Iridium

Three Iconic Amplifiers

Our Matrix ModelingTM process captures all the subtleties and unique tonal qualities of each amplifier. We’ve taken three iconic tube amps with distinct characters and mathematically modeled every aspect of their circuitry with absolute precision to deliver the response, feel, and inspiring experience of playing through the original amps at their best. Taking the process a step further, we’ve hot-rodded each amp to provide an extended range of tonal options beyond what was available from the original designs.

Nine Stereo IR Cabinets

Iridium’s speaker cabinets offer a level of realism and responsiveness unprecedented in outboard effects. Iridium delivers full stereo 24bit 96kHz resolution for the entire 500 milliseconds of its speaker cabinet impulse responses. Until now, IRs of this resolution have only been available for use within studio recording software. Iridium’s breakthrough technology means you can use the very best impulse responses available, bringing maximum realism to your pedalboard.

Adjustable Room Ambience

Iridium’s hybrid room reverb combines a 256 millisecond stereo impulse response with Strymon’s reverb tank algorithm for extended decay. This combination places your amp and cab in a natural sounding room (small, medium, or large), creating a space for your amp to open up and breathe.

The Amps We’ve Always Wanted.

Round Amp - Based on* a Fender® Deluxe Reverb

The Deluxe is one of the most recorded amps in history for good reason. This amp is clean, bright, and mid-scooped, with plenty of headroom. At higher Drive settings it delivers an overdriven sound unique to its architecture. We chose the Deluxe’s Normal channel for its round tone that plays well with pedals. While preserving access to all the tones originally available with this channel, our model gives you something extra: a midrange control. With the midrange at noon, you get the original fixed-resistor value and standard tonal characteristics of the Deluxe. Turn down the midrange for a more scooped sound, or turn it up for tweed-era tones.

Chime Amp - Based on* the Brilliant channel of a Vox® AC30

The amp that defined the guitar sound of the British Invasion. Our model of the AC30 Brilliant channel (Top Boost) is jangly, bright, and chimey, providing air for subtle passages with a light touch, and bite when you want to dig in. For this amp, the Middle knob acts a Tone Cut knob, providing high-end roll-off just before the power tubes, per the original AC30 design. In addition to the full available gain of the original amp, toward the top end of the Drive knob’s range of travel, we’ve added a frequency-shaped front end boost to tighten the low end while driving the amp further into saturation.

Punch Amp - Based on* a Marshall® Plexi (Super Lead model number 1959)

This powerful amp is meatier, with higher gain than the other two amps, and has a powerful midrange response. This amp features a buttery, smooth overdrive. At higher Drive settings it will deliver all the high gain distortion and growl this amp is known for, and then some. Setting the Drive control at around 2 o’clock gets you the maximum gain the original Plexi design allowed. Beyond that, our model has some additional gain on tap, giving you access to custom hot-rodded Plexi high gain tones.

*All product names are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Strymon. These product names, descriptions and images are provided for the sole purpose of identifying the specific products that were studied during Strymon’s sound design process. Fender and Deluxe Reverb are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Vox is a registered trademark of Vox R&D Limited. Marshall is a registered trademark of Marshall Amplification Plc.

A Carefully Curated Cab Collection.

Iridium comes pre-loaded with a carefully curated collection of premium cabinet impulse responses from OwnHammer, Celestion, cabIR and ValhallaIR.

Round A – Deluxe Reverb 1×12” by OwnHammer

Impulse captures a vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb open back 1×12” combo loaded with a 1978 Fender CTS ceramic 12” speaker.

Round B – Blues Junior 1×12” by CabIR

Impulse captures a 1×12” Blues Junior cabinet, loaded with a Jensen C12N speaker.

Round C – Vibrolux 2×10” by cabIR

Impulse captures a Fender Vibrolux from 1965 with 2×10” Jensen C10NS speakers from 1965.

Chime A – AC30 2×12” Alnico by OwnHammer

Impulse captures a Vox AC30/6 open back fawn 2×12” combo with 2001 Celestion T0530 Blue AlNiCo speakers.

Chime B – 1×12” Alnico by Celestion

Impulse captures Celestion Blue Alnico speaker in a closed back 1×12” cab.

Chime C – Mesa 4×12” by ValhallaIR

Impulse captures a 4×12” Mesa Boogie “Halfback”, which is loaded (open back) with two Black Shadow MC-90 speakers from CelestionTM and two Black Shadow EVM12-L from ElectroVoice.

