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Thank you guys. I'm checking in to these suggestions.

Hi all, About a year ago I went back to playing mostly tube amps. The amp I use every day is the Amp1 and occasionally a Vox AC30. My son stole my Supersonic 22 otherwise I'd use that a bit too. So my ear has just gravitated to a amp and can. I don't even use my Stomp or ToneX anymore. I have a Powercab Plus, but I just don't like the vibe. Do I need to get a PowerStage? Will that breath new live into my Stomp/ToneX? Does anyone have experience with the PS that can speak to the marriage between Helix and the PS? Thx!!

I love his videos. One of my favorite ones was his work on tone woods and the impact (or not) they have. In my case here, my thinking is that if I have a Modeler, I should be able to very closely emulate the real amp (yes in the room). With my Mesa Boogie I was able to get the Helix to exactly match that sound in the room with stunning results. The Vox has been a different story. I've never got it close until now. So I'm not chasing tone...I'm chasing the exact tone of the exact amp in the same exact room. I think I'm about 95% of the way there. Close enough where I can call this a success.

Good to know. I'm not sure I like the high frequency thing, more I have just been trying to get my Powercab to match more closely to the real thing. See here's why... If I can learn how to closely match a real amp, then that skill can be used on any other amp. I have not been able to do this until now and because of that I keep looking to different great to "solve" that problem. The power amp plus speaker cabinet or even the Two Note Opus...more variables! But I'm really happy with what I have going now. I think the EQ block is a requirement.

UPDATE: Ok so check this out...after reading everyone's comments,I got back to researching how to tweak the Powercab. It just sounded too warm and not-open to me. There were three things that came up: 1. Make sure the input signal is strong enough. Mine was a bit too low. 2. LF Flat and LF RAW seem to have a tendency to be warmer than FRFR, so I switched back to FRFR. 3. Setting up an EQ block after the cab may be necessary. I did all three. The EQ block was probably the most significant improvement. In my case adding A LOT of high end gain was super effective. I cut the lows back, boosted the mids and really bumped up the highs. Now when I A/B my Vox AC30 with the ToneX capture, they are ridiculously close. Not exactly, but so close...problem solved. Turns out my date for the dance was pretty hot after all!!

rd2rk, I always LOVE your posts. Seriously always looking for your advice. You have personally helped a lot over the years. I am grateful for your brutal honesty.

Excellent read. Thank you. This is something I really started paying attention to after the 3.5 update. The new cab models produced a massive impact to the overall tone, feel and quality. Then I added a ToneX and using different IR's and cabinet captures was even more profound. Prior to the 3.5 update, I switched from using my amp speaker (Mesa Boogie at the time) to a Powercab and that also was a massive improvement. So, if "moving air through watts pushing a speaker" is not the "ultimate" experience, then, you'd have to look deeper at improving the cab models and the speaker. So then, what devices are out there that can take the cab models and speaker up a level from the existing Line 6 technology? Cab models: Two Notes modeling?? Speaker: Friedman ASC-12? Mission Engineering Gemini2?? OR is the Line 6 Powercab 212 a measurable jump in performance (feel and quality) over the 112+?

In the never ending pursuit of the ultimate Helix experience and guitar tone, I keep coming back to the limitation of the modeler (pretty much all of them). They don't move air pushed by a real power amp with a real speaker. When I play my Helix or ToneX into a Powercab, it sounds pretty awesome. In it's own right, really amazing. But...when I play my real Vox AC30, there's the magic. Problem there is, it's so damn loud!! Plus I can't get my Vox to sound like a Marshall or a Two Rock. Trade offs... Or maybe not. Is the ultimate Helix experience to output the Helix into the Fryette Power Station and then into a real speaker cabinet? Does anyone have experience with this they can share. Is this the ultimate way to get any amp in your room?

Thanks for your thoughts and experience. The Matrix VB800 seems like a difficult item to buy nowadays.

Bumb. This question is something that seems more popular and prevalent now than back in 2018. The OP was way ahead of the times.

I love the X3 and the ToneX is amazing, The X5 ought to be perfect. Very interesting combo.

OMG 100%!! I did exactly that! I started with 5 amps. The VX TB30, Marshall JTM45, Hiwatt, Mesa Boogie Mark V, and the TRCK SSS. I took advantage of the buy 5 pay for 3 sale. So I added the SSS just to get it to 5. NOW that SSS is my favorite amp!! But I have to disagree about the DI captures. I think the DI with one of the supplied IR's is the best combination. I have the DI's for the AC30 and JTM45. I wish I had them for the other amps. I found that I could get the exact right amp-in-the-room feeling that way. I have to say its a bit shocking to me. I am shocked at how good the sound and feel is from the ToneX + Powercab combination. Sitting next to my PC is a Vox AC30 and when I play the real amp, you all know this, there's that sound and feel you get from it. You can just hear and feel the amp. The ToneX + Powercab gets like 98.5% of the way there maybe even a 100% if I'm not being too picky. I still blows my mind. But I would say I think the DI + IR's get the closest. The Amalgam captures are top tier captures. I think I'm about to get another 5 amps! I don't need another 5 amps....I can't help myself. But you're right on....I'm having more fun now!!

Few things.... rd2rk is my hero!! This ToneX really, really, really sounds good. I'm am very impressed. I'll give the Helix tone and feel an 8.0/10 and the ToneX a solid 9.0/10. It's well worth the modest investment. The Powercab is a great match and the FL FLat setting is perfect. The pairing really does sound like a tube amp in my room and its coming out of the Line PC! I picked up a TC Electronics X3 so I could offload some effects (Mod/Del/Verbs) and use the Stomp's DSP or multi-amp, multi-cab presets. It works great. But with the ToneX, I'm off loading all the amp and cabs from the Stomp. I don't even need the X3 anymore! So far I really dig all of the Fender models and the Marshall SuperLead 100 is awesome. I need to find a JTM45 now. But you are so right...I downloaded a free AC30 capture and I like it a lot more than the stock one in the box. Thank you again. This is fun!!!

This was 99% of my problem. I have to do a little more research about how to volume level these two devices but I've found that I need to increase my RETURN R block up to +6db max to get a good strong return signal. That said, the ToneX has come to life. I really like the sounds but most importantly and what is different, I LOVE the feel of it. It really sounds and feels like an amp in the room. The Helix models all sound amazing, but the feel of the ToneX is most definitely up a level.

This was a noticeable fix! When you say FULL captures are you meaning both the Amp and the Cab? Do you have experience with Amalgam Vox captures? In researching this ToneX thing, I have come across a lot of people saying that you really need to get some good third party captures to get the best sound. Out of the box is not the greatest? Is this your experience? I have to figure out how to check that the Input Trim says "OK". I don't know how to do that, but I'm playing a strat too and I have the ToneX set to 7.5 on the trip. I use FLAT on the Powercab, but I will play around with different settings tomorrow. So far, just doing what you said made me like the Superlead Marshall capture MORE than the Helix SuperLead. I set the gain about 3.5 and rolloff my tone knob and I can get a really nice bluesy sound. Thank you as always!