IK Multimedia TONEX Board: How Close to Helix Stadium and Quad Cortex?
More effects, a bigger display, and a dual rig mode!
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IK Multimedia TONEX Board: How Close to Helix Stadium and Quad Cortex? · Source: IK Multimedia
TONEX is coming of age! The TONEX Board from IK Multimedia is IKM’s first large-format floorboard modeler. It features up to four TONE models simultaneously per preset, over 70 effects (many from AmpliTube!), a 5-inch touchscreen, and a stereo FX loop. Price: 1,099 euros. What’s inside, and how does it sound?
This is the TONEX Board
What is the IK Multimedia TONEX Board?
The IK Multimedia TONEX Board is a floorboard modeler for guitar and bass. It combines up to four TONEX tone models and up to 12 effects per preset. It costs 1,099 euros and is available starting September 3, 2026. With this release, IK Multimedia is directly competing with Neural DSP Quad Cortex, Line 6 Helix Stadium, and Fender Tone Master Pro for the first time.
Effects from Amplitube and parallel routing!
Anyone who was reading guitar forums and pedal subreddits in late July 2026 might have noticed: the IK Multimedia TONEX Board is coming. The leak sparked a lot of discussion and speculation about what IKM was planning with its largest and most powerful modeler to date. One of the biggest concerns centered on the number and quality of the effects.
Because let’s be honest, while the TONEX profiles often sound amazing, the built-in effects are a bit hit or miss. This is one area where TONEX Board really steps it up. A whopping 51 virtual effects simulations from AmpliTube are included, plus 10 new TONEX effects—which, combined with the existing TONEX effects, brings the total to 76 effects!
Each TONEX Board preset has 12 slots, so you can build rigs and effects chains to your heart’s content. The second point many speculated about: the routing possibilities. Using splitter modules and the mixer, you can set up powerful parallel routings and load a total of four TONEX profiles per preset: one STOMP profile and one AMP profile each—running in parallel!
And for a standard serial preset, you load an AMP profile, a STOMP profile, and an IR in the IR Loader, and then you can still fill the 12 effect slots.
Touchscreen, Scene Mode and Dual Rig
If you’re aiming to compete with the likes of Helix Stadium, Quad Cortex, and Tone Master Pro (both in terms of quality and price) you’ll need to up the ante in other areas, too. And the IK Multimedia TONEX Board doesn’t disappoint. The entire workflow is controlled via its 5-inch touchscreen and five endless rotary encoders. So if you don’t like sitting at a computer, you won’t have to do so to create rigs on the fly either.
The IK Multimedia TONEX Board offers three modes of operation: Preset Mode, Scene Mode, and Stomp Mode. In Preset Mode, you use the four footswitches (with LED rings!) to switch between complete rigs. There are 40 banks, with three presets and 12 setlists per bank. With a total of 1,440 preset slots (over 200 of which come preloaded with IKM presets), there’s plenty of space for every style of playing. In Stomp Mode, you load a preset and use the footswitches to activate or deactivate individual effects.
And the Scene Mode is similar to Line 6’s Snapshots function. Here, you create intermediate states of a preset, for example, different gain levels, sometimes with chorus and sometimes without, more reverb or less. And then you can switch between the scenes.
The multi-effect comes with 2,000 TONE models for amps and pedals, and you also get access to over 60,000 profiles on ToneNET, the TONEX community. The TONEX Board can even replace the rigs of two guitars or a guitar and a bass: Plug one instrument into each input, route the two signal paths in parallel, and each gets its own pedals and TONEX amps—Dual Rig! Each rig gets six pedals in this setup.
The IK Multimedia TONEX Board’s I/O
The TONEX Board boasts an impressive array of connectivity options: two inputs (so you can also feed in stereo signals), two expression pedal jacks, a mini-jack headphone output, two XLR and two line outputs, plus a stereo FX loop!
Through that, you can loop in your favorite reverb, delay, or ambient effect. Or you can also loop in two mono effects and use them separately via the internal routing! For syncing other pedals or loading presets, there is also a pair of 5-pin MIDI connectors.
In terms of processing, the TONEX Board processes audio at a 192 kHz sample rate and 24-bit resolution, with a dynamic range of 123 dB and a frequency response of 5 Hz to 24 kHz.
(Coming soon) Audio interface and USB audio
One feature might already be listed at retailers for the IK Multimedia TONEX Board, but according to the manufacturer, it will only be fully enabled through a firmware update scheduled very soon: the audio interface with direct monitoring.
Once that happens, the TONEX Board becomes an audio interface with four inputs and two outputs via its USB-C port. By the way, according to the manufacturer, the beta phase of TONEX 2, which began a few weeks ago, will only last a little while longer. Also “coming soon,” they say.
How much does the IK Multimedia TONEX Board cost?
You can now get the IK Multimedia TONEX Board from Thomann* or Sweetwater*.
Opinions will likely be divided on the price. On the one hand, IKM has packed far more into the TONEX Board than just two TONEX pedals. A touchscreen, stereo FX loop, Dual Rig, multiple modes, AmpliTube effects: much more versatile!
However, IKM’s rather laid-back update policy in recent years, compared to some of its competitors, might have to speed up to change some people’s opinions. IKM might take a cue from Line 6 there. And then, of course, there’s still the NAM question hanging in the air…
More on the new pedal from IK Multimedia
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2 responses to “IK Multimedia TONEX Board: How Close to Helix Stadium and Quad Cortex?”
Almost 4x the price of og Tonex pedal rotfl
Did you seriously expect 300€ pricetag during these times?
For me it’s also hard to justify the price when I could pair Tonex One with any of the fx capable units.