Posts by mbenigni

Quote

I think the problem with Roland/Boss is that they seem to have a fixed idea of what they think good guitar tones are...
Their build quality on the other hand is not matched by anyone. You can trample a boss floorboard or stomp and it will come back for more every time.

I can't disagree with any of that. I'm just hoping Line 6 has been paying attention to the considerable competition on hand from Kemper, Fractal, Positive Grid, etc. and that they step up this time. I want the tones, and I want the UI. I want it all. Is that really too much too ask?

Quote from Monkey_Man

Yamaha's well-established practices and lines of distribution are proportionate to the size and scope of the company, and guess what? Kemper's are too!

"Proportionate to the scope of the company" has no relevance to me, personally. Either the distribution is adequate for the consumer demand or it isn't. I know there are pros and cons (many cons) to a large parent company, but I can't see any way in which faster, broader distribution is a con.

Quote from Monkey_Man

The only "major" difference I see is:
Yamaha's owners / designers and R&D guys won't engage the users in a forum. Kemper's will.

Perhaps, but Line 6 will, and as this hasn't changed, there's no reason to assume it would change (in our completely fictional scenario) for Kemper.

Quote

I actually think that Roland/Boss have missed a trick by not going for the Axe/Kemper market. Can you imagine a partnership of Kemper sound with the build quality, economies of scale and feature set of a Boss floorboard. Would probably be the holy grail.

To be fair, a lot of people really like the sound of the COSM amps in Boss/Roland's latest products (e.g. the GP-10) and it will only get better with each passing year. But that's always going to be subjective. What makes the Kemper so special is that the amp tones are extensible. Don't like what the manufacturer has provided? Create (or download) something you do like. I really wish I could transplant that extensible amp/cab block into a unit that suits my workflow a little better. And yeah, a typical Roland floorboard, with all of its controller Assign flexibility, would be a prime candidate.

I haven't had an opportunity to try these for myself, but WOW the audio samples are awfully convincing.

Quote from MuddyFox

OK, thanks!
So I just pay the return shipping and Robert's your mother's brother? No restocking fee?

You'll have a couple of months to cancel your order before Helix even ships, should you think better of it, and then 30 days hands-on to decide whether to keep it. I knew I'd want to hear one in person eventually anyway, so pre-ordering was a no brainer for me - especially since I found a promotional discount that was set to expire today.

If I don't get on with the Helix amps, I'll just go back to McGrubering s*** together with my iPad. That presents its own challenges of course, but I dig the sound of Bias, and think of the money I'll save LOL.

Quote from lasvideo

Classy post from Line 6 devs....

In contrast with Cliff Chase's comments re: Helix, which have been prematurely dismissive and slightly douchey IMO.

Quote

Let us know how you get on with the sounds. I wish Line 6 would just demo the bare amp tones, and do less talking and more playing. Which leads me to believe they are selling the looks and features over the sounds. Rather worryingly I read that some amp models were ported from the HD and improved rather than built from the ground up. I think they should have gone back to the drawing board. Perhaps the IRs will improve things. All I know is that if they achieve that raw natural amp sound of the kemper, they will blow me away with it coupled to that feature set.

This pretty much sums up my feelings. I need to hear those amp models straight up. I know I can make the rest of the effects and functions work for me, even if that boils down to ignoring 80% of it. Custom IR's should ensure that cab emulation won't be a problem, but the spot-on natural amp behavior that the KPA can do is a very tall order. (The audio clips of Top Jimi's latest JTM-45 profiles are KILLING me right now LOL.) I don't expect the Helix to sound quite as good, honestly; I'm just looking for an acceptable approximation married to a more comprehensive feature set.

As for the alternate universe where Yamaha took over Kemper instead of Line 6... it might have gone either way. They don't appear to be stifling Line 6, that's for sure. I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I personally think Kemper might benefit from an owner with deeper pockets, a broader product line (which corresponding R&D assets), and better distribution capabilities. I think CK really struck gold with his profiling algorithms, but I also think there's a lot of room for improvement in the systems that surround it. A bigger company could help with that by integrating proven systems from other products. Then there's the simple reality that a company like Yamaha would have no problem, for instance, manufacturing accessories in large numbers and getting them in the hands of users in a timely fashion, in contrast to what's gone down with the Remote. I know a lot of you - most of you - love your KPA's so much that you don't mind rolling with the punches, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

Anyway that's my 2 cents. I still think the Kemper does what it does best, and I wish them (and all their customers) the very best. I'll happily stay on and share my thoughts on the Helix, assuming you're all interested and keep an open mind.

