Bummer! Personally I've never been impressed with Amplitube in any form, so am not too surprised. I imagined that the pedal could be tweaked with some custom captures and deep editing, but if the normal amps sounded like Amplitube, I imagined it wouldn't be for me...
Yes...with some tweaking it gets better, but nothing like a Kemper or Helix. For the 400 bucks you are better off spending a little bit more and buying the Line6 Stomp, the amp models sound allot better.
are you using your own captures or 3rd party stuff?
I only have Tonex Pedal for one day. But no way does Helix sound better - are your serious? Not even with Tonex factory presets (there are some gems also). With real cabs I don't use tube power amp, but Hotone Loudster or Rocktron Mainline. Tonex Pedal does have some points that could be improved (no real editor yet...), but soundwise it is in another league (galaxy) than Helix line! And at least as good as Kemper.
Maybe just make amp only captures of your Kemper direct amp profiles and Helix. Should sound "the same" or close enough with Tonex now. And maybe you just tried Tonex presets you don't like before?
I am not sure if this post belongs here and I apologize if it doesn't, but I just got the new Tonex and think is sounds...well...bad. I should point out that I play both my Kemper and Helix though tube power amps and a real 2x12 cab w/V30s. I went the same route with the Tonex, cab sims off, and it just doesnt cut it for me. Both Kemper and Helix piss on it with that type of setup. I guess the Tonex is more for FRFR and recording, dont know. I would certainly never use this thing live...its going back tomorrow.
You seem to be the only one I've come across that thinks it sounds bad. It is sold out everywhere and the consensus is it is a game changer.
When people talk about, It "sounds" awful." or it "sounds" great could you please also relate to what sound you are going for? Dropped tuning death metal with NO dynamics, and massive noise gate differs greatly from a '65 Fender Deluxe reverb or a Vox ac 30. But we don't know if you’re just spitting out. "It's great, "it sux." If a ToneX pedal is your gigging Rig. You're not doing what I'm doing. Let's have some context. Also, I use Kemper because it feels and responds like my tube amps. No one EVER talks about how these things feel, and if they inspire you. I'm beginning to think a lot of people really don't know what tube amps feel like, or what they sound like, mic'd up, especially out FOH Loud in a mix. Which is fine. If it sounds good to you it is good. But that means different things to different people. Again, if it's metal, you’re not looking for touch sensitivity. It's funny how ALL of the "youtube" guys all have a review that coincides with the release of the pedal and they all pretty much, Love it. it's really suspect. Hey, it might be great. But I don't think it serves the same market.
You seem to be the only one I've come across that thinks it sounds bad. It is sold out everywhere and the consensus is it is a game changer.
The consensus from whom? All of the paid-for youtube reviews that say "It's a gamechanger" at the same time? Everyone I've seen is so over-processed with tons of gain. One guy talks of how it's sooo inexpensive compared to Kemper and procedes to put it through his $3000 pedal board and probably $2000 amp. Come on man. What major artists have them out on the road? Where are the videos of people using "the gamechanger" live sounding like a specific amp? Hey, I'm ALWAYS wanting more and better but this is way less right now.
I only have Tonex Pedal for one day. But no way does Helix sound better - are your serious? Not even with Tonex factory presets (there are some gems also). With real cabs I don't use tube power amp, but Hotone Loudster or Rocktron Mainline. Tonex Pedal does have some points that could be improved (no real editor yet...), but soundwise it is in another league (galaxy) than Helix line! And at least as good as Kemper.
There is NO WAY that Tonex sounds better then a HELIX. I tried like hell to like this thing to sound good, again I do not use or like CABs or IRs. I use a tube poweramp and a real v30 cabinet. After I was done jerking around with it, I went back to the Helix and Kemper and it wasnt even close. That Tonex through a power amp and real cabinet reminded me of a Line 6 spider combo.
The consensus from whom? All of the paid-for youtube reviews that say "It's a gamechanger" at the same time? Everyone I've seen is so over-processed with tons of gain. One guy talks of how it's sooo inexpensive compared to Kemper and procedes to put it through his $3000 pedal board and probably $2000 amp. Come on man. What major artists have them out on the road? Where are the videos of people using "the gamechanger" live sounding like a specific amp? Hey, I'm ALWAYS wanting more and better but this is way less right now.
