Posts by Nikos

I´ll keep my Avalon 737 & the SPL Channel One vor vocals,acoustic guitars,DI Bass,Sax etc..but I dont need the UA2610 anymore.I did a lot (well..all..)of guitar recording with it.For me it has the best "colour" for recording tube amps and since it is a two channel mic pre you can record any cabinet with two mics (like I did always with a SM57 and a R121/C414).It was one of my "main assets" when I had for nearly10 years my own studio in a big european country and recorded many bands and artists.

With the Kemper I wont use it anymore.I wont record whole bands anymore (dont have the rooms anymore to record drums and loud guitars) but right now have plans to go more into the songwriter/producer kind of thing.So it is all about Vocals,Kemper Profiler for guitars and drums,bass from pro tools/logic.

I also will soon sell my two Ramsa DA7 consoles.All good stuff but I cant use it anymore.

Used this many years mainly for recording all my tube amps but I need some cash for a FC and a good FRFR.It is in mint condition.Is anyone interested;

All that stuff has become so cheap.There is a lot of used hardware out there.I wish I had more money..

Uhh..thats cheap..

Nevertheless.I belong to the guys who believe that the Mic and the Mic Pre are not that unimportant as many believe..I mean even to small-medium sized studios or "good" homestudios.

I would spend 200 euros more to get me a good mic pre.

To be honest I dont know exactly the price of the TPS but is it not 250-300 euros;Add a few euros and get yourself a second hand Channel One.And I mean an older one from the early 2000´s.I am sure I have seen them for 300-400 euros on ebay.

I recommend the SPL because it is also easy to use.I call it the "teaching mic pre" because it has everything onboard..compressor,limiter,EQs,De-esser..all well thought and well organized.Everyone who just starts to use a mic-pre is able to understand the Channel One within a very short time.

And in the end..it really sounds good!It sounds "expensive" and if you find a good tube to replace the factory one you will also hear that it is indeed a "tube preamp" and does not have it "for show" like some other mic-pres I wont name right now..I found and put an older Siemens-tube in it years ago and now it sounds like "velvet"..

For me not only "best bang for the buck" but also the best mic-pre for "beginners" who look for a solid foundation to go the next step ie recording.

Hmm...ART is in any case better than Behringer (yuk..) but since there is no way to ask this in a nice manner:Are you able to still cancel the order;

If you can do this..just do it ad look out on ebay for an SPL Channel One(not the mk2).Last time I have seen them on ebay for 300-400 euros and they are worth every single cent.

@PhilUK84

Aye Sir!

But I will tell you some thing you should take into account."Bad expiriences" are something you wont change in some ones mind.And I have made some very bad expiriences with L6 ie guitar sounds(most of all many of my students with their L6 gear) and Behringer ie recording.I will NEVER recommend these companies and will be never surprised when I hear that the next person "fell into their trap".I can do as you order me and find a shop soem where to play a Helix but I will do it with to much sceptcism.I would say even better if I dont try it.

greetings

@PhilUK84

The forum member ASG did the first first-hand review of the Helix here for this blog.The fact that he seemed "very enthusiastic" about the Helix before he bought it makes this review at least somehow worthy in my eyes.If he says that it sounds not good I guess we should take this as his honest opinion;

The second point is that it is also my decision if I read and take this first hand review serious and add to this my own expiriences with L6-sounds.So dear @PhilUk84..here you have two opinions based on first hand expiriences of this product/developer.Neither ASG nor me ever claimed that it is the "absolute truth".

greetings

ASG

I am sad to hear this.You seemed verys enthusiastic about the Helix.I dont want to sound like a "smartass" but L6 had never a good rock sound neither did their FX ever came close to professional standards.

I have an old Axsys212 and tried some weeks ago to get more info about the speakers..all I found were some guys in the L6-forum who tried the same but they got no answers but comments like "we dont know what kind of speakers have been used..sorry"..and some very angry comments from the users.THis is no good support.Imagine this with a Kemper here in the forum;Or even in the Fractal-blog;

L6 is on the best way to become irrelevant.Support and "drect talk" with the customers are now part of the game.Let alone that flashy lights and supa dupa UIs are ofcourse not enough in making music.I am very sad about the fact that a lots of kids will pay a lots of money for an inferior product and some of them will be even so dissapointed that they will play less guitar..

I strongly believe that a (rock-blues style- kind of..)profile should sound as good with a les paul as it should sound with a stratocaster.As it does with a good tube amp.Anything else is not acceptable and I have yet enough examples (profiles) which can do that.

This "phenomenon" that it sounds only good with a les paul and awefull with a strat (and vice versa) should only show that it is not a well recorded profile.

Quote from skoczy

Nikos from Serbia?

