The Dreaded Kemper vs AxeFx Debate for a newb in Dec 2015

[dirtyfunkg]

With the MF coupon, Backstage Pass, the eBates 4% cash back, and the Chase Freedom 1% cash back, I could effectively purchase a Kemper Profiling Rack processor for $1354 brand spanking new.

I'm also on the AX-8 waiting list but up 'til now have just been thinking to save up and get an Axe FX II XL+.

Ideally I want an all-in-one, swiss army processor that can run straight to FOH (or straight into a DAW for silent recording) to ease the load on my back and give me a consistent sound wherever I Go. The Kemper seems to excel with amps but I'm not really sure how the effects stack up to Axe. I already have a Midi-Raider controller so would not be spending on a MFC or Kemper Remote.

What I want is obviously great amp sounds. Both seem to provide this but I'm not sure which is necessarily "better" or if the difference is actually noticeable or a placebo.

What can each processor do that the other can't. With Tone Matching, Axe Fx can get close to a given base tone, but there are amps that the AFX doesn't have certain amps I really want in it (at least not G3 or Quantum level yet, like the Fryette offerings for example). It doesn't look like the Kemper can run two amp profiles at a time either in stereo like the Axe can.

Coming to the effects, how does the Kemper stack up? Is it worth the $1000 extra bucks to get the Axe FX?

Would love your input. The $1354 for the Kemper new sounds like a great deal but I want to make sure I don't make a stupid impulse purchase that I'd regret later.

 

[DADA]

Get the Kemper and play guitar. Avoid the tweak hole.

 

[cardinal]

But Kemper could land you in the find-the-right-profile hole? I'd like a Kemper, but I'm still on the fence...

 

[BYTOR]

I have an XL+ & a Kemper. I prefer the XL+ overall but the Kemper is very good.

The effects & routing on the AFX is certainly much better than the KPA but that comes down to how much of an effects guy you are.

If you can get the Kemper for $1354 new shipped then just do it.........if you don't like it you certainly will be able to sell it & not lose any money at all.

The only way you can know which unit is the one for you is to spend some time with them.

PS......anyone who can't get a great tone from the AFXII at this point with just amp model/favorite IR & the most basic effects, without going down a rabbit hole of endless tweaking, is going to have the same problem with the KPA & the endless profiles that are around.

In other words.....if you have ADHD, then just avoid anything but the most basic things in life, because the problem is you

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

I was on the fence and on the AX-8 list.
I saw a demo of the Kemper w/remote for 2k and got it.

I will say it's better than the AX-8 simply because I have a nice unit now, rather than 4 months from now

I got 800 rigs in the damn thing. Only use like 10 of them. Tweaking is fun, but after a while all the high gain amps sound somewhat similar. That's when you get into messing with cabs, which is a whole another rabbit hole. I have guitars with different pickups and different drop tunings. Some sound great with some profiles, some do not. That's where swapping out a cab can be a night and day difference in tone.

They now offer pure cabinet in the latest firmware. It's pretty cool.

Bore yourself if you're interested.

Pages 6-10 of the 3.1 Addendum manual

https://www.kemper-amps.com/page/render ... loads.html

 

[Steinmetzify]

I have an AxeII and love it....I needed a quality unit that I could get to sound the way I wanted it to and also double as an interface for recording. FX are world class and I have no issues with quality or support whatsoever. This thing is plug and play anymore; has been since FW18, and it's on like FW21 or 22 now....the guys that talk about how much it needs to be tweaked either haven't messed with it lately or just wanna bitch because they're haters and have been for years. Shit, you don't even need to tweak the fuckin thing anymore....grab patches from Fremen or Yek, adjust to your needed volume levels and go.

I also got to go over to a bro's house this last weekend and spend some quality time with the Kemper....nice relaxed atmosphere; I've always let him come over and jam the Axe whenever because he was on the fence, so it was the same. Dude set me up with plenty of guitars and beer and I had a blast. Profiles are as good as they're made...there are definitely some dogs out there, but the good ones are fuckin great. The reason he chose the Kemper over the Axe was because he has a bunch of really cool amps and digs on their tones, and wanted those exact ones. FX weren't as good, but ok....there's a lot more customization in the effects in the Axe....and I don't mean just deep parameters, I mean just different choices for each one. Lot more drives and delays and what not, and they actually all sound different, not just varying degrees of distortion or whatever.

