Guys, great video. I especially love how you created the drama of having your own rigs in there while the player is blind. I was literally on the edge of my seat by the time you guys got to the reveal. Well done thanks for doing this
I had the HD500.. it was acceptable junk But the helix....The helix it´s incredible. I don´t care about the tweaking. I really love it. This blind test was so good guys. Sorry for my english.. Greetings from argentina...
After lugging around an AC-30 (71 lbs plus 24 lb road case) plus an 84 lb pedal board plus two guitars (30 lbs in cases) twice a week for worship services and rehearsals, I got the Helix, (18 lbs w/case) downloaded some settings/presets on Custom Tone (Thank you Jay Sadites) and I've never looked back. It's easy to set up and some from the congregation have complimented me on how great everything sounds! I'll still keep a few (very few) of my rare, analog pedals and a couple of my amps for home use, but my Helix is my go to rig every time. My back feels much better not having to deal with over 200 lbs of gear/cases and I'm loving the ease and simplicity. Plus, I never have to worry about tubes blowing or batteries going dead in the middle of a set. A huge bonus, using headphones at home with the Helix so I don't disturb others in the house. 209 lbs vs 18 lbs, more options, less weight, quick set-up, smaller footprint. Life is good! :)))
Honestly, I'm super impressed that this is your first video. I hopped over to your channel, excited to watch some other content... but this is all you have made! Excited to see what you come up with. I like the dynamic between the three of you, and seeing another perspective on gear and tone is certainly good. Keep it up!
Nice job, you guys are good on camera, very natural. I subbed. Oh and I say have both the real thing for recording or for pleasure of being in the room with all that vibe and air, and have the modelling thing for touring. I very rarely get a representative tone out front of house when the sound engineers mic up my AC15 (mostly because they make me turn it down) I think a modeller would be more consistent
Great vid fellas. Like all of you I'm bias because I own a Helix, but over the years I've owned Fender blk face dlx, silver face super rev, twin rev, Mesa Boogie IIB, Marshall Plexi & JCM800, Peavy Classic etc. Having a real tube amp can be great but they can be finicky when trying to consistently dial in a sound when moving from one place to another, and they can be very heavy. I love the flexibility and portability of the Helix, but most of all I love the sounds I can get from it and I haven't even explored IR's yet : )
Something worth bearing in mind... the 'emulators' are usually modelled on a 50+ year old XYZ. If that AC30 was made since the early '90s, it's as much a copy as the digital boxes - not made in the same place, not using THE same components, cabinets are not the same, speaker is different... for a long time, they weren't exactly the same circuit... Which sounds the best? That IS a valid comparison, but to ask which sounds most like the real thing... you'd need an early AC30 to compare the 'new' one against.
Totally agree, i compared the AC 30 TB with the kemper emulation and the Real amp is better but comparing to a new AC 3O kemper is a lot better... because it emulates an old amp
True. If you have a real amp why would you not use it? I still play decent sized gigs (300 to 1000 people)... I get that it does suck carrying around a suitcase full of bricks aka an AC30 or twin reverb... but um... I have real amps so I use them. The emulators are great for recording and I have used them in the studio and have gotten great results. But I have real amps and they do sound better especially live. If I wasn't performing it would be cool to have something like the helix. But if I have the $$ and the muscle I will take the amps. It's too late now but if you ever saw Dick Dale live you would understand that his amp tones can only come from an real amp. Sad he has passed. He is the reason why the 1st 100w amp was created.
Great video thanks......just proves to me that preconception/expectation is far more powerfull than actual sound. I have to admit I didn't get any guesses (too hard) but did more or less pick the Kemper I think, as a slightly more produced / mastered type (better) sound. Could have been fluke or or luck. Very few people seem to run the Helix like I do and I wonder why. For recording (and late night practice) I use the internal amps and cabs and very pleased with them. But for playing out I use the Helix in to either an AC30, DSL 5, Vox ac4c12 or Pro Junior (or combination in stereo) mic'd or not (gig volume depending) as purely a pedal board. You get the nice tube and cab amp on edge (or more) touch sensitivitypushing air plus the great Helix effects....
I think most folks who buy the helix either do it instead of a pricey amp (hobbyists) or to lighten up their load. I’m sure your rig sounds great. Most folk willing to lug around the tubes do it because they don’t like (or think they don’t like) digital. Most of the helix guys like it enough not to bother with amps...of course, with the release of helix effects, I would guess at least a few more folks are doing it like you. You’re spot on about the video too. People hear with their minds.
Check out the top users on the Helix and they are getting real amp sounds all the time. It takes awhile to learn but it's worth the effort. The Helix is a toolbox of colours, you can get whatever sound you want. The better ear you have and your skill sets of setting up your blocks on the path can create awesome real amp simulations. I used to own a fender twin and a Vox AC 30. Just use a helix through a PA these days. Thanks for going to the trouble, glad the helix was number 1.
Mike Gibson I just picked up a helix this week and I did in fact dial I a tone I loved in probably 25 minutes and I'm in love with it. I was convinced shortly after starting to edit this video and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
I played differently. Just wrote what i liked most, and it was: 1st place - Amp A, 2nd place - Amp D. The reveal told me that Amp A is the Helix. 2 years ago i sold my Kemper and got a Helix and i've always been very happy with the sound. Disclosure: I'm a hi-gain Vai-type of guy, and never used the AC30 model before, so this was new territory for me. :) This blind test tells me that i'm still preferring the sheen and juiciness of the "digital sound" of the Helix. Nice!
It's a small investment to get the Own Hammer Heavy Hitters pack, but so worth it for the Helix. The Helix sounds best with 4x12s and Ribbon mics. Really smooths out that high end.
Dennis stoneman I absolutely agree. This video shows that the Helix is the true winner both sound and price wise. I have no issue with the controls or time it might take to dial in good tones. Add a few good IRs and you got an awesome sounding and compact rig with more versatility and more bang for your buck than any of the other options. The Helix effects are better than the Kemper's ones as well.
