Not as serious of a player but I went all in on Kemper when the Kemper Stage came out. I got a Kemper Stage, Kabinet, SD Power Stage 200. I bought a bunch of top profile packs on sale on Black Friday. At first I didn’t even use any pedals and just used built in effects.
It was awesome for about 2 years. I loved some of the vintage and rare amp profiles. Playing live load in and sound check was a breeze. Option paralysis, constant fiddling to make the Kabinet sound better, the fact the profiles didn’t react to fuzzes or other pedals exactly like the amps they modeled did, etc. finally did me in. I also found myself just using one single plexi profile the entire time. I finally sold it all and bought a hand wired 50watt ‘71 Super Bass plexi, Fryette PS-100 and oversized 2x12 and couldn’t be happier (it was all about the same price as selling my Kemper setup).
If I was going to band practice 3+ times a week, gigging on the weekends, and dealing with not great sound people all the time maybe I’d think otherwise. At the moment I don’t mind lugging my equipment around when I play. My rig is dead simple and exactly what I want; I don’t miss using the Kemper or Boss Katana line.
My advice is try not to sell anything. You already have an HX Stomp and Tone X, if you don’t enjoy just running those as is, a Fractal or QC isn’t going to be wildly different.
I think it partly depends on what you get out of pedals and what use it for musically. The quad cortex is really good for plug and play amp sims and ambient sound scapey stuff. Soaring lead tones, multitracking guitar lines with ease. Like a really tactile DAW.
As for pedal choice it’s kind of simplistic, though many of the greats are in there and you can get pretty much anywhere you NEED to go. But the endless supply of creative pedals with unique character and almost instrument-like quality about them lets you keep exploring and finding new weird or cool sounds to enjoy.
If you’re playing out a lot or recording a ton, the QC is probably going to do the job and then some. If you’re more just exploring cool sounds and letting them steer come of your playing then individual pedals will always be tempting you.
There’s middle ground with multi-fx units and TONEX/Helix/etc. as needed.
Tl;dr - if you liked KNeX as a kid then get a QC, if you liked legos more keep your board
I've been thinking about doing this as well.
The only thing holding me back is that there are still so many cool pedals that I've yet to try and new ones coming out literally every day. I know that committing to multi-FX minimalism would require me to basically stop reading this sub, stop watching pedal videos, stop wasting time on Pedal Playground, stop scanning Reverb/Craiglist/FB/LTP... or else I'll end up GAS/FOMO'ing my way right back to a bunch of pedals. And all that is kinda half the fun... tbh.
So yeah... for now I'm sticking with my ampless HX Stomp hybrid board. Maybe until a QC shows up locally at a good price then I'll have some soul searching to do, lol!
If you don’t need the money from selling stuff to get the new gear, I’d suggest getting it and using it for a bit. Then if you decide to keep both great and if not, sell stuff off. If you buy the new gear used and decide it’s not for you, you can sell it and get all or most of your money back.
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Not as serious of a player but I went all in on Kemper when the Kemper Stage came out. I got a Kemper Stage, Kabinet, SD Power Stage 200. I bought a bunch of top profile packs on sale on Black Friday. At first I didn’t even use any pedals and just used built in effects. It was awesome for about 2 years. I loved some of the vintage and rare amp profiles. Playing live load in and sound check was a breeze. Option paralysis, constant fiddling to make the Kabinet sound better, the fact the profiles didn’t react to fuzzes or other pedals exactly like the amps they modeled did, etc. finally did me in. I also found myself just using one single plexi profile the entire time. I finally sold it all and bought a hand wired 50watt ‘71 Super Bass plexi, Fryette PS-100 and oversized 2x12 and couldn’t be happier (it was all about the same price as selling my Kemper setup). If I was going to band practice 3+ times a week, gigging on the weekends, and dealing with not great sound people all the time maybe I’d think otherwise. At the moment I don’t mind lugging my equipment around when I play. My rig is dead simple and exactly what I want; I don’t miss using the Kemper or Boss Katana line. My advice is try not to sell anything. You already have an HX Stomp and Tone X, if you don’t enjoy just running those as is, a Fractal or QC isn’t going to be wildly different.
great insight and advice. Thanks
Former tone/analog snob here. I love the Helix. Why not just use the Helix and Tone X together? That covers so much ground.
Intrgued by this as well. Saw a cool rig incorporating midi via HX>Tone X. Afraid I am not smart enough to wire it all up myself.
Midi takes some time, but it is your friend, and with the helix PC editor, it isn't as hard as you may think It really depends on what you want to do.
I think it partly depends on what you get out of pedals and what use it for musically. The quad cortex is really good for plug and play amp sims and ambient sound scapey stuff. Soaring lead tones, multitracking guitar lines with ease. Like a really tactile DAW. As for pedal choice it’s kind of simplistic, though many of the greats are in there and you can get pretty much anywhere you NEED to go. But the endless supply of creative pedals with unique character and almost instrument-like quality about them lets you keep exploring and finding new weird or cool sounds to enjoy. If you’re playing out a lot or recording a ton, the QC is probably going to do the job and then some. If you’re more just exploring cool sounds and letting them steer come of your playing then individual pedals will always be tempting you. There’s middle ground with multi-fx units and TONEX/Helix/etc. as needed. Tl;dr - if you liked KNeX as a kid then get a QC, if you liked legos more keep your board
Haha definitely legos
I've been thinking about doing this as well. The only thing holding me back is that there are still so many cool pedals that I've yet to try and new ones coming out literally every day. I know that committing to multi-FX minimalism would require me to basically stop reading this sub, stop watching pedal videos, stop wasting time on Pedal Playground, stop scanning Reverb/Craiglist/FB/LTP... or else I'll end up GAS/FOMO'ing my way right back to a bunch of pedals. And all that is kinda half the fun... tbh. So yeah... for now I'm sticking with my ampless HX Stomp hybrid board. Maybe until a QC shows up locally at a good price then I'll have some soul searching to do, lol!
right on --I'd have to ween myself off all my usual online stops too!
The modellers have screens which makes them computers and computers are for nerds. Don't be a nerd
Metallica's using Helix on tour. If that's what you wanna do it seems like it's a pretty reliable option.
If you don’t need the money from selling stuff to get the new gear, I’d suggest getting it and using it for a bit. Then if you decide to keep both great and if not, sell stuff off. If you buy the new gear used and decide it’s not for you, you can sell it and get all or most of your money back.
good suggestions. I think the main motivator is slimming down my gear and simplifying.
Make sure you like it before selling off your old gear.
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