Purchased the 78/79 package from IK multimedia, UPDATE 7/4/25

[RevDrucifer]

I can’t assist with troubleshooting issues but wanted to note that @dead-pan’s JEL cap pack is fucking KILLER!!! I have the Satch Amp Vault and I’d imagine the majority around these parts would dig that Dragon amp, too.

For my first foray into the capture/profile world I was quite impressed with how well the tones work as well as how much you could actually tweak them (ToneX caps in general). There’s enough tweakability to get them sitting in a mix if need be and that’s really all I want from this particular product.

 

[mentoneman]

Don't you play a lot of older rack gear? That stuff is far worse than this. I spent like 20 minutes the other night clicking through buttons with a tiny LCD display trying to figure out how to get my MPX-1 to ping pong a delay.

the lexicon pcm 80 was a lot to take in initially for sure. but now i navigate that thing very quickly.

i’m getting better on the tonex menus but i’m finding that if i have the pedal connected to my computer with the editor/librarian running and i edit and store a preset using the 78/79 collection, either by hitting save on the edit window screen or physically on the pedal, when i power down and turn back on the presets i thought i saved in the pedal seems to change and sound radically different. and i’ve now experienced buggy stuff in the tonex app not giving me access to all of the 78/79 collection i purchased even with a Sweetwater support guy remoting in, the tonex editor/librarian app not properly reflecting the changes made and stored when dragging a new preset into a bank/slot, and witnessing my pedal while connected to my computer spontaneously scroll to a parameter and make changes to values with me not touching a thing—
i.e. sitting there playing with headphones on, i see pedal jump to volume parameter and ramp up to 10 by itself. that’d be special live!

re: volumes,
i’m still not fully grasping global trim volume versus model volume versus master volume.
and re: how to properly build my own preset library backup in the tonex app and/or editor-library app, it’d be nice if tonex would auto ask at the end of an edit session when closing the app if you’d like to save a backup of changes made to your pedal presets in a file you can save as/name, but i’ll get there.

what did become apparent to me is how remarkably similar the 78/79 presets sound once i edited a few i liked to my to preferences,
to my rack rig’s existing VH preset using wayne’s @griff10672 Atomic Punk Overdrive to drive my egnater IE4 preamp channel 3.

the rack sounds better to me because tubes real speaker cabs and superior fx, but having something close in a pedal i can jam on headphones with or take to a friend’s place is nice.

 

[harddriver]

the lexicon pcm 80 was a lot to take in initially for sure. but now i navigate that thing very quickly.

i’m getting better on the tonex menus but i’m finding that if i have the pedal connected to my computer with the editor/librarian running and i edit and store a preset using the 78/79 collection, either by hitting save on the edit window screen or physically on the pedal, when i power down and turn back on the presets i thought i saved in the pedal seems to change and sound radically different. and i’ve now experienced buggy stuff in the tonex app not giving me access to all of the 78/79 collection i purchased even with a Sweetwater support guy remoting in, the tonex editor/librarian app not properly reflecting the changes made and stored when dragging a new preset into a bank/slot, and witnessing my pedal while connected to my computer spontaneously scroll to a parameter and make changes to values with me not touching a thing—
i.e. sitting there playing with headphones on, i see pedal jump to volume parameter and ramp up to 10 by itself. that’d be special live!

re: volumes,
i’m still not fully grasping global trim volume versus model volume versus master volume.
and re: how to properly build my own preset library backup in the tonex app and/or editor-library app, it’d be nice if tonex would auto ask at the end of an edit session when closing the app if you’d like to save a backup of changes made to your pedal presets in a file you can save as/name, but i’ll get there.

what did become apparent to me is how remarkably similar the 78/79 presets sound once i edited a few i liked to my to preferences,
to my rack rig’s existing VH preset using wayne’s @griff10672 Atomic Punk Overdrive to drive my egnater IE4 preamp channel 3.

the rack sounds better to me because tubes real speaker cabs and superior fx, but having something close in a pedal i can jam on headphones with or take to a friend’s place is nice.

You don't have access to the 50 captures..........WTF?????? I am fairly certain I have access to them all and played them all, there are a few that are room mics that show PENCIL mics or something like that in the details description window on the lower left side, those will sound distant and thin that's why. I guess you can blend room mics in to the standard mic'd stuff for the advanced cyber studio guy going for a full on studio experience.............

Hell............I'd just be happy to get my interface controller booted up and connected to the ToneXSE.......
I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good...............

 

[mentoneman]

You don't have access to the 50 captures..........WTF?????? I am fairly certain I have access to them all and played them all, there are a few that are room mics that show PENCIL mics or something like that in the details description window on the lower left side, those will sound distant and thin that's why. I guess you can blend room mics in to the standard mic'd stuff for the advanced cyber studio guy going for a full on studio experience.............

Hell............I'd just be happy to get my interface controller booted up and connected to the ToneXSE.......
I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it would do any good...............

the editor/librarian connected to the pedal allows me access to all 50.

but when i am just running the tonex app, i can see all 50 presets but can only fully access about half of them. weird.

 

[Shask]

the editor/librarian connected to the pedal allows me access to all 50.

but when i am just running the tonex app, i can see all 50 presets but can only fully access about half of them. weird.

It just didn't download the images for the models. You need to have it install the images for the amps. You might try to reinstall ToneX and see if that helps. At some point when you start the program it should you to download the GUI skins.