Nice video guys. It''s an interesting experiment. About Helix and taking a long time to get a good tone or create some preset, It all depends on what you have in the sound chain. If you got only amp and cab, or just amp head. You would only have the same number of knobs like a real amp. The problem comes with too much options, which could waste a lot of time to explore like you mentioned, but again you pay more to get these options that help you to carve the tone as much as you want to your taste. If you want to judge amp simulation alone you should not add any effects or reverb into the chain. Thanks for posting, greetings to all of you.
Great job! I think this reinforces once again the importance of trusting ones own ears! More often than not my hands and my ears will tell me the truth.
Funny thing in this kind of comparisons is that people tend to made their own profiles with the Kemper. But if you take a good profile of an AC-30 made with more than one mic by a producer... well... that's hard to beat even if you have the real amp. Best thing of the Kemper it's not to profile your 2 or 3 amps in a garage, it's use well made profiles in studio conditions by a producer. You can profile; yes. I profiled the Marshall JTM45 I use in my last album. There was no difference between the real and the profiled, and now I use that profile in my gigs. But that profile was made with a shure 57 and a Royer ribbon mic (1500$ aprox) with Neve preamps by a good sound engineer. If someone play with me in the same gig and have a Marshall JTM45 with only a shure 57... I asure you his amp will sound a lot worse than my profile! For the rest of the sounds, I use Michael Britt profiles, Tone Junkie... that's the real magic of the Kemper. But you always have to remember: Kemper sound is as good as the profiles you are using. Regards!
Fun video - thanks. Obviously totally subjective, but it does emphasize how good modeling/profiling is becoming. I own a Helix as well, and I agree that I don’t like spending HOURS dialing in the tone I want. That aside, I love the flexibility - really good piece of kit imho.
Guys doing a legit blind test. Mad respect. To those of you in the comments of this video and EVERY OTHER amp vs. modeler video that say you CAN tell which is which: this is why I don’t believe you and why I’ll never believe you, even if you believe yourself. YES: you can tell that they’re DIFFERENT: but those of you that say that you always can tell and always prefer the real amp: I don’t believe you. I never will.
i am currently using a vox ac30c2 with helix lt in 4 cable method and i love it.You can find both used for 1300-1400€.You can have both worlds this way......
Good job on the blind test. A hint about the Helix and IRs and cabinets: You don't need the IRs. If you want them, great, by all means support people that support musicians. OTOH, you can always do this: Record a loop on the looper, in front of everything on the Helix. Let the loop play, and change cabinets, microphones, and distances until you get what you want. Also realize that you will almost certainly need to use a low cut and a high cut on the cabinet, and you might be surprised at how low the high cut might be. Honestly, the last mic I will use on a Helix preset is the 57, lots of ribbons and condensers to play with.
I think that a player that never uses a modeling amp/profiler would have been able to pick out the real amp. All of the folks doing these comparisons are using modelling frequently and their ears get used to it and they like that recorded type of sound. In the room sound is totally different than recorded sound. It was great to see and I am sure the best 2 were picked, maybe in correct order too. Whatever any one says about any of these, you don't have to break the bank to have great recording/gigging set anymore as most modelers with emulated direct out sound decent enough and will satisfy any audience going direct to front of house.
Great video!!! Mind blowing that the first was the Helix. Fooled me too and i own one. Sounded better than the real one imo. I own the Spider V too and it didn't sound so bad when he turned off the gate. But i agree that the rhythm sounded bad. I am surprised how unimpressive the AC30 sounded compared to the Kemper and Helix. Great blind test! I was ready to bash the helix too and thought it was number 4.
Amp A is bright. Hellishly bright. That could be attributed to the mic used (57 does accentuate the brightness of anything it's picking up). Amp B sounds good as-is. Probably wouldn't change anything. It's full, articulate, and not harsh. Amp C sounds a wee bit thin on the big chords, but the little clean licks are really nice. Again, could come down to mic choice and placement. Amp D has a weird thing going on where the attack on successive chord or single note hits sounds really wrong (the removal of the gate fixed that). Other than that, the tone is fine. It's kind of brittle on the top end, like A, which could again be attributed to mic placement and choice. I work with an AC15 regularly, and I used to mic it with a 57. Placement matters a lot with it. Too close to the cap brings out all the harshness and sounds too thin. Too close to the edge tames the fizz, but also can be too muddy. Recently I started using an e906 on my Vox, and what a difference it makes. The placement is much more forgiving than a 57, mostly because of how it's designed. Two gigs, a week apart, with the same amp and mic, but different placement. First one was 906 draped over the cab directly over the cap, with a 57 draped over the cone edge. Good blend, but not my favorite. Second gig, just the 906 placed between cape and cone edge, cheated toward the cap. Amazing sound! I've never gotten so much low mid (150-250 Hz) from that amp before, live or recorded. Definitely going to replicate that going forward. Also had the 906's three-way switch in the up (boost) position. Sounded absolutely huge for a little 15-watt 1x12 combo.
i loved my spider 4. now i play a mesa roadster and its great but i will always look back on my spider 4 with love...ive been playing since 1985 and started with a 1950s magnatone and have used all types and brands and dont get the people that get all uppity about gear. if it gets you off then its good no matter if its solid state digital or tubes ...
I love that you can spend hours programming a Helix, it is so much in one box it is insane. The helix also saves time compared to real amps and pedals. Try moving pedals around on a massive pedal board to see all of the tone combos, that can easily take hours if you have over 10 pedals
As a Helix LT owner I feel great. But you could buy a HX Stomp and have the same exact amp sound for as the full Helix or the LT. So you can get the sound for a lot less. By the way great job.
