It’s like the old adage, “a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.” As long as people go into the purchase with their eyes wide open then it’s fine, they know what they’re getting.
“Caveat emptor” applies to those who don’t know anything about FRFRs, or sound reinforcement or acoustics, who have no idea what it is they’re buying (or possibly no idea what they’re doing). There’s a huge amount of snake oil and marketing-speak full of glittering language and people shilling about this and that in the music industry, and musicians, especially young or new musicians, believe the malarkey that the next purchase will make them be better than they were, that it’s the key to “that sound”, or a magic bullet. That seems to be human nature.
The virus drove people to re-examine their dreams and goals because they were forced indoors and into their basements and bedrooms. Modelers were a great solution for the need to be able to make the sounds that they wanted without the fear of waking the entire neighborhood at 3 AM. The technology is new in comparison with regular ol’ amps so people are still scrambling to try to figure out how it works. The touring and recording pros have already figured it out but their knowledge is too esoteric for the neophytes who just want to make noise, and the costs of the gear shock them. They want the best but shoot their wad on the modeler, instead of spreading it across all the parts of the system to make a consistently strong chain.
There is wisdom in this. But also a strange bit of, IMHO, missing the point. I agree whole-heartedly about the snake oil. It's absolutely ridiculous just how bad it is in audio. But, I'm not on board with evening out your spend on the whole chain. That just means you've got more things to upgrade when/if you do.
A headrush is not going to be as "nice" as actually-nice monitors. It won't be as detailed or precise. It probably won't last as long. I'd imagine it has horrible directivity errors. But, it's loud and cheap. If it works, it works. And EQing it flatter will go a long way toward making it work. Guitar amps, in general, aren't exactly hi-fi devices to begin with. And the worst fall-out is if someone doesn't do something they want to because this attitude makes them think it's prohibitively expensive....5WW's thing about not doing because you don't have.
The curve discussed here is just like how room correction EQ goes a long way toward leveling the playing field between various entry-level studio monitors. They're all fine for what they are, but none of them are actually "good". If you take good measurements and force them all to follow a specific target curve...the differences between them aren't that big of a deal....it's almost like they're all the same until you're spending a couple grand....at which point, a few companies have started fixing the most egregious errors and there are actually stand-out high performers.
I'd imagine it's similar for the stage monitor & PA worlds, though I know a lot less about them.
FWIW....I'd much rather have a fractal, cheap speakers, and corrective EQ than some mid-range modeler and mid-range speakers. An FM3 and 2 FRFR-108s (or basically any entry-level studio monitors if you only play at home) costs about $1600 before tax & shipping. What are your other good options at that price point?
An HX Stomp and two CP8s?
A Hot Rod Deluxe and a couple pedals or an HX FX?
Are those really going to be better?
Depending on your needs, the FM3 could be basically end-game level. Are the CP8s? Is a HRD?
Also, the $500 for those speakers will get you a very capable
wired IEM setup for yourself. The Presonus HP2 is good. If you're okay with both feeds being mono, you can even mix FOH or a monitor feed with a direct output from the Fractal on the box itself. And that still leaves you several hundred bucks for any number of good-sounding but imperfect generic-fit IEMs or headphones. Obviously, upgrading to wireless is both significantly better and substantially more expensive, but it's a start.
You could do a
LOT worse starting out than getting an FM3, one Headrush to use as a floor wedge for the guitar-volume interaction if you need it or for jams, an HP2, and any number of viable ~$100 IEMs that can easily sound inspiring and "good enough" even if they're not perfect.
And except for the extra cables hanging off your belt and some detail in the in-ear sound....you'll get a very similar experience to dumping several grand into "doing it right".
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