KPA vs AxeFx II

  • My AxeFx Ultra was the second device in Europe and I got one of the first AxeFx II as well (own it since July 2011) - since one week I own the KPA.


    I talked a lot about both boxes in the Fractal Forum - in case someone is interested:
    http://forum.fractalaudio.com/lounge/45540-g3.html

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    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    Edited once, last by Armin ().

  • I have subscribed the G3 thread from the beginning :)


    Even if I don't get this permanent "A vs. B" subject I am curious about your decision when it comes to the end of the 30 day money back time frame.
    I would not bet any money that you keep the Kemper. Close as I can figure it you are more an audio engineer and scientist than guitarist (no offense). :D

  • My opinion.


    Why do a Kemper review on the Fractal Forum (if I were Cliff or Scott I wouldn't have allowed it), and why link an Axe-FX11 review on the Kemper Forum...doesn't make sense to me? ?(


    Last thing I want to do is read about the Axe-FX11 on the Kemper forum, it's enough I've been subjected to 6 years of Axe-FX brainwashing on The Gear Page.

  • Last thing I want to do is read about the Axe-FX11 on the Kemper forum,

    Exception! I want some more profiles from the amp models in the Axe II, the one of the Mesa Mk II was really good!! It looks like the Kemper version of it has more air in it, sounds warmer and the string separation is better...curious to see more of it.... :D

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


  • The most important post on that thread.....


    -I have profiled a VHT(Fryette) Super 30 combo, but just only the premp,no power amp,no speaker.



    Then I connected via a good loop box to the return of the combo, the original preamp and the profiled preamp, and switch



    between them, so they have the same chance to be heard, from the same power amp & same cab-speaker.


    The result is incredible, the profiled preamp sounds and feels
    almost like the original, if I can speak % could be 95% & more.(not
    100%)



    The original was just a little bit more "alive" but just a little bit, to my ears.

  • So here it is. ( for this profile, Kemper must be connected to a power amp & guitar cab)


    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/559613…GR%20VHT%20S30%20PRE.kipr


    Is the second channel of the amp (drive) all controls in the middle, and all tone shaping buttons off. Gain about 7, boost off, input low.


    This was just for experimental purpose I will profile it normally, like all my other amps in the near future.


    Edit: I realised that this profile (rig) has chorus - delay - & reverb effects by my mistake. So get them away if you don't need.


    If you decide to keep, is like to have them connected to the FX loop of an amp

    Edited 6 times, last by grorig ().

  • The Profiles are not very well done, and the volumes are different....not a very professional A/B test.


    It took SP a matter of seconds to jump in and come to a thousand conclusions, lol, and this time he didn't even need Flac files. :D

  • Armin


    Well done for sorting out the volumes on the clips.


    You clearly say that on some of the Profiles you got close and could tweak them closer, and you say on some Profiles you thought the Kemper sounded better than the Axe-FX11 itself, but they conveniently failed to read that over at the Fractal Forum. :)

  • One of the things that Mr Kemper has made quite clear is that the KPA has problems profiling some modellers. It may be that the axefx is one of these.
    The other thing is that in profiling a modeller you are in effect copying a copy (2nd generation copy).
    There was always gonna be a furore over on the axefx forum.
    One of the reasons I was quietly satisfied when I finally sold my 1st generation axefxs and went back to tube amps was my embarrassment at the forum behaviour over there. (guilt by association) .
    Anything new that came out would be met with a mixture mass panic and/or utter derision. It was almost as if the thought process was like 'OMG something new has come out. Maybe my axefx isn't the best anymore. What will I do? OMG OMG OMG!!.
    Used to embarrass me and also to take a lot of the glowing comments about the axefx with a pinch of salt. Nowadays this is another of the things they are now bashing reviews about any other product about. Don't get me wrong I liked the axefx, at the time it probably was the best modeller around, but after the eleven rack and the pod HD came out the gap was closing fast, hence axefx2.
    If you believe the hype over there (and this is one of the things they use to whip ppl with nowadays) the axefx was at 95% of a tube amp at firmware 7 of the 1st gen units.Yet every time a new firmware update comes out Cliff is a genius, has raised the ballgame etc.
    Surely by now the real tube amps sound about 75% as good as an axefx 2!

  • they conveniently failed to read that over at the Fractal Forum.


    It's the fractal forum, what do you expect :) It would be the other way round here 8)
    If I post "BMW is better" in a mercedes forum ... of course - there will be bashing :D


    Surely by now the real tube amps sound about 75% as good as an axefx 2!


    :thumbup:


    So if the KPA captures 99% of the tube amps tone is it 74,25% as good as the Axe II.


    q.e.d.


    But what if you profile the AxeII and make it better sounding after refining with EQ tweaks etc.... is it then 120% better then an axe2 and tube amps are only 62,5% as good?


    ?(

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar

  • The Axe people are crazy!!!


    Seriously - let's not start a war here - but those guys have made a huge investment at $2000 upwads.
    They invested in the "best of the best in the whole galaxy". So naturally - if another product comes out that rivals that at a lower cost - it just cannot be possible for them.
    They seriously start to panic as their world could blow up!!! :D

  • The Axe people are crazy!!!


    Seriously - let's not start a war here - but those guys have made a huge investment at $2000 upwads.
    They invested in the "best of the best in the whole galaxy". So naturally - if another product comes out that rivals that at a lower cost - it just cannot be possible for them.
    They seriously start to panic as their world could blow up!!! :D


    Yeah you're right, sorry.
    I followed the link and after reading all the -ve comments found myself getting sucked in......
    I should know better by now.

  • Basically, it's the same with the Les Paul forum.
    Most of those guys that invested in "historics reissues LP's" are pretty snobbish and can't accept the fact that a much less expensive production model LP can sound better sometimes.


    It's basic human psychology with all of them.


    All I say is don't let anyone influence you and do not blindly follow hype!
    Listen with your own ears because only you know what works best for you!