IK Multimedia TONEX Plug

[Lysander]

Just announced! Ships later this month, for US$/€ 150.

"TONEX Plug is the ultimate portable guitar and bass headphone amp, giving you instant access to over 40,000 free amps and pedal rigs in your pocket. Powered by IK's award-winning AI Machine Modeling™, it offers the same studio-quality tone as the TONEX Pedal and TONEX ONE in a sleek, travel-friendly design.
With built-in Bluetooth and the TONEX Control app (iOS/Android), you can stream audio and wirelessly browse, load, and edit presets, making practice sessions more engaging and empowering you to play wherever inspiration strikes."

TONEX Plug

TONEX Plug is the ultimate portable guitar and bass headphone amp, giving you instant access to over 40,000 free amps and pedal rigs in your pocket. Powered by IK's award-winning AI Machine Modeling™️, it offers the same studio-quality tone as the TONEX Pedal and TONEX ONE in a sleek...

www.ikmultimedia.com

 

[Lysander]

Cautiously optimistic about this one, looks like a very neat practice solution.

 

[StarF666]

Dang, I just bought a TXO in the group buy, ordered a Stadium and now this. And I'm really hoping L6 will have something like a HX Plug (probably more a POD Plug) someday.

 

[Los-D]

(Seriously, though, does it have midi over USB?)

 

[bigmenace]

Neat, for those who need absolute portability.
Personally, for that money Tonex One with a battery power bank. This seems to cost as much as the Tonex One in EU, unless the currency conversion on their homepage is off - which it seems to be since Tonex one is easily available for ~180€ in EU.

 

[Los-D]

Studio Rats on it:

 

[Deadpan]

Would be amazing if the Tonex Control app can be used with the pedals.

 

[laxu]

Would be amazing if the Tonex Control app can be used with the pedals.

I certainly hope that is on the way via USB since afaik the pedals don't support BT, unless it's been laying dormant on them all this time.

I can plug the Tonex One into my phone and it will even power the pedal that way.

Personally I don't have a whole lot of interest in products like the Tonex Plug because it takes away even the little bit of onboard control that the Tonex One offers. It's just a far less multi-purpose device.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Would be amazing if the Tonex Control app can be used with the pedals.

Their bluetooth control pedals? Yeah, that'd be a major selling point, tbh.

 

[JiveTurkey]

View attachment 54274

(Seriously, though, does it have midi over USB?)

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

My issue with any of these kinds of products is that it'd be so easy to break. I don't get the appeal.
Make the same thing but add a jack socket, then you've probably got a great little device.

 

[paisleywookiee]

My issue with any of these kinds of products is that it'd be so easy to break. I don't get the appeal.
Make the same thing but add a jack socket, then you've probably got a great little device.

Just get a female to male plug.

 

[synthpenguin]

I wonder how this ends up comparing to the iOS app as far as capture support? It only mentions loading tone models from ToneNET, so I assume it's the same.

 

[Chocol8]

Looks like a great plug format solution. Unfortunately, I really don't like the plug format! It would have been really nice if the One had had BT and the same app capabilities, but it works well enough through USB, I would still prefer a One for my use cases to a plug format.

 

[Chocol8]

I wonder how this ends up comparing to the iOS app as far as capture support? It only mentions loading tone models from ToneNET, so I assume it's the same.

Since you can connect to the full editor on a PC with USB, I would guess you can get captures on and off without going through tonenet, but maybe not through a phone and BT.

 

[eggpl@nt]

This is pretty cool. I’m not knowledgeable at all when it comes to how sound quality scales from the OG Tonex to those smaller units. It’s interesting that IK states the quality is the same. If that’s truly the case (and the quality of the captures is not scaled down, for lack of a better term), then sweet.

 

[Chocol8]

View attachment 54276

I think their strategy of going after the lower price points is actually really smart. I think it would be much harder for them to compete with Fractal and Helix at the top end, but if they do decide to make higher end more comprehensive products down the road, they are making serious inroads with younger players now who would be a natural market to sell to.

 

[synthpenguin]

Since you can connect to the full editor on a PC with USB, I would guess you can get captures on and off without going through tonenet, but maybe not through a phone and BT.

Oh okay, I missed that! From what I saw, the product page and manual only mentioned it working as an audio interface with PC, but I haven't watched videos yet (can't right now lol). Great!

 

[Chocol8]

This is pretty cool. I’m not knowledgeable at all when it comes to how sound quality scales from the OG Tonex to those smaller units. It’s interesting that IK states the quality is the same. If that’s truly the case (and the quality of the captures is not scaled down, for lack of a better term), then sweet.

Tonex captures are super efficient to run from a processor perspective. Obviously I can't speak to the Plug, but the OG Pedal, the One, and the Mac/PC software all run the same captures at full quality without any conversion BS like you have with NAM and most hardware.

 

[paisleywookiee]

I think their strategy of going after the lower price points is actually really smart. I think it would be much harder for them to compete with Fractal and Helix at the top end, but if they do decide to make higher end more comprehensive products down the road, they are making serious inroads with younger players now who would be a natural market to sell to.

I think a well-done Amplitube floorboard modeler that incorporated ToneX would kill, if they could come in at $1999-$1299. It would kill Boss and Fender modelers, for sure.