I have not been using my tube amps a lot lately as I play at home most of the time now, and having a Yamaha THR10X makes it more useable to get overdriven sounds a low volume. My tube amps are a Fender Deluxe 5e3 and a Vibroverb 63' reissue, I do have an attenuator but the VVRI in particular is very punchy and in your face, whilst it sounds good a low volume, it does feel a bit restrained, and you have to pick gently as if you hit a string hard it will be loud.
I have always thought about a Kemper...getting all those tones from those amps, and can do low volume. Having all those profiles is a bit of an overkill really though and I cannot see myself using more than a handful of profiles. On the other hand I feel even a Boss Katana may be a solution as good as the Kemper as if will give me a handful of profiles and I can go at any volume.
Do you have any recommendations? What is your best home low volume playing setup? I really do like the convenience of Yamaha THR range, and would be looking to hook up my iPhone to the Kemper to play along to music....does it still sound good like that? Thank you
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The Boss Nextone seems like it may be a good option too
Never found a place I could try a Kemper, but judging just from my Yamaha THR10 experience, I don't think I'm too fussy. I'll check out some of these recommendations above, because I've never heard of them. THanks
With the Boss Katana and all the competition I'm sure Yamaha is gonna do something along the lines of a bigger cab, to compete with the Katana, so in that sense I'm not in a hurry since I know with these digital modleers, the design can update quickly and the THR10 range is quite old by now, so Yamaha will need something new. Kemper should also do a mini kemper, with less features, and less profiles, and lower price. I can afford a Kemper, but I'm sure I would not use more than 5-10 profiles so seems like overkill
You'll want to do your own research but afaik:
If you have a DAW setup with low latency, then you can choose whichever reactive loadbox you prefer, and use a software IR loader into monitor speakers / studio headphones. The loadboxes have slightly different tonal characteristics depending on which speaker the impedence curve is modelled on. The Suhr RL is popular while also one of the cheaper ones (has no extra features). It has a brightness / clarity people like, the impedence curve is modelled on Greenbacks AFAIK.
If you don't have a DAW setup, you'll need an IR loader pedal to go along with the loadbox - ie Mooer Radar or Torpedo C.A.B.
Or, you could use analog cab sim instead of IR's, which some loadboxes have built in (Torpedo Captor, and Fryette Power Load), which will save needing an IR loader, but don't sound quite as good. (you'll still have the option though to use IRs).
If you want to also be able to play through your guitar cab with control of the volume, then you'll need one of the higher end ones: Fryette Power Station, Torpedo Reload, Ox Box, Torpedo Live.
It also doesn't look as bad in person. Well, I think so anyway.
Apart from taming errant picking, it can add sustain and dialling the output down does attenuate the volume
I hardly use my Kemper, even though I bought loads of pro profiles for it. The basic FX on it are lame.
Just got an Axefx3, and bought the patches from Austin Buddy. These are very good, and you can combine with the DAW-plugin quality FX.
The outcome of this is that if I want to play rock or metal sounds, it's always the Axefx, at what ever volume I want
If I want to play clean to saturated, I can play my remaining nice valve amps, or use the AxeFx if I want to record or play quieter
I tried every attenuator I could find, and wasn't really happy with any of them. Same with the power scaling circuits. Some are good, but a top-notch amp sim can sound better to my ears
If it's Fendery type sounds you like (which it sounds like it is from your initial post) then any of the Roland Blues Cube range would work well, as they all have power-scaling to drop the wattage down to 0.5w.
The 'Hot' version is cheapest and fine if you just need one channel, the others in the range have a bit more versatility but are pricier and bigger.