smdb":2esj4y3p said:
I am running the same rig and love mine. I have a toaster head as a backup for gigs. I use Mbritt, BM, Top Jimi profiles and am really happy. The Mbritt profiles will come to life with a studio EQ in the X slot. Just a slight bump on the eq and they are pretty nice. It's not the same as a tube amp, but I got used to it very fast and am getting killer tones, at ALL gain levels.I am really getting into the low gain, tele type overdrives lately, and they are very nice. Some profiles are a bit more dynamic than others and respond to the volume knob on the guitar differently.
I have been hearing some great profiles. Especially the MBritt and Top Jimi profiles. I doubt I will need much more than that.
I have a bunch of great amps and every one of them is heavy as shit. I will be 48 on the 14th and I just can't carry that stuff all over the place anymore. Not to mention the wear and tear on the amps. I LOVE my amps. I am not going to sell them unless I have to... Lastly, I have gotten a lot of compliments on my sound even when I used the Helix. People cannot hear the difference. Only tone aware guitar players (I say tone aware because some guitar players have zero idea what makes a guitar sound good, apparently).
Here is the evolution I have gone through.
I bought a Helix and love the thing but I just haven't gelled with it. I still have it and it's fun to screw with. The most recent firmware updates have greatly improved it.
I bought an AX8 and I LOVE IT... except when it pisses me off by being so freaking complex yet limited by CPU.
I bought an Amplifire 12 and it's cool. It's simple. I don't think it sounds as good as the AX8. Some people might think differently. That's ok. I like the Amplifire for a practice piece because it isn't as bulky as the Helix and it has a headphone out. That is what I will likely be using it for, primarily. Too bad the AX8 doesn't have a headphone out... Fractal should be shot in the pinky toe for that.
I just paid off an Archon I bought from Zzounds and saw they had the Kemper available for payments now. I decided to get it with the floor controller.
I have seen a number of people live using all of the options above. I think the Kemper sounded the best live and some of the videos on youtube just sound amazing.
As far as low gain, even when I was playing in metal bands I preferred lower gain. Too much gain makes things fizzy and you lose definition in your notes. You get mush. At lower gain, you can still be aggressive in your rhythm playing but it won't wash the mix. A good amp and boost for solos is all you need.
A perfect example of this is Aaron Marshall. Say what you want, I think they have a great guitar tone on this record.
Back in the day, there were a lot of great guitar players that didn't use a lot of gain including Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch.
Most of what they had was that Plexi bite.
If you're paying more than $300 for an 11R, you're paying too much.
