A lot of people will disagree with my hardware modeler ranking

[OneEng]

The presets I use with my band all center around the same basic amp and cab for the sake of consistency. Things start to get freaky in a hurry if you're changing everything up for each song.

IN YOUR BAND....

I never said that there wasn't a place for a small device, only that "serious" guitarist (meant to say higher end local acts and touring) wouldn't use one.

Everyone knows that you can't get a Fender Blackface clean out of a Mesa Triple Rectifier. And good luck playing Metallica on a Blues Junior. If you play covers, or if your band has a broad variety of types of songs it plays, then it will be a compromise to have a single amp sound.

My whole point has consistently been that there isn't a "best pedal out there" for every guitar player, because different people do different things with their rig.

 

[OneEng]

some guitarists can do a whole gig with just guitar and amp…others have a warehouse full of gear with complex switching. Nice to have gear that can handle both.

For Kemper when I was happy with the solo tone I started recording tracks and found I was completely buried in the mix. All my favorite MBritt stuff was kinda useless without significant tweaking. That was beginning of the end for me.

Agree.

I have no issues being burried in the mix in my band using my Kemper (either live or in our recordings). Of course, different people (like yourself) have had different experiences.

What did you end up getting?

 

[paisleywookiee]

I never said that there wasn't a place for a small device, only that "serious" guitarist (meant to say higher end local acts and touring) wouldn't use one.

I disagree, based on actual experience with many different cover band guitarists, as well as original bands.

 

[Frodebro]

IN YOUR BAND....

I never said that there wasn't a place for a small device, only that "serious" guitarist (meant to say higher end local acts and touring) wouldn't use one.

Everyone knows that you can't get a Fender Blackface clean out of a Mesa Triple Rectifier. And good luck playing Metallica on a Blues Junior. If you play covers, or if your band has a broad variety of types of songs it plays, then it will be a compromise to have a single amp sound.

My whole point has consistently been that there isn't a "best pedal out there" for every guitar player, because different people do different things with their rig.

I had to learn new songs regularly in my band (it was a cover band that worked literally every weekend with a house gig). That was time consuming enough without having to create new sounds to go with it. And the more complex you make things, the more you open yourself up for issues.

Now for somebody that is only gigging one weekend a month or so, there's plenty of time to muck about with the minor details and get everything sorted out. But in my band, we didn't rehearse-we were already playing onstage three nights every week together, so it was a very tight group. We would agree on new songs to add for the next weekend on Saturday nights, learn them at home on our own time, then run through them a couple of times onstage early on Thursday nights (when it wasn't as busy) to make sure we were all on the same page with the arrangements.

Adding new sounds for the new songs would require final tweaking with the band to get things right, and there just wasn't the time to mess with that stuff. And not once did anybody ever comment on how we didn't sound just like the record.

 

[HomespunEffects]

I came to disagree because the thread title said i might. Now I’m all pissy because i can’t.

 

[Digital Igloo]

If I read this correctly then the core modelling engine updates in November were not included in 3.7, but the 3.8/4.0 update this fall will include them and more refinements?

Also, while checking the dates for this I stumbled across the Helix Timeline. This really is an excellent testament to how much work and support has gone into Helix as a product.

I'm not suggesting that the improvements to Helix Core in 3.80 will be massive, nor that we'll even specify what's changing/improving. Only that the engine has continued to be refined over time—sometimes notably—so anyone claiming we're running 9-year-old tech is spouting nonsense. There's some trickery afoot with how we improve things without affecting people's presets and we'd rather wave our hands with a "nothing to see here." The next time around we may just say screw it, let's make any improvements obvious.

Similarly, many have mistakenly claimed BOSS never improved their modeling until AIRD because everything before was called "COSM."

 

[norminal]

The next time around we may just say screw it, let's make any improvements obvious.

Fine by me. In regards to presets, a major overhaul every two-three years is a lot more manageable than every two-three months IMO.

Not to mention that it’d breath new life into the product family from a marketing standpoint and help put to rest the narrative that the Helix is past its lifecycle.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Crying about having to rework presets is lame. Don't upgrade if your presets are that precious.

 

[JiveTurkey]

See also; that time at band camp where my amp sounded gainier than it did before so I just turned the gain knob down

 

[paisleywookiee]

Crying about having to rework presets is lame. Don't upgrade if your presets are that precious.

Most people aren’t smart enough to learn how their device works. And by “not smart enough” I mean too lazy and/or lacking initiative.

