Strymon Iridium. Does it solve my problems?

Bellycaster

Our Band will soon have to accommodate a Keyboard on Stage and as such, I need to free up some space. As I don't want my pedalboard to be absent from the stage, I decided the free space would be better provided by the lack of my amp and cab.

Here's my current Pedalboard set up:

https://i.imgur.com/WuyaEY5.jpg

All my pedals are set up to run straight in front of an amp and sound great, re the ola and Cap, I just reduce the wet signal to compensate going through the pre-amp of my Laney.

Wah>Tuner>Yellow Q>Fallout>Phaser>Rhino>Bogner>Bunker>Flanger>J.Rabbit>Ola> El Cap

I don't want to go down the kind of Stomp, Headrush or Boss GX100 or 1000 route as it's too much and I really don't want to have to be faffing around micro-adjusting tones on a computer and I like my PB. We play Pubs or small Clubs, so I just need 2 very nice overdrive sounds from either Iridium, my OD pedals or a combination of both.

My Laney Amp can just be enjoyed at home as I would like to retain 1 Valve Amp.


Questions: Sorry

Does anyone know the correct cable connection path (inputs) if the Iridium is before the Ola. ie: Iridium>Ola>El Cap. I assume putting it first before time Modulation is wisest?

Anyone used their OD's through this? With the pedal not engaged, I assume I will just hear the sound from the desk? Do I have to have it engaged and set it cleanish if I want to use my current OD's. I have some nice ones as you can see.

What cables do I need for running it out to a desk at a Gig, it has 2 "outs"? I'm surprised it isn't an XLR out?

I expect I will need a wedge if I want to use at home, or can it go straight into my 1x12 Zilla?

Is this overkill for what I need? Is there something simpler and as good of an amp/cab sim if I'm happy with my current OD's and effects? It seems to be a great piece of kit that can sound great right out of the box. The Humboldt Simplifier looks good too.

Anyone use one and are you happy?

Thanks.

merlin

You could try a DSM & Humboldt Simplifier.

I'm selling one here;

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/249726/fx-for-sale-amazing-pedals-that-will-make-your-guitar-tone-different-to-what-it-is-now#latest

birtner

When I had to recently for a new band I went for a walrus ACS1 over the iridium but it’s the same thing. I think the Strymon is regarded as more of a pedal platform which is why I got the walrus. 

I put it at the end of my chain and treat it like a normal amp. Just go straight into the PA and everything is routed from there.  It has enough gain for me to drop all but one of my ODs which I retain for solos. Does seem to run out of headroom if the gain it up too much. Haven’t quite figured that one out yet. 

With the pedal turned off, everything sounds rubbish. 

At home it goes through a powered wedge and sounds good enough. 

I used unbalanced male xlr to jack cables and keep a DI box around just in case. 

Band mate uses a simplifier sometimes which does the job to. 

Bellycaster

merlin said:

You could try a DSM & Humboldt Simplifier.

I'm selling one here;

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/249726/fx-for-sale-amazing-pedals-that-will-make-your-guitar-tone-different-to-what-it-is-now#latest

That's tempting. I will look at demos but can it be used as a 2 channel amp, ie: Clean Channel and Dirty Channel? How is it for headroom?

Is it something you didn't like the sound of or how it operates?

Is yours the MK2 with reverb @merlin ;

Bellycaster

What if I set a nice cleanish Fender tone as "Favourite" on the Iridium as "channel 1" where I can use my OD pedals when called for in certain songs....and then set the the "on without favourite engaged" to a nice fat overdrive for other songs? Would that work?

Grangousier

The Simplifier is excellent, as are Tech21 solutions (SansAmp based) - I've been using a FlyRig at open mics, where it would be permanently plugged in in case anyone else turned up with an electric, and I've always been impressed by the sound of it out front. The Simplifier is obviously much more versatile, but with all those control it's very easy to knock something getting on and off (I expect that's not a problem you'll have). 

The Iridium is a really superb emulation, but I have found myself more drawn to analogue solutions, and I don't know why - I've really never been snobby about digital modelling.

if you want a really top-of-the-line solution (and I don't remember you saying you did), the Effectrode Blackbird is glorious. 

