IK Multimedia’s revered amp-modelling stomps are getting a Black Friday boost: Score 100 FREE metal-ready patches when you purchase a Tonex pedal
Get $50 worth of face-melting metal tones when you buy IK Multimedia's popular Tonex or Tonex One amp modeller pedal completely free this Black Friday
Amp, cab, and stompbox modelling were once, for lack of a better word, ‘controversial.’ However, in the wake of myriad bad-sounding digital patches and in a relatively short period of time, amp sim technology has improved exponentially, today being often indistinguishable from the real thing. This is a good thing for the space-short and cash-strapped guitarists amongst us – and even better still when Black Friday brings us digital deals aplenty – as it has with IK Multimedia’s own $50 tone-patch deal-sweetener.
The sweetened deal in question is the purchasing of IK Multimedia’s groundbreakingly affordable amp modelling hardware, which comes in two core forms: Tonex Pedal and Tonex One. The Tone X pedal is a chunkily-sized amp profiler pedal, and the Tonex One, its micro-format little sibling, IK Multimedia, is offering new buyers of either – between now and the 2nd December – a free package of 100 high-gain tones in the Metal Gems Collection.
Trading in on the success of the AmpliTube and Tonex software modelers, IK Multimedia’s Tonex pedals bring the power of their AI-assisted amp models into the real world – and at a relative steal, too. For Black Friday, if you buy a Tonex pedal, you’ll also get free access to Tonex’s Metal Gems Collection (usually $50), which models four classic high-gain amps in 100 pitch-perfect tone presets..
Tonex started life as digital amp-simulating software but with something of a different aim to IK Multimedia’s now-industry-standard AmpliTube 5 system. AmpliTube painstakingly models amps, cabs, effects, and microphone responses to create an endlessly tweakable digital studio for recording your guitars; Tonex uses proprietary “AI Machine Modeling” to create flawless algorithmic sims (or Tone Models) of specific amps, rigs, and settings.
Tonex has a huge variety of its own Tone Models available for you to try – and with IK Multimedia’s generous Black Friday deal, you can get 100 of them with a Tonex pedal purchase for nothing. The Metal Gems Collection usually goes for $50 and contains 100 patches based on four different amps, namely the Peavey 5150, Diezel Herbert, Soldano SLO-100, and a Bogner Überschall.
Each amp has between 20 and 30 individual patches that swap out cab and mic types and add modeled dirt pedals for extra gain. This is a smorgasbord for the high-octane players amongst us and as good a sign as any to put off buying that 5150 for another year at least…
These briefly-free amp sims are hugely impressive, but only one of a few good reasons to get in on Tonex early. The Tonex ecosystem is an extremely powerful thing to be able to access from your pedalboard – particularly for the ability to model your own rigs, which could save your precious vintage equipment and your spine if you’re fixing to tour. Still, having a free 5150 in your pocket could well be reason enough to take the plunge.
Looking for more six-string-related bargains? Well, head over to our Black Friday guitar deals page, where you'll find serious discounts on some of the more popular models available today.
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James Grimshaw is a freelance writer and music obsessive with over a decade of experience in music and audio writing. They’ve lent their audio-tech opinions (amongst others) to the likes of Guitar World, MusicRadar and the London Evening Standard – before which, they covered everything music and Leeds through their section-editorship of national e-magazine The State Of The Arts. When they aren’t blasting esoteric noise-rock around the house, they’re playing out with esoteric noise-rock bands in DIY venues across the country; James will evangelise to you about Tera Melos until the sun comes up.