Kemper/Helix/Fractal users, have you gone fully digital and do you plan to?

Jonathanthomas83

It's a bit of a hot topic around these parts lately and I'm interested to see who's gone all in, 100%?

I'm the kind of person who likes to dive in with both feet and fully commit to something and see it through, for better or worse. I did it last year by selling stuff and going fully committed into an IR and loadbox style setup and I've done it again this year with the Axe FX and have to say, both times, my faith has paid off and I've felt richly rewarded.

However, I fully understand the risks and questions people face when doing such mindlessly crazy things, and also understand that going 100% digital isn't for everyone. 

So, who has? Who plans to? Who won't? ...And why? :-)

Bridgehouse

No. Digital strings are totally impractical. 

TheBigDipper

I've got some digital pedals (delay, reverb and an M5), but no plans to go to an all-digital setup. I've tried three times before and they all ended up disappointing me. I can't see me doing it again in a hurry. For clarity, those attempts were all Line 6 based, but pre-Helix. I've not tried a Kemper or Fractal, either. I'm actually trying to reduce my choices and do more with less.

digitalkettle

10001110101

menamestom

I'm going half in.  Buying a Helix LT but keeping amps and some analog dirt.  For my covers band I'll probably go direct in, but for the other band I'll switch between my Princeton Reverb and another amp which is incoming.

Actually, not much is changing, I'll just have more options at my feet.

guitarfishbay

Totally digital for guitar. Very happy with it.

I'm too lazy to go digital for bass when plugging in a preamp pedal does the trick for me straight away with no setting stuff up and minimal tweaking.

cbellanga

I've done a couple of gigs with my frfr setup: ax8 > QSC K8.

Although not 100% happy myself with what I've been listening, I've been slowly improving my usual patch and every time I tweak it it sounds better.

I have a copy of the older versions and I can clearly hear the improvements when comparing them.

I guess by now I'm 90% happy with it in terms of feel and dynamics but for the audience it was good from the first time as it translates incredibly well in the pa and mix. The painless setup and logistics of being able to carry everything also makes the whole experience great.

I guess from now it can only gets better as new firmwares pop up and I get better in dialling a good sound out of it so quite looking forward to what I can get out of the box. 

I think id do the same with pedals... selling / buying them.

I still have a full pedalboard and my trusty 1964 blackface Princeton non reverb in my studio, but haven't turned them on since getting the ax8!

stratman3142

I've ordered a Helix LT.

I'll use it for its full capability for recording but for live use I plan to try the Helix (just the Fx, no amp and cab) into a the clean channel of a Roland Blues Cube Artist. I'm hoping the built in Helix OD/distortion pedals will be good enough to allow me to dispense with my Maxon OD9 and Angry Charlie stomp boxes, otherwise they'll be in the Fx loop of the Helix.

It might be a marriage made in heaven (or hell ). If that's not happening I'll start looking into powered FRFR monitor cabs.

I'm being forced down this route because I have back problems and can't lug heavy gear any more.

dindude

The Helix LT is now at the price / quality point where it has my interest but if I went for it I'm pretty certain it wouldn't replace my valve amp and pedals. It would get used for headphone practice, easy recording, and "other" occasional sounds.

Why? I can't get away from the fact that for my core tones, if you can have the real thing then why wouldn't you. If I buy one and do end up selling all the pre-historic technology, I'd be the first to admit it on here. (Don't) watch this space.

John_A

dindude said:

The Helix LT is now at the price / quality point where it has my interest but if I went for it I'm pretty certain it wouldn't replace my valve amp and pedals. It would get used for headphone practice, easy recording, and "other" occasional sounds.

Why? I can't get away from the fact that for my core tones, if you can have the real thing then why wouldn't you. If I buy one and do end up selling all the pre-historic technology, I'd be the first to admit it on here. (Don't) watch this space.

I WAS with you all the way until I got a Helix.  Reasons not to:
it sounds better (really)
its easier to carry
you always sound good
sound at a gig is a lot more controllable both out front and on stage
you can record at 3am
you can sell your other stuff and have a holiday

guitarfishbay

dindude said:

The Helix LT is now at the price / quality point where it has my interest but if I went for it I'm pretty certain it wouldn't replace my valve amp and pedals. It would get used for headphone practice, easy recording, and "other" occasional sounds.

