If you were going to purchase a Kemper, AXEFX, or Synergy gear…

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dimebag11
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Synergy - Digital Modelers are incredible Swiss army knife rigs if you need lots of 'stuff'.
If you just want a handful of killer tones then Synergy all the way.

Plus, you'll spend all your time playing instead of nose deep in a 50 page owners manual.
 
I'd get an Axe III, FM9 or FM3. I had a III and an FM3 and they were great. Easy to use with a great editor.
If I was not gigging regularly, I'd probably get another one, mount it in my studio rack and sell off my amps and be done with it all.
I did use it for some gigging but I just wasn't as happy with my monitoring through an FRFR or through a cab with power amp. If we were all using in ears, I may have stayed with it longer.

I also noted the constant updates and constant product changes. I know you don't need to update if you don't want to but you always wonder how much better things are and thus, it draws you in. The updates are free and that is pretty amazing but I wonder how much longer they can sustain that practice without selling new and updated hardware. They have to do this to keep their business model rolling and I understand that. There are also logistic items that came into play with Covid so they updated some of the lines in respect to that but I think it was going to happen regardless.

Fractal support was amazing. My Fm3 had a power supply go about a month and a half out of warranty and they still repaired it for no cost. I had no issues with my Axe III through 4.5 years.

I had a hate/love thing with the Kemper units I had. 2 of them broke down on me (had an original toaster when they first came out and then a powered rack 2 years later) and the third one (picked up in 2019) had an internal error that they could not fix via their support so I just returned it. I have not had good luck with their products and likely will never again purchase anything from them. I am probably in the minority. The product has been around a long time and is well used and documented without issues.

Still....my amps never need a firmware update. Just some tubes. That is the price you pay if you want a great authentic tone that you know and like.
 
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AxeFx. It has everything, does it well, easy to use and just plug in and play. For me I have only a couple presets and just play them. I’m not a tinkerer, so the simplicity of having a few patches that I really like is awesome.

I have two SYN2’s with 4 modules and really like them too. I don’t look at it as either-or, they all have things that differentiate themselves.
 
Not often you see AXEIII and easy to use in the same sentence.
I guess if you're not coming into it completely new to the modeler world.

I mean, the current OM is 123 pages long. Granted you don't need all of them but still........
 
It depends on what your end goals are. Are you trying to record and write songs? Are you building a live rig? Or do you just want something to play and tinker with at home?
 
I lean towards Synergy because I am into the MTS stuff. But I guess it really depends on what you are using it for. For constant gigging I guess carrying around heads and cabs could get annoying. For recording, I use my MTS stuff with a Torpedo Reload.
 
Does synergy have any effects ? Or is it just the tone of the amp types?
 
DemNuts said:
Not often you see AXEIII and easy to use in the same sentence.
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True. I guess it depends on what you want do to. On the Axefx you can go as deep and tweak everything. But you can also just take basic settings and adjust as you would a normal amp and effects and it sounds great. I set it to what sounds good and have used those patches for years. So when I want to play, just turn it on and go. I guess that’s what I mean by simple.
 
Depends. Would this hypothetically be used for a live or recording situation?

Live: Fractal all day
Recording: Synergy

On the Fractal side, I've only owned an Axe II, which still sounded great to me. Not sure how different the III is tonally as I don't really care since I've got off that boat long ago. The convenience of using a modeler live is just so nice and you can set your patches for each song, blah blah blah. Stuff you already know. The tone is great. Kemper is cool too if you have rare amps you want to capture and take with you, but I feel like the Axe does a better job modeling. I'll even throw a curve ball and say the Helix can keep up or even rival the Axe, especially V2. Again, can't compare to V3.

Tone wise, the Synergy stuff is spot on. This Synergy stuff is very under the radar and doesn't get enough love. All the modules I've owned were pretty spot on to what they were emulating. My only gripe is the IICP and UL modules graphic eq's were too sensitive and difficult to dial in. A very small learning curve but once you get it, you're set. Its not a bad choice for a live setup either but the lack of FX is what would deter me from live use. A simpler all in one unit is the better solution IMO unless you're willing to haul a pedal board full of stuff.
 
I've only had Fractal but would pick that. Kemper lost me immediately with the hideous green box look. I know that seems lame but just gave me the impression they were not paying attention.
 
Axe - if you like to tweak/play with presets, effects, IRs...
Kemper - you want to have many ready to use profiles and don't like to play with knobs and software that much
Synergy - you want to have few "amps" in your drawer

I sold Axe FXIII, Kemper stays.
 
Axe 3 all day for me personally . Used a Kemper for years, but I think many things have surpassed it personally. The axe 3 being one of them. Sounds insane through a cabinet with a power amp, direct, whatever. I’ve contemplated getting one a lot recently.
 
I’m leaning Synergy due to ease of use, and it’s just for bedroom jamming and recording. Probably get an AC30 and a couple high gain flavors.
 
texasslinger said:
Synergy, because analog/tube circuits are fun.
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Wow, sounds like the old Digitech 2112 SGS or 2120 VGS .
This thread, is inspiring me to dig out my Carvin Quad X, that I had modified to have eleven 12ax7 tubes burning in the unit .
 
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