You are 100% right, all these YouTube guys getting paid to tell you how great this thing is and its not, but they cant be honest because of their cash flow. Most of these guys are also sit at home players, they are using 5" studio monitors and IRs, what about live settings? In one video when the reviewer plays the Tonex through a SD 170 SS poweramp and a Mesa 4x12, you can tell he doesnt like it but never really says that...of course not! Hey...maybe its good for recording, but live....no way would I ever use this thing over the Helix or Kemper.
There is NO WAY that Tonex sounds better then a HELIX. I tried like hell to like this thing to sound good, again I do not use or like CABs or IRs. I use a tube poweramp and a real v30 cabinet. After I was done jerking around with it, I went back to the Helix and Kemper and it wasnt even close. That Tonex through a power amp and real cabinet reminded me of a Line 6 spider combo.
Helix sounds like Helix. But with Tonex (as with Kemper) it's all about the captures. (In theory) Tonex does not have it's own sound. Using captures you don't like, you never get pleasing tones.
Clear questions: Have you tried only factory presets OR also your own DI captures and other user captures?
Have you made captures of your Kemper or Helix and compared the results?
Come on guys, you start to sound like guys from the Axe forum....
For all the "bought YouTubers": you DO remember all the "gamechanger" content when the Kemper came out.
So far from what I heard, the Tonex can sound fantastic and should also feel really really good.
That is a great thing, as competition can be good with technology.
Your Kemper doesn't get worse with another piece of gear being up there or even better.
Amd the Tonex still misses a Pro version for touring pros with XLR outs and a separate output for using it with a poweramp and cab.
And probably some FX.
Here is what dacop1313 said about Kemper (!!) only a few weeks ago:
Kemper Power Head w/Real Cabinet
"Well, I finally figured it out, playing a powered Kemper head with a real cabinet takes lots of EQ-ing. Maybe its just not made for that, most profiles are dark and honky and need to be EQed, in some cases very drastic. I also find many DI profiles are too bassy and mid honky. I found the stock "Vintage" EQ preset does a pretty good job in shaping the profile to start, then taking it from there on the front controls. And yes...my CAB/IRs are off."
And now that same guy tells us how bad Tonex sounds with real cabs. Sometimes it's definitely not the gear that is the problem...
There is NO WAY that Tonex sounds better then a HELIX.
It does to me ::shrug::
Guys calm down. ToneX just sounds as as good or bad as everything else. I've learned that trying to get others to see things the way you do is always wrong. Especially when there's no right and wrong. Any modern unit will sound great if you know exactly what you're doing. You can make the Kemper sound bad with just a flick of the wrist. The focus on one's own abilities in terms of listening and playing is the most important thing. Then every unit sounds good. And accept that there will always be guitarists who will hate your tone while others will love it.
Here is what dacop1313 said about Kemper (!!) only a few weeks ago:
Kemper Power Head w/Real Cabinet
"Well, I finally figured it out, playing a powered Kemper head with a real cabinet takes lots of EQ-ing. Maybe its just not made for that, most profiles are dark and honky and need to be EQed, in some cases very drastic. I also find many DI profiles are too bassy and mid honky. I found the stock "Vintage" EQ preset does a pretty good job in shaping the profile to start, then taking it from there on the front controls. And yes...my CAB/IRs are off."
And now that same guy tells us how bad Tonex sounds with real cabs. Sometimes it's definitely not the gear that is the problem...
And I still stand by what I said, I do not like the Kemper's power amp that's built into the head, its that simple, I probably should have purchased the Stage model instead. What does this have to do with me not liking the Tonex? I like the Kemper and Helix using a real tube poweramp and a real cabinet. I play live, I'm not interested in CAB, IRs, FRFR and playing in front of a PC. The Kemper and Helix sound much better to me then the Tonex when using a real poweramp and real cabinet. Again...what does my comments about the built in power amp have to do with the Tonex?
...The Kemper and Helix sound much better to me then the Tonex when using a real poweramp and real cabinet. Again...what does my comments about the built in power amp have to do with the Tonex?
