ToneX 78/79 doing Fair Warning.............

[Chubtone]

I believe you need the $79 EVH pack and then you need to spend $100 for Tonex Max which is the software. I purchased just the Van Halen pack and could open it and play it, but every 10 seconds you get the loud static sound that some companies do when you are trying out a demo of their product. Spoke to a friend who had also bought the EVH pack and he said I needed to buy Tonex Max to really be able to use the product.

My user report on this so far is that if you are using PAF level pickups like the guy who designed the EVH Pack designed it with, (I use the Duncan '78) you really, really, really have to work to play lead on it. I am talking slap you in the face if you don't nail what you were trying to play. No tube amp compression/lotta gain to help you out. The guys in those first two videos are using hotter pickups so that helps with soloing but then takes the rhythm guitar farther from what Gaustad intended accuracy wise. I have played it with my Duncan Custom guitar and better for soloing and not as cool for rhythms.

Take the first guys video. Great playing but tons of gain and the low end distortion character is kind of like an overpowered input and jagged sounding. I do enjoy playing through this and am still messing with it. I'm findng, just like every other digital thing I have tried, that I have trouble getting it to sit right in a mix. When it's at the "correct" volume in a mix you just can't hear it clearly and when you try and turn it up to where it sits right, it overpowers everything else.

Of course I want to just get something like this and have it be everything I want it to be and sell all my tube amps, but I am keeping my 3 main amps and hoping someday I have no need for them. This may all be user error though. It's just my findings so far.

 

[harddriver]

I believe you need the $79 EVH pack and then you need to spend $100 for Tonex Max which is the software. I purchased just the Van Halen pack and could open it and play it, but every 10 seconds you get the loud static sound that some companies do when you are trying out a demo of their product. Spoke to a friend who had also bought the EVH pack and he said I needed to buy Tonex Max to really be able to use the product.

My user report on this so far is that if you are using PAF level pickups like the guy who designed the EVH Pack designed it with, (I use the Duncan '78) you really, really, really have to work to play lead on it. I am talking slap you in the face if you don't nail what you were trying to play. No tube amp compression/lotta gain to help you out. The guys in those first two videos are using hotter pickups so that helps with soloing but then takes the rhythm guitar farther from what Gaustad intended accuracy wise. I have played it with my Duncan Custom guitar and better for soloing and not as cool for rhythms.

Take the first guys video. Great playing but tons of gain and the low end distortion character is kind of like an overpowered input and jagged sounding. I do enjoy playing through this and am still messing with it. I'm findng, just like every other digital thing I have tried, that I have trouble getting it to sit right in a mix. When it's at the "correct" volume in a mix you just can't hear it clearly and when you try and turn it up to where it sits right, it overpowers everything else.

Of course I want to just get something like this and have it be everything I want it to be and sell all my tube amps, but I am keeping my 3 main amps and hoping someday I have no need for them. This may all be user error though. It's just my findings so far.

Thanks for the review Curt! Jim Gaustad has stated all the knobs on the 78/79 are designed to be set at noon, he set the tone controls to noon when he recorded the captures if I understood what he said in the tonetalk with Dave Friedman, if you have a hot pickup reduce the gain knob on the amp and vice versa.

I'm not looking to replace any of my tubes amps, I don't think anything digital will ever completely replicate the same experience and player interaction and interplay of playing an actual tube amp/speaker cabinet.

What I am looking at this ToneX for is a very good sounding emulation with the dynamics that I haven't heard in modelers up to this point. I suspect this recent advance has everything to do with the learning models IK and Neural is using...........ie: AI. Of course the current models still won't feedback on held notes as a real amps does but these recent models have great harmonic content and percussiveness dynamic depth on chugs, palm mutes and the way the held notes decay are very realistic. For an all in investment of around $300-500 ish for a great sounding/studio sounding 68 plexi Marshall on my desktop for jamming on is a extremely alluring to me since I have the 68 amp and know what's like to plug into it and have the 120DB experience already.

It may be awhile, if ever of this tech achieving 'EVERYTHING' an actual tube amp does but things are progressing rapidly now that's for sure so who knows what the future holds.

 

[chumbucket]

I believe you need the $79 EVH pack and then you need to spend $100 for Tonex Max which is the software. I purchased just the Van Halen pack and could open it and play it, but every 10 seconds you get the loud static sound that some companies do when you are trying out a demo of their product. Spoke to a friend who had also bought the EVH pack and he said I needed to buy Tonex Max to really be able to use the product.

My user report on this so far is that if you are using PAF level pickups like the guy who designed the EVH Pack designed it with, (I use the Duncan '78) you really, really, really have to work to play lead on it. I am talking slap you in the face if you don't nail what you were trying to play. No tube amp compression/lotta gain to help you out. The guys in those first two videos are using hotter pickups so that helps with soloing but then takes the rhythm guitar farther from what Gaustad intended accuracy wise. I have played it with my Duncan Custom guitar and better for soloing and not as cool for rhythms.

