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? :-)
Comments
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
The effects sound great though
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.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/101496/line-6-helix-vs-fractal-axe-fx-2-vs-evh-5150iii
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?
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922