Nice job. HELIX owner here. Let's just say that 2 hours is a normal time to punch in a great tone. (It's not :) )., But an AC30 is about $1200. And that's all you get is an AC30., Sure you can put peddles and crank it, but in the end it's an AC30 you have to mic and trasport. If you want something different you have to bring multiple amp's, cab's., mic's., larger and larger pedal board etc., And good luck with your tap dancing in the middle of a song. With the HELIX you have a large number of amps. My favorite thing is that a lot of bands are actually using the HELIX and releasing their exact packs to you. So for $10 I can sound exactly like the songs I'm listening too (Minus the influence of the player on the sound of course). I can also change the entire sound from verse to chorus to bridge etc with one footswitch that changes all the other parameters. If you have a sound you like you can still do that as well., You can choose what output to use., In my case I love my Silver Jubilee. So my 1/4 out goes to the Silver and my XLR out goes to the mixer. One foot switch and I can change all the pedals / parameters and even going from real amp to direct to mix. I can also do both at once if I wanted to run wet /dry using a mix of real amp and HELIX., It's not cheap but the HELIX is a really great platform., And it has it's own backpack so it's super easy to transport with your guitar if your going to just use front of house and IEM's anyways.
Happy with my DigiTech 2112 twin tube pre amp/ Alesis 3630 compressor noise gate/ Samson power amp and Marshall cabs. Might switch out the Marshall cabs for a Line 6 power cab
Having just sold my Kemper for a Helix, I was having some buyer’s remorse thinking the Helix was amp D. I thought A sounded the best. Oh, what a relief. I mainly bought it to use 4CM with my rockerverb , but def want the option of good amp sims. Thanks for the hard work here.
4 for 4 boyz!! Ha :) Here's the reality and I've been running digital and analog for 22 years. The give away is the digital modeling amps continually hit the 'sweet spot' of whatever model you are trying to recreate and tend to have more clarity in the texture of the chords. So the Vox chime and smooth high end get recreated easier no matter how you hit the strings. A real amp is a bit more 'hit and miss', have to dial it in, have the mic on placement, have enough volume, hit your strings perfectly... So after years of tone hunting, what do I run with? My rig consists of running a handwired Vox AC30 with blues speakers and an Orange AD30, running various analog pedals in front controlled by an 8 channel looper. My POD is a backup if the rig goes down.
Guys, this was very entertaining! 😂. It just shows once more, you can't go wrong with any of the mentioned products. The problem is that we all are biased in some way... I'm getting my helix tomorrow. 😂
Kemper and Helix are the best sounding ones in this video. The Spider V also sounds pretty good, idk how the actual AC30 Is the sound I least like in this video.
It takes a while to learn how to dial a tone in on the Helix, but once you know what the knobs are and how they react, it becomes unbelievably faster. I can dial a patch that I'm 100% happy with in maybe 15 minutes, 20 minutes tops. Fantastic video though, really entertaining to watch and I've now subscribed
To ALL guitar players with religious-like devotion to this or that sounding THE BEST: Please....just try what these guys are doing. It will rearrange your brain and disprove almost everything you've always believed to your core! Been there, done that and I've never been the same. Mexican strats I swore were crap beat out custom shop designs....solid state amps impressed me more than all-tube...$30 DOD pedals sounded better than boutique ones costing $250. Don't believe me? I wouldn't believe me either. But JUST TRY IT using some really good controls like these guys and you'll be a believer! lol
It has nothing to do with sound. All of them sound great. The question is, which of these FEELS best when your playing? Which of them "INSPIRES" you to write better music? Which of them helps you "CREATE" in a new ways? That cannot be determined by listening to someone else play. You have to "FEEL", "CREATE", and be "INSPIRED" for yourself.
This was fun, but I wish they had used a guitar with a pickup configuration that is a bit more common. A tele is fine, but the old school pickups would work better for me. Try a Les Paul too.
My Guess was: A: Kemper B: Line 6 helix C: Amp D: Spider Never heard anyone IRL. But I knew that a Vox with a SM57 will be bright and shrill and lacking bottom end. :P To my ears Modelers is almost always sweeter, more bottom end and miss that top end treble(that you EQ-out for the most part anyway). But the High treble almost always give away modelers, it´s like a light blanket over the sound.
I got the Kemper and AC30 right. I don't know the Helix or Spider well enough to tell. The AC30, like most Vox amps I've heard, has a certain fizz to it that isn't present in the modelers. The Kemper comes close, though, with a bit of grit. Disclaimer: I own an AC15.
I’m absolutely blown away that the ac30 sounded that bad compared to the helix and kemper. They actually sounded better than the real thing. For a spider 5 to sound not that different than a full blown ac30 is crazy.
Very cool video. I played along as well. I missed the Vox and the Helix I got those reversed. The Kemper was sort of a process of elimination - I got that one. The easiest call was the Spider V as it sounded the worst by far.
Took me a couple hours initially to get acquainted with Helix and see how it reacts to a guitar and how to get where i wanted to go. After that, tajes me less than 5 minutes to dial in exactly what i want and im blown away by my tone these days. I was never this happy with my real amps.
I liked the video a lot and think it was put together well. When the statement was said "you can spend $1800 and have a DC30 should be fixed to "you can spend $599 (Hx Stomp) and have a dc30" no? They just proved that in the video.
That was interesting what he said about the Helix at the roughly the 8:00 mark. I went to guitar center and played a bunch of MFX units and I was scratching my head over why the HELIX cost so much. It is hard to isolate the exact problem, but everything seemed far too boomy on it and i felt like the cab emulation. It was a total guess, and maybe the IR’s fix that, but either way I was way underwhelmed by a $1500 product. I ended up with the HD500X. 1, because I wasn’t going to do anything with the MFX except play some low profile live gigs so it wasn’t like i needed The Best Sound, I just needed flexibility. 2, because I could not hear a $1000 or $500 improvement in tone at all. In some ways I really liked it, but in the most fundamental ways I did not
the thing with the Helix, or any modeler that doesn't come with a real power amp / real speaker cab, whether it's a tube combo amp or tube amp / cab combo, is that what you plug it into to hear it, as well as the room you are in, etc. is going to have an effect on your experience. I mean I've even heard a story of John Frusciante going into record guitar parts for a RHCP album, and ditch the session because it just wasn't sounding good to him, and then go back on another day, playing through the same rig, same room, same recording gear, etc. and on that day the sound he was hearing was acceptable...sounded good...inspired creativity...I use a HELIX LT, but I love the sound of plugging into a real VOX amp and really love the way the online demo's of the Synergy tube preamp modules sound...
