Every Modeler Captures Amps Now. Here's Who Does It Best.

Something wild happened while you were busy arguing about tubes versus transistors on Reddit. Every single major guitar modeler platform now has amp capture technology built in. Every. Single. One.

Kemper started this whole thing over a decade ago, and for years they were basically the only game in town. Then Tonex showed up and made captures affordable. NAM went full open-source and made them free. NeuralDSP packed captures into the Quad Cortex. HeadRush built their own cloning engine. And now Line 6 has added Proxy cloning to the Helix Stadium.

The capture arms race is officially over. And honestly? Everybody won. But that doesn't mean every platform does it the same way. Let's break down how each one works, what makes them different, and which approach might be right for you.

Kemper: The One That Started It All

You can't talk about amp captures without tipping your hat to Kemper. They literally invented profiling before most of us even knew what the word meant in a guitar context. The original Kemper Profiler launched in 2012, and for years it was the only unit on the market that could take your real tube amp and turn it into a digital recreation you could carry in a backpack.

Fast forward to 2026, and Kemper recently dropped Profiling 2.0 with improved accuracy, faster processing, and better dynamic response. The Profiler is still the go-to for touring pros who need rock-solid reliability, and the profile ecosystem is absolutely massive. If you've ever searched for Kemper profiles, you know there's no shortage of incredible tones out there.

Where Kemper shines: maturity. This platform has been doing profiles longer than anyone, and it shows. The workflow is dialed, the hardware is battle-tested, and the community is huge. Our Six String Lab Kemper profiles cover everything from glassy cleans to face-melting high gain, and they sound just as good today as the day Kemper invented this whole category.

Tonex: The Disruptor That Changed Everything

When IK Multimedia launched Tonex, they basically kicked the door down and said "captures for everyone." Suddenly you didn't need a $2,000 dedicated profiler to get into the capture game. You could do it with software on your laptop, load it into a tiny pedal, and call it a day.

Then came the Tonex One+, which added MIDI control, wireless editing, and fit on your pedalboard right next to your tuner. It's the best-selling mini modeler on the market right now, and for good reason. The capture quality is phenomenal, the price is accessible, and the ToneNET community gives you thousands of user-created tones at your fingertips.

Here's the thing though. If you're running Tonex, our Tonex captures are some of the best-sounding amp tones you'll load into that little box. We capture real, cranked tube amps with proper mic placement and studio-grade signal chains. No shortcuts. The difference between a professionally made Tonex capture and something someone made in their bedroom with a Scarlett Solo is night and day.

NAM: The Open Source Hero

Neural Amp Modeler came out of nowhere and punched way above its weight class. A free, open-source amp capture system that runs on your computer? Built by the community, for the community? That's the kind of thing that makes corporate boardrooms very, very nervous.

And it should. NAM's A2 update has been beating established platforms in blind listening tests. The capture accuracy is scary good, the latency is low enough for real-time playing, and the fact that it's free means literally anyone can get in on the action. Even better, NAM is going hardware. Multiple modeler manufacturers are building NAM compatibility into their units, which means this open-source engine is about to be everywhere.

We've been all-in on NAM since the beginning. Our NAM captures are studio-quality tone packs that let you load world-class amp sounds without owning a single piece of the gear we captured. And if you want to try before you buy, we've got free packs that'll show you exactly what NAM is capable of.

NeuralDSP: The Premium Play

NeuralDSP took a different approach with the Quad Cortex. They built Neural Capture right into a premium, all-in-one floor unit that also happens to be one of the best-sounding modelers on the planet. The Quad Cortex doesn't just do captures. It does captures alongside world-class amp modeling, studio-quality effects, and a gorgeous touchscreen interface that makes your phone jealous.

Neural Capture V2 took things further by offloading processing to Cortex Cloud, using more powerful algorithms to nail the nuances of dynamic, touch-sensitive amps. It takes longer than V1, but the results are worth the wait. And with the Quad Cortex mini announced at NAMM 2026, NeuralDSP is bringing all that firepower into a smaller, more pedalboard-friendly package.

Our NeuralDSP captures are built specifically for the Quad Cortex ecosystem. Professional captures, pro signal chains, tones that sit perfectly in a mix right out of the box. Check out our NeuralDSP collection if you want to skip the DIY capturing and go straight to the good stuff.

HeadRush: The Clone Wars

HeadRush brought something genuinely unique to the table with their ACT Gen II cloning technology and the ReValver Amp Cloner. While other platforms give you a single snapshot of your amp at one setting, HeadRush's SuperClone approach lets you combine multiple clones and morph between them with the Gain knob. That means you're not just capturing one sound. You're capturing the entire gain range of an amp in a single preset.

That's a legitimately cool trick that nobody else is doing quite the same way. The SuperClone morphing gives you a level of flexibility that standard captures can't match, and the ReValver software integration means you can fine-tune your clones on your computer before loading them into your HeadRush hardware.

If you're rocking a HeadRush rig, our HeadRush clones are designed to take full advantage of the platform. Studio-captured tones that sound massive through any FRFR setup or PA system. Grab our HeadRush collection and hear the difference professional clones make.

Line 6 Proxy: The Last Domino Falls

And then there was Line 6. The company that basically invented mainstream amp modeling with the POD back in 1998 was, ironically, one of the last to add amp capture technology. But when they did it with Proxy in the Helix Stadium firmware 1.3 update, they did it their own way.

Proxy is cloud-based. You connect your gear to your Stadium, run the capture process, and your training data gets sent to Line 6's servers where heavy-duty algorithms create a clone that's more accurate than what onboard processing alone could achieve. Phase one covers amp+cab, amp-only, preamp, and distortion pedal cloning. It's an interesting approach that trades convenience for accuracy, and it shows that Line 6 is thinking long-term about this technology.

Is it as mature as Kemper profiling or Tonex captures? Not yet. It's a first-generation implementation on a brand-new platform. But the fact that Line 6 felt the need to add cloning tells you everything about where the industry is headed. Captures aren't a niche feature anymore. They're table stakes.

What This Means for Your Tone

Here's the real takeaway: no matter what modeler you own, you now have access to amp capture technology. That's incredible. Five years ago, you had to pick a platform partly based on whether it could capture amps. Now you pick based on workflow, features, and which ecosystem you prefer. The capture question is settled.

But here's the thing most people get wrong about captures. Having capture tech built into your modeler doesn't mean you need to capture everything yourself. Capturing a great amp tone requires a great amp, a great cab, great mics, a treated room, a quality interface, and the knowledge to put it all together. That's a lot of "greats" that most of us don't have sitting in our apartments.

That's exactly why Six String Lab exists. We capture legendary amps in a proper studio environment so you can load those tones into whatever platform you're running. Kemper profiles, Tonex captures, NAM captures, HeadRush clones, NeuralDSP captures: we've got you covered on every single platform.

Want to hear what a properly captured amp sounds like on your rig? Grab one of our free packs and find out. Your modeler already has the technology. Now give it some tones worth playing.