IK Multimedia unleashes Limited Brown Sound 3 x Colourway Hardware Editions of its ToneX One - with 20 classic Van Halen sounds onboard

I’m obviously well onboard with the ToneX One concept by now - and it’s kind of cool, but also a little new money for old rope here  - in putting out different artwork editions of hardware pedals that can house any and every of the many ToneX flavours - in collections of 20 at a time!

I feel the shiny mirror finish of the Satriani Model is the most visually arresting. While I’m much more of an EVH fan - and would really love to have the new Red Edition - with all those favourite EVH flavours onboard.

You can buy the White / Red / Yellow devices individually for €249 / $249 / £249 or as a unique Boxed Set of 3 for €599 / $599 / £599 where you get various extra bells and whistles included - and all 3 Brown Sound Tone Collections - 78/79, 80/81, and 82/84. For an individual device you get the 78/79 collection by default - and then you get choose one of the other 2! you can buy any and all of those courtesy of the IK Multimedia Webstore!

It sees that on the actual ToneX One device you get a mix from across those 3 Brown Sound Tone Captures / Collections - as the Preset Names don’t all match up to the tracks on Van Halen and VHII. Note also that you’re getting the studio recordings sounds - based on replicating the crisp sounds of those recordings - often with different options too - like a version with and without the modulation - be it Fanger or Phaser or Chorus!

For me the Red ToneX One is by far and away the most iconic one of those three, and the most appealing. You could carry the Presest in line with the different coloured pedals representing the Guitar Colour Era of each of EVH’s key Guitars. If I had the whole set - 2 of those would be pretty much permanently on the shelf as such - and I’m the antithesis of a shelf-ware guy - Pedals are for Playing!

I would have liked to be able to pick out my 20 favourite Van Halen Songs - and then get those presets loaded onto the one device I acquire. I find the process of connecting the device via cable to laptop somewhat clunky and tedious - as my music corner and desk area are kind of miles apart - and it means untethering one or the other. Valeton has upped the anti a little by including bluetooth connectivity in its equivalent G5. I would have liked that for my Tonex One, alongside full stereo ins as well as outs - so that I have he maximum flexibility to place my pedal anywhere in my Stereo chain (1/3rd Stereo, 2/3’ds Mono!).

I’m not going to go into all the functional details again - I kind of wrote the definitive piece for my Satch Edition and I will refer you to that if you want all the technical details.

The main considerations for me for this release - are the aesthetics of the individual devices - and the quality of the presets onboard.

I’m a little confused about the different era collections - as the reference presets list seems to hint at songs beyond that 78/79 period - unless I interpreted it vastly wrong. Some of those ToneX preset titles are alas somewhat cryptic - which feels somewhat unnecessary - as a result - I spent ages trawling through Van Halen song lyrics and band lore - to try to figure out what song each preset represented. If you listen yo Jamie Humphries demo below - he uses one of the Volcano Presets for various purposed - including ’Running with the Devil’ Also he does touch on the ’Love Talks’ Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love preset - which is not one of the default presets - but is in the 78/79 Collection. As Jamie explains - IK Multimedia need to be a little more precise in the descriptions and overview - and there’s a lot of potential for confusion. Also as of going live - supposedly only the 78/79 Collection is live and direct now - with the other 2 coming up very soon!

I’m pretty sure I got ’The Temple’ reference wrong - and I’ve reached out for further clarification - which I will hopefully get before the article is scheduled to go live (alas No!)! ’The Temple’ doesn’t seem to have any direct lyrical correlation - I thought maybe something to do with the original Masonic Temple Gig - but ToneX doesn’t really go into detail there! If someone has the correct interpretiaon of the Presest do let me know. I was also in two minds for the Dreaming Big Preset - whether that represented Little Dreamer or Dreams even - I went back and forth on a few of these - which hopefully is mostly right now!