In Frusciante's case brother... I think it was the particular drug cocktail that he likely had that day :-) I'm a full size Helix guy too, and love it; and up until recently, I was an amp and pedal guy. There is a learning curve, but damn it has been worth it.
Thanks for the video. How were each of the amps recorded? You guys were listening to a pair of monitors in the room, but we're not hearing those out here.
Thanks Jon! Everything was direct from the xlr out (or sm57 for the real amp) into the behringer xair which acted as our interface. But yes, you are correct, we were hearing everything from the speakers in the room.
Trying a bunch of random presets/ IR's and profiles, perhaps I couldn't tell the difference that much.. But my Kemper sounds 99.5% just like my real rig and responds almost exactly the same. The Helix can do other sounds well, but it probably won't duplicate my rig, which is already part of my soul. Maybe I could make an IR myself to get closer, but the Amp model wouldn't be as close as my Kemper to my real amp. This is something to consider. Now, if you are not married to your real amp or trying a bunch of unfamiliar tones, perhaps it's apples and oranges. Also, if you are experimenting with new sounds, you can always make pretty much anything decent sound good somehow and find a place for it. But, if you are coming from a real amp, for me at least, it's Kemper hands down. Oh.. And profiles made by your favorite producer in a studio are pretty cool. It's a real eye-opening experience as far as tones that go on records. Just FYI, I don't own a Helix. I own a Kemper and an AxeFx. I hook them up to each other via spdif, using the AxeFx for its effects and some additional crazy tones.
I don't like the particular tone they were using, and I doubt I'd use anything like that. But be that as it may... I thought A, B, and C were all similar shades of OK. Only D was really bad, and I think it could have been programmed to be better. I'm probably getting myself a Helix of some sort in the next few weeks. I think it sounds very good, the portability is great. My only worry is that, like most computer-based devices, it won't be long before it's obsolete, and if it breaks, it might not be practical to fix. Those kinds of things are ultimately disposable. A real AC30 can sound great, but it's too loud for almost any use I'd have for it. I do have and AC15-CC1.
I agree that you need (well, not really NEED, but it does make stuff much easier) third party IRs for the helix, but all in all I spent less than 20€ on them, and I have all I need for literally all types of tones. So its not like super expensive. Actually getting a bunch of third party profiles for the Kemper is way more expensive. Source: I owned a Kemper, and I still own a Helix.
This was entertaining :) I ditched my AXE FX II for Helix and I don't regret it.
That's funny I ditched the HD500 for the AX8... \m/
An HD500 is not a Helix...
Guys, great video. I especially love how you created the drama of having your own rigs in there while the player is blind. I was literally on the edge of my seat by the time you guys got to the reveal. Well done thanks for doing this
I had the HD500.. it was acceptable junk But the helix....The helix it´s incredible. I don´t care about the tweaking. I really love it. This blind test was so good guys. Sorry for my english.. Greetings from argentina...
I flipped the Vox/Kemper and the Spider/Helix. Overall, the Kemper sounded the best to my ears. Winner.
A new channel in the hood, I´m gonna support this guys. Liked the content.
Real content, honest content in my opinion.
They all sounded like a sm57.
Haahhaahhaahh! Funny, but true...
After lugging around an AC-30 (71 lbs plus 24 lb road case) plus an 84 lb pedal board plus two guitars (30 lbs in cases) twice a week for worship services and rehearsals, I got the Helix, (18 lbs w/case) downloaded some settings/presets on Custom Tone (Thank you Jay Sadites) and I've never looked back. It's easy to set up and some from the congregation have complimented me on how great everything sounds! I'll still keep a few (very few) of my rare, analog pedals and a couple of my amps for home use, but my Helix is my go to rig every time. My back feels much better not having to deal with over 200 lbs of gear/cases and I'm loving the ease and simplicity. Plus, I never have to worry about tubes blowing or batteries going dead in the middle of a set. A huge bonus, using headphones at home with the Helix so I don't disturb others in the house. 209 lbs vs 18 lbs, more options, less weight, quick set-up, smaller footprint. Life is good! :)))
I got them all right! Currently playing HX Effects into a Kemper. Best of both worlds haha
This was extremely amusing and entertaining. Grinned my whole way through it at your discomfort at not knowing. I couldn't tell, either.
Honestly, I'm super impressed that this is your first video. I hopped over to your channel, excited to watch some other content... but this is all you have made! Excited to see what you come up with. I like the dynamic between the three of you, and seeing another perspective on gear and tone is certainly good. Keep it up!
Thank you so much! We will be releasing an American sound version of this test as soon as I can get it edited!
Nice job, you guys are good on camera, very natural. I subbed. Oh and I say have both the real thing for recording or for pleasure of being in the room with all that vibe and air, and have the modelling thing for touring. I very rarely get a representative tone out front of house when the sound engineers mic up my AC15 (mostly because they make me turn it down) I think a modeller would be more consistent
The results really caught me off guard. Great vid!
HELIX RULES!
Great video, this was more entertaining than any guitar video I've watched yet. Too much fun!
Great vid fellas. Like all of you I'm bias because I own a Helix, but over the years I've owned Fender blk face dlx, silver face super rev, twin rev, Mesa Boogie IIB, Marshall Plexi & JCM800, Peavy Classic etc. Having a real tube amp can be great but they can be finicky when trying to consistently dial in a sound when moving from one place to another, and they can be very heavy. I love the flexibility and portability of the Helix, but most of all I love the sounds I can get from it and I haven't even explored IR's yet : )
Something worth bearing in mind... the 'emulators' are usually modelled on a 50+ year old XYZ.
