A basic profiler question...

Lewy

I kind of get what they are and how they work but my question specifically is - are they better, worse or the same at the whole "behavoural" aspect of things than the higher end modellers that aren't profilers. I'm thinking of stuff like how they response to guitar volume changes, and how accurate the models are across all the different amp volume and tone settings.

Thoughts?

fretmeister

The profiles are at one particular setting. So changing the bass control on a profile is different from how the real thing reacts. Same for moving the guitar controls.

Apparently the Tonex does it better than the others, but I’ve not tried it. Lots of fans of the Quad Cortex too but as much as I love Darkglass and NeuralDSP stuff that has some annoying design choices that means I won’t buy one.

Not that I could be bothered to mic up cabs properly to get a good profile. I’d have to rely on ones made by other people. 

Jonathanthomas83

fretmeister said:

The profiles are at one particular setting. So changing the bass control on a profile is different from how the real thing reacts. 

This isn't strictly true now, with the introduction of Kemper's Liquid Profiles. I can't attest for their accuracy though as I've never tried them and also, nor am I experienced enough to know how well the Liquid EQ mimics its real life counterpart.

relic245

A lot comes down to the quality of the profile (or capture as tonex calls them)

I've recently got a tonex and I'm impressed. Having said that there are some really poor captures out there that don't do the unit justice. 

I've only had it for a week or so but I've found one capture which is what has given it a place on my board. 

It's a mild crunch marshall sound. Then when I turn the volume down it cleans up (to marshall style clean, not fender clean) which to me is a lovely big sound but when you really hit the strings hard it breaks up slightly giving a lovely rich harmonic sound. 

It might be me but I've never quite got that with a helix stomp. 

But as with any piece of gear it's subjective. There are hundreds of people on here who swear by their helix, or axe-fx and can get the tones that they want. 

I think a lot comes down to does it work the way you want it to. Sorry for the cliche here but you've got to try them and see for yourself. 

Lewy

Thanks for the insights, folks!

p90fool

The Kemper I tried reacted fairly naturally to subtle EQ changes except at lower frequencies, where it sounded like I was adjusting the low EQ of a miked up amp at the desk rather than the bass control on the amp itself - a characteristic it shared with the Boss Katana, disappointingly. 

That was one single profile in a ten minute try out to be fair.