On the fence between Kemper Profiling Amp and Axe FX II

    Hi Everyone,


    I have been an Eleven Rack user for the last 3 or 4 years and I am ready to step up to better equipment. I had been lusting after the Axe FX II for a long time however now that the time is coming close to upgrade I am being swayed toward the Kemper Profiling Amp.


    I don't play live and I am not in a band, I just like to compose and play my own music at home. I love the guitar and I love a lot of various styles of music. My favorite guitar tones are the melodic tones of David Gilmour, or Mark Knopfler. But I also love the searing guitar sounds of Jimmy Page and the classic blues sound of T Bone Walker or BB King.


    The thing that I like about the Kemper Profiler is that it looks simple. There are 1000s of amp profiles, some free, and some are paid professional profiles, but all are easily accessible from a big beautiful display with dedicated tone and gain controls that are well lit and easy to see from a distance. The signal chain is simple and seems to possess all the stomp boxes and effects that I need for the tones I enjoy. The controls look well laid out and seem to all be analogous to real world amps and effects.


    From what I can tell from the review sites, forums, and youtube, both the Axe FX II and the Kemper sound damn good and are very close to genuine tube amps in both sound and response. The Kemper is about $300.00 cheaper than the Axe FX II but the Axe FX II is more flexible and can be tweaked more.


    The Axe FX II appears to be much more complicated, the display seems limited and the interface seems clunky but most feel that the flexibility is second to none. Support for the Axe FX II is great and online community is strong.


    To me this is a very difficult choice. In reality I probably will never use more than a dozen or so really good tones and both seem more than capable.


    What do you guys think that I am over-looking and why did you choose the Kemper over the Axe FX II at the time you purchased?


    Thanks for any feedback.

    Before I heard of the Kemper I was toying with the idea to of buying a AXE FX. Before this I was a massive Line 6 fan and had my vetta 2 for 10 years. I went for the Kemper because its Profiling not eqing a sound to sound like a particular amp. Another thing at swayed my decision was its cheaper than the AXE FX and like you mention easier to use than the AXE FX. Hope this helps you make the right decision for your needs :)

    Quote from HappyPicker

    but the Axe FX II is more flexible and can be tweaked more.

    Many things will surprise you about the Kemper, but one that you won't anticipate is how tweakable the Kemper actually is.


    You can take any Profile and completely transform it into some kind of 'hybrid' sounding amp.
    Press one button, the 'Cabinet' button, and you can instantly scroll through every cab/mic of every Profile you have on your Kemper...the cab autoloads and you instantly hear a few hundred different tones of the same one Profile...a 65 Deluxe Reverb being blasted through a Mesa 4x12 cabinet, or a DrZ Route 66 into a Marshall 4X12.....try that. :)


    Or, you're sitting in front of your Kemper, plugged into studio monitors, on a particular Profile and it's on the edge of feedback, it doesn't make sense to your ears or fingers, how come this digital device is feeding back and re-acting like a tube amp.


    Composing/recording your own music at home, the Kemper is a dream machine.


    That's not to say you wont get great tones with an Axe-FX, you will.
    But if you want 'simple', so easy to tweak that you could do it blindfolded, then I think you'll prefer a Kemper.

    Hi


    Before the Kemper i had an Eleven Rack too. The sound of the 11R is really good, but it's not really made for live use imho. I searched for another solution and came to the same point Axe FXII or Kemper. I heard many sound samples on youtube and other places at the net and both Amps can be sound great, if you know which parameters you have to tweak.
    I decided to use the Kemper, because i need a tool which is easy to use and it is cheaper than the Axe FXII. "Easy to use" for the Kemper doesn't mean it's simple. You have a lot of possibilities to tweak the sound, but most of the time i don't need it. There are a lot of great profiles on the rig exchange for free.
    Up to now i don't located any problems like crashes or something else. I'm very satisfied with the Kemper.
    Imho try a Kemper and you will be very satisfied with sounds, possibilities and support.

