Axe FX III vs Kemper Profiling Amp

  • I'm a Kemper user, come from an ADA +3TM modded preamp. *Love it to bits! If I had the spare cash, I'd buy an Axe (though I've never used one). Why? Cos it'd look bitchin' in my rack setup! hark back to the 80's with the fridges full of gear! Its all about the blinking lights! \m/ \m/ (*inject heavy dose of irony here)


    Happy friday everyone!

  • I'm a Kemper user, come from an ADA +3TM modded preamp. *Love it to bits! If I had the spare cash, I'd buy an Axe (though I've never used one). Why? Cos it'd look bitchin' in my rack setup! hark back to the 80's with the fridges full of gear! Its all about the blinking lights! \m/ \m/ (*inject heavy dose of irony here)


    Happy friday everyone!

    YES!!!
    I used to run an ADA MP1 into a Marshall 50/50 and quadraverb! The good ole days!!

  • Sure but I still think it would be much better to approach this topic with a concrete goal in mind.


    For information about what a specific unit is and what it does, the other units are irrelevant in the beginning IMO.


    But if you approach this with a request like e.g.:
    "I want to play Pink Floyd as authentic as possible with digital gear." Then you can have a discussion about which aspects of that goal which unit can provide the best. What each unit can and can't to with that goal in mind.


    Imagine comparing a sportscar to a family van. They are both cars yeah, so they can do some things similary. But the whole concept is different. How can you even compare the two when you don't know on what basis you are comparing them?
    You could argue that the "feeling" of a sportscar is much superior to that of a van but what good is that to a family of 5 with two dogs?
    You get my point right?
    The "better" car is the one that fullfilles the specific needs of the customer best.

  • Ok, bypassing all the useless posts...


    So, I watched the video, and I went with what the guy said: "I want to focus today mainly on the amp sounds."


    Ok, after listening to them, the Kemper sounded soft and rounded, like a real tube amp. The Axe 3 to me disappointingly sounded like a solid state amp with a really bad 5 band EQ in front of it. Harsh is the word that came to mind on all of them. Edgy, not ~rounded~ like a tube amp...


    But then at the end he says: "For me personally, for what I do, I need a box that has everything in it, or I might as well use an amp and pedals."



    ?? What is he talking about? I thought he was just focusing on the sounds! Personal need / hook ups / etc., is irrelevant. So I'm sorry but I will have to give this guy a fail.

  • Unless both units are using the same IR and one is dialed in to sound as close as possible to the other, any amp comparison is pointless. How are you supposed to compare the quality of the amps between both units if you haven't eliminated the cab section as an influential factor from the sonic equation? It would've been a simple affair to use the Axe's IR capture utility to capture the KPA's cab section.

  • Unless both units are using the same IR and one is dialed in to sound as close as possible to the other, any amp comparison is pointless. How are you supposed to compare the quality of the amps between both units if you haven't eliminated the cab section as an influential factor from the sonic equation? It would've been a simple affair to use the Axe's IR capture utility to capture the KPA's cab section.

    Also in such comparisons it's good to keep everything digital so ,
    since the Kemper now is more flexible and has selectable Sample rates you switch the Kemper to 48KHZ (the fixed non-Selectable sample rate of the AXE FX III)

  • Also in such comparisons it's good to keep everything digital so ,since the Kemper now is more flexible and has selectable Sample rates you switch the Kemper to 48KHZ (the fixed non-Selectable sample rate of the AXE FX III)

    I'm not too concerned about the sample rate in this case considering the test is being relayed via YouTube. In my own blind tests, I couldn't tell a difference between Line-In and SPDIF, though if you're going to be performing multiple operations in a DAW, 48KHz would be the preferred SR.

  • I think it depends on the audio interface whether you can hear a difference between Line and S/PDIF to most people's ears.
    On the last few interfaces I've had, I've heard a clear difference and stuck with digital.