Take the first guys video. Great playing but tons of gain and the low end distortion character is kind of like an overpowered input and jagged sounding. I do enjoy playing through this and am still messing with it. I'm findng, just like every other digital thing I have tried, that I have trouble getting it to sit right in a mix. When it's at the "correct" volume in a mix you just can't hear it clearly and when you try and turn it up to where it sits right, it overpowers everything else.

Of course I want to just get something like this and have it be everything I want it to be and sell all my tube amps, but I am keeping my 3 main amps and hoping someday I have no need for them. This may all be user error though. It's just my findings so far.

I think you may just need an input gain adjustment on Tonex.

 

[chumbucket]

If you want IK, and cheap, I would go with this one:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AxeIO1--ik-multimedia-axe-i-o-one-usb-guitar-audio-interface

The Axe I/O series has the Z-Tone stuff, which is basically an impedance buffer to better match passive pickups than what most interfaces will do.

@harddriver
I guess another advantage of getting an IK interface is that you get a copy of Tonex SE with it, so you can buy the 78/79 pack and the AXE I/O ONE for around $200 all in. I would buy the AXE I/O ONE first and register it because you might get IK jam points with it and they'll let you use up to 12 points on the 78/79 pack bringing it down to $67.
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/jampoints/

 

[harddriver]

@harddriver
I guess another advantage of getting an IK interface is that you get a copy of Tonex SE with it, so you can buy the 78/79 pack and the AXE I/O ONE for around $200 all in. I would buy the AXE I/O ONE first and register it because you might get IK jam points with it and they'll let you use up to 12 points on the 78/79 pack bringing it down to $67.
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/jampoints/

If you want IK, and cheap, I would go with this one:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AxeIO1--ik-multimedia-axe-i-o-one-usb-guitar-audio-interface

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AxeIO1--ik-multimedia-axe-i-o-one-usb-guitar-audio-interface


The Axe I/O series has the Z-Tone stuff, which is basically an impedance buffer to better match passive pickups than what most interfaces will do.

Gentlemen....my fact finding mission is coming to a close...I am getting very close to hitting BIN from Sweetwater gentlemen........ thank you for all your information! it is very much appreciated.

Looks like my PC has all the required specs and storage for the download and operation, I have an I5 core(I3 core minimum recommended) and my harddrive has already been upgraded a bunch.

I don't care about saving 8 bucks with the IK points thing but thank you for letting me know about it!

So... the recommended AXE I/O One interface that comes with ToneX SE in it for $129.00 and then the 78/79 IK software package that Sweewater has for $79.00 for a total of $208.00 bucks.........so according to your information this is all I need to set this up and make it 100% functional?


This is very doable for me to try modeling out...

 

[chumbucket]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AxeIO1--ik-multimedia-axe-i-o-one-usb-guitar-audio-interface

Gentlemen....my fact finding mission is coming to a close...I am getting very close to hitting BIN from Sweetwater gentlemen........ thank you for all your information! it is very much appreciated.

Looks like my PC has all the required specs and storage for the download and operation, I have an I5 core(I3 core minimum recommended) and my harddrive has already been upgraded a bunch.

I don't care about saving 8 bucks with the IK points thing but thank you for letting me know about it!

So... the recommended AXE I/O One interface that comes with ToneX SE in it for $129.00 and then the 78/79 IK software package that Sweewater has for $79.00 for a total of $208.00 bucks.........so according to your information this is all I need to set this up and make it 100% functional?


This is very doable for me to try modeling out...

The IK Jam Points are cool to have though because you might want to use them when Gaustad gets the WACF/FW pack done. Or, maybe you go off the deep end and get one of the hardware Tonex pedals
When you register your Axe I/O on the IK site to get your Tonex download, you can just pay for 78/79 there and it'll be an automatic download. No different than buying from Sweetwater, just $12 less. Then you'll get more Jam Points for that purchase too.
My motto is don't spend more than you have to.
Seeing as you have a real Super Lead, you might think Tonex is no big deal.

 

[Shask]

@harddriver
I guess another advantage of getting an IK interface is that you get a copy of Tonex SE with it, so you can buy the 78/79 pack and the AXE I/O ONE for around $200 all in. I would buy the AXE I/O ONE first and register it because you might get IK jam points with it and they'll let you use up to 12 points on the 78/79 pack bringing it down to $67.
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/jampoints/

Yeah, that is a good point I forgot about. I bought it all in the wrong order and probably have 4 licenses of each, lol. I eventually just went Total Studio Max since it comes with everything they make.

 

[Shask]

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/AxeIO1--ik-multimedia-axe-i-o-one-usb-guitar-audio-interface

Gentlemen....my fact finding mission is coming to a close...I am getting very close to hitting BIN from Sweetwater gentlemen........ thank you for all your information! it is very much appreciated.