Why? I can't get away from the fact that for my core tones, if you can have the real thing then why wouldn't you. If I buy one and do end up selling all the pre-historic technology, I'd be the first to admit it on here. (Don't) watch this space.

If you don't gain anything by going digital then use what you have... for the price of the LT you could buy a loadbox for easier recording/playing through headphones. Torpedo live will do that I think

Teetonetal

I like both. Will do both.

guitarfishbay

John_A said:

dindude said:

The Helix LT is now at the price / quality point where it has my interest but if I went for it I'm pretty certain it wouldn't replace my valve amp and pedals. It would get used for headphone practice, easy recording, and "other" occasional sounds.

Why? I can't get away from the fact that for my core tones, if you can have the real thing then why wouldn't you. If I buy one and do end up selling all the pre-historic technology, I'd be the first to admit it on here. (Don't) watch this space.

I WAS with you all the way until I got a Helix.  Reasons not to:
it sounds better (really)
its easier to carry
you always sound good
sound at a gig is a lot more controllable both out front and on stage
you can record at 3am
you can sell your other stuff and have a holiday

The selling other stuff shouldn't be underestimated... there are a lot of guys on here with gear collections that cost noticeably more than one of the L6/Kemper/Fractal units. It creeps up over time if you buy a bit of gear every now and then

fretmeister

Guitar - yes. Done it.

Bass - almost. A lot of times I take a head and a small cab and don't need the brewtalititties I use for my own stuff.

Danny1969

I would like one to piss about with but I'm not sure I would get much value from it. I can get a pretty good sound from a 5 watt amp into a 1 x 12", so it's hard to see The Helix or Axe alongside a powered speaker as less hassle to carry around
The effects sound great though

Sporky

I went full digital the moment I got mine. The only pedals I still have are the ones I haven't sold yet.

dindude

John_A said:

dindude said:

The Helix LT is now at the price / quality point where it has my interest but if I went for it I'm pretty certain it wouldn't replace my valve amp and pedals. It would get used for headphone practice, easy recording, and "other" occasional sounds.

Why? I can't get away from the fact that for my core tones, if you can have the real thing then why wouldn't you. If I buy one and do end up selling all the pre-historic technology, I'd be the first to admit it on here. (Don't) watch this space.

I WAS with you all the way until I got a Helix.  Reasons not to:
it sounds better (really)
its easier to carry
you always sound good
sound at a gig is a lot more controllable both out front and on stage
you can record at 3am
you can sell your other stuff and have a holiday

I don't gig so portability isn't an issue. Recording at 3am is never going to happn but whilst child sleeps is the same thing so this is interesting, but then I've tried Sgear and didn't much like the results, so maybe as someone said above, a load box and IR's would be a better bet.

The real one though is "it sounds better" - that's a very bold statement, and one I'd need to assess for myself I guess.

guitarfishbay

Me and Drew did a comparison between digital and amp in the amp subsection if you're at all interested in 5150s @dindude ;;

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/101496/line-6-helix-vs-fractal-axe-fx-2-vs-evh-5150iii

dindude

guitarfishbay said:

Me and Drew did a comparison between digital and amp in the amp subsection if you're at all interested in 5150s @dindude ;;

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/101496/line-6-helix-vs-fractal-axe-fx-2-vs-evh-5150iii

Yes I've been meaning to give that a good listen, will get to it when I can put the good cans on in peace. 5150 isn't really my sound but I'm sure I'll get something out of it.

kennedydream1980

I've been gigging my Amplifire 12 for a month now, going straight to the mixer and using in ears. I've gigged with various valve amps over a period of 15 years, so it was a complete leap of faith.

Overall I've been happy with the sound, I must say discovering the official Celestion IR's was a game changer, they took the unit to a whole different level sound wise.

I don't know if I'm completely sold on the in ears and had been thinking about getting my hands on an Atomic CLR cab for gigs, I was missing having an on stage presence soundwise, I think the other guys in the band would also prefer it.

However......

Playing on it tonight it would appear switch 1 on the unit has started to fail intermittently, it doesn't always activate on the first press, sometimes taking 3 or 4 goes to get it activate, I suspect it's on the way out and will fail completely soon. So I'm contacting Andertons tomorrow to arrange returning it.

The funny thing is it's got me thinking,  should I go back to familiar territory and get another valve amp? Or do I get a replacement Amplifire?

Jonathanthomas83

Get a Helix and thank me later.