If that AC30 was made since the early '90s, it's as much a copy as the digital boxes - not made in the same place, not using THE same components, cabinets are not the same, speaker is different... for a long time, they weren't exactly the same circuit...
Which sounds the best? That IS a valid comparison, but to ask which sounds most like the real thing... you'd need an early AC30 to compare the 'new' one against.
Totally agree, i compared the AC 30 TB with the kemper emulation and the Real amp is better but comparing to a new AC 3O kemper is a lot better... because it emulates an old amp
True. If you have a real amp why would you not use it? I still play decent sized gigs (300 to 1000 people)... I get that it does suck carrying around a suitcase full of bricks aka an AC30 or twin reverb... but um... I have real amps so I use them. The emulators are great for recording and I have used them in the studio and have gotten great results. But I have real amps and they do sound better especially live. If I wasn't performing it would be cool to have something like the helix. But if I have the $$ and the muscle I will take the amps. It's too late now but if you ever saw Dick Dale live you would understand that his amp tones can only come from an real amp. Sad he has passed. He is the reason why the 1st 100w amp was created.
Ok, but these guys will not have played an old AC30. They will have played a new one.
@@CrisporMusic You can add a lead bar to the bottom of your gear to make it feel like better quality.
Great video thanks......just proves to me that preconception/expectation is far more powerfull than actual sound. I have to admit I didn't get any guesses (too hard) but did more or less pick the Kemper I think, as a slightly more produced / mastered type (better) sound. Could have been fluke or or luck.
Very few people seem to run the Helix like I do and I wonder why. For recording (and late night practice) I use the internal amps and cabs and very pleased with them. But for playing out I use the Helix in to either an AC30, DSL 5, Vox ac4c12 or Pro Junior (or combination in stereo) mic'd or not (gig volume depending) as purely a pedal board.
You get the nice tube and cab amp on edge (or more) touch sensitivitypushing air plus the great Helix effects....
I think most folks who buy the helix either do it instead of a pricey amp (hobbyists) or to lighten up their load. I’m sure your rig sounds great. Most folk willing to lug around the tubes do it because they don’t like (or think they don’t like) digital. Most of the helix guys like it enough not to bother with amps...of course, with the release of helix effects, I would guess at least a few more folks are doing it like you. You’re spot on about the video too. People hear with their minds.
Check out the top users on the Helix and they are getting real amp sounds all the time. It takes awhile to learn but it's worth the effort. The Helix is a toolbox of colours, you can get whatever sound you want. The better ear you have and your skill sets of setting up your blocks on the path can create awesome real amp simulations. I used to own a fender twin and a Vox AC 30. Just use a helix through a PA these days.
Thanks for going to the trouble, glad the helix was number 1.
Mike Gibson I just picked up a helix this week and I did in fact dial I a tone I loved in probably 25 minutes and I'm in love with it. I was convinced shortly after starting to edit this video and I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
The only way to get a "real" amp sound is to get a real tube amp.
@Aaron Quite wise move. You will save on back surgeries. :)
Every time I watch one of these videos, I end up preferring the sound of the kemper over real amps.
Great video guys. Best comparison of amp modellers/amp on TH-cam for me. I just got a Helix two days ago so your first guess made me happy.
Thanks for the encouragement! I (Ethan) am getting a helix this week and couldn't be more excited!
I played differently. Just wrote what i liked most, and it was: 1st place - Amp A, 2nd place - Amp D. The reveal told me that Amp A is the Helix. 2 years ago i sold my Kemper and got a Helix and i've always been very happy with the sound. Disclosure: I'm a hi-gain Vai-type of guy, and never used the AC30 model before, so this was new territory for me. :)
This blind test tells me that i'm still preferring the sheen and juiciness of the "digital sound" of the Helix. Nice!
It's a small investment to get the Own Hammer Heavy Hitters pack, but so worth it for the Helix. The Helix sounds best with 4x12s and Ribbon mics. Really smooths out that high end.
Helix has such a close to natural tone live. Much prefer than a Kemper any day.
I was super disappointed to see this was the only video! This was great content!
Thank you so much! We will be releasing another blind test done with American tone in a couple weeks.
Good to see .results are realistic. You can only tell exactly what you are playing when you are sponsored..... Good luck guys.. Drop bears
Real amp and Helix are about the same cost, but then how about the other 70 amps, 50 cabs, and over 200 stomps. Price comparisons are not even close.
Dennis stoneman I absolutely agree. This video shows that the Helix is the true winner both sound and price wise. I have no issue with the controls or time it might take to dial in good tones. Add a few good IRs and you got an awesome sounding and compact rig with more versatility and more bang for your buck than any of the other options. The Helix effects are better than the Kemper's ones as well.
Nice video! Greetings from Guatemala, I'll be waiting for another one
Nice video guys. It''s an interesting experiment. About Helix and taking a long time to get a good tone or create some preset, It all depends on what you have in the sound chain. If you got only amp and cab, or just amp head. You would only have the same number of knobs like a real amp. The problem comes with too much options, which could waste a lot of time to explore like you mentioned, but again you pay more to get these options that help you to carve the tone as much as you want to your taste. If you want to judge amp simulation alone you should not add any effects or reverb into the chain. Thanks for posting, greetings to all of you.
Dude! Awesome! Once again reaffirmed that the Helix holds it's own.
_its_ own, even
I think they should given final answers for all four before the reveal. But, it was still entertaining. Love the blind test.
Great job! I think this reinforces once again the importance of trusting ones own ears! More often than not my hands and my ears will tell me the truth.
i dont know why ppl keep disliking this vid, It was chill as fuck to watch it. I liked. Also I'm a Line 6 user and fan too.