Looks like my PC has all the required specs and storage for the download and operation, I have an I5 core(I3 core minimum recommended) and my harddrive has already been upgraded a bunch.

I don't care about saving 8 bucks with the IK points thing but thank you for letting me know about it!

So... the recommended AXE I/O One interface that comes with ToneX SE in it for $129.00 and then the 78/79 IK software package that Sweewater has for $79.00 for a total of $208.00 bucks.........so according to your information this is all I need to set this up and make it 100% functional?


This is very doable for me to try modeling out...

Looks like it comes with ToneX SE and Amplitube 5 SE, if you are interested in using that. Yeah, all of the versions of ToneX basically work the same, but the different levels just come with more sounds. All of them except the free version come with unlimited downloads from ToneNet.

Until I just bought a new PC last month I was running it on a 12 year old i3, lol. Amplitube struggled more, but ToneX ran better.

 

[Kordoba]

that is EndTime, he is the king

He's the guy who done builted my guitar:

 

[Devin]

Who is Endtime? the dude in the video? He has a bunch of metal stuff on his channel.

Eric Bauer; dude fucking rips and is cool as hell

He built me this from scratch

 

[RaceU4her]

Eric Bauer; dude fucking rips and is cool as hell

He built me this from scratch

i didnt even know you had one of his, one of these years im gonna have him make me one

 

[Devin]

He's a master for real

He also refretted my Starfield Cabriolet neck and did an incredible job

 

[mentoneman]

this is a thing i don't understand about purchasing tonex presets.

what stops someone from buying the vh or dumble pack, make a few tweaks, and uploading to the free community site or repackaging as their own?

am i missing sonmething?

 

[harddriver]

It appears as though even if you don't have all the chops the tone is there with IK 78/79.....

I don't mean this as a dig on this guy's playing, it's solid enough but he doesn't have the groove or any swing like Gaustad does. My point was the tone of the ToneX captures still produces that recognizable VH1, VHII tones even if your playing style is different or skills aren't on par with EVH.

 

[chumbucket]

this is a thing i don't understand about purchasing tonex presets.

what stops someone from buying the vh or dumble pack, make a few tweaks, and uploading to the free community site or repackaging as their own?

am i missing sonmething?

I think that is possible. I've seen third party Tonex presets that have been pirated in their original format already.

 

[mentoneman]

I think that is possible. I've seen third party Tonex presets that have been pirated in their original format already.

i wouldn’t do that or knowingly take advantage of it due to the ethics and knowing how much work it takes to build certain presets.

but it seems pretty vulnerable to such practices.

 

[Shask]

this is a thing i don't understand about purchasing tonex presets.

what stops someone from buying the vh or dumble pack, make a few tweaks, and uploading to the free community site or repackaging as their own?

am i missing sonmething?

Same as anything else really. You could easily buy Fractal or Lexicon presets, or IR packs or whatever and share them online.

 

[harddriver]

He's a master for real

He also refretted my Starfield Cabriolet neck and did an incredible job

So Eric Bauer is a luthier as well as being a player!

Hard to find a good luthier that builds from the ground up and does meticulous work!

 

[harddriver]

I was 16 when Van Halen 1 hit the airwaves for the first time. That's Holy Grail tone for me. Benchmark. It's in my soul. If I can get in that zone for a very reasonable cost, then why not? Plus, ToneX does a LOT more than just Van Halen.

Dammit......my curiosity limit has finally been exceeded and now it's time to act..........................

Well Johnny.... for an all in price of around $200 bucks I am going to jump in a give modeling a try. I am going to order the Axe I/O One interface from Sweetwater today or tomorrow then when I register the interface I'll get the 78/79 package download from IK multimedia as Chumbucket and Shask suggested. thanks for all the suggestions fellas, much appreciated.



Excerpt from Chumbucket's post....

The IK Jam Points are cool to have though because you might want to use them when Gaustad gets the WACF/FW pack done. Or, maybe you go off the deep end and get one of the hardware Tonex pedals
When you register your Axe I/O on the IK site to get your Tonex download, you can just pay for 78/79 there and it'll be an automatic download. No different than buying from Sweetwater, just $12 less. Then you'll get more Jam Points for that purchase too.
My motto is don't spend more than you have to.

 

[harddriver]

I just placed my order for the IK Axe I/O One interface. Sweetwater rep called and said it does have a basic amp/cab/effect modeling in the ToneXSE package to try out other than the other premium software.

Once I get the interface in hand then I'll buy the 78/79 package from IK directly! The clips from Gus G on IK's site sound good as well. If it sounds half as good as these clips and videos for the investment I'll be more than happy with it....., if not.... I have wasted more on pedals in the past....we shall see.....

I would like to thank all you guys for being a bad influence on me to try this out!

C'mon Johnny..... jump in the 21'st Century modeling pool with me!