Axe-FX II or Kemper?

[polaris20]

What surprises me is that it seems a lot of people go back to tube heads, but don't think to check out the Torpedo Live. It seems like it's a really great middle ground between a total digital rig, and keeping the tube head you love, but making recording easier. I could even see running it live (hence the name, I'm sure) with a cabinet, but instead of a mic, using that.

I think Axes and Kempers are both amazing devices, but when it comes down to it, I like maybe three amps, and 3-4 pedals, and that's it. Maybe it's a psychological barrier for me, but it just seems like a waste to have these insane boxes that do a million different things, if I'm never going to use even 10% of it.

I have the WoS plugin and it's a great tool. I've thought about the Torpedo Live many times but dropping 1k hasn't been in the cards. I would be all over one if I had the money.

The WoS plugin with a good load is going to sound the same as the Torpedo Live anyway, unless I'm mistaken.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

check out the Torpedo Live.

The WoS plugin with a good load is going to sound the same as the Torpedo Live anyway, unless I'm mistaken.

I've looked at Torpedo Live. People seem to be real happy with it...but- this goes back a year or so- people were saying they were skipping the default cabs and putting in Red Wirez and loving the upgrade. That cooled my jets; I think RedWirez are ok but simply fall way short in quality compared to actual amps...and yes, as long as you have a load and only seek studio tones, is Torpedo even needed
I see Fluff announced his love for it then disappeared, probably lost in Torpedo-ville. Curious about this piece...

 

[animal]

Boy, I sure heard the lack of aliasing on the Metallica Axe-FX II powered Antarctica show and the Grammys.

There are a lot of threads about aliasing on the Kemper board. It's not an issue past I believe 1.6 firmware and it wasn't happening for all profiles.

The axe fx 2 destroys the kemper in tone. Forget the rest of the arguments. Only tone matters.

The recent axe developments solved any feel issues discussed above. I agree a tube power amp is best, it's how I use it.


I'll say this? Did you like line 6 modeling? Any problems with the line 6 high end or did it sound fine to you?

If so you will hate the kemper. The only thing I hear when playing a kemper or listening to a recorded track is that damn aliasing. Ruins the entire experience for me.

That haze of high end hash that cannot be dialed out. All unrelated to the fundamentals. Yuck.

Axe fx 2 has none.

Even the digi design 11 rack doesn't alias.

I couldn't disagree more with your position on the Kemper and this "aliasing"...

Steve

There is nothing to disgree on about the aliasing, it is there .

Personally i hate the way it sounds. kemper admits it is there, peruse their forum or better yet do some testing.

If you like the way it sounds good for you, play it and be happy.

It aliases, aliasing is harmonic content unrelated to the fundamental not being played.

If you like harmonics from random unrelated frequencies present when you are playing OR cannot hear the difference i would agree youll probalby liike the resulting tone.


The worst/best thing that ever happened to me was training my ears with acoustiticians. I hear whats really happening which has lead to a career guitar teching , i also am alsmost NEVER Satisifed.

Sorry for the typos on my phone.

As stated earlier whatever issue there was (and only on certain profiles) got fixed quite a few updates ago ffs

So with everything I'm reading in this thread, and correct me if I am wrong, it boils down to this:

The best tone is Kemper
The easiest unit to use is the Kemper
The easiest one to record on is a tie
The one that sounds the best into a cab is the Axe

Basically if you like to tweak, go Axe. If you like to plug and play, go Kemper?

For me a reason I like the kemper more for recording is because its 44.1khz spdif which is what I record at
The axe is 48khz

I used the USB on the axe-fx and hated it!!! I had to use the axe-fx as the soundcard and I found getting a mix a PITA compared to using a soundcard (RME fireface)

Rig Talk seems to favor the Kemper, on TGP the bias seems towards the Peterson endorsed Axe-Fx II.

yeah that guy is shady as hell.
He has never said one negative thing about the axe-fx and yet raves every FW release (regardless if there is issues which then get corrected in a later FW!!!)
How can someone who thinks every release is better not feel like it was missing something in the earlier stages?
He missed a great career in used car sales
This guy does complex IR mixes, all sorts of deep parameter tweaks and this is the result (bonus lolz if you make it past the 1min mark)
seriously I know you can get good tones out of the axe-fx but I've heard first generation PODs sound better than this with half the effort
https://soundcloud.com/spetersonmusic/axefxii-10pointohhhhhhh

I'm sorry for Kemper users but the Axe can feed 2 guitarists with independent footswitch and stereo playing through 4 4x12
For me that's the perfect digital processor .

Its good for a magnetic/piezo setup but once a floor pedal that loads IR's out I'd use that in conjunction with the kemper....(amplifire?)

 

[Rogue]

I've looked at Torpedo Live. People seem to be real happy with it...but- this goes back a year or so- people were saying they were skipping the default cabs and putting in Red Wirez and loving the upgrade. That cooled my jets; I think RedWirez are ok but simply fall way short in quality compared to actual amps...and yes, as long as you have a load and only seek studio tones, is Torpedo even needed
I see Fluff announced his love for it then disappeared, probably lost in Torpedo-ville. Curious about this piece...

I go back and forth between stock cabs and my own IRs. I think the stock cabs sound more natural.


lordriffenstien using the stock cab....

https://soundcloud.com/lordriffenstein/1973-jmp-thru-greenbacks

Sounds pretty good.