In the blind test, I picked out sound 1 and 3 as the ones I liked the most. As a Helix user, I'm very happy that it was it and the ac30
Happy I detected the Helix because of the glassy high frequencies (that I definitely don't like). Impressed by Kemper, really.
Funny thing in this kind of comparisons is that people tend to made their own profiles with the Kemper. But if you take a good profile of an AC-30 made with more than one mic by a producer... well... that's hard to beat even if you have the real amp. Best thing of the Kemper it's not to profile your 2 or 3 amps in a garage, it's use well made profiles in studio conditions by a producer. You can profile; yes. I profiled the Marshall JTM45 I use in my last album. There was no difference between the real and the profiled, and now I use that profile in my gigs. But that profile was made with a shure 57 and a Royer ribbon mic (1500$ aprox) with Neve preamps by a good sound engineer. If someone play with me in the same gig and have a Marshall JTM45 with only a shure 57... I asure you his amp will sound a lot worse than my profile!
For the rest of the sounds, I use Michael Britt profiles, Tone Junkie... that's the real magic of the Kemper.
But you always have to remember:
Kemper sound is as good as the profiles you are using. Regards!
Fun video - thanks. Obviously totally subjective, but it does emphasize how good modeling/profiling is becoming. I own a Helix as well, and I agree that I don’t like spending HOURS dialing in the tone I want. That aside, I love the flexibility - really good piece of kit imho.
You guys have far too few subscribers for the quality of this video. Looking forward to seeing your future stuff!
Thanks! Should be releasing another in a couple of weeks.
I enjoyed this greatly, and I hope you’ll do more!
Guys doing a legit blind test. Mad respect. To those of you in the comments of this video and EVERY OTHER amp vs. modeler video that say you CAN tell which is which: this is why I don’t believe you and why I’ll never believe you, even if you believe yourself. YES: you can tell that they’re DIFFERENT: but those of you that say that you always can tell and always prefer the real amp: I don’t believe you. I never will.
Awesome video! More blind tests!
Next to a drumset they all sound the same
Correct. :)
After the mixing process, all of this barely matters, and depending on genre, yeah, next to the drumset, the rest just sounds the same
🙌🏻
only to drummers but hey, they are usually deaf
But feel is soooo important to the player!
i am currently using a vox ac30c2 with helix lt in 4 cable method and i love it.You can find both used for 1300-1400€.You can have both worlds this way......
Good job on the blind test. A hint about the Helix and IRs and cabinets: You don't need the IRs. If you want them, great, by all means support people that support musicians. OTOH, you can always do this: Record a loop on the looper, in front of everything on the Helix. Let the loop play, and change cabinets, microphones, and distances until you get what you want. Also realize that you will almost certainly need to use a low cut and a high cut on the cabinet, and you might be surprised at how low the high cut might be. Honestly, the last mic I will use on a Helix preset is the 57, lots of ribbons and condensers to play with.
No doubt Helix is a monster 😂🎉😎🎸
I think that a player that never uses a modeling amp/profiler would have been able to pick out the real amp. All of the folks doing these comparisons are using modelling frequently and their ears get used to it and they like that recorded type of sound.
In the room sound is totally different than recorded sound.
It was great to see and I am sure the best 2 were picked, maybe in correct order too.
Whatever any one says about any of these, you don't have to break the bank to have great recording/gigging set anymore as most modelers with emulated direct out sound decent enough and will satisfy any audience going direct to front of house.
If you have a sound in your mind, the Helix can usually do it. It is set up like the analog stuff so it never takes me too long to set anything.
Guys that was a lot of fun
Great video!!! Mind blowing that the first was the Helix. Fooled me too and i own one. Sounded better than the real one imo. I own the Spider V too and it didn't sound so bad when he turned off the gate. But i agree that the rhythm sounded bad. I am surprised how unimpressive the AC30 sounded compared to the Kemper and Helix. Great blind test! I was ready to bash the helix too and thought it was number 4.
Amp A is bright. Hellishly bright. That could be attributed to the mic used (57 does accentuate the brightness of anything it's picking up). Amp B sounds good as-is. Probably wouldn't change anything. It's full, articulate, and not harsh. Amp C sounds a wee bit thin on the big chords, but the little clean licks are really nice. Again, could come down to mic choice and placement. Amp D has a weird thing going on where the attack on successive chord or single note hits sounds really wrong (the removal of the gate fixed that). Other than that, the tone is fine. It's kind of brittle on the top end, like A, which could again be attributed to mic placement and choice.
I work with an AC15 regularly, and I used to mic it with a 57. Placement matters a lot with it. Too close to the cap brings out all the harshness and sounds too thin. Too close to the edge tames the fizz, but also can be too muddy. Recently I started using an e906 on my Vox, and what a difference it makes. The placement is much more forgiving than a 57, mostly because of how it's designed. Two gigs, a week apart, with the same amp and mic, but different placement. First one was 906 draped over the cab directly over the cap, with a 57 draped over the cone edge. Good blend, but not my favorite. Second gig, just the 906 placed between cape and cone edge, cheated toward the cap. Amazing sound! I've never gotten so much low mid (150-250 Hz) from that amp before, live or recorded. Definitely going to replicate that going forward. Also had the 906's three-way switch in the up (boost) position. Sounded absolutely huge for a little 15-watt 1x12 combo.
i loved my spider 4. now i play a mesa roadster and its great but i will always look back on my spider 4 with love...ive been playing since 1985 and started with a 1950s magnatone and have used all types and brands and dont get the people that get all uppity about gear. if it gets you off then its good no matter if its solid state digital or tubes ...
I love that you can spend hours programming a Helix, it is so much in one box it is insane. The helix also saves time compared to real amps and pedals. Try moving pedals around on a massive pedal board to see all of the tone combos, that can easily take hours if you have over 10 pedals
My guess prior to seeing the end: A: Spider, B: Helix, C: Kemper, D: Real Amp
Two hours isn’t really a long time to get a great tone. Well worth it.
