Helix - Kemper - Axe Fx II XL+ JCM 800 Comparison

gibsongretschfan

Cirrus said:

I was curious, so I decided to have a mess around with the JCM model this morning. I think my Helix must have been loaded with a different JCM800 because it sounds different than anything anyone else has posted 



Ah, we're on the Dual Rec now. Events have passed me by! 

Needs new valves

Cirrus

lol

Jonathanthomas83

John_A said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

You can read it however you like, but that's not what I said, mate, was it. And I'd never slag off the Helix, in fact I absolutely rave about a lot of its features and if I could tease the right sounds out of it, I'd have one tomorrow as it beats the Kemper in so many other areas.

People get awfully sensitive when others share opinions on gear they own...I do the same all the time. I'm sorry I said what I said but genuinely, that's how I feel. Kemper does sound like a real amp to me. I don't think the Helix or Fractal doesn't, but I don't think they sound as good as the Kemper either, from what I've been able to get out of them anyway...IMO and all that.

@John_A In answer to your question, I've never heard Kemper sound like that, so I'm not sure I'd have said it was necessarily the Kemper, but I'd definitely have said it was the best of the three.

What did you 'not say'

And to me the comment 'I absolutely rave about a lot of its features and if I could tease the right sounds out of it, I'd have one tomorrow as it beats the Kemper in so many other areas. ' read like a put down on the Helix not sounding good

Not here for a fight, just trying to point out that some things you say can be read as Helix bashing

I didn't say 'Helix cant sound like a real amp'.

Like I said, people, including me, get precious about gear they own, if that offends you, sorry fella. It's my opinion. I'm hardly Helix bashing. You could read more positively into it and say that I'm shit at using Helix, but you chose to ignore that little nugget.

guitarfishbay

Cirrus said:

I was curious, so I decided to have a mess around with the JCM model this morning. I think my Helix must have been loaded with a different JCM800 because it sounds different than anything anyone else has posted 



Ah, we're on the Dual Rec now. Events have passed me by! 

Is that through the Bogner 2x12 IR?  Sounds cool man.

Fiftyshadesofjay

guitarfishbay said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Okay, Dual Rectifier comparison now. 

Using whichever TS model was available in front of the modelled amp, all Vintage 30 IR/Profiles. I've double tracked them and they all have a low cut on to clean up the flub, they were all the same in that regard. Still a bit flubby IMO. I've mixed the order up now, see what you think...

Did you pan the doubles there?  Sounds mono to me. 

Not knowing what you did in terms of low cuts, and it does sound mono on my headphones right now...

1. Kemper
2. Axe FX
3. Helix

1 and 2 have more low end energy to me.  I think 2 is the Axe FX.  But I think they'd all sound better panned

Not panned, I left them in the middle. My reasoning was you’d normally double track a part like this and treat it as one track. I agree stereo would sweeten it up a tad.

It just has a basic low cut at 100hz.

I will reiterate that I’m just dialling these up in a few minutes to see if I can get something workable right out the gate. 

You could absolutely make these better and sculpt them with some EQ etc if you had the time. 

gibsongretschfan

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

guitarfishbay said:

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Okay, Dual Rectifier comparison now. 

Using whichever TS model was available in front of the modelled amp, all Vintage 30 IR/Profiles. I've double tracked them and they all have a low cut on to clean up the flub, they were all the same in that regard. Still a bit flubby IMO. I've mixed the order up now, see what you think...

Did you pan the doubles there?  Sounds mono to me. 

Not knowing what you did in terms of low cuts, and it does sound mono on my headphones right now...

1. Kemper
2. Axe FX
3. Helix

1 and 2 have more low end energy to me.  I think 2 is the Axe FX.  But I think they'd all sound better panned

Not panned, I left them in the middle. My reasoning was you’d normally double track a part like this and treat it as one track. I agree stereo would sweeten it up a tad.

It just has a basic low cut at 100hz.

I will reiterate that I’m just dialling these up in a few minutes to see if I can get something workable right out the gate. 

You could absolutely make these better and sculpt them with some EQ etc if you had the time. 

so which is which?

Cirrus

Yeah, the one that's V30s miked dead centre with a 414. I tried a different one from the pack that's an SM57 dead center and to be fair I'd have preferred that in a mix, was more snarly and raw.

Fiftyshadesofjay

Cirrus said:

I was curious, so I decided to have a mess around with the JCM model this morning. I think my Helix must have been loaded with a different JCM800 because it sounds different than anything anyone else has posted 



Ah, we're on the Dual Rec now. Events have passed me by! 

Sounds good mate! See I’m happy to admit part of the issue is being able to make the particular gear work for you. I find Kemper and Axe easy to dial in, seriously struggle to get anything useable in the Helix in general. 

But obviously people such as yourself can.

