Joe Rogers Tonex Captures

[Tim Townley]

Over the last week and weekend, I was in contact with Joe Rogers about buying some Tonex captures. He took the time to talk with me about my needs and preferences. I have used either a Helix or Tonex almost exclusively. There are not a lot of amps aimed at steel in those formats, so I did not have a lot of experience with the amps Joe had available. He took the time to find out my preferences and recommended the Little Walter capture. It suited my tone perfectly and was a big improvement over what I had been using. In the information he sent, he mentioned how much better it sounds to separate the cabinet IR from the Tonex. He recommends using a Sonicake for this, but I was able to accomplish the same thing using the Helix to host the IRs. This made a drastic improvement in the "realness" of my tone. I appreciated the time and effort Joe put into making sure I was satisfied.
Tim

[Paul Stauskas]

Are you playing with a cab or going direct? Does anyone have any feedback regarding playing direct with the ToneX and IR selection? Any recommendations as to which DI you are using to go to the mixer? I have struggled with headroom and volume with the ToneX One using Sarno presets from Joe. It is likely user error as I haven't spent a lot of time with it. Thanks.

[Tim Townley]

I am going direct. I used to use the Tonex into a DI to the board. I now use the Tonex in the effects loop of the Helix. The Helix has several output options and will send out a mic signal, so sound boards handle it well. That also gives me the option of adding any effects, and I can choose whether to place them before the amp or after. I am also able to use MIDI signals to choose different setups for different songs. The Helix also alllows me to deal with any signal level issues quickly and easily. It's a little overkill, but it works well. I got the idea from others using the Helix Stomp in the same way.

[Tony Rankin]

I'm using the Tonex (with Joe Rogers' amp captures) along with the Sonicake IR. My first time using it was this past Sunday, when playing at church. I had no issues at all and the band leader really liked the tone. I had no problems whatsoever and no hum or hiss. I was very pleased.

I had a Radial Pro48 DI with me, on my pedal board, but didn't need to use it at all.

I appreciate Joe for offering some tips along the way and for the good products he has available for us steel pickers!

[Paul Stauskas]

Thanks for the responses. What is the advantage of using the Sonicake compared to the IR loading function included with ToneX?

[Tony Rankin]

Paul,

If you are on stage with an in-ear system (this is my situation) there's an improvement because Joe has specifically captured Speaker Impulse Responses, geared toward steel speakers and cabinets, and the true character of the speaker is not as present as it is with the Sonicake. Joe says that if playing in-ears or recording, the Sonicake is a must. It also serves as a DI for sending your signal to FOH or recording console via an XLR out.

I'm not trying to speak for Joe, but this is the gist of it...I hope.

[Tim Townley]

I found that separating the cab IR from the Tonex didn't make a drastic difference in the tone, but it made a big difference in the feel of the amp. It makes it feel and react more like a real amp. It also adds some dimension to the tone. It's hard to explain, but using the cab IR in Tonex, the tone feels a little two-dimensional. When you separate the IR into a different unit, the tone becomes a little more 3d. You can hear the space around the tone. It's a subtle thing and not strictly necessary, but it makes a difference.

[Jon Jaffe]

I use the TONEX One and the TONEX cab. I only play live, and sometimes there's sound, sometimes it's a stage mix. I use Joe's ShoBud preset, and I have various cabs loaded into the TONEX cab. I find that dedicated FRFR-powered speakers are superior to regular combo amps. They are lighter and have a tonal characteristic that has more depth than a combo. The myriad of IRs that Joe has made has my head spinning. And sometimes I choose to leave the cab off.
Regarding volume with the TONEX One, there are multiple stages of gain and volume available in the TONEX Editor software to experiment with, including input sensitivity, volume, gain, and preset volume. One can access them live with a combination of buttons and dials.

[Joe Rogers]

Guys, thanks for the compliments...!! The Sonicake Sonic IR and the Tonex Cab are both end of chain solutions. If playing through a powered amp such as the Power Amp In of a Telonics Combo or Peavey Nashville (both work EXTREMELY well), the Sonic IR lets you send the signal with the speaker cab IR to front of house. It is basically a DI allowing for custom steel guitar speaker IR's to be inserted. The Tonex Cab is a more expensive solution, but covers several bases.

Jon, if you thought your head was spinning, I am about to go on Round 2 with two different Black Widows....one being a 12" and the other being a 1501 with a bit different character.

For those of you having analysis paralysis on which speaker IR to use, download the document at the link below:

https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code ... TM4ud9v3ky

Thanks for the support...!!

Joe Rogers

[Brian Lenherr]

How do I find the captures?

[Andy Zahnd]

I just wrote that to Joe, after the newest captures arrived:

"I die! Holy holy cow…. I never ever heard something like this! A Earcandy! You are right! Thank you to let me hear things I didn’t know that exist! Thanks my friend!"