Digital amps are tricky:
- Technologically sophisticated customers have no issue with—and generally prefer—the modular approach, where they can pick their multieffects and pair it with their choice of playback system (tube amp, SS amp, "FRFR", studio monitors, cheap plastic PA speaker marketed as ""FRFR"," etc.)
- No amount of technology is going to convince you a 1x12 (or even 2x12) is really a 4x12. Your cab will always sound like that cab (or with Powercab+, maybe that cab with different drivers), which for some, undermines the whole point of multieffects. Therefore, your JCM800 model won't ever compete with a real JCM800 because unless you connect a 4x12, you're missing a huge piece of the puzzle
- High quality amps are expensive, and although Fender's had success with digital amps in the $1000+ space, very few others have, at least since Vetta II. Spending upwards of $500 for a practice amp is fine, but many guitarists think expensive amps should maintain their mystique for decades, and any technology-centric amps will automatically seem outdated in a few years
- You can't really get away with one SKU these days. To make enough customers happy, you may be looking at a 1x12 combo, 2x12 combo, head, 50-watt, 100-watt, 200-watt, matching 4x12 cab, maybe a matching 2x12 cab... many of which need to be stocked by dealers, and warehouse real estate is limited. Bass cabs are even worse—2x8? 4x8? 2x10? 4x10? 8x10? 1x12? 2x12? 4x12? 8x12? 1x15? Blegh!
- Almost no one wants an amp with a modeler's UI/UX. They don't want a big color screen staring at the audience, which means hiding it on a top-mounted UI, but that means you can't see it, plus...
- ...you still need to control it. That means requiring a fairly large remote with enough feedback to know what's going on, which is probably not any smaller than an HX Stomp or Stomp XL, and...
- ...now we're back to standalone multieffects (cue sad trombone)
Most guitarists are either chasing one elusive amp tone—or—they want a wide variety of existing amp tones. IMO, a combo amp isn't really an ideal medium for the latter. A head could be connected to many different cabs, so that could get much closer. Still others want something in between—enough variety to do damage but without the option anxiety. That's where Catalyst, DT50, Katana, Mustang GTX, and others come in.
As for your list, it sort of encapsulates the eternal problem that manufacturers face. No one product is 100% perfect for
anyone, much less
everyone. We just try to make stuff that makes enough people happy to stay successful so we can keep making music gear for a living.
My next question is always this: If Line 6 announced a $2200 combo today, whether we called it "Helix [Wattage]" or "Vetta III,",
would anyone actually buy it?
For a while, Variax players were clamoring for wireless VDI. Since it'd require three channels—models, mags, and a back channel for control—it'd cost at least $1000. I started a thread on the Line 6 forums and exactly
one person in the thread said "Yep, I'd buy it."
See also: "Where's POD Go Bean? Where's MM4 MkII? Where's Catalyst HD [Head]?"
Turns out a lot of people love the warm and fuzzies they get knowing a product exists, but they wouldn't actually pay real money for it. A lot of smaller MI companies have come and gone because they didn't understand this. Have told this story many times before, but I whined for years on Harmony Central about how no one's made a professional level keyboard controller since the Roland A-90. Then
someone finally did. Stevie Wonder bought one, and I bought one (can't be a hypocrite!), but not nearly enough other people did. Infinite Response has been gone for years now, and one of my keys broke last month.
Tonemasters perfectly nail three things that no other modeling company can pull off—nostalgia, familiarity, and the perception of authenticity. I'm not saying they don't sound great (they do) or authentic (they do), but what could Line 6, Fractal, Kemper, or BOSS possibly make to scratch that "I have a classic amp sitting in my den that looks great in Zillow ads" itch? Unless the city has a lot of Cure fans who recognize and love JC-120s? Okay, maybe Marshall could do it too, but I'm not sure they'd be interested.
Fender did exactly what they should've done, and good on 'em. Their other big advantage here is that they only need to chase one sound per SKU. That means no user complaints about how their 1x10 Princeton doesn't nail the sound/feel of a 2x12 Twin or vice versa. Really curious how they might attempt to tackle a multi-model Tonemaster—the farther they'd get away from the Fender sound, the more critical the masses would be. It's an interesting conundrum, but they seem to be selling plenty of different Tonemasters; I suspect a megamodeler version might cannibalize individual amp sales and/or bring Tonemaster's reputation for authenticity down. Maybe if they branded it differently?
Digital really shines when you're not chasing that "wooden cabinet pointing at the back of my knees" experience. Younger guitarists often don't come from that place, and it's much easier for them to find satisfying tones with modelers.
