While I have loved my KPA for 3 years ,I sadly can't say the same about my Remote. But at this point I have no interest in what I've heard from the Helix
Line 6 Helix - next gen guitarist's wet dream..?
- gniedelman
- Closed
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same here
Me, too - almost. An expression pedal, a talkbox, a wireless.
As far as the Helix goes, it looks like a very powerful device to me. From my perspective, comparing it to the Kemper or Axe is like comparing a Les Paul to a Stratocaster to an acoustic.
Different sounds, different capabilities. One is perfect for some people. Another is perfect for some other people. They all can be perfect for a lot of people,
The reviews from Helix users will be interesting to me, because I like to hear how good of a fit that tool will be for them. But, no matter how much someone likes one of them, it will not make it any more desirable for someone who does not want/need one of them.
Its all good
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I want the sound of the KPA in a Helix package. I think.
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Like I said, don't overestimate gear, in the end it doesn't matter if you play a KPA, Helix or a "real" amp, as long as it sounds well. And responsible for the result are you by yourself. An excellent player will sound much better on cheap equipment than a bad player using the best gear in the world.
Actually we are faced with so many technical opportunities, we easily can be lost in technology. I play acoustic guitar very often, too (steel- and nylon-string, baritone-steel) and it's very refreshing, just pick it up and play.
Here's a nice piece of music from swedish guitar-player Martin Tallstrom:
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I really like Tallstrom, have done so for years... great player!
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Let me enlighten everyone to what the Variax actually is or was.....
Its a clever repackaging of a good piezo pickup combined with DSP SIGNAL PROCESSING mostly EQ curves....
So great you have presets to call up that have been tweeked for good or bad to resemble the tonal aspects and gain of different pickups and what the impression of these pickups sounded like on the so called instrument models.Now actually this should be very easy for Kemper to do also .... The only fly in the oinment is having a control subject.
If KEMPER were to offer a custom piezo pickup that the Kemper front end dsp eq was tweeked for to produce similar "XYZ Guitar / Pickup " results then you could have presets designed for said piezo....
So that I have stated this idea completely to also have a blending interface with selector using midi or hek why not wireless midi that could be say installed into a stratocaster pickguard there would be parody if not better. Just sayin ....
It's a whole lot more than EQ, mate. A heckuva lot more. Listen to the tones. Can you turn the tele into an LP with EQ, even part-way? How about transforming it into an acoustic or a sitar?I've not researched it, but it sounds to me like there's some real-time, dynamic convolution going on there, IOW complete substitution of sound as opposed to EQ or any other massaging of the original signal.
I could be wrong; this is just what it sounds like to me.
On ditching the Kemper - I'm bettin' most will regret it. I spent some time the other night getting my lil' brother to sustain simple chords whilst I listened to the harmonic / tube interaction weaving its complex web over time. Never heard that in any other digital product. Had a permanent smile that night. Incredible.
All I can say to those who'll switch is, "good luck with that". YMMV, and it probably will...
One other thing: I've bumped the latency question I asked in the Helix Q&A thread 5 pages ago... for the third time. Others have bumped it too. I wonder why DI is being so coy with answering this simple question?
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I want the sound of the KPA in a Helix package. I think.
This! - As long as there is a PC editor there is no reason to make a rack unit over a floorboard IMHO. A floorboard solves the gigging and studio conundrum easily. All this rack and controller lark is a bit unnecessary for most day to day guitarists who want minimal fuss.
A pared down floor unit from Kemper with just the ability to load profiles, with some stomp fx and an fx loop would be great.
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A rack or lunchbox isn't a pain in the back to tweak 'though; it's more practical for studio situations. My neck, shoulder and back took months to recover after years of painful tweakin' of the HD500.
Seems there's a place for both, hence the foot controller.
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A rack or lunchbox isn't a pain in the back to tweak 'though; it's more practical for studio situations. My neck, shoulder and back took months to recover after years of painful tweakin' of the HD500.
Seems there's a place for both, hence the foot controller.
Yes of course. Which is why I said that a PC editor is a must for a floor based unit. I guess a rack would be better if you didn't have a PC though.
One other thing is that the Kemper requires very little tweaking in my opinion
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yes the helix is flexible and if more effects is a reason to upgrade or use with the Kemper here's a far cheaper and better solution: the eventide h9. It sits in my Kemper loop and I send midi messages to it from the kemper slots in performance mode
Considering an h9 Max for my KPA loop.... Hoping the Kemper effects get upgraded though!
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Not that you can hear them yet, but here are the Helix Amp models in 1.0:
WhoWatt 100
Soup Pro
Stone Age 185
Tweed Blues Nrm
Tweed Blues Brt
US Small Tweed
US Deluxe Nrm
US Deluxe Vib
US Double Nrm
US Double Vib
Mail Order Twin
Divided Duo
Interstate Zed
Jazz Rivet 120
Essex A-15
Essex A-30
A-30 Fawn Nrm
A-30 Fawn Brt
Mandarin 80
Brit J-45 Nrm
Brit J-45 Brt
Brit Plexi Nrm
Brit Plexi Brt
Brit Plexi Jump
Brit P-75 Nrm
Brit P-75 Brt
Brit J-800
German Mahadeva
German Ubersonic
Cali Rectifire
ANGL Meteor
Solo Lead Clean
Solo Lead Crunch
Solo Lead OD
PV Panama
Line 6 Elektrik
Line 6 Doom
Line 6 Epic
Tuck n' Go
SV Beast Nrm
SV Beast Brt
Cali Bass
Cali 400 Ch1
Cali 400 Ch2
G Cougar 800(I can't help but notice they have some cryptic amp names these days, too.......)