I don't know what you mean by a real power amp? The Kemper powered head has a well-designed amp included. It is your choice to use the Kemper how you want, but let's recognize that a big portion of the Kemper design is being omitted when used that way. I use my Kemper live as well and I find it is a better, more consistent unit when run with a fairly flat, wide bandwidth amplifer into a good FRFR speaker/cab. I spent more than 3 decades designing and building tube amps. You don't say what tube power amps you are using, but the garden variety guitar amp output section is adding little to no 'improvement' to the Kemper sound beyond a psychological one. If you are using some specially designed tube power amp, I would love to hear about it.
Guys calm down. ToneX just sounds as as good or bad as everything else. I've learned that trying to get others to see things the way you do is always wrong. Especially when there's no right and wrong. Any modern unit will sound great if you know exactly what you're doing. You can make the Kemper sound bad with just a flick of the wrist. The focus on one's own abilities in terms of listening and playing is the most important thing. Then every unit sounds good. And accept that there will always be guitarists who will hate your tone while others will love it.
I wholeheartedly dissagree, there are parameters of measurable quality when talking about good or bad sounding amps. You can argue however you like about what you like or not, and most often than not if you like it, there are one or more of those parameters influencing your decisions. But your opinion is yours and just yours, and not measurable. There are horrible sounding modern hardware out there, in all price bracketes. I can measure the dynicamic response from the amp to the input, and that to me is a characteristic that makes kemper really appealing as it feels different to most digital modelles, while also can check the frequency response from the output, and make A/B testing against a real amp, and find truly possitive comparable results, which imply that the kemper has made a quality reproduction of the sound it intents to capture. You cant say the same from mustang amps, or the spark amp, or a headrush pedalboard. Not even from the quad cortex to some extent. I havent tested the tone x, but I can run the same tests and compare. And leaving behind my taste, we can know if tone x actually achieves what it tries, or not. And thus, if it sounds as good or not as what it tries to replicate.
I thought the factory stuff sounded ok. I haven't dug into the user uploads yet tho. For sure in the headphones I don't feel like it sounds worse than the Helix but I also don't think the Helix sounds bad and in a pinch, with the new cab algorithm I'd be ok with it. I feel like the tone x sounds and feels very similar to the cortex in the headphones which I'm not surprised. Through a real cab with a solid state amp it was fine, clear and thick bass and punchy low mids but maybe missing a little sizzle up top with the factory stuff but a little volume boost and a little extra treble and presence and it seemed very reasonable. My Kempers still sound good and there's a thing I like a little more at times more than the cortex or fractal. About a week before, I played the fm9, cortex, and a soldano slo 30. They all sounded pretty much the same with no big surprises other than my fm9 presets I made using headphones with no band mix context sounded not so great, go figure. We're getting to the point where the differences are slight but as guitarists, that slight difference is the very thing that we get to enjoy to ourselves. The band doesn't care, the audience doesn't know. It's just for us, it's our last little piece we got to keep and be happy for ourselves and each other, sometimes. The cab and mic part matter more anyways and that should be the next upgraded focus I think. Not even sure how it could get much better but if it can then that's where I think the best is yet to come
So has anyone put the ToneX pedal into the Kemper effects loop?, will this give us some sort of dual amp capabilities? Or just mess things up?
I wholeheartedly dissagree, there are parameters of measurable quality when talking about good or bad sounding amps. You can argue however you like about what you like or not, and most often than not if you like it, there are one or more of those parameters influencing your decisions. But your opinion is yours and just yours, and not measurable. There are horrible sounding modern hardware out there, in all price bracketes. I can measure the dynicamic response from the amp to the input, and that to me is a characteristic that makes kemper really appealing as it feels different to most digital modelles, while also can check the frequency response from the output, and make A/B testing against a real amp, and find truly possitive comparable results, which imply that the kemper has made a quality reproduction of the sound it intents to capture. You cant say the same from mustang amps, or the spark amp, or a headrush pedalboard. Not even from the quad cortex to some extent. I havent tested the tone x, but I can run the same tests and compare. And leaving behind my taste, we can know if tone x actually achieves what it tries, or not. And thus, if it sounds as good or not as what it tries to replicate.
We see and hear the world not as it is but as we are ourselves. You can measure it or not but I am of the opinion that guitarists should concentrate on their skills and musicality instead of creating or following gear or tone religions. Yes, I can make good songs with "bad" gear, so can millions of others, even on a professional level. They can make others happy with their bad, unmeasured tone.
