Felt like writing something tonight so I thought I'd offer thoughts on modelers owned in the last 3 years. Inexpensive first... Digitech RP360XP: With tweaking, good solid tones, surprisingly good and tasteful effects, and the best drum loops you will ever hear in an effects box, a reason to keep alone. A steal for $100 used (Kept). Ampero 2 Stomp: Very impressive all around but overdrive tones that sound too similar to each other, cleans very good, overdrives lean small & buzzy, great bang for buck though. An "A minus Tier" unit, very impressive all around (Sold). POD GO: Great live tool and execution, not a fan of Line 6 overdrives (Sold). Flamma FX100: Surprisingly impressive for $100, quite good tones, great backpack backup (Sold). Valeton 200: Cool execution but substandard OD tones and awful drum machine (Sold). Line 6 HD500X: Quite impressive all around, overdrives "pretty good", not fun interface (Sold). Headrush Pedalboard/Gigboard (1st Gen): Quite impressive all around, great bang for buck used, great cleans and good effects, overdrives mediocre. 1st Gen Headrush products had like this glossy sheen over all the tones, cool on the cleans but irritating on the overdrives, just real hi-fi, cant be dialed out, something they remedied in the Prime/Core (Sold). Kemper Stage: Top tones, merely decent interface. The only modeler tones I end up staring at the speakers when playing back stuff I recorded to multitrack. Something about Kemper capture tones that really shine on recorded multitrack playback. The best overdrive from a modeler I've ever heard, interface not real pleasant (Sold). Fractal AX8: A great sounding unit with great layout for live, a bit of a clunky interface, let it go as it was no longer supported, but great tones for sure (Sold). Fractal FM3: Really the perfect execution balancing small size, capabilities, and user experience, a terrific piece of engineering. Great menus, great control face, pretty compact, the best effects in any modeler, and very good tones. All that said, there's something kinda sterile about my FM3 tones I can't really verbalize, something that doesn't quite pull me in, high a quality as the tones certainly are, just feels sterile but could be me. An all-around terrific product that's well worth $800 or $900 on the used market (Kept). Headrush Prime: Bought when they first came out, was blown away in every respect, sold it thinking I loved my Kemper & Fractal more, ended up missing it, and just bought another, now my main workhorse, a monster of a product, A-Tier tones for sure, and tones I somehow find more inspiring than by Fractal or Kemper, it's hard to describe, the sounds really unique, but I would say just as good. The Prime Cloud is awesome, really slick experience, the workflow, scenes/songs, just the layout and workflow is terrific. Obviously the big touchscreen is great and makes any changes mere seconds with a finger. I think the Prime initially was received kinda luke-warm, maybe not appreciating the vision & personality of the product, and acknowledging the vocal stuff does needs update, but overall, and esp on tones, it's a true A Tier machine that really nails all aspects, and I think a machine people are now understanding just what a massive product it is, only problem is physically its big, though that gives you plenty of room and plenty of switches live, so much nicer than small units like QC or FM3. The tones of the Prime are "juicy" and intriguing, inspiring me on songwriting ideas more than any other machine. It's captures are very good, though high gain & heavily compressed amps can be hit or miss on captures as the software struggles to make sense of it, something Kemper captures can be as well. In short, the Headrush Prime just really seduces you, a very slick machine that inspires so much, great effects, and tones definitely better than the 1st Gen HR products. If this machine said Fractal on it, even with a few minor shortcomings, it would be heralded for sure (Kept). On build quality, no real complaints on all units. Even on the small inexpensive products built in plastic, sufficiently robust, all products well enough built to me. So, after 3 years of buying & selling a ton of modelers (and probably more than I can remember), I've settled in with my 3 machines, Headrush Prime, Fractal FM3, and Digitech RP360XP, a very capable backpack backup with killer drum loops. Three modelers that I've really connected with. At the end of the day, all modern modelers can do the job, it's all in what YOU connect with.
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