Fractal AX8 for Kemper toaster!

  • Probably a long shot but I'm looking to trade my AX8 for a Kemper. Sold mine a few months ago and really miss it. I'm in Canada so I'd prefer to find a trade here. AX8 is mint.


    Thanks.

  • Summer's sales! for all the big items, I always use a 20% coupon from the major music chains like musician's friend etc. Don't you have any in Canada? I bet you if you call them and ask for a coupon, and give them your email, you'll very likely get a 20% coupon which would bring the KPA to around $1580. That is relatively same price as the AX8 with significantly improved amp models/profiles, the KPA is a steal at that price.

  • Yes, and I did as well, had them side by side for a couple months. Never could duplicate the MBritt "69 Marshall tone in the AX8. Not sure why I sold my Kemper?? Moment of stupidity maybe?

  • Yes, and I did as well, had them side by side for a couple months. Never could duplicate the MBritt "69 Marshall tone in the AX8. Not sure why I sold my Kemper?? Moment of stupidity maybe?


    The truth will set you free my friend... Beware the jabberwocky, the jubbjub bird, the brandersnatch, but most of all the FX AX8 and its promises of sound, which do not resound amongst the Kemper fraternity - no Sirie!

  • The thing with Kemper and what sets it a part from all the Modeler is the feel and responsiveness which translates into inspiration. Never ever got the goose bumps and the Euphoric feeling I get when I play the Kemper in any other modeler. Sure they all can be made to sound good with EQ and different IRs, but for me what counts is how it responds. Played the AXE II head to head with Kemper, and in the feel department KPA felt the closest to Micing a real world amp. On top of all that it's practically indistinguishable from the AMP being profiled.

  • Al final no es tan importante si el sonido es exactamente igual al amplificador original (que realmente así es) lo realmente importante es como te hace vibrar el sonido con tu guitarra en las manos. Y resulta que tocar con el Kemper es toda una experiencia.

  • How do you get an IR of a Kemper profile?


    What he means, you take an IR of the cabinet in the Kemper. You disable the AMP and everything on the kemper, and Keep the Cabinet on. There are many ways, one such way would be to play a sine sweep file through the Kemper, record that in your daw directly and deconvolve the resulting file using software such as (Voxengo decovolver). The result would be the impulse response.


    It's not for the average guitar player. But since speaker caries more of the character of the sound of the amp than the ampilifer itself (according to many engineers), you can see where the appeal to the IR. But Kemper is also capturing the whole sound including the speaker IR and more than all other modelers is because it also captures the speaker interaction. Helix, AXE FX II , only provide the speaker impulse but they approximate the speaker interaction, that' why their accuracy will always be inferior. They have no way of knowing the speaker load etc. AXE II might have an option where you can plug that information but on top of getting the IR, you still need to do scientific measurements of the speaker otherwise your speaker interaction is not accurate since manufactures of speaker don't all disclose that information.


    In other words somethings can't be modeled by the AXE FX II or Helix but it's captured by the KPA profile. SO if you want accuracy look no further than the Kemper. I posted this stuff before and if it sounds like I'm making this up, I'm not. If you don't tell the Helix (if it even has that option) or the AXE II (it has it in the amp block) that information isn't modeled and is approximated. In other words it can sound almost day an night different. Anyone who knows tube amps knows that even different ohms load of the same type of speaker will sound very different in the same amp.


    Conclusion: going down the rabbit hole of impulse responses is generally what it is, a rabbit hole that runs very deep and you might never find your way out. If you have time on your hand, get some measuring tools to measure actual electrical currents to measure impedance etc. Here's a quote from the AXE FX II that was a deterrent for me not to go that route and expect accuracy with all the editing and time required to factor for these things that can't be modeled by the AXE FX II


    "There are certain aspects that simply can't be modeled and require user intervention. For example, a speaker has a low-frequency resonance. A tube amp will create a higher output at that resonant frequency. The Axe-Fx has no way of knowing what that resonant frequency is and defaults to a value that is common for the speakers that are typically used with that amp."


    http://wiki.fractalaudio.com/a…S_.28SPEAKER_IMPEDANCE.29

    Edited 4 times, last by Dean_R ().