My Pod Go is a 'Pod' not a 'Helix' so doesn't have the processing power, dual routing and all the extras in Helix. But it still utilises Helix modelling and aside from some Helix models that are too DSP heavy for it to have, and the technical over-sampling in Helix (that I can't tell the difference), it's essentially a 'mini-Helix' and Helix is supposed to still be right up there on the modelling ladder.
Last year I tried for a few weeks a Boss GX100, based on the GT1000, & that for all its AIRD hype I didn't think sounded any different to my Pod Go with a decent IR, and before buying Pod Go I also tried the Mooer GE300 and Ampero.
Recently I tried a budget unit (normally c £298, special offer, it was £206!), the Valeton GP200 made by Sonicake. I ultimately returned it as it doesn't show on screen what's engaged by the control foot-switches which made it useless for my gigging needs. (In stomp mode it just shows ABCD whereas Pod Go shows what you've set the switch to. Bad design shortfall that I hope they'll fix.)
But that aside, I was very impressed at the quality of its underlying amp modelling. Even allowing for the new cab engine and IRs in Pod Go, the GP200 sounded every bit as good and possibly even a little better if I'm honest, and that was even with its stock cabs. It's effects sounded really good too.
Now, whilst I haven't heard units like Quad Cortex, putting aside all the things you expect from a top end unit and that you're paying for re build quality, reliability, customer support, sophisticated features, parameter options, quantity of models, versatility of connections, multi-routings, DSP and signal chain lengths etc and just focusing on the underlying amp modelling quality, it really got me thinking - have we now reached the stage where amp modelling quality between top end & budget units isn't actually hugely different? I'm thinking purely modelers here, not profilers like Kemper.
And are there really any modelers out there that genuinely, truly sound like an 'amp in the room' rather than a mic'd amp/cab? Or is the big difference now all just about good third party cab IR's that you can import to any modern MFX anyway?
Thoughts/experiences?
I started out with nothing..... but I've still got most of it left (Seasick Steve)
Comments
I think the days are coming when a unit has a generic ARM equipped processor and you just load it yourself.
Are higher end, premium guitars better? Generally yes, but the gap has closed hugely.
Are the Kempers/Fractals/AxeFX of the world better than the likes of NUX, Valeton et Al? Yes, but not by nearly as much as the price difference might make you think.
And if there's one thing those guys do badly, it's user interface. With all of these modellers, it's about the total package.
Fractal owners say no.
QC owners say no.
But from the opposite ends of the argument!
I’m so bored I might as well be listening to Pink Floyd
If you want to know what technology you are going to get in a Ford focus or a vauxhall astra in 10 years time, look at the tech available in the current Mercedes.
The Boss GT5 was revolutionary in its day, and just a few years later, that tech was commonplace.
It seems like a lot of people place a lot of importance on IRs when it comes to getting good sound from a modeller. That's interesting because if IR are the magic ingredient, the same IR can be uploaded to any modeller (cheap or expensive) as long as it's got IR loading capabilities.
I don't want to hijack the thread but a similar thought I had recently was - if the sounds in the FM9, QC or Helix are already 90% as good as the real gear, how much market is left for future modellers? Yeah Fractal, Neural and Line 6 can keep bringing out new modellers, but the sound can never be a greater than 10% improvement on what's here already.
It's the same with golf clubs for example. There's only so much tech you can fit into a tiny club head and it's been decades since the industry reached the point of maximising tech. But every year manufacturers still release new models with new promises of improvements, better this, better that. It's all smoke and mirrors. But people still lap them up
With multifx it won't be the sounds that will be improved though. It'll be (and should be) graphical and physical interfaces, cosmetics and connectivity.
You could see that in the future you’d be able to profile ( with the Kemper mark 5, say) an amp and actually capture how the controls work, rather than how captures work now.
I've always ran it the other way round though - if you've got a show running on click then using timecode and midi messages to automate lights, patch/control changes in guitar and keys rigs, scene recall in audio consoles, video playback etc makes for a very slick show.