Strymon Iridium

[mackerelmint]

Wow. Stereo in and out. And I wonder if there will be upgradability in terms of the models at any point. As it is, I'm doing kind of the same thing but with a Tech21 Leeds. Sometimes I wish I had a Vox job, too... I could live with Marshall and Vox in one pedal, especially with the stereo input, that just opens things up to all kinds of crazy ideas right there. I love that you can upload whatever cabinet impulses you like.

I'll probably get one at some point.

[redchapterjubilee]

Mine arrived Friday and I spent a good deal of time with it yesterday. Sounds like an amp, behaves like an amp. The room IR’s are very helpful in getting it to sit in a mix. I am just using stock IR’s. I have a Radar full of 3rd party IR’s and the ones in the Iridium sound just as good. One reason I bought one is that I don’t want to spend hours moving IR’s in and out and messing with it. I wanted something I could pull out of the box that just worked right. The Iridium does that for me.

What sold me on it were the demos, particularly with it on the Plexi setting. Oddly, I wound up not using that setting at all yesterday when recording with it. I used the Deluxe and (surprisingly) the AC setting. I had the Iridium in “dual mono” with either my 59 Bassman LTD or Bassman 20 direct through IR’s and the AC setting complimented those amps better when blended. A few folks on other forums said the Iridium doesn’t take pedals well but I find that it acts a lot like the amp models and it depends on which one you are using. The Fender and Marshall settings don’t react to volume boosts except to get louder, but when the model is wound up then punching it makes it break up. The AC model is spongy and takes boosts better at lower settings. I used a Rat, Klone, and ss/bs Mini with it with good results.

I expect Strymon will sell tons of these and for good reason. It sounds right and is easy to use.

[Larry Mal]

Thanks for the review, but can you tell us about the noise level of this? I know I'm kind of weird, but I have terrible noise in my environment and when virtual amp software makers bake in "authentic" amp noise into their simulations, it just ruins the whole thing for me.

I don't need an authentic recreation of an old amplifier, as long as we are simulating things I want a simulation of a perfect environment where the amp sounds exactly like it would sound except for no electrical or mechanical noises in there.

It seems like this Strymon would do that from what I've heard- what do you think?

[Maggieo]

I don't need an authentic recreation of an old amplifier, as long as we are simulating things I want a simulation of a perfect environment where the amp sounds exactly like it would sound except for no electrical or mechanical noises in there.

You want a Universal Audio OX.

[Larry Mal]

Cool idea, but I have all that functionality already in my Fender Princeton Recording amp, which has a built in attenuator and if you turn it all the way down, it's a direct output with a speaker emulator as well sending signal directly from the amp.

So I'm covered there.

Like I say, I would probably be happy with things like Amplitube and such if they just didn't decide to model noise as part of authenticity. I know that a real Fender Twin made in 1965 would have some noise to it, but I see no reason why an emulation of one has to.

[marqueemoon]

I’d love an OX. I like the amps I have just fine.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Wow. Stereo in and out. And I wonder if there will be upgradability in terms of the models at any point. As it is, I'm doing kind of the same thing but with a Tech21 Leeds. Sometimes I wish I had a Vox job, too... I could live with Marshall and Vox in one pedal, especially with the stereo input, that just opens things up to all kinds of crazy ideas right there. I love that you can upload whatever cabinet impulses you like.

I'll probably get one at some point.

Honestly, hadn’t thought about it but you make a good point. Logistically speaking it will make having a stereo rig much easier. Would be insane if you could delegate one output to fender and the other to the Vox setting...

[Larry Mal]

Yeah, that would be cool, and I thought of that. From what I can see, it doesn't do that, though.

A little limited in that regard, also a little limited in that it doesn't pass through so you could take the dry signal and assign it to be a Fender sound in Amplitube or something, while the Iridium handles a Vox sound for instance.

You could split the signal prior to Iridium, sure, but it would be nice to not have to.

[redchapterjubilee]

High gain when engaged makes it buzz at idle, just like an amp does. Yet it’s dead quiet otherwise. It deals better with 60 cycle hum than my AFB does.

[Larry Mal]

Thanks- that's what I was hoping to hear.

[Maggieo]

I’d love an OX. I like the amps I have just fine.

Same here. And I've got a great DI modeler (and killer drum machine and multieffects unit) with my Adrenelinn III.

[somanytoys]

Unless they change something drastically, I’m guessing the most you can get is a dual mono signal of one amp. So you’d have to have 2 pedals for dual complimentary amps. If it works well, it’s still easier than carrying 2 amps around.

The only thing I’ve really tried in that vein is a Yamaha THR-C. It does well for what it is (stand-alone amp emulator) and I like it, but it doesn’t always play well with pedals. It can get a very spongy, squished sound with some pedals, both overdrives and other effects, which sounds very unnatural. I’ve found 2 that work well with it, both low gain ODs (a Barber DD and a VFE Mermaid klone). I don’t use the amp very loud, which may or may bo may not make a difference.

I think I’m still too oldschool to ever go a totally digital path, I’ll always have my tube guitar amps. But this pedal seems like it’s closest to what I would like if I decided to use digital modeling amps to play live - sounds good, plays well with pedals and can dial in a good sound quickly out of the box or on the fly.

Until then, to play live, I can live with carting around small Vox and Bugera amps to be mic’d, and speaker cabinets, if necessary.

I hope this pedal turns out to be very cool.

[MT]

Wow. Stereo in and out. And I wonder if there will be upgradability in terms of the models at any point. As it is, I'm doing kind of the same thing but with a Tech21 Leeds. Sometimes I wish I had a Vox job, too... I could live with Marshall and Vox in one pedal, especially with the stereo input, that just opens things up to all kinds of crazy ideas right there. I love that you can upload whatever cabinet impulses you like.

I'll probably get one at some point.

Strymon aren’t really known for updating their products are they? Have they ever updated or added to any of their products in the past? I think this one will be the same. They seem to be a “get it how we like it first time and then leave it alone” type of company. I could be wrong though.

[mackerelmint]

Are they not? I have no idea. If their track record suggests not, then probably not, I'd guess.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Pretty sure this is the route I’m going. I contemplated buying a “forever” amp, but I’ve had those before and sold them all. I have a toddler now and buying huge gear purchases right now just doesn’t seem as appealing as it used to. And this is just more practical for everything. Show up to a place with just a guitar and a pedalboard and be ready. Consistent sound and even a stereo rig.