For me, while the Kemper was cool it didn't make me want to give up the Axe and go grab one; I'm used to the Axe and enjoy my workflow, and didn't hear anything that I thought was worlds better than any of my patches/tones.

I WILL say that if I was on the fence, loved my amps' core tones and wanted those, plus didn't give much of a fuck about variety of delays or whatever, PLUS I could save a grand, I'd grab a Kemper no question. The tones are there, it's easy to use and sounds great.

As an Axe owner, do I think it's worth $1,000 more? Nah....I'd grab a Kemper and a $300-$400 interface and save $600. AxeFXs hold their value for a while though.....you could grab that XL+ and use it for a year and more than likely still only lose around $300 on it...the Kempers seem to hold their value pretty well too, so I doubt you can go wrong with either.

Caveats:

Axe can run two amps at the same time, but don't buy it for that..it sounds OK, but not mind blowing or anything.

Both units are amazing for amp tones, and it's your choice....neither is markedly better than the other as far as tone or feel go. Both of them are right there, man.

Axe can record via USB, but the Kemper needs an interface to do so.

tl;dr: You want YOUR amp tones in a lighter footprint, grab the Kemper. You want really good processed tones that simulate pretty much anything and can record straight out of the box, grab the Axe.

 

[thawn5150]

I had a Kemper and I loved it. The ability to profile amps is great. Later down the road I got a axe fx with the foot controller. I a/b them and for me the axe fx won out .Amazing cleans, overdrive sounds amazing the foot controller is a thing of wonder, works really well. This coming from a dedicated kemper user, honestly never thought I would like the axe fx but I do. Also this bull about being hard to program or going down the rabbit hole is nonsense. You can if you want to but you don't have to at all to get great sounds. Actually it is quite easy to program. Does it sound like a tube amp no but its pretty close and sounds just as good. Hey I've heard a lot of shitty tube amps in my day lol . I even tried running them together as I have done in the past with amps-this did not work for me they sounded better on there own-but I had to try ,I was curious. That's my 2 cents

 

[thiswaythatway]

From what I've heard from clips the Kemper gets closer to real amps. The Axe gets close enough for a lot of people though. When I tried the Kemper twice.....I hated it. I must have been doing something wrong though. I've owned the Axe-2 twice, yes I tweaked and played with it and realized I wasn't playing.

 

[dirtyfunkg]

Part of my quandary is that I also want something that will play nice with my real amps in 4cm. Is Kemper adept with that?

 

[crankyrayhanky]

$1354? Hit it. It will work for your applications.
And it's virtually fail safe if you need to flip it

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

I'm trying to imagine what it would feel like to purchase something and then actually get my money back or even make $100 or so.

 

[BYTOR]

I'm trying to imagine what it would feel like to purchase something and then actually get my money back or even make $100 or so.

This has happened at least 7 times to me over the last 4 years with 4 AFX2's, 2 Kempers & recently a Helix I sold. I made $ on 4 of them & broke even on 3.

This has never happened to me with tube amps(I always lose at least 20-30%), but I've also broken even on a few guitars bought from ebay & the Guitar Center used site......

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

IMO you are either good at selling, or you are not. I have the consciousness of someone that loses his shirt constantly, so that is my reality. I have a friend that is Mr. Junk Collector. He'll sell something for $5 on ebay and make $25 on the shipping. His garage is full of "stuff." Him and his brother consistently buy shit for $100 and sell it for $500. It's mind boggling to a retard like me.

 

[Racerxrated]

I'm trying to imagine what it would feel like to purchase something and then actually get my money back or even make $100 or so.

This has happened at least 7 times to me over the last 4 years with 4 AFX2's, 2 Kempers & recently a Helix I sold. I made $ on 4 of them & broke even on 3.

This has never happened to me with tube amps(I always lose at least 20-30%), but I've also broken even on a few guitars bought from ebay & the Guitar Center used site......

If you are worried about resale then always buy used. If you buy new you almost always lose. Except here with the OP...1354?? Oh hell yeah..go get it!

 

[Michi]

Part of my quandary is that I also want something that will play nice with my real amps in 4cm. Is Kemper adept with that?

I'm pretty the KPA cannot do that properly. Or actually, at all.

 

[Vrad]

Ok so I can offer up some opinion on this.

I own a Kemper rack unpowered unit. I've had it for a year. It blows my fucking mind every time I use it. That said, all this Plug and play, no tweaking talk needs to be taken with a grain of salt. The power and downfall of the unit for many people is that you can literally take YOUR rig and YOUR sound with you. That means is you may or may not be happy with the stock profiles it comes with. I hated almost all of them. In fact, I hate most profiles I come across which is why I make my own. This is nice for me, but some may find it impossible or frustrating.

