I am assuming you could, though I would argue that Kemper's cab block is one of it's strong suits and the Helix' cab block is one of the weaker aspects of it. My 2 cents at least.
I am assuming you could, though I would argue that Kemper's cab block is one of it's strong suits and the Helix' cab block is one of the weaker aspects of it. My 2 cents at least.
I would echo this, having owned a helix for a week. If anything, were you to go for the dual amp dual cab thing, use kemper amp and cab together parallel with a helix amp and IR together. If I were you, I'd just use the Helix for effects and use just the Kemper for amp and cab sounds.
The Helix's strength though is it's greatest weakness. Since the routing isn't fixed like the Kemper, it's really hard to manage a ton of presets. You can't save your entire stomp effects section and paste to a different preset, or copy and paste the entire X,Mod, Del, and Rev section. If you have a base preset you like you can of course make it a template and create a modified version of it. But the real issue with the Helix and all other all-in-one systems is the one issue that Kemper comes closer to solving: What I call Preset Hell.
Preset hell is the fact that no matter how complex your use of amps sounds and effects are for live purposes, at some point you'll begin to organize a bit more like a traditional amp and pedal board is organized. You quickly realize that you need a handful of go-to amp sounds based on gain stages: clean, light OD, crunch, lead, etc. You'll also have a handful of go to effect combos for the 70% of the time when you need just one of your base gain stages and a little compression and a touch of reverb or any other subtle on-all-the-time things that you use. However, one of the reasons you have a multi effects device is so that you can utilize the fast switching and advanced overt effects like all the ambient delay stuff, mods, and other effects for the other 30% of the time. Your list of presets that you begin to build expands to more than can be managed on the fly before a gig
During a sound check, you sometimes wish to tweak your go to sounds such as the compressor, turn up the gain a tad on your go light OD, lower the subtle reverb mix, and so on. However, Since you've created several dozen presets for special stuff that are based on just 4 go to gain stages with subtle effects, you can't tweak quickly. If you have 7 clean presets and want to tweak your compressor on those, you must go to all 7 presets and make the same adjustments. If you decide to turn up the gain and your light OD you may have to go to another 7 presets to make the same change. At least on the Kemper, your volume doesn't fly up and down when you play with the amp gain. On the Helix, you'll have to go to your 7 presets and adjust the gain and make a volume adjustment. Then you need to go back and forth between presets to see if you have any volume spikes.
So I'd recommend this: Use the Helix for all of you effects. Keep the Kemper in the loop and only use it for it's superb input noisegate, Parametric Eq, and a handful of profiles which are called up with midi. Then if tomorrow night, you decide you want to use a Morgan 20 profile for your edge of breakup sound instead of the AC15 profile you used tonight, you need only make a single reassignment of a midi number in the Kemper. If you have 35 presets in the Helix that use your go to edge of breakup sound, they're all fixed at the same time. If you want to bump your gain, lower your bass, increase the mids, lower the noise gate, tweak the parametric EQ, or whatever, you only need to tweak or replace a single profile once, which you can save over or not. Then your Kemper essentially functions as a 1-2-3-4-5-or X channel amp with independent eq and noise gate for each channel. This also has the added benefit of saving processing resources in the Helix to use for effects.
Are the Helix effects really that much better than the Kemper's? I was contemplating getting the Helix FX. Not sure if they're SO good though that they're better than the Kemper - or just getting a few choice real pedals.
I have a Line6 M5 pedal. Isn't it the exact same effects as the Helix? Throw it or an M9 in the KPA FX Loop and you're done? I don't know enough about the Helix, but I thought I read it was the same effects.
@audiomitch well the m5 ,9 ,and 13 have "legacy effects" the newer hx effects are WAY better
@TheGoodNotes jup they are, the newest firmware has amazing effects that compete with strymon stuff imo
Thanks for sharing that video. I actually preferred the BigSky and Boss sounds there. I also realized that with the Helix, I'm limited to either being in front of the Kemper or in the effects loop, but not both. With real pedals, I can put them anywhere and mix and match.
The Helix (and HX FX) have FX Loops so yes you could place them anywhere in the chain with the KPA the same as regular pedals. The HX FX and Helix LT have 2 Loops and the Helix Floor has 4.
Hi, just ordered a helix to go with my Kemper to fill a few holes with effects. As I was thinking, could it be possible to run the Kemper without a cab into the helix with two cabs? I am just thinking of the possibilities of two different cabs and mics with the killer sounds of the Kemper. Sorry if this has been asked already. I wasn't able to find much on that.
Thanks.
I don't understand why you'd buy a Helix to fill a "few holes"? I get that it's versatile and all but that's a lot of cash for that purpose. Anyways, I hope you dig it @Steveda30 
The big sky had an interesting crunchyness and sparkle to the treble end of things that wasn’t there with the helix.
They all sounded nice to me, I did prefer the big sky to the helix personally but suspect that’s more down to how the tones are dialed in than any issue with either sound, I also suspect it’d be possible to get those sorts of tones pretty easily with the Kemper verb as is, glassy verb is pretty simple, it’s the more characterful stuff - the spring and room verbs where things fall down on the KPA for me.
I don't understand why you'd buy a Helix to fill a "few holes"? I get that it's versatile and all but that's a lot of cash for that purpose. Anyways, I hope you dig it @Steveda30
The Helix is a very capable MIDI controller, plus it can function as a USB interface. Combine this with its extremely versatile routing capabilities and you have a VERY powerful rig when paired with the KPA.
