Moving closer and closer to the switch

    Hey there everyone!


    My name is Russ. I'm a 30 year old musician/audio engineer/budding entrepreneur near Phoenix, Arizona. I've been playing guitar for more than 20 years now with a lot of focus on 7-string guitars. These days, I've got a nice arsenal of gear but the quest for tone never ends. I have a killer half stack whose tone I love, but it's almost never practical to fire it up.


    In 2013 I took the dive and bought an Axe-FX II (Mk II). I won't pretend that I don't think it's an incredible piece of gear- it sounds and feels good to me. But it doesn't have MY amp or cab programmed in there, and that's what I'm really trying to recreate in a more practical way. As an audio engineer, I thought I'd really geek out over the scope of the effects and routing possibilities. In practice, I found the process of making tones to be tedious and uninspiring. And while I really appreciate all the work Fractal puts into adding new features and models with firmware updates, I hate that I have to go back through a labyrinth of settings to tweak my presets after some updates.


    A good buddy of mine, whose ears I really trust, had tried to steer me toward the Kemper before I bought the Fractal. He had a lot of experience with both and was dead-set that the Kemper did a better job reproducing the sound and feel of an incredible tube rig. The more I learn about the Profiling Amp, the more it looks like it's a MUCH better fit for my needs. So I decided to come here to learn more before I road trip down to a dealer and try it out in person. If I decide to pick one up, I hope to be a valuable contributor to this community.


    Cheers!

    Quote from Raoul23

    The KPA is a awesome piece of kit. If you get one ;) you can profile your own amp which is one of the reasons a lot of player pick the profiler :)


    Exactly. Not only can I do that, but I can make a profile for each configuration of settings that I like which gives me even further flexibility to refine the tone to my tastes. I have a VHT/Fryette Pittbull G50CL, so it's a 50-watt amp with EL34's, a graphic EQ, and selectable tube or silicon rectifier; it's surprisingly versatile for something so dry and percussive. I'm excited to be able to capture those tones and have them on tap without having to get loud and/or tweak too much.

    Hi Russ
    Check my intro thread as some of the other "dual" FAS/Kemper peeps who have replied. I am more than happy with the switch and the Kemper feels more ampy than the AxeFx.


    Kemper = turning knobs to get amp tones,
    AxeFx =programming menus to generate sounds
    .
    Ultimately the Kemper does what you basically want to do - profile YOUR setup.
    With software version 3, it's YOUR amp,YOUR cab.. (and now, you can put YOUR amp with a different cab!)
    This intro thread is about YOU, right? :D


    The only caveate, is you need YOUR FRFR speakers if you want to faithfully reproduce it - assuming you don't want to bring/run your half stack.

    Hi Russ, have played many kind of good stuff. Sold it all..........At the end there are some good guitars, a kpa, a HK Lucas nano 600 PA and a lot of fun . Not only with the kpa. With this community to!

    Hi russmuller!


    Buy the Kemper and return it before you get charged interest if it's not a better fit. After all, it has a 45 return policy, most stores are 30 days, and you don't get charged interest if you use a card for 30 days. You'll be out shipping at the worst if you don't use a local store to return it to. ($150 to learn which is best for you)


    The Fractal unit is an awesome piece of gear, and it really comes down to what you said "what's best for you" so that's gotta be first hand experience no matter what friends or any forum-dwellers say.


    If you are thinking of it, the that indicates to me that something isn't right with your current setup. If someone said to me "Dennis, we have the amazing guitar amplifier called "The DennisTron 4000 that would be PERFECT for YOU" I'd stick with my Kemper because I don't have a problem with my current setup and am still in bliss over it 2 years later.


    You don't leave a good thing unless it's not a good thing for you. Follow your gut, but make the decision with your ears! (it helps to hear your friends play the units while you sit back and listen)


    And Welcome to the forum!!

    Welcome to the forum and the happy crew in it. Even if you will stick to the axe eventually there's a lot of helpful and expert soundfreaks to give excellent ideas in the forum.
    Clearly I thought (3 years ago) I just profile my amp collection and be done with it. Now I find myself most time hooked to Andy's 61 Twinreberb (full) or MBritt's releases of the Dumble amp family. Not sure what it will be next year. So there's is a whole world of sounds at your doorstep just a few turnings of knobs away.


    Have fun. I did and I never regretted it


    Joachim

    Both units are incredible and you really cant go wrong with either one. The deciding factor for me was the ease of use of the Kemper to get a killer sound. I've noticed the older I get, the less time and patience I have to sit and tweak stuff for hours. I just want to play damn it! LOL