Leaderboard

I hear ya. FWIW, I ditched guitar amps completely in 1968 (to be fair, tubes had really cratered in quality anyway) and switched to keyboard amps. They were the best you could in terms for FRFR at the time. My stage setup was two 100W RMI amps. Amazingly enough, they could even fill arenas. My goal was to get the sound I wanted before hitting an input jack. As a result, the sound was the same whether playing live or in the studio. That made life a lot easier, especially when I started gigging with DJs in Europe in the 2000s - I could just patch right into the PA system, and all I needed was an AdrenaLinn, POD, and Vocoder (fed by drums). I could fit it all in a carry-on bag for a transatlantic flight. Does it sound like an amp in a room? To me, no. To the audience, yes. And they're the ones buying the tickets :)

I might go a step further in saying there was never any feeling of "amp in the room" was nonsense back in the 60's, 70's and on. That's all we knew and there really wasn't any viable alternative to it. Even as the technology matured it was very hard to leave that paradigm behind because it was taking a huge step of faith into the great unknown. Even as late as 2010 I would have thought if anyone had told me I'd be working in a band today with no amps on stage and everyone going direct to the mixing board using just stage monitors I'd say they were out of their minds. And yet, here I am. And it wasn't because I was so dissatisfied with what I had. It was more about curiosity of what it could be.

I was weened on Hiwatts & Marshalls in the late 70's & early 80's... I know what the feel of "amp in the room" is. I don't see anyone calling "amp in the room" nonsense. I don't dis anyone that likes that feel/sound on a stage, I just "prefer" to hear my guitar as the audience hears it. I like that final, polished tone. Some of us made that transition at some points in our career, but that doesn't mean we don't have any experience as you are suggesting. It was just a choice we made.

Did a festival gig once going through a Bose L1. Amp in a room, or FRFR? I dunno, but what was really cool was with that column speaker, I could place the guitar parallel to the speakers and get awesome feedback :) It felt like I had more physical interaction with that amp than I'd had for a long time with an actual guitar amp. But to be fair, it also had a bass bin that was blasting air, like an amp. Frankly, if only guitar amps existed, I'd play through guitar amps. If only Helix and FRFR existed, they I'd play through that. Maybe I'm just not that much of a "feel" guy. I played through guitar amps throughout my high school and college years but when I went pro, I went direct through keyboard amps and never looked back. Because I straddled the world of studio/live, it was the perfect solution because it worked for both. So, when modelers came out and would let me take that to the next level, I was already primed. This isn't to say that the feel of a guitar in a room isn't cool. But bringing the sound of the studio to the stage can be pretty darn cool, too...just in a different way. I've experienced both, and I truly believe it's a matter of personal preference.

IMO/IME. If you're using the return of a TUBE amp and a guitar cab/speaker, that's where you MIGHT want to use a Helix preamp, especially if you'll be playing at high/performance volume. That's where the specific characteristics of different power tube types come into their own, at volume. The best sounding pre-amp will be one designed for use with that type of power amp and speaker. EXAMPLE - EL84 and open back cab with 112/212 Alnico Blue/silver = VOX. EL34 and closed back 212/412 cab with GB25 = Marshall. Those are not ABSOLUTES. YMMV. If it sounds good TO YOU, it IS good! Catalyst "preamps" are the equivalent of Helix full amp models, not Helix preamps. The power amp, speaker and cab are designed to sound good with 6 different types of modeled amps , not any particular amp. Modeled cabs/IRs sound best and were created to be used with FRFR systems. When I said above that the Catalyst power amp/cab/speaker was designed to be used with 6 different amp models, that to me means that the combination is flatter and more wide-range than, for instance, a Fender Deluxe. I have tried different Helix amps/cabs/IRs through my Cat and some sounded good, some not so much. Again, YMMV. If it sounds good TO YOU, it IS good! Personally, I have limited patience with "tweaking". I generally just use a Helix full amp model into the Cat's return. Works for me!

Amp blocks because the Catalyst has a neutral class D power amp. Preamps are more for coloring (tube) power amps. That's just a general rule of thumb though - there are preamps that are designed for flat or flat-ish power amps.

You can just highlight all of your Impulse Responses in Helix Edit (Control-A on Windows or Command-A on macOS}, export them all, and then import them into Helix Native. Boom.