Strymon Iridium

[Unicorn Warrior]

I have a few, Waves GTR, Amplitube, and Guitar Rig. Maybe some other stuff around there.

Maybe I'm just used to that stuff now, but when I kept going to Iridium I would spend a lot of times getting not very close to sounds I already had.

Like, if you already had a bunch of effects that you liked, and were willing to treat Iridium only as an amp without a speaker, then it would be good. But that just wasn't quite what I was using it for.

It was too expensive to just keep around, so I let it go. I'm not saying it was a bad product for other people.

I’m coming from a platform of playing a JC-120 as my main amp at the moment. I dearly miss having a Vox around and sometimes enjoyed Fender amps in the past. I do have the option to go direct in more than half of the places I play..I’m still on the fence about it. There have been some videos I’ve seen, where dry, that I didn’t quite fall in love with. In the end, I still see it as a useful tool. But, they aren’t cheap..I could legit just get an AC-15 for that. Then again, that doesn’t solve sound issues. I almost believe it would be easier to blend my live sound from the iridium platform

[BulletLee]

This pedal was super intriguing for quiet home use and not to beat the dead horse here but I grabbed one and... wow. I reorganized the pedalboard to accommodate and had mistakenly plugged the Iridium into the expression plug of the pedal prior. So in troubleshooting I just went straight into the Iridium from the Squier Bullet Strat that was sitting close to me and I was instantly convinced the sound I was hearing was coming from my Fender Amp sitting next to the board. The sound was so convincing at first I kept taking the headphones off to make sure I wasn't actually making noise outside of the headphones.

The shortcoming though is that any of my pedals engaged start causing quite a bit of noise. I wonder if my OCD is set to buffered bypass that could be influencing it. I also have my PolyTune 3 set to buffer the signal. I should try to clean those up to see if the noise is lower. If I can get this to work I say the thing is worth the price tag, just for that headphone function.

[redchapterjubilee]

Work has me filling in as a "virtual receptionist" for Zoom breakout sessions from home. I listen to my Zoom feed on earbuds. When things are slow I turn the video off, mute my mic, grab a guitar, plug it and my studio headphones in to my Iridium, place the headphones over my earbudded ears, and then strum away. This way I can listen for the tell-tale virtual doorbell to ring, and when it does, quickly doff the cans, set the guitar down, unmute everything and do work. Then when that's over, I go back to strumming away. It's a pretty neat setup. I'm still enjoying my Iridium.

[BulletLee]

Work has me filling in as a "virtual receptionist" for Zoom breakout sessions from home. I listen to my Zoom feed on earbuds. When things are slow I turn the video off, mute my mic, grab a guitar, plug it and my studio headphones in to my Iridium, place the headphones over my earbudded ears, and then strum away. This way I can listen for the tell-tale virtual doorbell to ring, and when it does, quickly doff the cans, set the guitar down, unmute everything and do work. Then when that's over, I go back to strumming away. It's a pretty neat setup. I'm still enjoying my Iridium.

That is brilliant. I have morning Zoom stand-up meetings. Most just cut their video feed and listen to the boss, time to shred!

[Unicorn Warrior]

Iridium is ordered. We’ll see how it goes

[RocknRollShakeUp]

Is anyone running the Iridium pre time based effects into a DAW?

I’m thinking of getting one for home recording and am wondering about placing my Eventide H9s after the Iridium, then into my interface, to get reverb and delays as one would get by adding such effects post recording.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Is anyone running the Iridium pre time based effects into a DAW?

I’m thinking of getting one for home recording and am wondering about placing my Eventide H9s after the Iridium, then into my interface, to get reverb and delays as one would get by adding such effects post recording.

That’s exactly how mine will be. All of my pedalboard, then plugged into iridium -> Interface. I’ll be treating it just as if it’s an amp I’d record. I’ll let you know how it goes

[redchapterjubilee]

I act like mine is an amp and run all effects in front of it.

[Unicorn Warrior]

I should clarify..it think I misread the post before. Yes, all
of my effects will go in front of this thing. Maybe in stereo too. It just arrived and is waiting at the post office.

Unfortunately, I have a paper to complete by Friday and I’m at work now. So many things to get squared away

[Unicorn Warrior]

Just got it in..plugged it in and so far it sounds really good. Can’t wait to explore it a little more. I think this will serve me very well for my applications

I was really surprised that the gain structure responded so much like an amp. I guess I shouldn’t have because that’s what all the hype around this thing was for. It is a little noisy on the chime setting I find, and when level/drive is turned up. But, a real amp, OD or distortion pedal does the same thing.

[somanytoys]

Yeah, I’ve personally found that the Vox AC amps’ character changes a lot more when you put some hair on it, more (or different, at least) than Fenders or Marshalls.