I have played an Axe FX not too long ago and I can tell you, sound-quality-wise it's as good as the Kemper. You're not missing out on quality with either unit. They're both super clean, effects are super powerful and high-fi and studio quality. People say the Axe has more or better effects and I can't vouch for this, but I can say that the effects in the Kemper are fantastic and unless you're doing some crazy shit it's WAY more than most of us would need.

As far as basic guitar tones go... This is where I think people have to try both units to really get a feel for them. They both sound great, but one is self-contained (Axe-Fx). The other requires you to either make your own profiles (which is both easy and fun!!), download free ones or buy them. Tweaking the actual profiles doesn't really work the same way that tweaking a model in the Axe FX does.

If you want to accurately duplicate an amp+speaker+mic combo, you cannot do better than the Kemper. I've auditioned real vs profile. I've had others audition it. It's not close... it's dead on. You'd have to really listen to the recordings solo'd and multiple times to hear a difference. It's really negligible. Also, not only does the tone get duplicated, the feel is as well. Rolling back the volume will clean up the tone much like it would on the real amp. Also, the Kemper takes very well to pedals. I've run an OD pedal into it with great results. In fact, I'd go back and profile the amp with the same OD pedal and settings and the results are the same as me running the pedal into the KPA with the same amp profiled. Pretty neat!

I never tried the Axe with pedals, but the guitar volume works just as well as on the KPA. It's response is what you'd expect from an amp.

In short, if you want to have one unit you can use for recording. A unit you can tweak endlessly and create new sounds without any new equipment, then the Axe FX may be your bet.

If you have amps... you want their tone and feel captured, tweaked and stored for recording/performing later on, then you want the KPA. You will NOT be disappointed. The technology is absolutely marvelous. But it does require access to the amps, mics, cabs etc... and it does require a bit of patience and practice. It's pretty easy, trust me. Guys who make commercial profiles love to overcomplicate the process, but the truth is that it's designed to be simple. You do have to have some basic engineering skills i.e. Miking a cab.

So that's my dissertation on the subject. You truly can't go wrong with either.

 

[squank]

Part of my quandary is that I also want something that will play nice with my real amps in 4cm. Is Kemper adept with that?

That's not what the KPA or Axe are made for. If you want an effects unit to run in 4cm with your tube amps, get a Boss GT100 or Digitech RP1000. They are much cheaper and are designed exactly for this (and their gainy amp sims aren't great, so you'd just shut them off).

The Axe and the KPA are standalone units for a reason - they do it all, and free you up from having to hump around tube amps and cabs.

I've owned both units, so I think I have a good take on them both. While the Axe has improved a LOT since it first came out (the initial hype was unwarranted), I still think the KPA edges it out on high gain tones. I think that is one of the biggest challengers for a modeler/profiler - to recreate high gain tones without them being harsh or buzzy/fizzy. The newest Axe and the KPA can do this, although I prefer the KPA's tones a bit more. Playing live, nobody (including the guitarist) could probably tell any difference. But at home, in a controlled environment with just guitar, you'll be able to tell with the KPA.

Also, the Axe's tone match is not on par with the Kemper's profiling ability. If you have great amps that you want to carry with you in a single box, the KPA is going to capture them more accurately. Just my $0.02.

 

[jjcor]

Part of my quandary is that I also want something that will play nice with my real amps in 4cm. Is Kemper adept with that?

Ive actually run my kemper with my prs archon 4 cm before just for the hell of it. So it is possible but I had a lot of feedback, so I had to add a noise gate in the fx chain and turn up my noise gate on the front of the kemper. BUT when I a/b'd it with some tone hammer profiles that I bought (Diezel herbert, Engl Invader) I preferred using them instead. They are DI profiles and I was running straight to my mesa recto cab. And they just fit my taste better. I was able to dial out some high end fizz and add some clarity. So in other words it is possible to run 4 cm with the kemper but its just a lot of shit to haul around which IMO defeats the purpose of the kemper.

 

[Metlupass2]

For that price buy the Kemper. I sold my Axe FX II for a Kemper last year and never looked back.

 

[PBGas]

I've had several Kempers over the years since they first came out. Very nice unit. I just wasn't overly happy with what I was getting out of it. It's not for everyone but it may be just what you are looking for.