Nikos half human half greek..

Quote from Peto

This post invalid, too many verbs.

I dont problem invalid serbs...

Old friend of mine (bass player ofcourse..) had the same problem.We told him to read the manual and not to smoke it but ofcourse he would not hear to anyone.

@mwinter77

Dear friend..I said we may very nicely discuss about the question if the KPA is technically a modeler or not.Sure in the end you will convince me that indeed "technically" it is..but for me only the "result" defines a really helpfull "new technology".Is the idea of "profiling" very different than anything we got in the past;The clear and only answer must be "yes".I already said why I think so.

Quote

the KPA has a foundation hence the controls functions like "sag" to change the "modeling" of tube power sagging for one example.

"Sag" will change the modeling of tube power sagging of WHAT FOUNDATION;

Is this not the basic question;

The answer is that it will "sag" YOUR profiled amp-sound.And not the one of the developer YOU did NOT like from the scratch.Dont take this personal.I know I can get easily angry or at least sound like I am but I indeed dont understand why people dont get this difference.It is not a small,subtle detail (as you make it sound) BUT the essence of the "profiler"-philosophy.

The Kemper is NOT a modeller.It is important for us guitar players to get this difference.One can get not tired to say this again and again..

We may discuss if the KPA is technically a modeller but there is no discussion that its "philosophy" makes it something completely different.Creating your own sound from the scratch is something completely new.If you profile your own amps and it does not sound like your profiled amp you cant blame nobody else but yourself.With a modeller we always blamed the developer because the amp-models HE GAVE us did not meet our requirements.No matter how much tweaking someone did.The sound foundation was not good enough or did not come close enough to how the user wanted the amp-model to sound like the xyz-amp he had in mind.

The KPA has no foundation.The user is the one who decides to build this foundation.Either with his own profiles of his own amps or with the profiles of other people who try to catch their amp-sounds..or both..

So there is no need to wait for the developer to tell you that your JMP,JCM,AC-30,Twin or what ever will sound realer and realest and even more real than the original with evey new upgrade.

If we are the ones who know have to learn about how to mic a cabinet,about how to use channel strips,mic pre's,EQ's and all this stuff ourselves it is hardly "just one more modeller".And I pitty everyone who does not get this and does not understand what a powerfull tool the KPA is or any other profiler in the future will be.

Well obviously there is a cost-issue.If I could I would go for one more KPA as back up,the AxeFx2XXL "superzise me" only for FX and the Helix only as Midi controller..plus the latest FRFR(two of them)..

Or even better(if I had more moaaaarrr than just more money) I would still play my tube amps with two 4x12 each plus. Brad-Shaw rack from the "good ol' times"..plus the 2-3 guys who would carry this stuff into and out of the truck of the major company which pays for all of this..

Well you see where this goes.

In reality I need a) a good back up,b) a very good FX c) a robust Midi-Controller and d) all this to cost me not more than I have to buy me also a good FRFR.The life of a musician is a bitch..

@alien

Friend,let me be absolutely honest..

The Axe-Fx is the "absolute limit" I am readdy to accept when it comes to "sound"..everything less is (always for me personally) not serious.The KPA is this digital machine I was waiting for half of my life for "letting go" my tube amps.

Sorry to say but L6 does (yet) not belong to this category.Have used my Axsys 212 very often for clean sounds but (yet) I just dont trust them when it is about to rock.

After all we are musicians so if anyone of us dont likes the sound and is asked to pay a lots of money for other gadgets it will not work.We had this issue some 30 years ago with all the 19" and the racks..I even met guys who tried to convince every one that they got the brown sound with the GP-8..:D

So thanks..but no thanks..

In the end I agree that it is "good times" to br a guitar player (again) and I will gladly admit that the Helix is a good sound machine when I hear it.

Greetings

@alien

The Helix just these days starts to be more than Vaporware.Anyway..

I wont pay 1400 bucks for a Footcontroller with supa dupa Midi and even more supa dupa shiny little strips and flashy lights..how does it sound;And are its effects qualitywise even close to the ones of the AX8;

I will pay 1400 bucks for a very good Footcontroller,supa dupa effects and serious,proven amp sounds which will save me if my main system goes for one evening into the happy hunting grounds of the digital nirvana and no USB-back up can bring it back untill the show is over.And I know exactly this will happen when I dont need it at all..

Is the Helix such a tool;

Till yet I have not seen musicians I really like touring with any L6 product.This may change with the Helix but untill I see this this thingy belongs for me even more into the Vaporware-Category than the AX-8.

Very short clip.And for my taste a little bit to "compressed" in the bottom end.Would like to hear more than just these few seconds-clips from this thing.Specially when we talk about overdrive sounds.