The New TONEX Board Puts a Complete Rig at Your Feet for $999.99

There’s a particular frustration that comes with building a digital guitar rig: finding an amp sound you love, then figuring out everything else around it. The effects. The switching. The extra cables. The adjustments you need to make halfway through rehearsal.

IK Multimedia’s new TONEX Board is aimed squarely at that problem.

Announced September 3, the $999.99 floorboard combines TONEX captures with an expanded effects collection and touchscreen operation. IK lists it as available through its store and authorized dealers, with taxes excluded from the announced price. IK Multimedia’s launch announcement

For players considering a complete rig built around TONEX, this is a substantial new option. But its appeal deserves a closer look than another argument about whether digital gear has finally beaten tube amps.

The Board supports up to four Tone Models simultaneously across two independent signal paths. It includes 76 effects and flexible routing for stereo, parallel, dual-amp, and wet/dry configurations. A five-inch touchscreen handles visual editing, while four footswitches provide Preset, Scene, and Stomp operation. Official TONEX Board specifications

Those possibilities are useful when they solve an actual musical problem. Imagine wanting a rhythm sound with a firm, defined attack, then a lead sound that adds sustain and space without disappearing behind the band. The sensible starting point is deciding what each sound needs to accomplish. Building the most complicated preset the processor will allow can wait.

For classic-rock players, that distinction matters. A convincing rhythm tone needs enough definition for the chord voicings to survive. A solo needs to sit at the right volume. Delay should support the phrasing. None of those decisions requires hundreds of presets, but they do require controls you can reach and understand.

The Board arrives with 2,000 Premium Tone Models and more than 230 factory presets. Its connections include XLR main outputs, a second balanced output pair, MIDI, external controller inputs, and a stereo effects loop that can split into two mono loops. Custom impulse responses and four-cable operation are supported, too. TONEX Board features and connections

Our read: the routing and switching could prove more valuable over time than the sheer size of the sound library. A guitarist who can organize a dependable set of clean, crunch, and lead sounds has something useful. A guitarist still auditioning captures when rehearsal starts has more homework.

There is also a launch detail buyers should understand. IK schedules the Board’s four-input/two-output USB audio interface functionality as a free firmware update, listed as coming soon at the time of writing, with ToneNET support for sharing and downloading complete TONEX Board presets starting October 1. Full real-time editing in the Board Editor is planned to follow. These are announced additions, rather than features we can describe as delivered today. IK’s software and firmware roadmap

That matters if direct USB recording is central to your intended setup. Check that the required update has arrived before building your recording workflow around it.

We haven’t tested the TONEX Board, so judgments about its playing feel, switching behavior, and ease of use under stage conditions will have to wait. Those are the tests that turn an impressive specification sheet into a recommendation.

For an audition, bring your own guitar and start with three sounds you actually use. Match their volumes. Check how the gain responds when you ease off your picking. Make a quick adjustment without help. Then try moving between sounds as you would during a song.

At $999.99, the TONEX Board needs to earn its place through everyday usefulness. Its strongest opportunity is giving players a rig they can understand, organize, and trust well enough to stop adjusting it and get back to playing.