Bellycaster

Grangousier said:

The Simplifier is excellent, as are Tech21 solutions (SansAmp based) - I've been using a FlyRig at open mics, where it would be permanently plugged in in case anyone else turned up with an electric, and I've always been impressed by the sound of it out front. The Simplifier is obviously much more versatile, but with all those control it's very easy to knock something getting on and off (I expect that's not a problem you'll have). 

The Iridium is a really superb emulation, but I have found myself more drawn to analogue solutions, and I don't know why - I've really never been snobby about digital modelling.

if you want a really top-of-the-line solution (and I don't remember you saying you did), the Effectrode Blackbird is glorious. 

Thanks @Grangousier good into there. They all sound great to me. The only thing is the reason I'm buying it kind of defeats the object of exploring all their wonderful tones.

I'm just creating space on stage, but for the money I'm paying, I'd like to get at least a 2 channel scenario going on with the Iridium (need an answer from someone about my last post re using "favourite" function as a clean channel) I'd love it at our gigs to set one of it's clean sound and separately, one of it's great overdriven sounds while retaining the option of using my OD pedals on it's "clean favourite" setting and hopefully for all volumes to be the same level in all those scenarios.

I can do all this with my 2 channel Laney Amp, it's a bread and butter routine, but I need to be rid of the Laney and the cab for the sake of space. You wouldn't believe how cramped some of the playing areas (not even stages) are in some pubs we play.....well, maybe you have played similar places

John_P

Yes you can use the iridium as a two channel amp sim - I used to gig like that and then added the multi switch+ that lets you have 3 presets.   

The Strymon works great for what you describe into the PA but you’re still going to need something to hear yourself that might take up the same space as your amp unless you have decent monitors with your own mix.  

Bellycaster

John_P said:

Yes you can use the iridium as a two channel amp sim - I used to gig like that and then added the multi switch+ that lets you have 3 presets.   

The Strymon works great for what you describe into the PA but you’re still going to need something to hear yourself that might take up the same space as your amp unless you have decent monitors with your own mix.  

We always factor in Monitor space at gigs anyway, so that's not a worry. I'll probably buy my own wedge as I won't be able to enjoy it at home with only a 1x12 cab that I have now.

Just to be clear, did you use it as a 2 channel amp using the "favourite" method I described above? I'm in new territory here, it's probably simple but it seems alien.

Wazmeister

Im going through a similar process at the moment, and Imtrilaing the Iridium which is very good indeed.

The current fave is the Boss IR2 which is superb, and im so surprised by it.

The IR2 has an effects loop too.

Bellycaster

Wazmeister said:

Im going through a similar process at the moment, and Imtrilaing the Iridium which is very good indeed.

The current fave is the Boss IR2 which is superb, and im so surprised by it.

The IR2 has an effects loop too.

Looks good, but it's either OD or Clean, no option for both.

kennedydream1980

Bellycaster said:

Wazmeister said:

Im going through a similar process at the moment, and Imtrilaing the Iridium which is very good indeed.

The current fave is the Boss IR2 which is superb, and im so surprised by it.

The IR2 has an effects loop too.

Looks good, but it's either OD or Clean, no option for both.

You can switch between 2 sounds on the IR-2. So in effect 2 presets. So you could have a clean preset and an OD preset.

thomasw88

I’ve had the iridium, Humboldt, tech 21 blonde, ir2 and various others..

the ir2 is by far the best.  Sounds great, easy to use. The effects loop is crucial for me and if you’re wanting a two channel solution probably will for you.

richardhomer

I’ve recently bought another Iridium, having sold one a while ago.

It’s a pedal that it has taken me a while to appreciate. It’s ‘Fender’ model is based on the ‘Normal’ channel of a Deluxe Reverb, so it can come across as a bit ‘flat’ compared to other modellers - though actually it’s probably more usable, in more situations than (say) a Dream 65 which is very bright. 

I found the Marshall model too fizzy and bright for my taste. The solution has been to install the IR editor software and roll off the excess high end and bass. This has resulted in a drive channel which I think sounds really good - the dynamic response is very amp-like.

I use mine solely for recording, so I’m not sure how relevant my thoughts would be to live use.