Quote from endlessnameless

Great features but as with all Line 6 modelling products it seems to have this artificial hyped plastic sound. Once you start stacking this on a recording it sounds fatiguing. I was hoping that the Helix would be a step up but the sound in the vid does not impress me. I also don't like the way they are masking the amp tone with FX, Line 6 love to stick cheesy fx on their demos. Roland I am looking at you too.

It is a shame as the feature set appears to be amazing. But sound is where it matters to me, I hope other demos impress me more.

Agreed, the tones in the demos are pretty awful. Well, awful for demonstrating the alleged improvements at any rate. Too much modulation, too much overdrive, and an inexplicable lack of variety. (It's a modeler for crying out loud - I don't want to hear the same patch for 5 minutes!)

Regardless...I pre-ordered one today. I'll only be able to decide by programming my own patches and playing it with my own hands and ears engaged. If I don't like it, it goes back - no harm, no foul. Assuming it sounds half decent, I'm very excited about the UI and I/O options.

Quote

I told them that one of the things that I love about the Kemper is that volume is always consistent even if you raise and lower the gain.

This is a big deal - one of the things I always miss when I work with other amp sims, e.g. Bias etc. I'm amazed no one else has taken on this very fundamental problem.

Quote

Something like this isn't even in the same league as what we already have.

You may be right, but... How can you possibly know this about a product you haven't even heard yet?

Quote

I really can't believe that anyone of us Kemper users is interested in the Helix. I mean...what do you expect soundwise if it already sounds meh from a pofessional made video?

Of course some of us are interested! Whether we'll actually run out and buy one depends on the sound, obviously, but assuming it will be terrible is all down to speculation at this point. The videos demonstrate very few sounds - sounds I'll personally never dial in - and I have to assume there's a wider variety on tap. Perhaps it won't sound as good as your personal favorite profiles - to you - but some of it might sound very, very good, particularly after you've loaded your personal favorite IR's.

Your disbelief that anyone might jump ship from Kemper back to Line6 also implies that your practical needs happen to align with the KPA's design. That's true for most players, probably, and that's why Kemper has designed the KPA as such and focused on the enhancements they have. But, with zero speculation and plenty of hands-on experience, I already know that the Kemper seriously challenges me on a practical level. Will 4 independent effects loops be more versatile than one? Yep. Indeterminate effects counts and routing vs. love-it-or-leave-it A B C D - Amp - 1 2 DLY REV? You bet. Integrated footcontroller, MIDI-learn, multi-assigns, etc. vs. a few stray CC's and NRPN's? HELL YES! And the list of features that genuinely matter to me goes on and on.

I guess, from my perspective, the KPA does one thing (amp and cab simulation) extraordinarily well, but it's proven fairly mediocre in nearly every other way. If Kemper were to release a stomp box that just played the amp/cab profiles back - no effects at all, with a programmable effects loop between the amp and cab blocks - I'd buy one for a whole lot more than cost of parts, etc. It would be the ideal amp sim to integrate with my own favorite effects, route per my own personal preferences, etc. But the KPA as a whole often proves too inflexible for me. (And I get that I'm in the minority here - a niche hobbyist in an already niche market.) I think a stomp box like I'm describing would be a good money maker for Kemper, actually; the only problem is it might undercut sales of full-blown KPA's.

tldr; a) The Helix might sound good; we don't know yet. b) There's more to consider than how it sounds.

I won't buy it if it sounds like ass, but if sounds decent and solves a million problems, I'm in. Cautiously optimistic.

Quote

I am more than happy with my Kemper and I think that profiling will always be much better than modeling.

The Kemper's going to be best at what it does for a while yet. If you need best-in-class amp tones, the Kemper is where it's at. If you need a really flexible gigging solution - and especially if you need it in a floorboard format - the Helix might suit you better. I say "might" because none of us has heard one yet...

Quote

I bought my KPA for less than the price of the Helix.

Wow - good deal!

Quote

The Helix has the same 2 processors as the upcoming Fractal AX8, which is supposed to have the same sound quality as the AxeFX II. Everything will depend on the coding, of course, but this looks to be a pro-level unit.

And there's a footcontroller, a ton of I/O options, and a pretty decent editor thrown in for good measure. Whatever the case may be regarding sound quality, this is looking like a pretty solid value. Closest competition is the AX8, and I have to assume it will cost a whole lot more. (I think I heard the FX8 would be close to $1500, without any amps/cabs.)