Helix is nice
The Helix is a very capable MIDI controller, plus it can function as a USB interface. Combine this with its extremely versatile routing capabilities and you have a VERY powerful rig when paired with the KPA.
This is what I'm looking forward to seeing. I'm wanting to get a midi controller and I'm not quite sure which one I want to get. The Kemper Remote seems nice and easy. The HD500 seems doable and is an affordable solution. I love the idea of a controller with scribble strips (like the HX) but I'm holding out to see some videos of others using it to both control the Kemper and using the HX effects with the Kemper at the same time. If it makes a great midi controller all the while adding additional effects options... then it seems like a no-brainer to me for the price. But still holding out a bit to let others be the guinea pig first.
I went the opposite route - I am a Helix owner of over two years now and love it.
However ... I've been fascinated by the way the Kemper works. I didn't really *need* a Kemper. But I bought one because it's just such a cool piece of equipment - profiling an amp, any amp, and getting such great results simply from automated profiling process. Truly fascinating! How cool is that!
I got the chance to profile a custom one-off amp this past weekend. It is one of my guitar teacher's amps that he loaned me for that purpose and based off a SovTek Bassov Blues Boy that was modified and customize by Steve Carr of Carr Amplification to become a unique creation. He calls it the VodkaSonic.
And ... I used the Helix to help with the profiling process by using a reactive load box on the amp, feeding the load box line-out into a Helix return, feeding that into a Helix cabinet Impulse Response, and then the Helix output back into the Kemper reference input.
This works amazingly well and using the Impulse Response vs the native Helix cabs (which IMO are not that great but a lot of folks swear by them), applying hi-cut and lo-cuts during the profiling process to attenuate high frequency mic fizz, I was able to get a series of really nice Merged profiles, both direct and studio, and then merging them.
So my Helix and Kemper are best friends.
I do prefer to use the Helix effects, but only because they are so darn easy to set up with the amazing Helix UI. So I typically use my Kemper in conjunction with the Helix by simply patching the Kemper into a pair of send/return blocks in an otherwise standard Helix pathing preset. The send goes to the front of the Kemper and the stereo return from the Kemper line outs. I am super happy with that setup. And with either unit, you can grab and go very portably.
The other day I took my Kemper to my guitar teacher's and plugged up to a Line 6 L2t speaker, dialed up his VodkaSonic. He said - "That's just crazy! That's exactly my amp!" He cranked it up and played it a bit and was truly impressed. The real amp is a pretty large head and probably 50-60 pounds - and then he has a 4x12 cabinet to go with it. I didn't use the cabinet since I used the reactive load box into the Helix and then an IR of that same cabinet. Talk about portable by comparison. Of course, all you know all about that portability.
In my opinion, the Helix and the Kemper complement each other very well - like I mentioned, they are best buds. I'm sure the Kemper has great effects, I just haven't delved into them all. Part of the reason for that, and I hope this isn't taken the wrong way here, but the Kemper UI really can't be compared to the ease of use of the Helix's when it comes to setup, easy viewing of all the possibilities and option, selection, etc. But with the Helix, while it's amp modeling is very very good, you don't have the option of incorporating custom amps - *your* amps. I seriously doubt there will be a VodkaSonic amp modeled any time soon in the Helix. 
But I have one for the Kemper and it sounds very cool!
And even the model I made for my rather lowly DSL40C sounds really good - I like it every bit as much as the native Helix amp models and get great tones from it. I could certainly live with just a Helix, or just a Kemper, but when you combine them - it's a very very nice rig and capable of so much.
I have a Headrush in front of my Kemper,,Very happy,, 1 midi cord,HR runs the kemper,,,Very happy,,
I have a Headrush in front of my Kemper,,Very happy,, 1 midi cord,HR runs the kemper,,,Very happy,,
How do you feel about the Amp models in the Headrush,? Reason I ask I'm curious about first hand experience. Thanks
there are really OK,, but not using them,, I am using it as a pedal board, I'm stuck on the Morgan profile, because that's my real amp,I cant tell the profile from my real amp,,
With the HR in front, I finally have everything I need to cover a huge set list,just changing rigs with the pre sets,, its fantastic,,
How do you feel about the Amp models in the Headrush,? Reason I ask I'm curious about first hand experience. Thanks
I bought a HR thinking it would be a good backup to my Kemper, and possibly easier to transport for some gigs. After 2 weeks I sent it back. The sound quality just wasn't up to the Kemper standards, and I couldn't imagine selling my backup KPA for inferior sound (at least to my ears). I did not, however, attempt to use it in front of the Kemper, as that wasn't my reason for the purchase. I'm not a big effects guy.
not so much EFX,, but the ability to have my workflow the way, and in the order I want it,, I only use one profile, all night,, but many diff vari of it, from crystal clean all the way up to lead with exf,,also I have now parked the Ethernet cable pain in the ,,, and remote,,,at the studio..1 midi cord and done
With the kemper, as good as the tube amp tone is, it was always a compromise,, compressor or transpose, or chorus and rotor,slapback and long or,,,,now by being able to free up slots on the Kemper,, by using the HR strong points, I found what works for me, we cover over 55 tunes, from the 50's on up. some in E some in Db, on and on,,,
like I said,, till the mother ship makes a Quad core floor board profile player,with built in vol/wah pedal,,,that I can read without glasses, standing up, on a dark stage,,,,
Im good,,,real good,, (BTW,, the HR has the best tuner I have ever used,,esp.in bright sun shine,,)
Im a Kemper man for life,,