 

[Shask]

the lexicon pcm 80 was a lot to take in initially for sure. but now i navigate that thing very quickly.

i’m getting better on the tonex menus but i’m finding that if i have the pedal connected to my computer with the editor/librarian running and i edit and store a preset using the 78/79 collection, either by hitting save on the edit window screen or physically on the pedal, when i power down and turn back on the presets i thought i saved in the pedal seems to change and sound radically different. and i’ve now experienced buggy stuff in the tonex app not giving me access to all of the 78/79 collection i purchased even with a Sweetwater support guy remoting in, the tonex editor/librarian app not properly reflecting the changes made and stored when dragging a new preset into a bank/slot, and witnessing my pedal while connected to my computer spontaneously scroll to a parameter and make changes to values with me not touching a thing—
i.e. sitting there playing with headphones on, i see pedal jump to volume parameter and ramp up to 10 by itself. that’d be special live!

re: volumes,
i’m still not fully grasping global trim volume versus model volume versus master volume.
and re: how to properly build my own preset library backup in the tonex app and/or editor-library app, it’d be nice if tonex would auto ask at the end of an edit session when closing the app if you’d like to save a backup of changes made to your pedal presets in a file you can save as/name, but i’ll get there.

what did become apparent to me is how remarkably similar the 78/79 presets sound once i edited a few i liked to my to preferences,
to my rack rig’s existing VH preset using wayne’s @griff10672 Atomic Punk Overdrive to drive my egnater IE4 preamp channel 3.

the rack sounds better to me because tubes real speaker cabs and superior fx, but having something close in a pedal i can jam on headphones with or take to a friend’s place is nice.

Generally when I see issues like this it is because people are switching back and forth between the ToneX application and the ToneX pedal without understanding the relationship between them. I would recommend throwing the pedal in a drawer and not messing with it until you understand the ToneX app. Once you have your sounds in the app, you just drag them onto the pedal without further editing.

 

[mentoneman]

Generally when I see issues like this it is because people are switching back and forth between the ToneX application and the ToneX pedal without understanding the relationship between them. I would recommend throwing the pedal in a drawer and not messing with it until you understand the ToneX app. Once you have your sounds in the app, you just drag them onto the pedal without further editing.

i’d try that but i’m using the pedal to interface with my computer.

 

[Shask]

i’d try that but i’m using the pedal to interface with my computer.

If you are using it as your interface, then I would only use the editor to put it in interface mode, and then forget it is a pedal. Only use it as an interface for the ToneX app. Figure out tone models vs presets, and user folders before thinking about putting the sounds on the pedal.

 

[mentoneman]

If you are using it as your interface, then I would only use the editor to put it in interface mode, and then forget it is a pedal. Only use it as an interface for the ToneX app. Figure out tone models vs presets, and user folders before thinking about putting the sounds on the pedal.

i’ll gladly take your advice and give that interface only mode a spin next go round.

there’s some interesting observations about the tonex aliasing details discussed here

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/tonex-aliasing.2604401/

 

[mentoneman]

makes me wanna try with external fx!

 

[mentoneman]

very trippy that the first thing he mentions regarding pickups mirrors what i discovered regarding the use of a low output neck pickup in the bridge position. he used a modified gibson classic 57 + neck pickup with a 7.625k output and short A5 magnet in the bridge position, and i have the holmes 450 neck pu with 7.8k output in my bridge position.
strange coincidence, particularly due to the fact that Tom Holmes worked with Gibson to design those original 57 Classic/+ series pickups which he told me when i got my 450 from him back in 2002.


———-
from the Tone Specific folks:

“57 Classic - The Problem​

In 1990, Gibson quietly released what might be the best humbucker ever made by a mass-market brand—the first-generation ‘57 Classic.

It had all the right stuff:
Plain Enamel wire
Quality magnets
Voicing that screamed late-‘50s soul

But it didn’t last.

Gibson execs, chasing margins over music, quickly swapped the PE wire for poly-coated junk.
Then the magnet quality dropped. Then came the mass production shortcuts.
And now? Most ‘57 Classics sound muddy, muffled, and lifeless.

The tragedy?
Tom Holmes designed the original. But he didn’t build them—and Gibson eventually walked away from his blueprint.

That’s what happens when hobby players can’t hear the difference…
But our customers?
They hear everything. You could do the same.....

---

OUR MISSION​

Randall Van Dyke has studied every Gibson pickup design going back to the 1930s.
After analyzing decades of data and designs, he ranked the original 1990 ‘57 Classic as Top 5 of all time.
So he made it his mission to rebuild it—exactly the way Tom Holmes intended.

This is the pickup Gibson should still be making—but won’t.
So we did it.

---

What makes this clone different?
Vintage-spec Plain Enamel wire (not poly)
Period-correct magnets (no cheap alloys)
Dynamic, articulate, responsive
Lifetime warranty
Ear-voiced and tested—every single set

You’ll hear the difference. You’ll feel the difference.
And once it’s in your #1 guitar, there’s no going back. You'll buy sets for all your guitars.

---

PROOF POSITIVE​

This isn’t Randall's first rodeo.
He’s the guy behind ToneSpec clones of:
Tom Holmes H450 & H455
Virgil Arlo Black Labels
Alan Hamel Masterwinds

He only clones pickups he believes are legends.
The 1990 '57 Classic? It made the list.
Because when a humbucker nails that PAF warmth, cuts with clarity, and doesn’t collapse under gain—you build around it.

And here’s the kicker:
We regularly get trade-ins from players ditching their modern Gibson 57 Classics…
Just to upgrade to our pickups.

They know the difference.
And once you hear & feel it—you’ll never settle again.”
—————

in the Tonex video Jim also mentions the 250k volume pot, which i also arrived at just by trial and error.