 78/79 owner, it looks like the only eligible software I don’t already have is the two other Brown Sound collections and the ENGL Ampthology Volume 1.

(Neither ReSing nor the Tonex Bass collection are eligible.)

Yeah that's really poor naming you pay VAT twice. Might just give the whole thing a swerve, already got a tonex pedal and looking through the plug ins available there's not a ton I'd be that interested in.

 

[Richard_G]

IK is a strange company… I really like some of their products, but too often I still end up annoyed or even downright angry with them.

 

[bucephalus]

149.99+ should be free shipping

I am trying to find authorised dealers to comply with the offer but the only ones showing on your site are in Italy and that's not much use to me. Do you have UK dealers at all?

 

[Richard_G]

You have to change the location from Italy to somewhere closer to you.

They have plenty. Both online and physical stores.

 

[bucephalus]

Cheers, I'm having issues with my phone browser and location at the moment so that's likely it.

 

[bucephalus]

Ah yes, apparently Amazon UK is ok and they're £132 there with free delivery which is much better than €199 and €20 delivery

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

I am trying to find authorised dealers to comply with the offer but the only ones showing on your site are in Italy and that's not much use to me. Do you have UK dealers at all?

For my country the location finder is not updated and mostly shows a big chain of stores that closed down years ago. And my local store is missing though I would imagine it’s an authorized dealer. The sister shop in the next country over is listed though…

How would it differ where I got the hardware from? Do they keep track of serial numbers?

 

[bucephalus]

For my country the location finder is not updated and mostly shows a big chain of stores that closed down years ago. And my local store is missing though I would imagine it’s an authorized dealer. The sister shop in the next country over is listed though…

How would it differ where I got the hardware from? Do they keep track of serial numbers?

I don't think so, but I was looking for somewhere I wouldn't pay import charges on in the UK.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Wanted to say, don't sleep on Arc X if you have your own measurement mic and calibration file.

Huge improvement over Arc 3.

What mic are you using? ARC X is one of the reasons I was even considering getting in on this group buy. I ended up grabbing the software rather than the bundle with the mic. I was going to just pick up a Behringturd ECM8000 for measuring on the cheap, but not sure how well it will work with the software.

 

[Deadpan]

What mic are you using? ARC X is one of the reasons I was even considering getting in on this group buy. I ended up grabbing the software rather than the bundle with the mic. I was going to just pick up a Behringturd ECM8000 for measuring on the cheap, but not sure how well it will work with the software.

This the one I have.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MM1MeasureV2--beyerdynamic-mm-1-omnidirectional-condenser-measurement-microphone

As long as you have a good calibration file I would think there shouldn't be much difference between mics.

 

[dbagchee]

Got my TONEX One yesterday - so far so good! Pretty nice to be able to jam some TONEX captures without needing a computer.

Starting to redeem some software for this group buy - the pedal comes with TONEX SE and I have the option of redeeming "Tonex" or "Tonex Upgrade" - which one of those should I be getting (or should I skip entirely if I'm more interested in the Tonex Collections?).

 

[MatrixClaw]

Got my TONEX One yesterday - so far so good! Pretty nice to be able to jam some TONEX captures without needing a computer.

Starting to redeem some software for this group buy - the pedal comes with TONEX SE and I have the option of redeeming "Tonex" or "Tonex Upgrade" - which one of those should I be getting (or should I skip entirely if I'm more interested in the Tonex Collections?).

You really only need the higher level if you're interested in the stock sounds they come with. If you're using packs or user captures, SE is fine. That said, I'd buy ToneX and not the upgrade if you do want it. Then you'll have both licenses and you can transfer your SE license with the ToneX One if you don't keep it, but still continue to have the full ToneX version to use on your computer.

 

[EOengineer]

Tonex One arrived. Got it registered and went on a capture and plugin binge. This group buy rules.

I snagged:
- Mesa Reference
- Brown Sound (all)
- ODS collection
- Engl collection
- Hyde collection
- Amplitube Fender 2
- Amplitube Mesa 2
- Amplitube Orange
- Arc X
- Channel Strip X

Some of the rectifier tones in the Mesa Reference pack might end up on the EP. Solid stuff in the demos hooked me. Will give it a run tomorrow.

 

[dbagchee]

You really only need the higher level if you're interested in the stock sounds they come with. If you're using packs or user captures, SE is fine. That said, I'd buy ToneX and not the upgrade if you do want it. Then you'll have both licenses and you can transfer your SE license with the ToneX One if you don't keep it, but still continue to have the full ToneX version to use on your computer.

Thank you! That makes sense, I may hold off for a bit to see how far the group buy goes. I presume the Amplitube 5 upgrade is the same deal.

 

[dbagchee]

Tonex One arrived. Got it registered and went on a capture and plugin binge. This group buy rules.

I snagged:
- Mesa Reference
- Brown Sound (all)
- ODS collection
- Engl collection
- Hyde collection
- Amplitube Fender 2
- Amplitube Mesa 2
- Amplitube Orange
- Arc X
- Channel Strip X

Some of the rectifier tones in the Mesa Reference pack might end up on the EP. Solid stuff in the demos hooked me. Will give it a run tomorrow.

Nice! Out of curiosity why not Amplitube Fender 1?

So far I got Mesa Reference and T Racks 6 Pro.

 

[EOengineer]

Nice! Out of curiosity why not Amplitube Fender 1?

So far I got Mesa Reference and T Racks 6 Pro.

I really wanted to like Fender 1 but there was something off about it that I couldn’t get over when I demoed it years ago. I haven’t tried it with the new cab/mic setup though, so maybe I’ll snag it if we hit the next tier. Black panel amps are def an area of interest. I also skipped Mesa 1 for the same reason. Those felt dead under the fingers to me.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Saw the bass collection just released for ToneX. Too bad it's not included on this Group Buy, that's what ToneX is missing most of IMO - good pedal captures and bass amps!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I really wanted to like Fender 1 but there was something off about it that I couldn’t get over when I demoed it years ago. I haven’t tried it with the new cab/mic setup though, so maybe I’ll snag it if we hit the next tier. Black panel amps are def an area of interest. I also skipped Mesa 1 for the same reason. Those felt dead under the fingers to me.

Try goosing your input level, from memory the Fender stuff needs a REALLY hot input level to sound right. Was quite of an eye opener for me because I couldn’t get anything useful from them (they felt dead and lifeless to me too).

With the right input level, it’s quite amazing how much better they feel. Still maybe not quite as good as the best stuff out there but it gets much much closer