As a Helix LT owner I feel great. But you could buy a HX Stomp and have the same exact amp sound for as the full Helix or the LT. So you can get the sound for a lot less. By the way great job.
I know how you feel, man! I just got mine this week!
Nice job. HELIX owner here. Let's just say that 2 hours is a normal time to punch in a great tone. (It's not :) )., But an AC30 is about $1200. And that's all you get is an AC30., Sure you can put peddles and crank it, but in the end it's an AC30 you have to mic and trasport. If you want something different you have to bring multiple amp's, cab's., mic's., larger and larger pedal board etc., And good luck with your tap dancing in the middle of a song.
With the HELIX you have a large number of amps. My favorite thing is that a lot of bands are actually using the HELIX and releasing their exact packs to you. So for $10 I can sound exactly like the songs I'm listening too (Minus the influence of the player on the sound of course). I can also change the entire sound from verse to chorus to bridge etc with one footswitch that changes all the other parameters.
If you have a sound you like you can still do that as well., You can choose what output to use., In my case I love my Silver Jubilee. So my 1/4 out goes to the Silver and my XLR out goes to the mixer. One foot switch and I can change all the pedals / parameters and even going from real amp to direct to mix. I can also do both at once if I wanted to run wet /dry using a mix of real amp and HELIX.,
It's not cheap but the HELIX is a really great platform., And it has it's own backpack so it's super easy to transport with your guitar if your going to just use front of house and IEM's anyways.
How is this your first video. Very entertaining and and very well produced. I hope to see more from you guys
Thanks! We just filmed an American sound version that we will try and edit and post as soon as possible!
@@WeTalkTone I can't wait. I love me a good American tone
Just posted! th-cam.com/video/_Zj8VQJLgao/w-d-xo.html
Great video, definitely make another comparison using computer software (such as bias fx), real amp, kemper, helix and/or axe-fx III.
Happy with my DigiTech 2112 twin tube pre amp/ Alesis 3630 compressor noise gate/ Samson power amp and Marshall cabs. Might switch out the Marshall cabs for a Line 6 power cab
do more, I digged it! respect from the u.k.!
Great review guys!
That was really interesting! Y'all just earned a sub.
Having just sold my Kemper for a Helix, I was having some buyer’s remorse thinking the Helix was amp D. I thought A sounded the best. Oh, what a relief. I mainly bought it to use 4CM with my rockerverb , but def want the option of good amp sims. Thanks for the hard work here.
😂😂😂
4 for 4 boyz!! Ha :)
Here's the reality and I've been running digital and analog for 22 years. The give away is the digital modeling amps continually hit the 'sweet spot' of whatever model you are trying to recreate and tend to have more clarity in the texture of the chords. So the Vox chime and smooth high end get recreated easier no matter how you hit the strings. A real amp is a bit more 'hit and miss', have to dial it in, have the mic on placement, have enough volume, hit your strings perfectly...
So after years of tone hunting, what do I run with? My rig consists of running a handwired Vox AC30 with blues speakers and an Orange AD30, running various analog pedals in front controlled by an 8 channel looper.
My POD is a backup if the rig goes down.
Guys, this was very entertaining! 😂. It just shows once more, you can't go wrong with any of the mentioned products. The problem is that we all are biased in some way... I'm getting my helix tomorrow. 😂
Nice! My (Ethan) favorite tone was from the Helix.
Looking forward to more videos. Keep it real.
Great job! And, very entertaining!
Kemper and Helix are the best sounding ones in this video. The Spider V also sounds pretty good, idk how the actual AC30 Is the sound I least like in this video.
It takes a while to learn how to dial a tone in on the Helix, but once you know what the knobs are and how they react, it becomes unbelievably faster. I can dial a patch that I'm 100% happy with in maybe 15 minutes, 20 minutes tops. Fantastic video though, really entertaining to watch and I've now subscribed
To ALL guitar players with religious-like devotion to this or that sounding THE BEST: Please....just try what these guys are doing. It will rearrange your brain and disprove almost everything you've always believed to your core! Been there, done that and I've never been the same. Mexican strats I swore were crap beat out custom shop designs....solid state amps impressed me more than all-tube...$30 DOD pedals sounded better than boutique ones costing $250. Don't believe me? I wouldn't believe me either. But JUST TRY IT using some really good controls like these guys and you'll be a believer! lol
It has nothing to do with sound. All of them sound great. The question is, which of these FEELS best when your playing? Which of them "INSPIRES" you to write better music? Which of them helps you "CREATE" in a new ways? That cannot be determined by listening to someone else play. You have to "FEEL", "CREATE", and be "INSPIRED" for yourself.
This was fun, but I wish they had used a guitar with a pickup configuration that is a bit more common. A tele is fine, but the old school pickups would work better for me. Try a Les Paul too.
I actually really enjoy how easy the helix is to use, I’ve had one for around 7ish months and gig with it regularly, very easy to get a great tone
My Guess was:
A: Kemper
B: Line 6 helix
C: Amp
D: Spider
Never heard anyone IRL.
But I knew that a Vox with a SM57 will be bright and shrill and lacking bottom end. :P
To my ears Modelers is almost always sweeter, more bottom end and miss that top end treble(that you EQ-out for the most part anyway).
But the High treble almost always give away modelers, it´s like a light blanket over the sound.
Great video Thanks guys for great entertainment.
I got the Kemper and AC30 right. I don't know the Helix or Spider well enough to tell. The AC30, like most Vox amps I've heard, has a certain fizz to it that isn't present in the modelers. The Kemper comes close, though, with a bit of grit. Disclaimer: I own an AC15.
I didn’t get one right. 😂 I’m glad my Helix held its own.
I like my helix for quick and easy but for most live performances I use the Helix, 4 cable method, with an amp.
but what a great day for modelers, 6-8 years ago this would be a 3 minute video.
