Strymon Iridium Amp & IR Cab

I was looking for an amp modeler for my recording and live setup and I've put this Iridium in my cart as soon as Thomann had it available because I trust so much on Strymon products.

I've had Kemper head, Hx stomp and Fractal AX8 (my favorite of them all), so I have quite an experience with modelers.

I've purchased the Iridium mainly for its pedal format and the ease of use. I didn't want to navigate through dozens of menus just to make a decent sound, neither I wanted a big all-in-one pedalboard because I go to gigs and rehearsals by bike or public transportation. Plus I already have some effect pedals.

The amps and cabinets sound great. Responsive to the touch and faithful to the sound they're emulating. Distorted sounds clean up really well with guitar volume knob and are easy to manage with the effective eq controls. The Marshall amp is very noisy with the gain past 2 'o clock, but I guess a real Marshall is not that quiet...

Anyway, I mostly play jazz through and AER compact amp and the Iridium sounds great before it. It gives the amp that valve feeling I've been missing for years. Sounds fantastic via studio monitors as well. I'm not quite satisfied about the room sounds, I would have preferred an actual reverb algorithm, but I can easily solve the problem by putting my ambient fx after the Iridium. Overdrive pedals sound very good before the Iridium, which behaves like a real amp.

Possible uses:
- Live without amps or as a backup in case your valve amp fails
- Live plugged in the return jack of your valve amp (without cab simulation), as it was a preamp
- In studio to record with a realistic sound without micing any amp or opening CPU-killersplugins.

I moved to an apartment and even with a small amp it is not practical to play in the evening at a decent volume.

I research theDSM Humbolt and several other units before going with the Strymon.
I have a lot of pedals to connect and wanted something that would take them well.
Several days worth of reviews later I chose the Iridium.

I purchased the Iridium to plug in a pedal board and listen through headphones. It does this incredibly well. There is enough variety in the 3 amps x 3 cabs to be able to dial in the tone you are looking for.

I haven’t experimented with loading 3rd party IR’s but don’t think it will be necessary. I’m using a decent pair of headphones and the sound is really full and the level control works well. You can crank this up to loud is more good levels.

I’m looking forward to getting into recording through this unit. As with other Strymon gear the quality is top notch.

I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to do some silent practice without sacrificing the quality of your sound. 5 stars.

So, I believe this review will be very useful for people who plan to use the Strymon Iridium pedal strictly at home — whether for playing through speakers, recording, or playing with headphones.

Previously, my guitar rig consisted of an Orange Terror Stamp amplifier and a 1x12 cabinet with a Celestion V30 speaker. It was a pretty solid setup that I used comfortably in my apartment for five years. However, at some point, I realized I simply couldn’t push the amp properly with my pedals — after all, I was only playing at home, and volume was always a limitation.

At the same time, I really enjoyed the dynamics and character of that analog setup. I was never interested in multi-effects processors or playing through VST plugins — everything just felt artificial and lacked expressiveness. That’s why I started looking for a good amp emulator — something that could replicate that organic feel.

Naturally, I considered options like the Strymon Iridium, Boss IR-200, and UAFX pedals. The choice quickly became clear: UAFX pedals don’t have a headphone output, and for €400, you only get one amp model. The IR-200 offers the best routing features, including send/return, but it has a lot of buttons and feels more like a processor. The Iridium, on the other hand, gives you three classic amp models, has a clean pedal-style form factor, and fits perfectly on a pedalboard.

I was very excited about the purchase and waited eagerly. But when I finally got it and tried playing through headphones for the first time, I was unpleasantly surprised — there was a loud hum or buzz. It would go away only when I touched the guitar strings, indicating a grounding issue. For a €400 device, that’s pretty disappointing. The manufacturer claims this is normal behavior, as the chain “guitar – Iridium – headphones” has no ground. When Iridium is connected to an audio interface, the noise is reduced, but not completely gone. So keep in mind: if your home has poor electrical grounding, you’ll likely encounter this issue.

The second surprise was the sound quality itself — I couldn’t get anything close to the tones I had heard in demos. Most of the built-in cabs sounded muffled, like I had cotton in my ears. Distortion and fuzz pedals sounded grainy and harsh.

Still, I didn’t give up. After some research, I came across York Audio cabinet impulse responses. Once I replaced the stock IRs with those, the Iridium transformed completely — the sound became rich and dynamic, and pedals suddenly made sense. I finally got the tones I wanted.

All parameters on the Iridium are adjustable, and yes, you can get the sound you're after — but it takes some time. You’ll need to experiment with cab IRs, tweak the EQ, and fine-tune things to your liking.

In conclusion: Iridium is a great device, but with a few caveats. It’s not perfect out of the box, but with the right IRs and some adjustments, it can deliver excellent tone even for home use.

Is de Iridium nog top? Het hangt ervan af wat je wilt. Prijs/kwaliteit is dit nu eind 2024 de beste mulitamp-pedaal op de markt voor wie het simpel wil en zich ook met externe IR's wil bezig houden.

Stereo in en uit ! Heel simpel qua knoppen. Net genoeg keuze. Een Ir loader. Je kan kiezen enkel cab of enkel amp ! De preamp alleen van de VOX gaat heel goed met fuzz. Je kan twee verschillende cabs instellen via de computer. En dan is er voor de liefhebbers nog expressie en midi. En...ANALOGE voorversterking. Voor die prijs klopt Iridium tegenwoordig de veel duurdere ACS1mkii. Zeker als je het simpel wil houden. Qua geluid is het qua stock setting net iets beter dan ACS 1mki omdat er iets meer verschil zit tussen de amps, vooral de Vox setting zorgt hiervoor.
Wie clean wil, kan echt HEEL CLEAN op elke amp maar ook met stevige dirt. Dit is waar AcS1 en Iridium samen de UA pedalen kloppen : De headroom en grote clean range. Ideaal voor grote pedalboards.
De minpunten voor mij :
De stocksettings konden beter/gevarieerder. Ze zitten te veel in dezelfde range in functie van opnemen. Nu moet je de ir loader gebruiken. Ze hadden minstens één heldere Fender erin kunnen zetten, meer gericht op spelplezier dan op opnemen. Mijn Combo Deluxe van TC speelt veel leuker en helderder . De UA's ook. Als Strymon hierop zou inspelen in de stocksetting zou hun positie terug nr1 kunnen zijn, Een ander nadeel , wat ook de ACS1 heeft, is dat elke amp het met dezelfde knoppen moet doen. Ik vind een single amp pedaal in dit opzicht veel leuker ( ook veel duurder).
Zelf ben ik toch meer aangetrokken tot die nieuwe single amp platforms die super leuk spelen... dan deze superkwaliteitsvolle Iridium met drie in één voor dezelfde prijs.