Well yeah, right now. I am talking in the future. Kemper has reached a real plateau in the 'amp' market. IMHO. Others will follow, prices will get cheaper for some, and most will go that way. Tube amps only survive really because there was nothing to replace them completely, the tech in rack gear and such never got us there. Now that has changed. And a huge factor too is size! An AXE FX is DEEP, what is it, 14" or something? You have to get a big awkward box to put it in. Kemper is nice and shallow like TC Electronic rack gear, you can have a neat little head or box. Soundwise for example, I plug in my Diezel Herbert and jam one day love it. Next day, I plug up my Kemper and start wondering why I have my Diezel. With all the studios recording and sampling and profiling amps, eventually it will be to a point where the originals will not bee needed at all. That is the future, how soon it will get here depends. Price wise it 'appears' to be expensive for a Kemper and foot controller, but really, when you add up a tube head, effects pedals or rack, etc, etc.. it is same or cheaper to have a Kemper (and a lot less equipment too) It is just the 'up front all at once cost' most people have as apposed to adding gear and such in pieces which seems to be more affordable that way. Anyways, like everything, the future will weed out the bad / obsolete gear and move ahead with the great gear. It reminds me of when something like the guitar rack ADA came out, what a blast and good sounds compared to so much others, and so much has changed from those days... The problem with rack was always the secret weapons. "How do I put this ____ in my rack chain?!? I NEED it!" And so we all ended up with 400 lb 14 space racks that looked like Star Wars, haha. But then, when they kept getting more and more fancy, we had gear tech overload and everyone wanted simple again. Never losing sight of simple and quick tone gratification is a must to continue to survive. I loved Eventide gear, but I always got so frustrated with the programing, or Lexicon's old stuff... I loved simple things like Rolands SDX 330, all the sounds were so good and so easy to just adjust a few things... All the stuff that sounded good but took too long to mess with I had to sell or go crazy.
In my opinion, modeling is the wave of the future. And yes, eventually I think amps will be relegated to a niche market much the way vintage typewriters and computers from the '70s are now. I can't begin to guess when that'll be. However, I predict it'll happen when 1) costs match (or are lower than) that of a decent tube amp 2) most people (including amp purists) agree that the sound is 100% indistinguishable from the genuine article and 3) the controls react exactly like those of the amps they're based on. I suspect there will come a time when cell phones will easily be able to run such modeling apps. It will likely become so accessible to the average person that even the most hardened amp purist will find it nearly impossible to resist. I don't think that day is right around the corner, and if I were forced to guess, I'd wager it won't happen for at least another 15 (or more) years. When that day comes though, it's quite possible most amp manufacturers will feel pressured to incorporate the technology into their amplifiers in order to stay profitable. Of course, I have little doubt there will always be the odd old school purist who steadfastly refuses to adapt and insists that modeling technology is inferior.