Punch A – GNR 4×12” by OwnHammer

Impulse captures a 1971 Marshall 1960B “basketweave” 4×12” cabinet.

Punch B – 2×12” Vintage 30 by Celestion

Impulse captures a Celestion Vintage 30 in an open back 2×12” cab.

Punch C – Marshall 8×12” Alnico by cabIR

Impulse captures a re-issue of the 1965 Marshall 8×12” full stack cabinet, loaded with Celestion T652 AlNiCo speakers.

Load Your Own Impulses.

It’s easy to replace the pre-installed IRs with custom IRs from your own collection by using Strymon Impulse Manager software.

Amp Science

Our Matrix Modeling process captures all the subtleties and unique character of each amplifier. From the unique composition of each tone stack, to component values, bias levels, corner frequencies, and tube stage gain; all of these factors affect the way a note or chord reacts and evolves over time, and all have been mathematically modeled with the highest fidelity. We included multi-stage power sag, so that the sag response and time constant for each stage of the amplifier is modeled separately, adding further harmonic complexity and realistic feel.

We also modeled the compression, limited cone movement, and speaker distortion that can happen at high signal levels. We carefully set the range and taper for each knob to make it easy to dial in a variety of great tones with intuitive, predictable amp-like responsiveness. Combining the meticulous reproduction of original circuits with careful fine-tuning has resulted in three stellar amp models that deliver the response, feel, and inspiring experience of playing through the original amps at their best.

Tone Stacks That Hit All The Sweet Spots

Aggressively boost the treble, and Iridium beautifully reveals all the subtle nuances of even the softest fingerstyle playing. Crank the bass, and enjoy resonant low end that will make you swear there’s an amp in the room even when monitoring through headphones. True to the tone stacks of the classic amps we modeled, Iridium’s tone controls have the same interdependences as found in the original circuit designs. Iridium gives you amp EQ that is a joy to use, yielding a wide variety of great tones in any direction you go.

Impulse Response Technology

Impulse responses allow the sound and character of a mic’d speaker cabinet to be captured, so that any audio signal can be processed by the resulting impulse response and sound as

if it’s being played through that exact speaker cabinet. Iridium is able to deliver impulse response resolution far greater than any other piece of outboard gear.

With full 24bit 96kHz resolution for the entire 500 milliseconds of its speaker cabinet impulse responses, Iridium is able to use the absolute highest quality IRs available. This means countless details are accurately preserved and reproduced to give you a completely real speaker response. Every cabinet resonance, speaker vibration, as well as reflections between the cabinet, the mic, the floor, and the ceiling; all the minuscule cues that tell our brain we are listening to our favorite cabinet are preserved, providing completely lifelike realism.

Where Can I Use Iridium?

In The Studio

Iridium provides gorgeous, iconic amp tones, stunningly realistic stereo cabinet impulse responses, and natural room ambience— essential elements for recording guitar in the studio.

Place Iridium at the end of your effects chain and capture stereo amp and cab tones direct into your recording interface. Or, place Iridium before your delays and reverbs to allow those time-based effects to occur post amp and cab.

Skip the hassle of miking up your amps or having to crank them up to get the tone you desire. Instantly audition amps and cabs with the flick of a switch.

At Home

You can’t always crank up an amplifier when you want to play in your living room or rehearse at home. Plug your favorite set of headphones into Iridium’s headphone jack and get immersed in the sounds of iconic amps and cabs in a natural sounding room.

Integrate Iridium into your pedalboard by placing at the end of your chain or before delays and reverbs, and experience your entire pedalboard tones directly in your headphones.

On Stage

Want to play live with the exact same tones that you use at home or in the studio? Or have access to multiple amp and cab setups without having to lug them on stage? Leave your amps at home, and connect Iridium directly to the house PA system.

Going direct eliminates the need to mic an amp, giving sound engineers the option to send your amp and cab tone directly to a wedge or in-ear monitors. Instant adjustments to your tone are right there on your pedalboard, only a footswitch away.

More Use Cases

Iridium also allows for less common use cases. Want to use Iridium’s amplifiers but not the IR cabinets? Select Iridium’s Cab Bypass mode, and connect the output(s) to the effects return or power amp input on a guitar amplifier.

Want to use Iridium’s IR cabinets but not the amps? Engage Iridium’s Amp Bypass mode, and connect a preamp or preamp pedal to Iridium’s input.

Because the purpose of Iridium is to generate amp and cabinet tones, the primary use case is for direct situations. It’s not recommended to connect Iridium to a guitar amplifier.