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Just speculation
But some have made a good point about how little they showed of the actual sound of the Helix.
Maybe they did not want to put too much out in videos because they can not reproduce the actual sound quality this way.
Maybe they are going to let the word get around on how it sounds instead.Maybe it will suck and I am just wishing for something awesome.
I know I say some things sometimes a bit negative towards the KPA but I truly do love it. It does something none of the others can.....as of what I have seen...so far.
But just as others have mentioned there are some things that can sour it. Things we wish it had or could do. Things that are done elsewhere, easily with other gear.I understand that the KPA is a groundbreaker and a first. So its design is, lets say...... unique. Lets be honest. It has nicknames. Toaster, an old Soviet era nuclear power plant interface console or what have you.
This was part of its charm when it debuted its unique form of profiling amps.But time is moving on and new things are and will be coming out. Things that one day will definitely rival its sound but also be modern in design and function.
I would like to give Kemper my money again because I like his innovation on this. But if somebody rivals it with all of the modern and expected options, sound, interfacing and design. I will be on it.
I think the KPA, as its hardware, interface and all is, can only go so far.If time were to stop now and nothing else was to be created by anybody, the KPA would work just fine. You can play pretty much anything you want with it, and well.
But that is not how things work and how people are. Especially nowadays. We expect progression. It is just how things are done. Almost like, if its possible, you must do it. You must incorporate it.
Whether this is sensible or right or wrong, this is how it is and if you dont move ahead, first or better, you will be left behind ultimately.I guess I am saying, I believe Kemper needs to keep an eye over his shoulder. It is coming. It may be time for a new, modern KPA.
They may be on it now. I would hope so.On a side note.
Does anybody else have this problem?
I play my acoustics constantly. Just about every day and I dont play my electrics with the KPA as much as I would like. I have always been more of an electric player.
My question is-
Do any of you play through your KPA and on occasion it just doesnt have that "sound" or feeling. Pretty much any rig. Just on rare occasions. Almost like it was a bad boot up or it just doesnt have "that" sound that I fell in love with. Best I can call it is flat or something.
When this happens I find myself going long periods and just playing my acoustics instead.
But ultimately, like the other day, I picked up my electric with the KPA and was like.....damn, there it is again ! This thing just sounds frickin awesome. I ended up playing most of the day having one hell of a good time until my fingers seriously hurt. The shit was just flowing.
It may just be me and sometimes I just may not be so inspired at times (which certainly happens), but I could almost swear the KPA really sounds different. -
Do any of you play through your KPA and on occasion it just doesnt have that "sound" or feeling.
This has happened to me on every kind of gear I've ever had. Some days things just don't sound good to me, then other days it's as though God has blessed the sound. I think it's all in the head ... -
Just get it, you won't be sorry... Doesn't do dirt, but it does anything else in spades. Just sick.
Money is too tight to pick one up immediately; but it's in my peripheral vision...!
One of the (many...many) reasons I opted for the Kemper was to 'slim down' everything I have into one unit (I was hoping the FX in the Kemper were going to be more varied and numerous... Just a couple necessities missing like a certain tremolo sound... Probably be better off just picking up a Mooer Trelicopter really but GAS always comes back so caught myself looking at the h9 series!)
All the the dirt I need/want is in the Kemper
- literally just for the extra FX options - would rather the Kemper's get upgraded in a fw update to be honest so I can save the cash/space! Though iPad control of the h9 may sway me at some point anyway!Wish the Kemper remote had 'scribble strips' like the Helix - IMO that's the only thing missing from the Kemper spectrum aside from the FX.
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Wish the Kemper remote had 'scribble strips' like the Helix
The display in Performance Mode shows the same information as the scribble strips - it shows the five Rigs in the Performance, and the effects assigned to the five switches for the active Performance Slot.
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Every Line 6 piece of gear I've bought in the past disappointed me, not saying they were bad products as some sounded real nice with a lot of tweaking but maybe my expectations were too high to start with. The Helix looks great on paper and I love the look of this thing, I just hope Line 6 can deliver and hoping the fx as well as amps are a huge upgrade over previous offerings
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The display in Performance Mode shows the same information as the scribble strips - it shows the five Rigs in the Performance, and the effects assigned to the five switches for the active Performance Slot.
That display is nice and all - displaying the enabled slots.... But I can't help but feel the remote could have been better (the screen doesn't change colour like the profiler - which I wish it did for hi gain sounds to be coloured red, green for clean etc.) also, the five slots could be NEXT TO the five buttons if it were scribble strips.... Furthermore, I'm not keen on the colour-coding of the assigned FX to the switches...definitely would prefer self-editable scribble strips here...!
It's so close to being spot-on! Dont know why they didn't just go that little extra step...
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The display in Performance Mode shows the same information as the scribble strips - it shows the five Rigs in the Performance, and the effects assigned to the five switches for the active Performance Slot.
I have a Remote too bad the cheap LCD contrast wont allow you to read them
I have been wondering recently , why I spent the $600 bucks on this thing. Really not liking the layout, but love the basic function.
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I have a Remote too bad the cheap LCD contrast wont allow you to read them
I have been wondering recently , why I spent the $600 bucks on this thing. Really not liking the layout, but love the basic function.
The integration with the Profiler is obviously awesome...and I don't have any trouble with reading the display (so far......) I just feel they could have done better! ...what with the standard of the powered rack.
and again, with scribble strips you could assign/edit the switches to do (and display) what you want!
