Re: Eleven Rack Opinions?
Tones are very good. I had mine in an era when I also had a few great tube heads to compare it directly to, it had/has the tube tone and feel. It's all how you dial it in. It was the most realistic running into my SS Rocktron Velocity 300 power amp (old, 2-space version), into my Marshall 1960B in stereo config. But I was able to cop some great tones running DI into the PA as well. I've got a friend who's got some awesome gear, who's chosen to gig his 11R and Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro rig direct to the PA for the past 3-4 years exclusively, and his live tone is great. So I really don't think you can go wrong with them if that's what you're looking for.
I liked the on-the-fly tonal/volume/gain adjustment with the front panel knobs, versus paging through parameters like on the Fractal, etc. When playing live, I need to be able to reach over and twist a knob to adjust something, rather than tapping a bunch of buttons to make a tonal change. I had the Kemper rack unit for a short time as well. Great unit, but I still preferred the 11R over it for my own purposes. Honestly, as far as multi-FX modelers go... I still much prefer the Vox Tonelab LE over all the rest. I've had two of them and they are great. No... they're still not my all-tube rigs. But they do sound close and the price is right (especially now).
Here are a couple of recordings that I did with a local band using my 11R several years ago. Acoustic tones were run through the unit as well as crunch rhythm and lead tones. This project was a last-minute deal and hurried. I have no doubt that I could've tweaked the unit for smoother/tighter gain, but it was rushed and and only had like two hours to setup my tones and record them. Probably should have hauled my Bogner XTC and Uberkab up there and done this, but it was on a 2nd floor studio and I was recovering from back surgery... so that wasn't gonna happen. I'm rarely every satisfied with recorded tone for long, but the lead tones here (especially the wah stuff on the first tune) still sound pretty juicy to me after several years of living with them.
Btw... the mushy rhythm tone that you may hear is the other player's POD.
https://soundcloud.com/jwflamenco/the-return-cobwebs
https://soundcloud.com/jwflamenco/the-return-john-versus-jon