I’m curious as to how this takes pedals. My THR doesn’t seem to sound as good with pedals, but it does have its own built-in effects, and the different amp sounds are really nice, so I’ve come to accept using it standalone.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Yeah, I’ve personally found that the Vox AC amps’ character changes a lot more when you put some hair on it, more (or different, at least) than Fenders or Marshalls.

I’m curious as to how this takes pedals. My THR doesn’t seem to sound as good with pedals, but it does have its own built-in effects, and the different amp sounds are really nice, so I’ve come to accept using it standalone.

Well, I have no other drive pedals wired up right now (My board is quite disheveled). But, reverbs and delays really made me happy what little time I spent with it. And..I’ve had some Curtis Novak WR JM pups for a long time in my build. I’ve been playing through a JC-120 and I knew I liked the pickups...but man, the iridium really brings out a quality in them that I haven’t heard yet. I’m sure the same would happen through a good valve amp, but the difference is night and day. So far, I’m really enjoying this rig. It’s been fun bouncing back from Fender to Vox. Each voicing can be just what you need for a particular song or mood. I wish I could experiment more. But I got so much I need to do and so little time. Still need to order some parts for my SG and rewire/organize my pedal board.

Because of the milliamp requirements on this bad boy (300 for normal use and 500 with headphones) I’ve ordered a Furman powerstrip. Thinking of selling the JC-120 in order to fund more strymon pedals...we will see

[somanytoys]

Yes, I have at least one of each of the amps in there (Voxes, the Fender & Marshall are clones), and each amp definitely has its own characteristics. I’ve found that guitars, pickups and pedals will sound different and react differently on each one, especially the dirt pedals. It’s really nice to have the flexibility of all of them, like you said.

I was just wondering because I haven’t loved the sound of almost any pedals with my THR, it seems to like an unmolested signal to let it do its thing, and it has some built in effects that are useable. It’s got good sounds, especially for just a 10w practice/travel amp. As a pedal guy, that’s hard to get used to, but it’s also convenient as shit.

You may want to give that thing some more time and mileage before you decide to sell your amp, to make sure it’s everything you want, need and expect. And maybe figure out how you would use it as an actual amp, when you might need one. I would think that it would do well with a power amp and speaker, or maybe even a powered speaker, although the range of a powered speaker may be too wide (?).

Glad you’re happy with it, I hope it works out well.

[OffsetUsername]

Well, I have no other drive pedals wired up right now (My board is quite disheveled). But, reverbs and delays really made me happy what little time I spent with it. And..I’ve had some Curtis Novak WR JM pups for a long time in my build. I’ve been playing through a JC-120 and I knew I liked the pickups...but man, the iridium really brings out a quality in them that I haven’t heard yet. I’m sure the same would happen through a good valve amp, but the difference is night and day. So far, I’m really enjoying this rig. It’s been fun bouncing back from Fender to Vox. Each voicing can be just what you need for a particular song or mood. I wish I could experiment more. But I got so much I need to do and so little time. Still need to order some parts for my SG and rewire/organize my pedal board.

Because of the milliamp requirements on this bad boy (300 for normal use and 500 with headphones) I’ve ordered a Furman powerstrip. Thinking of selling the JC-120 in order to fund more strymon pedals...we will see

What do you think the JC is lacking most where your pickups are best highlighted by the Iridium? I know every amp (and amp sim for that matter) will react differently. I more so reckon you'll have a more nuanced reason as to why that's so to where you'd sell it, too.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Well, I have no other drive pedals wired up right now (My board is quite disheveled). But, reverbs and delays really made me happy what little time I spent with it. And..I’ve had some Curtis Novak WR JM pups for a long time in my build. I’ve been playing through a JC-120 and I knew I liked the pickups...but man, the iridium really brings out a quality in them that I haven’t heard yet. I’m sure the same would happen through a good valve amp, but the difference is night and day. So far, I’m really enjoying this rig. It’s been fun bouncing back from Fender to Vox. Each voicing can be just what you need for a particular song or mood. I wish I could experiment more. But I got so much I need to do and so little time. Still need to order some parts for my SG and rewire/organize my pedal board.

Because of the milliamp requirements on this bad boy (300 for normal use and 500 with headphones) I’ve ordered a Furman powerstrip. Thinking of selling the JC-120 in order to fund more strymon pedals...we will see

What do you think the JC is lacking most where your pickups are best highlighted by the Iridium? I know every amp (and amp sim for that matter) will react differently. I more so reckon you'll have a more nuanced reason as to why that's so to where you'd sell it, too.

It has to do more with the responsiveness of the amp than the pickups. I’ve made the pilgrimage to the 120 because a lot of my heroes used it. While I really like the amp for its flatter response for some applications, it just doesn’t respond to dynamics quite like my AC15s/30s. The iridium reminded me of that.