John_A

Jonathanthomas83 said:

John_A said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

You can read it however you like, but that's not what I said, mate, was it. And I'd never slag off the Helix, in fact I absolutely rave about a lot of its features and if I could tease the right sounds out of it, I'd have one tomorrow as it beats the Kemper in so many other areas.

People get awfully sensitive when others share opinions on gear they own...I do the same all the time. I'm sorry I said what I said but genuinely, that's how I feel. Kemper does sound like a real amp to me. I don't think the Helix or Fractal doesn't, but I don't think they sound as good as the Kemper either, from what I've been able to get out of them anyway...IMO and all that.

@John_A In answer to your question, I've never heard Kemper sound like that, so I'm not sure I'd have said it was necessarily the Kemper, but I'd definitely have said it was the best of the three.

What did you 'not say'

And to me the comment 'I absolutely rave about a lot of its features and if I could tease the right sounds out of it, I'd have one tomorrow as it beats the Kemper in so many other areas. ' read like a put down on the Helix not sounding good

Not here for a fight, just trying to point out that some things you say can be read as Helix bashing

I didn't say 'Helix cant sound like a real amp'.

Like I said, people, including me, get precious about gear they own, if that offends you, sorry fella. It's my opinion. I'm hardly Helix bashing. You could read more positively into it and say that I'm shit at using Helix, but you chose to ignore that little nugget.

Doesn't offend me at all, just pointing out why your writing style might offend some people.  And I didn't choose to ignore anything, I'm not posting to have a pop at you.

Fiftyshadesofjay

Dual Rectifier comparison -

1- Axe FX
2 - Kemper 
3 - Helix 

Well done again @Jonathanthomas83

Jonathanthomas83

Awesome, hopefully this will go some way toward redeeming me after I failed miserably with the 'Rate My Guitar' thread - I may have owned the most hated guitar in TFB history, but at least I have a decent ear, I hope!

Jonathanthomas83

@John_A thanks, I'll take that on board. I am very careful not to be blatant of overly critical when I write, so I'm unsure how else I can say these things, but I'll try.

FarleyUK

Haha, Helix sounds like sh*t!

.....oh, sorry.

In all seriousness, I've owned all three modellers; I have to agree that Kemper - to ME - sounds and feels more like my old tube amps. The Fractal stuff was good, but it didn't have the same mojo when I played it (IMO). The Helix was also good, but it really lacked the same feel from both Fractal and Kemper. It just didn't sound quite 'right' either somehow.

Mind you, this was about a year and a half ago.....!!

(DISCLAIMER so nobody gets offended / hurt - these are MY opinions based on MY experiences at the time).

Cirrus

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

But obviously people such as yourself can.

Very kind! I have to admit this is the first time I've tried the JCM model - I don't usually do those kind of tones as you can probably tell. I'm more of a pushed ac30 kind of chappie, and for heavier stuff I've been digging the SLO.

guitarfishbay

Have you tried the Friedman model @Cirrus ? That one, the Archon, and the SLO are my favourite higher gain models in the Helix

John_A

FarleyUK said:

Haha, Helix sounds like sh*t!

.....oh, sorry.

In all seriousness, I've owned all three modellers; I have to agree that Kemper - to ME - sounds and feels more like my old tube amps. The Fractal stuff was good, but it didn't have the same mojo when I played it (IMO). The Helix was also good, but it really lacked the same feel from both Fractal and Kemper. It just didn't sound quite 'right' either somehow.

Mind you, this was about a year and a half ago.....!!

(DISCLAIMER so nobody gets offended / hurt - these are MY opinions based on MY experiences at the time).

I've certainly heard Kemper demos that made me thing 'Wow', and admit I've never tried one, dont really have the time or money to do so at the moment, but it's on the to-do list

gearaddict

Kemper certainly has a more 'real' sound to it, doesn't it? I immediately thought the 2nd one sounded more real. Not that the others sound bad and I guess could be made to sound similar.That's the thing about the Kemper I suppose - all the tweakery is done for you in the profile.

I wish someone would add the GSP1101 to the comparison, but that's just a selfish thing coz I've got one.

rockmonster

I prefer 1

Jonathanthomas83

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

gibsongretschfan

Jonathanthomas83 said:

@gibsongretschfan don't suppose you have any clips of you working your magic on a Dual Rectifier style Helix patch? My tastes are quite varied but I like a very tight and percussive DR tone. Just wondering what kind of tones you'd get as you seem to know how to get good results.

I'll be honest and say Im getting waaaay out of my depth and have zero experience with either heavy tones or that particular Helix model so can't make any predictions (although im thinking the Axe would be hard to beat because it sounds great!) although im not sure which is closer to the real thing as I also have very limited experience with the amp in real life

However, I shall give it a shot over the weekend for shits and giggles and see what I can manage! Not really got a suitable guitar either but ill see what I can do