It's Official: Digital Modelers Outsold Tube Amps on Reverb in 2025

Reverb has published its 2025 annual marketplace report, and one data point stands out above the rest: digital modelers and profilers outsold traditional tube amplifiers in transaction volume for the first time since the platform launched in 2013.

The Numbers

According to Reverb's data, modeler and profiler transactions grew 34% year-over-year in 2025, while tube amp sales declined 8%. When you factor in multi-effects processors that include amp modeling (like the Line 6 HX Stomp and Boss GT-1000), the gap widens further.

The five most-transacted modelers on Reverb in 2025 were:

1. Line 6 HX Stomp / HX Stomp XL
2. Neural DSP Quad Cortex
3. Line 6 Helix Floor / Helix LT
4. Kemper Profiler (all versions)
5. Fractal Audio FM3

The HX Stomp family's dominance is notable -- its combination of compact size, sub-$700 price point, and full Helix-quality amp models has made it the entry point for a generation of players moving into the modeler world.

What Is Driving the Shift

Several factors converged in 2025 to accelerate this trend:

Price accessibility. The average transaction price for a used modeler on Reverb was $485, compared to $680 for a tube amp. As modelers have matured, the used market has become robust enough to offer genuine value. A used HX Stomp at $350 replaces thousands of dollars worth of amps and pedals.

Apartment-friendly playing. The continued urbanization trend means more players live in spaces where cranking a tube amp is not an option. Modelers with headphone outputs and USB audio interfaces solve this problem completely.

Touring economics. Fly dates and international touring have made lightweight, reliable rigs essential. A Quad Cortex in a backpack replaces a pedalboard, amp head, and cabinet on every flight.

Quality parity. The modeling technology from the current generation -- Helix Stadium's Agoura engine, the Quad Cortex's neural captures, Kemper's Profiling 2.0 -- has reached a point where the differences from tube amps are genuinely difficult to detect in a live or recorded context.

Tube Amps Are Not Going Away

Before anyone sounds the alarm: tube amps are not dying. Reverb's data also shows that vintage and boutique tube amp prices remain strong, with certain categories (Fender blackface amps, Marshall Plexi variants, boutique builders like Friedman and Revv) actually increasing in average transaction price.

What is happening is a bifurcation. Tube amps are becoming more of a premium, studio, and collector market, while modelers are becoming the default choice for working musicians, home players, and anyone prioritizing versatility and practicality.

What This Means for Players

If you are a modeler player, this trend is unambiguously good news. A growing market means more competition between manufacturers, faster innovation, better products, and a deeper ecosystem of presets, captures, and community resources. The golden age of digital modeling is not ending -- it is accelerating.

If you are a tube amp player, this changes nothing about your tone. A great amp is a great amp regardless of market trends. But it does mean the used tube amp market may offer some bargains as players sell their analog rigs to fund modeler purchases.

Either way, the data tells a clear story: the modeler era is no longer emerging. It has arrived.

Dig Deeper on Fader & Knob

• Curious about the modeler vs. tube debate? We put them head-to-head in our modeler vs. tube amp shootout.
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• On a budget? Our $500 gigging rig challenge shows what is possible with a modeler and smart shopping.
• Going FRFR? Read FRFR vs. guitar cab for modelers before you buy a speaker.
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