AxeFx "Profiling" vs. KPA

  • i own the Axe II and the Kemper, the 2 machines are great. Each machine as it's pros and cons but most off all they are different machines !
    It's like having 2 different amp at home exept that here, there's many way to amplify them.
    Personally, i think Mr Chase is making a mistake trying to copy the profiling abilitys of the Kemper... The Kemper is a profile player/creator, the axe is a simulator. I didn't bought an axe to create profile and due to the "sound color" of the FAS stuff, it will not give the same result whatever he will do. I'm interested to see the result and how they will manage this but i have some serious doubt.
    I keep the 2 machines
    I like the Kemper for the ease of use an settings, it's musical sounding, profile ability...
    I like the Axe II for the interface, Rack format, Axe Edit, routing possibilitys, the way it can feel to play...the great evolution, when i had my Axe II, the Firmware was 3 or 4 and it was not very interesting compared to my previous Ultra. With the latest version there's some very serious improvement in the Amp simulation section and i guess it's not finished.
    Whatever, this competition is good for the customer :D

  • when i had my Axe II, the Firmware was 3 or 4 and it was not very interesting compared to my previous Ultra. With the latest version there's some very serious improvement in the Amp simulation section and i guess it's not finished.
    Whatever, this competition is good for the customer :D


    I didn't have the opportunity to try firmware 5 and Im glad its working for you, so please don't think this is directed at you, its not.
    Sadly after years (since firmware 5 on the first gen units right up to firmware 4 on the new ones) of being told "this new firmware finally nails it" it got a bit old for me, cos it never,ever lived up to the hype, and the failings in each firmware were never admitted until the next one came out.
    Gotta hand it to FAS, its a great way to make you 'Stick with us a bit longer'. I certainly did, for almost 3 years, upgrading hardware twice in the process.


    The feel thing with the axefx was always a strange one to me too. I like the way the axefx (both gen units) plays and feels, and got used to it over time. It was only when I went back to tube amps that I realised the axefx was very different to 'the real thing'. Thats not a criticism, it might be the way you like it, As I said it does feel very nice, just not 'real' (IMO).
    Try it for yourself, if you have played an axefx for some time go back to a tube amp. You will probably find you don't like the feel of the tube amp at first, but which one is real?

  • As for the different feel of pick attack:
    Try turning down the noisegate - the NG seams to kill the attack for some part.


    wanted to post that too. the noisegate takes away the pick attack. it kinda cuts the treble, so you'll miss the pick attack when going to 4 or 5 in the noise gate. i don't like the noise gate and would like to have an option for a classic noise gate in this place. i only use gates to bring the noise down when i'm not playing (guitar volume down).

  • well i consider the axe like a kind of experimental tool; kind of synthetizer, very pleasant to play with sound universe to explore, this is probably why i'm happy of it, i'm not expecting it to sound like the real stuff (and the real stuff is often less expensive). In my band, when i retuned to real amps, i always had complaint of the other player that the sound was less comfortable for them, more tiring (when using a JVM for example, i had no complaint when using an Bogner XTC).
    This is what i like in the Kemper, it sound like the real stuff, the playing feeling is a little bit different esspecially in very fast playing (someone wrote that there was some kind of elastic tube stuff missing, i agree, at least for several profils) but it doesn't miss me so much. The Kemper does a great Job until you stay close enough of the original profile and most of all :
    The Kemper allow you to create your own profile and i personnaly beleive that until you didn't create your own profiles, you've missed 50% of the Kemper magic.


  • What you hear in the KPA is the dynamics and feel of the original amp.
    If there was a noticable difference to the original amps, it would have been revealed by every single A/B comparison, that is mandatory when profiling.
    That is true also for the pick feel and guitar volume pot.


    CK

  • Cliff is not dumb. Yes he is adding profiling because the Kemper is the new kid in town and people seem to like the ease of getting some good sounds from the Kemper.


    Cliff obviously owns or has access to a Kemper because he stated that he "turned off the amp & captured one of the cabs from the Kemper" from one of the Plexi patches in the Kemper that he thought sounded the best. He says the Kempers EQ cab matching that takes place when the amp/cab profile is being done in the Kemper is the main reason for people getting a good sound more easily. With just amp modeling ,the speaker is not taken into consideration at all and people have to find the correct matching cab and tweak some speaker resonance controls etc... to get the best results. This process is more difficult for people, so many prefer the more plug n play nature of profiling amp/cab together.


    He personally prefers the modeling approach, and so do many Axe users , but will give people the best of both worlds. We shall see.....


    Cliff obviously has heard the best of what the Kemper has to offer so far, and he has announced that he will be adding his own profiling feature shortly. He knows that people will be waiting to hear if the Axe profiles will be worse,the same, or better than the Kemper. I highly doubt he will release his profiling feature if it doesn't have impressive results. Cliff is obviously very competitive, very smart, and shouldn't be taken lightly.


    All companies should be this competitive, we the end users are the ultimate winners.

  • All you're doing is making the point I already made!!


    Companies(any) that are very competitive, very smart, and not to be taken lightly, result in the end users winning!!


    I own an Xbox360 & a PS3. I win


    If the Axe-II can't do the profiling as well as the Kemper, then I will own both. I win again!!


    Winning!! lol

    Edited 2 times, last by BYTOR ().

  • Don't forget that Fractal will be releasing an effects only floorboard sometime in the near future(Cliff said so). It will probably have a looper in it as well.


    Kemper+Axe-Fx Floorboard = winning!! lol

  • Don't forget that Fractal will be releasing an effects only floorboard sometime in the near future(Cliff said so). It will probably have a looper in it as well.


    Kemper+Axe-Fx Floorboard = winning!! lol

    Don't forget that Kemper will be releasing a floorboard sometime in the near future (Mr Kemper said so). It will probably have a looper in it as well.


    Kemper + Kemper Floorboard = winning!! lol


    This is fun, your turn now. :thumbup:

  • To put my own two cents. I have not heard the Axe FX II. But this unit is clearly a modeling device with an added convolution engine at the speaker side. No judging of sound quality here!


    The Fractal statement "this unit will do profiling, too" is completly implausible to me.
    Recreating the characteristics of an amplifier will either require the technique Mr. Kemper has spend a long time to develop. Or it would require a dynamic convolution engine with different IRs for each degree of distortion. I am sure, Cliff is a clever engineer but I doubt, the Axe has been prepared with any of those approaches in mind.