Quote

Well, so far through the videos it sounds absolutely awful. Very digital and definitely has that Line 6 sound to it.

I'm personally pretty excited about the Helix - mainly from a UI and form-factor point of view - but I agree they chose a pretty awful sound to "show off" in their video. It's that tired, old, phasey 90's gain. They need to showcase the HX just doing a straight up Fender sound, a straight up AC30, a straight up JTM-45... assuming it can.

Quote

3-oscillator synth

News to me - and one more thing to be excited about!

Quote

rotary speeds other than fast/slow

This is one area where Line 6 comes out of the gates way ahead of Kemper: effects. We'll all have our opinions as to whose effects sound better, but Line 6 has a wider variety and more flexibility here. Tape delays, spring reverbs, etc. etc. all come with the territory. I'm kind of tired of waiting for these things - among others - to arrive on the Kemper.

I don't expect the Helix amps to sound as good as the Kemper's, but if they're even in the ballpark, there are a lot of other practical arguments for jumping ship. At least for guys like me, who prefer a simple rig over a pile of hand selected gear and a mile of cable. For guys who don't mind a more complex rig, and have the means, you could even argue for owning both - the Helix would make an awfully nice footcontroller + outboard effects unit for a Kemper.

Quote from Webb

I didn't see any mention of it, but has anyone successfully used the Radial JDI passive direct box? Seems like it should work as it has a speaker through and a 15dB pad.

I'm not certain, but I don't think 15dB is adequate attenuation. See my post at the top of this page concerning the Behringer DI400. Best as I could tell, profiling with that direct box failed because it only had 20dB attenuation. I think at least 30dB is recommended.

Quote

mbenigni - I know it seems like overkill but I got a good deal and prefer the sound and feel of 4x12s.

Of course. I was just digging the irony.

For what it's worth, I have the "little" Camplifier Studio - which should come in well under 200 GBP - and it's way more than adequate volume for playing at home. I'd sell you mine, but by the time we got done with shipping... you'd probably do better to order a new one from Germany.

Quote

I recently bought a 4x12 Diezel Cab... I'm only going to be playing at home so won't require high volumes

:O

Quote

In my opinion an FRFR solution that behaves like a cab will never exist ( same with the perfect world).

Agreed on both counts. But I think there's still room for improvement (also on both counts LOL.)

Quote

How will you capture the sound of the 1x12 cab without using a microphone??? What you are suggesting isn't realistically possible without a microphone that emulates the exact response of your ear canals, and even then it'll sound different to everyone else!

Good point. In order to make an FR rig behave just like a guitar cab rig, you have to take the mic out of the equation, which means the solution can't be based on profiling. It could be some kind of compensated profiling, or an entirely different type of modeling, i.e. a programmatic algorithm crafted by ear.

Quote

Direct Amp profiles will always be coloured by the guitar cab you decide to use..

Of course, but we can agree that - whatever guitar cab that might be - it will behave like a guitar cab.

Just philosophizing with you guys at this point. As I said earlier, I personally see value in both approaches. But ultimately I'd like to see an FR implementation so good that I'm never tempted back to guitar cabs. It would just make things simpler.

Quote

But the limiting factor here is not FRFR.
It is whether we can embrace the 'recorded' amp sound that was captured and coloured by an SM57 or one of the other usual suspects or not.

In some cases, yes - but how does this relate to direct profiles? If I want my FR modeling/ profiling amp rig to behave like (for instance) an old 1x12 combo sitting next to me, in a perfect world there would be a way to achieve this.

I'm not saying one or the other is better or worse - I'm just saying that they're still different, and sometimes the "familiar" is desirable.

Quote from Ingolf

This is no contradiction to me. The VAST majority of amps I haven't been in a room with ever, only a few that I happened to own over time.
So the majority of amps I have learned to love by recordings. My whole musical socialization is through recordings. Getting these exact tones with the profiler is constantly and deeply rewarding for me.

I get where you're coming from, and I'm very much in the same boat, but I'd maintain that when FRFR is truly mature, I should be able to turn on cabinet emulation through a powered monitor, and not be able to tell the difference between turning that emulation off and running through a physical guitar cabinet. It might be that I've just never heard a powered monitor good enough to deliver those results, or that I'm running flawed profiles, or tweaking EQ improperly... but I have yet to experience this. What we have is good, and useful... but not the same. (And every company with amp/speaker simulation since ~1997 claims it is.)