 

[Bob Savage]

Hey Bob...

I have not been keeping up with current events to the exact nano-second lately...

Did you end up selling the Paisely???

Yes, sold, fortunately to a friend. If this Kemper is as good at profiling as I expect it is, I'll get to keep some of my favorite tones out of the Shiva-J.

 

[smdb]

Lance at Wildwood just hooked me up. Kemper PowerRack is on the way.


BRING ON THE ALIASING! Maybe it will cancel out the loud tinitus in my left ear.

Congrats!
I love mine. I use the FRFR method with a Yamaha dxr10 or a QSC k12. Both sound great!
I used to use a cab and power amp but it just did not sound as good to me.

 

[thiswaythatway]

I still have tube heads so I won't need to go back to them, they'll remain tools in my toolbox.

There's really little if any difference between someone spending $2k+ on an amp that does a thousand things and using only 5 or so sounds and someone spending the same on a 1, 2 or 3 channel amp. Not sure why someone would need to use every possible feature and tone in an amp for it to make sense. I certainly don't use every possible variation on the tube amps I own.

If your amps cover all the ground you want to cover, grab a two notes. Cheaper option and sounds great. Just weigh your needs for Live or Reload. Reload for recording for the greater options (unless your computer has latency issues), Live for live use (although a Reload and CAB would work in this application).

If you need other amp flavors, then a Kemper or AxeFX will work just fine. Kemper for ease of use and simpler effects, AxeFX if you are looking for a greater number of effects (but perhaps more tweaking time).

EDIT: One plus for the AxeFX you don't get with the others is every version update will be like this...

 

[boof]

dont know if this has already been posted in the thread but this might be of use
http://foppstar.blogspot.jp/2013/09/kem ... audio.html

 

[bmi]

dont know if this has already been posted in the thread but this might be of use
http://foppstar.blogspot.jp/2013/09/kem ... audio.html

It's a biased review.
Tonematch is not what he says and you can profile an Axe-Fx.

By the way and listening the recording section of Fractal's forum i know for sure that there is today no progress in tone for the Axe-Fx II.
It has reached an end.(not for the best and still close to the Ultra...uhmmmm)

 

[Bob Savage]

dont know if this has already been posted in the thread but this might be of use
http://foppstar.blogspot.jp/2013/09/kem ... audio.html

I actually ran across that yesterday. I can't quite put my finger on it, and it's not because I decided to go with the Kemper, but something smacks as unusual in that comparison. There's definitely good info and I'm well aware that the Axe-FX II is a smoking device, which is why it took a lot of thought and research to decide which way to go, but still there's something that strikes me as odd about the comparison.

A number of friends who's ears I have a high confidence in are sold on the Kemper so I suspect it will do all I need it to and then some. If it doesn't I'll sell it and buy the Axe.

 

[TrueTone500]

What really impressed me about the Kemper was its clean tones. I generally don't like clean tones from a digital device, but the KPA sounds spectacular.

Check this...

A Kemper powerhead has to be the ultimate grab-and-go rig. We occasionally go up to north Georgia to go rafting, and the Kemper + 1x12 cabinet is perfect for just such a trip. IMO, Fractal is going to need to come up with a similar head type device to keep up with Kemper.

 

[DADA]

Baking my own IR's for some time now. I even made some corrective IR's that tunes the sound of my Guitarcabs without becomming congestet. This way I can get my V30 to sound en feel like greenbacks and back And this with my 2,5 years old Ultra.

Would I buy the II or the XL? NO... not new at least.
Would I buy a Kemper Rack? Probably after the footcontroller is alive. But that 3U and just 1 stereo out is what is holding me back.

And this HighRes stuff? For me it is just a way for FAS to protect their market. This Atomic thingy scares the hell out of them

And for the extra feeling dynamics / 3D sound I have the Koch ATR-4502 as poweramp.

 

[animal]

dont know if this has already been posted in the thread but this might be of use
http://foppstar.blogspot.jp/2013/09/kem ... audio.html

It's a biased review.
Tonematch is not what he says and you can profile an Axe-Fx.

By the way and listening the recording section of Fractal's forum i know for sure that there is today no progress in tone for the Axe-Fx II.
It has reached an end.(not for the best and still close to the Ultra...uhmmmm)

yeah I've seen that before and there is some big inaccuracies in it
and keith merrow did a video profiling the axe-fx , I've even done some patches and they came out perfect
some serious user error on his part
plus he leaves out you need to create a preset as close as possible to the sound you want for the tone match to be accurate

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I've looked at Torpedo Live. People seem to be real happy with it...but- this goes back a year or so- people were saying they were skipping the default cabs and putting in Red Wirez and loving the upgrade. That cooled my jets; I think RedWirez are ok but simply fall way short in quality compared to actual amps...and yes, as long as you have a load and only seek studio tones, is Torpedo even needed
I see Fluff announced his love for it then disappeared, probably lost in Torpedo-ville. Curious about this piece...

I go back and forth between stock cabs and my own IRs. I think the stock cabs sound more natural.


lordriffenstien using the stock cab....

https://soundcloud.com/lordriffenstein/1973-jmp-thru-greenbacks

Sounds pretty good.

Yes, that sounds really good
Problem is, that style is not exactly my forte. I play slop aggressive domesti-core