What do you think of the new TONEX Mesa Amps?

[The other John Browne]

I got a Tonex a few weeks ago and honestly, it hasn't blown me away. The tones are ok but not amazing. While the captures may be more accurate than those of the Kemper, I enjoyed the Kemper I had a few years back more.
The interface of both the Tonex pedal and software are not great in my opinion. I expected to be able to do more with the Tonex. It's all very "static" to me. It's a decent snapshot of a given rig at a given time and that's about it.
I dislike how little influence I have over the parameters of the capturing process. All I can do is set levels and some gain in post. I'd want more access.
A few weeks later I got a Fractal FM3 and that really blew my nips of. Messing with that thing is much more fun to me as it feels more interactive and dynamic. Tweaking the tones on that feels much more like doing the same on an amp and that's when it occured to me:
Until we have something like dynamic capturing/profiling, modeling is the way to go. At least for me.
For what the Tonex is, it's great at its price and I could see myself using it to capture studio tones to recall or use live. At the same time, I feel it is a little over hyped and therefore, I would not spend any money on capture packs like the new Mesa pack.

 

[SKU]

Made sense to me.

It makes sense that it would make sense to you

 

[SKU]

It makes sense why it would be confusing to you.

It makes sense that you'd find such a straightforward thing confusing

 

[Deadpan]

No Multi-Watt Rectos? Maybe they're saving that for Volume 2...That being said, those clips sound excellent.

I upped a 50th Anniversary Triple Rec Multiwatt yesterday. Definitely worth a try.

 

[SKU]

I upped a 50th Anniversary Triple Rec Multiwatt yesterday. Definitely worth a try.

Ever tried capturing with a "FRFR" microphone? Would be interested in trying/buying them!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Ever tried capturing with a "FRFR" microphone? Would be interested in trying/buying them!

This turd is the digital hill you are going to die on?

 

[SKU]

This turd is the digital hill you are going to die on?

It sounds/feels better than all other hardware digitalz I've tried, so...

 

[Deadpan]

Ever tried capturing with a "FRFR" microphone? Would be interested in trying/buying them!

I haven't, but I can see if I can load a calibration file for my measurement mic in the chain. I'm always up for trying something new.

 

[the-trooper]

 

[SKU]

I haven't, but I can see if I can load a calibration file for my measurement mic in the chain. I'm always up for trying something new.

Please start a thread when you do !!! Maybe, if you are willing, you can share a demo capture there. I"m sure a lot of people would be interested.
If you have the time maybe a capture with the mic a meter or two apart would also be very interesting.

 

[Lonely Rocker]

No Multi-Watt Rectos? Maybe they're saving that for Volume 2...That being said, those clips sound excellent.

I guess they only want to release so much at once...it is pricey. That may have been driven by Mesa....

 

[Lonely Rocker]

Holy shitbiscuits, $99? Damn. I dunno, that's a lot of dough for what appears to be what, 5-7 amps? I get their legendary status, but the caps would have to be pretty amazing.

EDIT

Actually, they do sound pretty good.

They do sound good. As they are officially licensed I'm guessing Mesa drove the price on these...

 

[Lonely Rocker]

Putting aside whether these are awesome or sh$t or relatively cheap or up the ar$e expensive ... and noting I don't have or use a Tonex Pedal anymore .... partnership's like this - and there will be more -simply demonstrate that *if* there is an emerging leader in the pro-semi-pro AI "industry standard" static capturing segment, it is and will continue to be IK / Tonex ... in its current structural form it will never be NAM .... no matter how many null tests anyone produces.

Simply put .... if you are Fender or Mesa or Vox etc.... you have the choice of partnering with a state of the art ecosystem with world wide sales and reach and support ....or a bunch of transient home hobbyists using a free platform in a totally decentralised and inconsistent form/structure.

Ben "now awaiting the flaming that NAM is %0.02 better" Ifin

Ben

I think you're spot on. I also think partnerships like this could be good for the physical amp industry. If they can grow revenue streams with licensign opportunities it keeps them solidly in the game building amps. This is where amps and modelers can co-exist in beautiful harmony...

 

[GuitarJon]

Great video Dan!

Regarding the price: people have to understand that the money has to be split between IK and Mesa. That's a valid reason for a price being a bit higher. I personally don't think 100 bucks is expensive for that many tone models, made from some very exclusive amps from their private collection.

 

[Desertdweller]

The more I experience amp capture technology the less I feel it works for what I do. It’s not that I need vastly different tones than average, but tone captures are just so not-tweakable that it gets infuriating. I need to turn knobs and mess with sounds, to have an amp that’s just a snapshot is just not for me I think.

 

[Lonely Rocker]

Great video Dan!

Regarding the price: people have to understand that the money has to be split between IK and Mesa. That's a valid reason for a price being a bit higher. I personally don't think 100 bucks is expensive for that many tone models, made from some very exclusive amps from their private collection.

Thanks man! I really think partnerships like this can be great for the amp community. Creates revenue opportunities for amp manufacturers in the modeling world and allows them to make more amps to be modeled...win win for me....

 

[Lonely Rocker]

The more I experience amp capture technology the less I feel it works for what I do. It’s not that I need vastly different tones than average, but tone captures are just so not-tweakable that it gets infuriating. I need to turn knobs and mess with sounds, to have an amp that’s just a snapshot is just not for me I think.

That is the current downside of the "snapshot" maodeling and why they sell multiple models. The dials on the modeled amp are just standard EQs and not representative of the individual amp curves. Perhaps that will be a next generation TONEX....

 

[Mongillo19]

That is the current downside of the "snapshot" maodeling and why they sell multiple models. The dials on the modeled amp are just standard EQs and not representative of the individual amp curves. Perhaps that will be a next generation TONEX....

They have this on the Kemper with liquid Profiling. Have you ever tried a Kemper? I think I recall you saying digital gear is somewhat newish for you?

 

[SKU]

In my experience the tonestack on the Tonex works more like you would expect compared to the eq like tonestack on the Kemper for example. It won't affect the sound like on the specific amp you captured but it is pretty amp like.

 

[Lonely Rocker]

They have this on the Kemper with liquid Profiling. Have you ever tried a Kemper? I think I recall you saying digital gear is somewhat newish for you?

I have not tried a Kemper..Digital gear in general is not new. In fact, quite the opposite. I just embraced pro level modelers in the last few months acquiring an FM9 and a Helix. But I've used plugins for years, was an early adopter and supporter of TONEX and have a number of other less expensive digital guitar products in my studio. Outside of just guitar gear I have been using digital gear for video and audio production for longer than I care to mention