It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I will still say Axe fx, Kemper and Helix. In that order ..
Please give me more lols .. it really makes my day. Thanks.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
And this... Just trying to encourage informed debate. It's all good and no hard feelings, mate.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
Kemper I've tried sounds great, enjoyed it.
Helix I was able to get good sounds out of, the UI is really good and it has a lot of DSP
What I didn't like about it was for me, it still had a 'Line 6' sound - some will like that, I did get good sounds out of it - but it kind of felt a little bit like working around it for me - changing settings I wouldn't change in the real world, controls in different places, signal chain 'different'. But all do-able.
The pedals do interact really well these days.
AX8/Fractal - UI is 'challenging', but the Axe-Edit on a computer is superb and works well.
But what won me over was the sounds - pull up an amp, and it sounded and interacted like I expected the amp to do.
I sold all my pedals and amp and couldn't be happier with my sounds, using a DXR-10 speaker.
If I had a gig where I just needed a JCM800 (say), and I could play it at appropriate volumes and didn't have to carry the thing. I'd have the real thing.
But none of those are true! And the differences are so subtle I don't notice them, and care even less.
Particularly in a thread where the OP asked for opinions from people who've actually gigged them. If you haven't then any comment is just noise.
Leaving the Ultra out of it, the Axe 2 is very powerful, has great amp models that are tweakable to an almost microscopic level. Since the advent of Quantum firmware, the amp models sound very good without much tweaking. The effects are stellar.
The Kemper with well chosen profiles, has even better sounding amp simulations than the Axe. It's not night and day but it is noticeable in a side by side comparison. The effects are ok but not really on a par with the Axe. For everyday gigging they're more than good enough. Kemper upgraded the delay section a while ago and the delays are now on a par with the Axe.
I've used all these units with guitar cabs and frfr speakers. I'm happy with the sound of either but, for live work, I prefer the punch of a guitar cab on stage. I also prefer a valve power amp for a more 3D sound. Just my experience.
Nothing wrong with preferring one to the other, everyone has different requirements.
However stating the Axe FX is the best without ever using one is inevitably going to come across as pretty silly and isn't particularly helpful to people trying to make in informed purchase.
“Best” depends on your criteria. Mine are not whether xyz amp model sounds indistinguishable from the original, or can be tweaked to the Nth degree. I’m primarily interested in the live workflow. Can I switch FX, amp settings, and lighting cues without detracting from my playing?
I use an AxeFX because that’s what I’ve got. I bought it before the Kemper was useable, and before the Helix was conceived. It does all of the above, and it gives me an acoustic guitar simulation too.
Honestly with all these things I think the killer thing is the workflow. Most of them can get ballpark of a sound to a usable level if you know how - it just depends how long that will take you and whether that workflow works with the way your own brain works.
I've ended up in the Helix stable, simply because the work flow is best for me.
I've got a Kemper, which I got before the Helix was available. It's great.
If I was buying now, I'd definitely try the Helix before making a decision about which to go for. The Axe FX is a lot more money, and seems to score on effects, which isn't something that I'm that bothered about.
I've used the Kemper live a couple of times with a monitor wedge on the floor. It's not like using a real amp, but the sound guys say it sounds better front of house - which is ultimately what is most important. I want to sort out some better monitoring, and at that point, I'll probably start using the Kemper live on a regular basis.
Referring to whoever it was above who talked about what pro guitarists use, plenty of pros use Kempers. In the limited amounts of gigs I've been to, I've seen a pro using a Kemper live, but never an Axe FX. Both are used by pros, and I'm sure that there are pros using Helixes as well. I know of one or two pros who still use Pod 2s.
But it's inevitable more pros will be using Kemper or Axe FX, because they've been around longer. If you're a pro and minded to use a modeller you probably had one of these before the Helix came out. Much of the attraction with the Helix is it's cheaper and more user friendly. Those are big attractions to someone new to modelling, but no so much to someone who already owns one of the older units and is familiar with the workflow.
Otherwise we'd all drive vans, black cabs, or articulated lorries.
IIRC at one point Fractal said they didn’t do free gear for artists. Don’t know if this is still the case
Very few pros use Thorpy's pedals, that doesn't stop loads of people on here enjoying them.
The vast majority of pros don't go anywhere near boutique pedals, but TGP exists.
It's just a meaningless argument