 

[Vic Winters]

I'm not suggesting that the improvements to Helix Core in 3.80 will be massive, nor that we'll even specify what's changing/improving. Only that the engine has continued to be refined over time—sometimes notably—so anyone claiming we're running 9-year-old tech is spouting nonsense. There's some trickery afoot with how we improve things without affecting people's presets and we'd rather wave our hands with a "nothing to see here." The next time around we may just say screw it, let's make any improvements obvious.

Similarly, many have mistakenly claimed BOSS never improved their modeling until AIRD because everything before was called "COSM."

Do you feel significant improvements could be made if you didn't have to worry about breaking presets?

 

[the swede]

Do you feel significant improvements could be made if you didn't have to worry about breaking presets?

 

[JiveTurkey]

 

[OrganicZed]

See also; that time at band camp where my amp sounded gainier than it did before so I just turned the gain knob down

The way people complain about having to turn virtual knobs because the firmware changed is odd. If you play an amp in two different locations with the same settings it will sound different. You can either leave the knobs in the same spots and deal with the differences or you can turn the knobs. Even if you play a tube amp through a load box the wall power varies and components behave differently when the amp is hot. Guitars literally change with the weather. Tone is always a moving target no matter what you use.

 

[Digital Igloo]

Do you feel significant improvements could be made if you didn't have to worry about breaking presets?

I mean, one could argue they're already significant, it's just that any changes and improvements may be more obvious when making new presets from scratch, depending on the models and effects used.

 

[Frodebro]

I'm not suggesting that the improvements to Helix Core in 3.80 will be massive, nor that we'll even specify what's changing/improving. Only that the engine has continued to be refined over time—sometimes notably—so anyone claiming we're running 9-year-old tech is spouting nonsense. There's some trickery afoot with how we improve things without affecting people's presets and we'd rather wave our hands with a "nothing to see here." The next time around we may just say screw it, let's make any improvements obvious.

Similarly, many have mistakenly claimed BOSS never improved their modeling until AIRD because everything before was called "COSM."

People are going to cry no matter what you do (except for that one guy wandering around by himself mumbling endlessly about boot times), so just rip that bandaid off and get on with business.

 

[dean701]

I mean, one could argue they're already significant, it's just that any changes and improvements may be more obvious when making new presets from scratch, depending on the models and effects used.

I just wish that bug fix remediation could somehow be separated from the new feature stream.
The bug fixes could be much more frequent as they are discovered and remediated.
New features/amps/cabs/fx could follow more of a structured time line.
In the IT world, and I realize that is a completely different vertical, I work on vulnerability streams completely separate from new feature set streams.
I also realize that's a pipe dream to have everything separated all the time but it would stop a little of the madness for those happy with their current sounds that are seeking the bug fixes.

You've done a great job with keeping things aligned as far as old models and new models, and anything that you've snuck in. :)

 

[la szum]

Crying about having to rework presets is lame. Don't upgrade if your presets are that precious.

Yup. True.

Alas, crying is a full-time occupation for some, and then they double down with it
being a favourite pasttime after all those work hours spent crying.

I am really put off by the online guitar community at the moment. I know
real struggle--as I suspect many of us do---and having to rework presets is
not anywhere close to real struggle. Nor is the ream of issues coming from
the folks who seem to turn everything to shit that they touch. What a gift!

We live in a literal Golden Age. Getting out of our own fucking way and
realizing this is 99.9% of the challenge.

#cryingaboutthecrying

 

[Frodebro]

Yup. True.

Alas, crying is a full-time occupation for some, and then they double down with it
being a favourite pasttime after all those work hours spent crying.

I am really put off by the online guitar community at the moment. I know
real struggle--as I suspect many of us do---and having to rework presets is
not anywhere close to real struggle. Nor is the ream of issues coming from
the folks who seem to turn everything to shit that they touch. What a gift!

We live in a literal Golden Age. Getting out of our own fucking way and
realizing this is 99.9% of the challenge.

#cryingaboutthecrying

Ask not what your gear can do for you, ask what you can do with your gear.

 

[timbuck3]

I'm not suggesting that the improvements to Helix Core in 3.80 will be massive, nor that we'll even specify what's changing/improving. Only that the engine has continued to be refined over time—sometimes notably—so anyone claiming we're running 9-year-old tech is spouting nonsense. There's some trickery afoot with how we improve things without affecting people's presets and we'd rather wave our hands with a "nothing to see here." The next time around we may just say screw it, let's make any improvements obvious.

Similarly, many have mistakenly claimed BOSS never improved their modeling until AIRD because everything before was called "COSM."

I SHOULD HAVE kept my 9 yr old iphone and then sold it for new iphone prices..if thats the case