I've got a project coming up that I'm trying to put together focused on the music of the Stones & Black Crowes. I'll be handling some of the guitar duties. In the past, I'm mostly played my Kemper straight into the board. The other guitar player is going to use a tube amp+cab with pedal board. I have a Matrix GT1600FX power amp in a head enclosure that I can pop on top of a Port City 2x12 OS Vertical. But...I have the toaster version of the Kemper so that means sticking that somewhere behind the cab and using the remote plus a cable run for the guitar (if I'm not wireless). The cleanest set up would be a device that has the guts up in the pedal board and then I can just run to the GT1600FX head with one cable and I'm good. I won't be able to do that with the Kemper. I'm contemplating adding a Helix to do this. Actually, I've been contemplating buying a Dr Z Remedy head but that has no effects loop and I'd be back to a pedal board, etc. but I have this jones to hear a real amp again.
For those who have compared the Kemper vs. Helix in a preamp only mode, what did you find in terms of tones and feel? Were the differences evident between the two?