I’m absolutely blown away that the ac30 sounded that bad compared to the helix and kemper. They actually sounded better than the real thing. For a spider 5 to sound not that different than a full blown ac30 is crazy.
I must have spent to much time with a real vox amp, guessed it right away.
No such thing as too much time
Very cool video. I played along as well. I missed the Vox and the Helix I got those reversed. The Kemper was sort of a process of elimination - I got that one. The easiest call was the Spider V as it sounded the worst by far.
Great video!
Keep making shows boys
Took me a couple hours initially to get acquainted with Helix and see how it reacts to a guitar and how to get where i wanted to go. After that, tajes me less than 5 minutes to dial in exactly what i want and im blown away by my tone these days. I was never this happy with my real amps.
Seriously considering a helix and curious to know how you got the sound you were looking for. Currently using an amp1 and not 100% satisfied
I liked the video a lot and think it was put together well. When the statement was said "you can spend $1800 and have a DC30 should be fixed to "you can spend $599 (Hx Stomp) and have a dc30" no? They just proved that in the video.
Great video. Earned a subscriber.
Thank Zeus the Kemper was the one that I liked the best, before knowing...because I would be one shamed Kemper owner otherwise. I was sweating it out.
Just found the channel. Subbed❤
That was interesting what he said about the Helix at the roughly the 8:00 mark. I went to guitar center and played a bunch of MFX units and I was scratching my head over why the HELIX cost so much. It is hard to isolate the exact problem, but everything seemed far too boomy on it and i felt like the cab emulation. It was a total guess, and maybe the IR’s fix that, but either way I was way underwhelmed by a $1500 product.
I ended up with the HD500X. 1, because I wasn’t going to do anything with the MFX except play some low profile live gigs so it wasn’t like i needed The Best Sound, I just needed flexibility. 2, because I could not hear a $1000 or $500 improvement in tone at all. In some ways I really liked it, but in the most fundamental ways I did not
Own an HX Stomp. It is true, the custom IR's make the difference.
the thing with the Helix, or any modeler that doesn't come with a real power amp / real speaker cab, whether it's a tube combo amp or tube amp / cab combo, is that what you plug it into to hear it, as well as the room you are in, etc. is going to have an effect on your experience. I mean I've even heard a story of John Frusciante going into record guitar parts for a RHCP album, and ditch the session because it just wasn't sounding good to him, and then go back on another day, playing through the same rig, same room, same recording gear, etc. and on that day the sound he was hearing was acceptable...sounded good...inspired creativity...I use a HELIX LT, but I love the sound of plugging into a real VOX amp and really love the way the online demo's of the Synergy tube preamp modules sound...
In Frusciante's case brother... I think it was the particular drug cocktail that he likely had that day :-) I'm a full size Helix guy too, and love it; and up until recently, I was an amp and pedal guy. There is a learning curve, but damn it has been worth it.
you people are better than andertons imo(format is similar).
tx.fun to watch.
Thanks for the video. How were each of the amps recorded? You guys were listening to a pair of monitors in the room, but we're not hearing those out here.
Thanks Jon! Everything was direct from the xlr out (or sm57 for the real amp) into the behringer xair which acted as our interface. But yes, you are correct, we were hearing everything from the speakers in the room.
Great job guys! Next, I'd love to hear some American Tones from these same four amps.
Especially clean tones as a pedal platform.
@@dallasmuzikboy something like that is definitely on the horizon!
Just posted a Fender Princeton blind test! th-cam.com/video/_Zj8VQJLgao/w-d-xo.html
I have the spider v 240 and it's amazing for solid state amp
Our next video coming out shows the spider v in a good light ;)
I have the same amp. Chevymetal Solo, Blackface Luxe, Afterlife are just a few great sounding tones. Great bang for the buck
Trying a bunch of random presets/ IR's and profiles, perhaps I couldn't tell the difference that much..
But my Kemper sounds 99.5% just like my real rig and responds almost exactly the same. The Helix can do other sounds well, but it probably won't duplicate my rig, which is already part of my soul. Maybe I could make an IR myself to get closer, but the Amp model wouldn't be as close as my Kemper to my real amp. This is something to consider.
Now, if you are not married to your real amp or trying a bunch of unfamiliar tones, perhaps it's apples and oranges. Also, if you are experimenting with new sounds, you can always make pretty much anything decent sound good somehow and find a place for it.
But, if you are coming from a real amp, for me at least, it's Kemper hands down.
Oh.. And profiles made by your favorite producer in a studio are pretty cool. It's a real eye-opening experience as far as tones that go on records.
Just FYI, I don't own a Helix. I own a Kemper and an AxeFx. I hook them up to each other via spdif, using the AxeFx for its effects and some additional crazy tones.
I heard the real amp with my iPhone all the other amp were lower sound quality. It’s not only the tone it’s the organic sound quality.
i love the guitar. What model fender tele is that?
I don't like the particular tone they were using, and I doubt I'd use anything like that. But be that as it may... I thought A, B, and C were all similar shades of OK. Only D was really bad, and I think it could have been programmed to be better.
I'm probably getting myself a Helix of some sort in the next few weeks. I think it sounds very good, the portability is great. My only worry is that, like most computer-based devices, it won't be long before it's obsolete, and if it breaks, it might not be practical to fix. Those kinds of things are ultimately disposable.
A real AC30 can sound great, but it's too loud for almost any use I'd have for it. I do have and AC15-CC1.
I agree that you need (well, not really NEED, but it does make stuff much easier) third party IRs for the helix, but all in all I spent less than 20€ on them, and I have all I need for literally all types of tones. So its not like super expensive. Actually getting a bunch of third party profiles for the Kemper is way more expensive.
Source: I owned a Kemper, and I still own a Helix.
I went into the Helix with no knowlege what so ever and I got a good tone in like 10 minutes