kemper vs axe fx 2 for high gain progressive metal type tones

    I just recently got the kemper profiling and I am now wondering if it was the best thing for me to buy based on what I play. I play a lot of periphery (yes i know misha mansoor uses the axe fx 2) and miss may etc... I still have around 28 days to test it since i purchased it from sweetwater.com. For that type of music, would i be better off keeping the kemper or returning it and getting the axe fx 2. price is not an obstacle here

    Quote from codeman555

    I just recently got the kemper profiling and I am now wondering if it was the best thing for me to buy based on what I play. I play a lot of periphery (yes i know misha mansoor uses the axe fx 2) and miss may etc... I still have around 28 days to test it since i purchased it from sweetwater.com. For that type of music, would i be better off keeping the kemper or returning it and getting the axe fx 2. price is not an obstacle here

    Only you can decide that. The KPA can do everything you want, as long as you KNOW what tone to dial in to make your recorded sound work nicely in a mix. Check out the recent stuff by Keith Merrow, Fred Brum or Ola Englund. They all use the KPA for their heavy technical stuff.

    Both will work. I think nobody can say which is better for your taste... Try Kemper couple of weeks. If you don't get the tones your want, send it back and try Axe 2. Try many user profiles before decision though.

    well, it depends how close you want to recreate the periphery kind of tone


    most of bulb's tone as well with djent in general comes from pre amp EQ and virtually increasing the amp's damping to achieve that tight, dry sound. having owned the axefx standard, mic'ing real amps and the kemper, you can DEFINITELY get closest to that sound with the axe. keep in mind that this is a purely artificial tone where you cut almost all bass and boost mids BEFORE the amp, and increase the damping to non-physically achievable levels. maxing the tone control on a tube screamer does something similar, but it doesn't have that artificial 'djent midrange quack'. personally, i love their music but hate that thin quacky midrange attack.


    so it really boils down to this, imo:


    - if you prefer the tone of a real amp, the kemper will work easier and sound more 'natural'.


    - if you want that 'djent' tone, then you're better off with the axe since it has more tweaking options. especially the EQ controls in the DRIVE stomp models will give you that exaggerated midrange 'djent quack' sound

    Quote from tylerhb

    Only you can decide that. The KPA can do everything you want, as long as you KNOW what tone to dial in to make your recorded sound work nicely in a mix. Check out the recent stuff by Keith Merrow, Fred Brum or Ola Englund. They all use the KPA for their heavy technical stuff.

    I downloaded their profiles but none of them seemed to sound good enough. They all sound real nice over youtube, but when i used them, it just wasnt the same. I know im using different guitars and that could be contributing to it, but still i was a little disappointed.

    What do you think the odds are of kemper having updates which give me the ability to have more of a 'djent' tone? Also what if i want tones more like lamb of god. Still heavy but less 'djent' like. What about whitechapel type tones?

    I wouldn't count on future updates to get the tones you're looking for.
    The KPA tone is pretty much there, that is, it won't change as dramatically as e.g. the AxeFX tends to do.
    There will be further updates, enhancements and improvements, but if you don't like what you're getting now - you probably never will.
    I would suggest to get as many highgain profiles as you can that are in the ballpark of the amps you would normally play, and start from there. Get one that is close to what you're looking for. Then start tweaking EQ's, amp parameters and cab parameters. It's really dead easy.
    If by then you still don't like what you're getting... return the KPA.

    Hi, owning both units I can say that the kpa could do almost any sound that the axeII can. I have profiled some sounds of my axeII and I find the profiles pretty close to the source. The problem is how to find your sounds. With the axe you can create everything on your own...or let's say you must create everything. There are advantages and drawbacks to it. With the kpa you have to search in the endless ballpark, wich takes time too. There might be no clear and simple answer to your question. If you worry if you could do it faster and better with the other unit, I'd say no, it's not that easy, you got to tweak or got to search and it'll take some time anyway. It would be different when you don't look for a special sound, good sounds of every kind are easier to find.

    These are great! I think i am going to keep the kemper now. My only concern really is that hissing sound with the hi gain rigs that i usually play.

    I will stand by what I believe and say that the Kemper takes the cake with cleans and mid-gain tones and the Axe-Fx is good with the higher gain compressed tones, however, it still sounds fake to me even when the fully grown male Mark Day makes videos of himself playing Hotel California.