CarpeDiem

I have run an Iridium after my effects pedals and into a PA. I kept the Iridium clean and used the Favourite as a solo boost. All distortion came from my pedalboard. I used a wedge on stage which the drummer and myself shared.
Strymon recommended using a DI box between the Iridium and the PA. I recently tried mine straight into a PA without a DI box and it sounded distorted so I’m now researching DI boxes. I want to use my Iridium as a backup just in case I encounter an issue with my amp.

TheBigDipper

Hope this is helpful to the OP. It's wordy, but it's a Saturday, so why not?

I mainly "go direct" these days. The band I'm in made a decision to reduce onstage volume after a couple of gigs in small venues on small stages where things were far too muddy and no fun at all. Our drummer has an e-kit, the bass player uses a couple of effects into an Origin Effects BassRig and I have used a variety of digital and analogue "amps" with my pedalboard. 

I'm a player that looks for a clean tone that goes to edge-of-breakup tone, plus pedals. I like the amp to respond to my guitar volume knob and my pick attack.

Here's a potted history of my past year of experimentation and growth. There's been a few changes in the 12 months I've been doing this...  :-) 

It's all subjective, and anything I didn't like that other people love (or vice versa) just means we're different. Which kind of makes anything we write a bit pointless, but anyway... 

IR cabinet pedals - I've used a few over the past couple of years and my ears do not like them. I can hear digital artefacts that I find unpleasant and unmusical. 

Tech 21 FlyRig 5 v2 - Analogue amp, analogue speaker emulation, digital delay/reverb in parallel. I've had this for a few years and it's my backup for when everything else fails. It sounds great and I'd actually use it more if it was a little bigger (finding the right footswitch button can be hard onstage) and had two amp voices (clean and dirty) rather than needing to use the overdrive to crunch up the Sansamp. But I've gigged it and used it for practices and had a good sound and a good playing experience. 

Strymon Iridium - Modeller, IR cabs. I didn't like it. It didn't respond to the way I played and was a bit "meh" to my ears. So I wouldn't recommend one based on my experience, but here's some other thoughts. 

Quilter SuperBlock US - analogue solid state amp, analogue speaker emulation. Pretty good for the cleans but didn't take my pedals that well (although it has a good reputation with other people). Can run on 9v DC but has no headroom when it does - needs the 24v DC power supply for best performance. 

Friedman IR-X - Analogue preamp, IR-based cab emulation, MIDI control and presets. A great preamp for adding channels to a single-channel amp. Sounded awesome into my Rivera and Carr. Fizzy and not convincing to me when used as an amp to "go direct". Note that I'm not a hi gain player that also uses pristine cleans. It fell down for me when going from clean-ish to edge-of-breakup as I dug into the guitar. I just don't think I'm the sort of player this was built for. 

Simplifier Mk 2 - analogue amp, analogue speaker emulation. Sounds great and has 3 different amp voices instead of 3 different Fenders (the Quilter). But on the pedalboard, you have to pick which voice you want and go with it for the gig. It's not practical to change between songs, rebalance volumes, etc. If I could have afforded to keep it for home recording, I would still have it.

Carl Martin Ampster - Analogue preamp, analogue speaker emulation. A more giggable alternative to the Simplifier with a nice feature that meant I could send a signal to FOH and also to a powered speaker onstage and control my own onstage volume without upsetting the sound guy. A bit unresponsive to the guitar, though and it started making noises within a few weeks of use. GAK refunded me even though they didn't have to by then. 

I then found myself with a couple of gigs and no amp on the board, but I did already have a...

Origin Effects RevivalDrive Compact - analogue solid state pedal with the complete topology of a single channel, no master volume amp. No speaker emulation. So I quickly bought a second hand Neunaber Iconoclast (a digital cab emulation using an EQ-based approach rather than an IR-based approach) and tried the RDC dialled in as a an amp. It was an immediate hit. I set it up to be at edge-of-breakup when I dug in hard, clean when I played softer and to overdrive when hit by a boost (TC Spark). It all worked just like a nice amp - but with just the one tonal voice (Voxy).

So I've also added an OE Deluxe61 to give me Fendery clean tones. I manually select this or the RDC before starting a song to be my "amp" for that song. There are no presets. 

