What makes you think that?
In my mind those plugins are mostly variations of stuff that’s already in the hardware, the capturing already is on par with anything.
Almost the equivalent of paid “artist presets”…with the added value that you can also run them in your daw.
I switched from Kemper a couple months back, and still happy I did. Amp sounds are definitely there, size and IO set is great, preset architecture / scenes are great, easy update and capture/preset downloads. Ready for rockandroll imho. But..no unit is perfect…I liked Kempers time efx better, seems to me they could/should get more out of what a footswitch can do, rating and meta data of captures isn’t perfect. But..all in all..happy with my purchase.
Was reading reviews, I've never tried the unit. From what I read, the common complaint was that the in-built models are underwhelming. In contrast, I've read far better things about Neural's plugins.
So totally conjecture, but if they do it right, it should be a step up from the existing tones.
Pro musicians using it is most likely due to these factors:
- They can use captures to make a digital facsimile of their favorite tube amp rig.
- It's relatively compact so perfect for small gigs, clinics, as a fly rig etc.
- It's easy to use.
- NeuralDSP has been sending them to various people.
The plugin support will not make it sound better in any way. It's just more models, fx and whatnot in the unit.
Your Axe-Fx 3 is already better sounding especially for effects. As much as I like the usability and form factor of the QC, it's just missing the mark in other areas.
I think there are also places where you can purchase good captures, for example the Omega Ampworks folks have released their own captures of their amps. Sounds like a good starting point. I also have no idea, but I'm hoping some of the free captures that have been shared are also a good starting point.
I also have a few amps of my own, so I might try capturing some of those as well.
I won't be selling the bike shop, the Axe FX is a very useful unit to me. I even sold my Kemper after spending some time with it, I vastly preferred the ability to create my own tones, rather than having to be locked into what someone else perceived as a good tone. Great unit, but I struggled with it. I was one of the earlier adopters too, got mine in 2013 and had it for some 8-9 years before I switched.
Portability is one of the main factors that is motivating me to get one of these units. I've busted my back hauling around tonnes of gear and guitars from one jam to another (you could count the number of gigs I've played at on one hand), and I think it would be great to just have a small unit that I could cart around without struggling too much.