    Quote from donbarzini

    I will stand by what I believe and say that the Kemper takes the cake with cleans and mid-gain tones and the Axe-Fx is good with the higher gain compressed tones, however, it still sounds fake to me even when the fully grown male Mark Day makes videos of himself playing Hotel California.


    I wouldn't judge the AXE II sounds by Mark Day's presets, no disrespect to Mark but I haven't found a patch he's posted that i'd use, what I'm saying is, in my opinion he doesn't represent the best of what can be done with the Axe. I think both the Axe II and Kpa are capable of similar sounds, I find a lot of the clean sounds on the Kpa tend to sound the same, and are a bit lifeless, as for the heavy sounds I think it depends how's it's dialed, tone matched or profiled, either unit can get pretty much any sound desired,(for me anyways) best advice is always to buy both and decide for yourself, clips and youtube videos are ok to to get an idea, but shouldn't be used to make a final decision in my opinion.

    I have dialed in great Djent tones with my Kemper. Secret is a good OD pedal before the Kemper.. amazingly enough just like a good amp. I have a TC Electronics Booster/Line driver and it combined with almost any high gain profile = DJENT

    Quote from mikeb

    I have dialed in great Djent tones with my Kemper. Secret is a good OD pedal before the Kemper.. amazingly enough just like a good amp.


    me, too!
    I like the Green Scream - Drive 0, Tone -2.6, Volume +1 - (sometimes + a Studio EQ) in front of the amp.
    also, some of Tills' 1960 cabs automatically give me the high mid thump I like in these sounds.

    Quote from DigitalTube

    I wouldn't judge the AXE II sounds by Mark Day's presets, no disrespect to Mark but I haven't found a patch he's posted that i'd use, what I'm saying is, in my opinion he doesn't represent the best of what can be done with the Axe. I think both the Axe II and Kpa are capable of similar sounds, I find a lot of the clean sounds on the Kpa tend to sound the same, and are a bit lifeless, as for the heavy sounds I think it depends how's it's dialed, tone matched or profiled, either unit can get pretty much any sound desired,(for me anyways) best advice is always to buy both and decide for yourself, clips and youtube videos are ok to to get an idea, but shouldn't be used to make a final decision in my opinion.


    I don't judge, I owned three Utras and a II, many men purchase equipment because their famous internet heroes use it.

    Quote from Froschn

    Hi, owning both units I can say that the kpa could do almost any sound that the axeII can. I have profiled some sounds of my axeII and I find the profiles pretty close to the source. The problem is how to find your sounds. With the axe you can create everything on your own...or let's say you must create everything. There are advantages and drawbacks to it. With the kpa you have to search in the endless ballpark, wich takes time too. There might be no clear and simple answer to your question. If you worry if you could do it faster and better with the other unit, I'd say no, it's not that easy, you got to tweak or got to search and it'll take some time anyway. It would be different when you don't look for a special sound, good sounds of every kind are easier to find.


    +1 - Owning both here, I find I gravitate towards the AXe II routing capabilities. Some days (like yesterday) It was much simpler just to sit down and dial in some tone on the KPA.
    Find some way to sit down with both and go from there. But take the time!

    Quote from MagnaVox


    +1 - Owning both here, I find I gravitate towards the AXe II routing capabilities. Some days (like yesterday) It was much simpler just to sit down and dial in some tone on the KPA.
    Find some way to sit down with both and go from there. But take the time!


    If you like to tweak, place a graphic eq or studio eq before and after the amp.
    You will be capable of creating any kind of natural and artificial amp sound!

    Quote from mikeb

    I have dialed in great Djent tones with my Kemper. Secret is a good OD pedal before the Kemper.. amazingly enough just like a good amp. I have a TC Electronics Booster/Line driver and it combined with almost any high gain profile = DJENT

    For more djent-like tone and certain amps you can dial the tone faster using Metal DS stomp. Works very good with passive thick sounding PUs that use to enhance the low-mid and low frecuencies as BKP Warpig or Holydiver. With brighter PUs such as EMG 81 or S.D.Pearly Gates it doesn't react as good, but in combination with StudioEQ you can achieve a very very good sound

    I have an Axe 2 and my KPA sitting side by side as I type. The KPA as far as mono recording can do anything the Axe 2 can do in that arena. I actually feel it records better. The Axe has more tweak ability as far as stereo rigs go but when you are splitting hairs in the direct sound arena it's really just that......splitting hairs.......