There are still some limitations in terms of tonal choice, and I can't control them with MIDI, but it plays like an amp and goes direct, which is what I need. The D61 is closer to a standard amp for controls, because it has a volume and a tone. The RDC takes a little bit of learning which control does what, but I've dialled in something I like. 

What's good about both of these for me, when used as amps rather than pedals into an amp, is that you dial in the sound you want and then can control the output volume without affecting that dialled-in tone. The output from both is at unity gain with the input signal and I can "switch amps" without upsetting anything else. 

My signal path is to take the output from my "pre" effect pedals into the RDC or D61, then feed that into an H90 for "post" effects before sending that into the Iconoclast for the speaker emulation. If I get told to use supplied backline, I can send the H90 output to the onstage amp and bypass the Iconoclast - also flipping a single switch on the OE pedals so they are EQ'd for the front of an amp rather than direct. 

I've not tried an IR-2 but have owned GT1000 tech. For me, it's the same issue most of the time, clean amp models that don't go into edge-of-breakup naturally as you dig in. If you don't play like me, then I think the Boss clean and hi gain amp models are very good. Their models of well-known amps (apart from their JC120 model) don't do it for me, but I like their own models. 

I've been told elsewhere that I would get clean to edge-of-breakup with a single amp model/profile if I tried Fractal or Kemper products. I haven't (yet) done so. 

I need a coffee now.... :-) 

merlin

Bellycaster said:

merlin said:

You could try a DSM & Humboldt Simplifier.

I'm selling one here;

https://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/249726/fx-for-sale-amazing-pedals-that-will-make-your-guitar-tone-different-to-what-it-is-now#latest

That's tempting. I will look at demos but can it be used as a 2 channel amp, ie: Clean Channel and Dirty Channel? How is it for headroom?

Is it something you didn't like the sound of or how it operates?

Is yours the MK2 with reverb @merlin ;

I had two gigs where I couldn't use an amp for technical reasons so I bought the simplifier and it did exactly what I needed. 

Needs to be run with pedals Infront and doesn't do a two channel thing. A good overdrive/dirtortion does the trick. It works just like a zero watt amp. Quite versatile and really well made. 

Bellycaster

Thanks everyone and especially @TheBigDipper for that detailed post. I'd buy you a Coffee if you were here.

I think I'd prefer the mk2 @merlin due to the reverb option, although saying that, there's reverb on our desk and I only use a touch as "always on" type thing.

The Boss IR2 is impressing me with demos I'm hearing. Did you gig your IR2 @thomasw88 ;

I have a Palmer PAN01 D.I Box. Would I need that with all the options mentioned above? Have you tried one of these @CarpeDiem ;

This is gonna keep me busy for a while, so many options and getting my head around where the cables go for each option. I have used FX Loop in my amp so it may not be as scary as it seems, then it's just about what I need for connecting to desk, cable types, DI Box etc.

CarpeDiem

@Bellycaster I’ve not tried a Palmer PAN01 DI box with my Iridium. The time that I was previously running it to a PA, it was via a DI that was permanently installed at the venue on the stage area. I’ve not tried any of the other units that others, notably @TheBigDipper, have mentioned. My understanding is that if the unit does not have an XLR output, it’s likely to have unbalanced outputs which would require a DI box to convert to a balanced output for connection to a PA. If I’ve misunderstood this, I’m confident that there are other far more knowledgeable people on here that will correct me!

The DI box needs to be suitable for the guitar’s pickup output level. This is an area that I’m currently researching as I want a single DI box that will work with both active EMG pickups as well as passive pickups. I’m assuming that your pickups are a high enough output for your Palmer unit. 

CaseOfAce

Bellycaster said:

Our Band will soon have to accommodate a Keyboard on Stage and as such, I need to free up some space. As I don't want my pedalboard to be absent from the stage, I decided the free space would be better provided by the lack of my amp and cab.

... can I stop you right there...!?!  

Bellycaster

CaseOfAce said:

Bellycaster said:

Our Band will soon have to accommodate a Keyboard on Stage and as such, I need to free up some space. As I don't want my pedalboard to be absent from the stage, I decided the free space would be better provided by the lack of my amp and cab.

... can I stop you right there...!?!  

There's no stopping it now