    I couldn't get digital to work for the Audient ID22, but certainly anything with a Coaxial did work, and my conversion for Optical worked on all other interfaces I've tried.


    Fractal isn't the only company guilty of retrograding a function for a supposed "upgrade".
    I was a bit miffed, recently "upgrading" from Apollo Twin to the Apollo 8, learning that they took away the ability to choose between ADAT vs S/PDIF over the same Optical input! What?!?
    Thus I was forced to get a long RCA cable for the Kemper (bump under rug now vs that nice wee bitty fiber cable), and then had to figure out how to switch from S/PDIF -> ADAT for the M3000 reverb rack I had setup. (more figuring out how stupid UA was than the M3000's settings, that was pretty easy)


    But if you DO have a good interface (or perhaps an inability to hear the difference between Line vs Digital) multiple recordings should stack up to become a audible (for those who layer.)


    My MO is, if I HAVE the best option (in this case digital) then I'm using it. Why force an unnecessary conversion?
    It was because of this I decided to get the Apollo 8, for it's IN/OUT optical for reamping.
    In the past, from reading forums, reamping was a problem with the need for external conversion (depending on the sample rate chosen) or else using Line back in to the interface but with the latest Kemper OS release it's not: you can stay entirely in the digital realm no matter what sample rate you choose. So this came along at a perfect time for me. (I expect this was the plan by KPA, lol)


    So Kudo's to the KPA admin, design & programming teams for listening to customers and making what was formerly thought un-doable, now a reality!

  • I think it depends on the audio interface whether you can hear a difference between Line and S/PDIF to most people's ears.
    On the last few interfaces I've had, I've heard a clear difference and stuck with digital.


    When comparing the Axe FX's analog outs at 44.1KHz vs. SPDIF at 48KHz, there was no audible difference, whereas when running straight into my Focusrite, there was a slight discrepancy.


    But if you DO have a good interface (or perhaps an inability to hear the difference between Line vs Digital) multiple recordings should stack up to become a audible (for those who layer.)


    I'm not big on the whole stacking theory. For years It was claimed by many people that one could hear a difference when stacking tracks using a low-end vs. high-end converter, which turned out to be unfounded. I tend to side with Ethan Winer's philosophy in that any difference between stacking or not is audible if the differences are loud enough to be heard in the first place.

  • I've heard huge stacking differences on multiple background vocals on cheap mics vs one with a much better signal to noise ratio.
    It kinda of stands to reason that poorer conversion will stack poorly. Although, one could argue that the inherent frequency phase cancellations would do more damage in that regard.


    I try not to stack the same tracking, but do so for harmonies (guitar or vocal) and it was amazing how well the TLM103 stacked vs say a C1000S.


    The irony? I then put on tube compressors and eventually a friggin' tape emulator that all add noise so it starts becoming a mute argument at that point, haha

  • Axe fx3 wins! Look at that sparkle at the left of 21433. Kemper never published these bars. They don't use MS Excel?


    [Blocked Image: https://www.fractalaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/3-Benchmarks-w-footnote-gray2.jpg]

    [chuckles] Ya know, I have never once, in my 30 years of playing live, every had a single person come up to me on break and complement me on how fast the FPGA was in my processor.


    Lets try to keep it real here.

  • "Ya know, I have never once, in my 30 years of playing live, every had a
    single person come up to me on break and complement me on how fast the
    FPGA was in my processor.



    Lets try to keep it real here."


    Ok, let's keep it real. Musicians or regular people? Regular people don't care what you play through. Ever. Don't even know what you are talking about.


    Other musicians ask questions about ----> Everything. That's what we do. You must have had a very isolated 30 years!

  • In reality it makes virtually no difference.

    Is "virtual" a pun? haha (good one if it is)


    I guess stacking is audible with microphones for the noise, but a poor adc is either heard outright (ie fast track ultra vs clarett) or heard from multiple conversions (i.e. bussing through hardware or reamping)