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bikerdude2
Well-known member
Thinking of picking up one of these as a gigging rig. Last rig was a digitech 2101. Anyone have experience with both?
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Racerxrated
Well-known member
I just picked up an AX8. Over the past 2 weeks I've been playing my friends Helix. The higher gain tones were decent but nothing great. So I went with the Fractal, at 1099 its cheaper than the Helix. Plus I've got 2 weeks to return it.bikerdude2":35kzowl2 said:
Honestly, for straight up tone its really not close. AX8 sounds a LOT better to me. I know the Line 6 has great features and ease of use, but in the end the Fractal just sounds better. No experience with the Headrush. I'm playing through studio monitors at home for now. When I tried the Helix it was through a Matrix 800. Gonna run this over and try it through his power amp this weekend.
Not selling my tube amps though.
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MistaGuitah
Well-known member
Racerxrated":34c797ub said:
I agree, and I just pulled the trigger on an AxeFX II XL last night in fact. They have them on clearance from fractal for only $1699 which is even cheaper than a Kemper. The Helix is better than the Headrush in my opinion. I recently demoed them both. I almost went for the Helix but was thinking maybe I have some bias against it for whatever reason because it just seems like a lower grade product with a high price tag. The Headrush sounded promising and it's very easy to get all the tones you want laid out, but the quality of modeling just isnt't there. The Helix is a great improvement but I'll tell you that neither of them are quite on the level of Fractal as far as I can tell. The Fractal AxeFX is so close to a real amp that it's scary. It has body to the tone. On the Headrush and Helix, when I try to get that same embodiment of tone, it seems to just add like crap on top. It seems like you have to stick to that core kind of sound if that makes any sense.
It's a hard thing to explain but there is something definitely present in the Fractal products that Line6 and Headrush just do not have. I know very little about modeling so I am certain my lack of experience is a factor, but I trust my ears and know the difference in what I am hearing. That's why I went with Fractal. To be honest 100% I would say that if you laid down tracks with both units, you would be equally satisfied. The Helix is a monster and it sounds great so I don't want to turn you off on the idea. This is just my account as I have recently taken the plunge into the modeling realm. As for Kemper, all I know is that I can't afford one, and from everything I have read from people, it's not better than Fractal.
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zuel69
Active member
Racerxrated":3obh3iwr said:
This was EXACTLY my experience Racerxrated!
Chris O
Well-known member
Similar discussion here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=195072
thiswaythatway
Well-known member
Racerxrated":18ni0uov said:
Did you try any 3rd party cabs with the Helix? That seems to be the difference. Ola did a comparison video and with stock cabs the AX8 clearly sounded better. Once he used the same 3rd party cab for the AX8 and Helix then they sounded identical.
atrox
Active member
Yeah. If you want to do high gain tones on the Helix, the stock cabs cab yield decent results, but you'll find yourself obsessing over low and high cuts and EQs to get exactly what you want.
I feel IR's with high gain tones on the Helix are a must. They bring so much life into the tones. I mainly use the Friedman model (for obvious reasons.. see avatar) with a Creamback 412 IR and a Greenback 412 IR in parallel. It sounds so much like my amp it's ridiculous.
When i ran my Helix into my Friedman's power section (using the exact same EQ settings i use on my BE), I had a hard time telling a difference between the real amp and my Helix. So much so that i thought my Helix wasn't working as i was fucking with it.... It was because i was plugged into the actual amp and not the Helix. Only major difference was the real amp cleans up much better.
I feel IR's with high gain tones on the Helix are a must. They bring so much life into the tones. I mainly use the Friedman model (for obvious reasons.. see avatar) with a Creamback 412 IR and a Greenback 412 IR in parallel. It sounds so much like my amp it's ridiculous.
When i ran my Helix into my Friedman's power section (using the exact same EQ settings i use on my BE), I had a hard time telling a difference between the real amp and my Helix. So much so that i thought my Helix wasn't working as i was fucking with it.... It was because i was plugged into the actual amp and not the Helix. Only major difference was the real amp cleans up much better.