    I had an Axe FX Standard and the Kemper sitting right next to each other just a couple of weeks ago. I won't comment on the sound here because is obvious which I prefer. Both sound great (the Axe II probably a lot better than the Standard). However what I can tell you is that in my opinion the Kemper is way easier to user. The interface is almost self-explaining and until now I haven't really missed an editor software. With the Axe I could use an editor and it still felt very complicated and I have to admit that it probably was to much for me. I got the feeling that you not only have to possibilty to tweak every bit but you actually have to tweak them to achive the sound you are looking for. If you can live with a "limited" (but still big) set of effects and don't rely on building complex routings I go with the Kemper.
    I don't know if it sounds better than the Axe FX II BUT it is cheaper and what totally sold me is that you can virtually have any amp there is with the Kemper and don't rely on what the people at Fractal decide to put in the Axe. I love playing around and trying out different amps :D

    If you want to spend time tweaking, buy the Axe FX.
    If you want to spend time playing guitar, buy the Kemper Profiler.


    Remember that your guitar heroes didn't sit in front of an LCD display squeezing and tweaking their sounds out of a stupid piece of silicium.
    They listened to and tried different amps.
    And that's what I like about the Kemper Profiler. Lots of profiles available of the rarest and most expensive and best sounding tube amps I could never afford or even just try.

    If you need ultra sophisticated FXs with sophisticated tweaking get AXE, if you want it a lot more simple but good enough get KPA. It's that simple ;)
    I still own Line6 Vetta as backup.

    Personally i think that the kemper is far better sounding than the axe.. in feel and tone. I used to think when i hear axe throught youtube "omg this is the best tone i've ever heard" but when i recieved the kemper and i played for a while, i recheck the same videos and woah... the fabulous tone that i was amazed to hear in the axe was gone... kemper sounded 100 times better, so for me, there's no option. Go for a Kemper and you will not regret it!

    I had the Axe II for a year. It's a good box, but I honestly could never use it direct for "large" productions, only pre productions. I always preferred mic'ing a real amp (I don't do metal. Mostly pop, rock, country, bluesy, soulish etc) I noticed the Kemper, but thought it looked funny. Some 3 months ago I got to borrow a Kemper for a few days to check out...it literally took me 5 minutes to put my Axe up for sale. Honestly. At last I had the clear, raunchy yet very pleasant saturation I longed for. The same attack, dynamic reaction and bloom I'm familiar with from my tube amps.


    Obviously, your ears only can decide what you need! And if you need all the routing and amount of efx the Axe provides, you won't be able to do all that in the Kemper. It's sufficient for me though, and the most important part to me is the amp modeling anyway.


    There are way more parameters available to tweak on the amps in the Axe, but I still wouldn't say that amp sounds could be tweaked less in the Kemper. It has some VERY effective parameters that lets you tweak a profile into most anything. The parameters are made to alter the character in very musical and sensible ways. To me, much more so than using real amp component values. The Kemper is also much easier to tweak due to parameters being directly accessible, or just a click away. You can even adjust several at the same time with all the dials available.


    Obviously, this forum will prefer the Kemper over the Axe 8) Still, I'm not a fanboy of any equipment, and my choice is based on my ears and professional use only! If I find something that sounds or suits me even better, I'd switch in a heartbeat :)

    Quote from burningyen


    Agreed, you should post your question on The Gear Page and specifically solicit opinions from people who have experience with the latest firmware on both units.



    That would likely end up in a #$&!?!*@! :D He's probably better off asking specific questions in both fora. There's probably sensible info on both sides in between all the subjective opinions!


    Btw, I had the Axe II from FW 5 through 10. Parameters and settings are often altered with FW updates, so it may make the path to get "there" easier for some, but there never really was a big difference to the core sound. I dislike how some owners invalidates opininions from anyone but those who have tried the very latest FW. In reality it means only those who've settled on the Axe can have an opinion. And if you've sold it, you must buy it again at every FW update :)

    Quote from lightbox

    If you want to spend time tweaking, buy the Axe FX.
    If you want to spend time playing guitar, buy the Kemper Profiler.

    Pretty sure he was looking for real answers not internet fanboy memes. ;) He has asked on both forums and of course the answers fall in line with whatever forum you follow.





    I have often typed, if you can't get a great sound out of either , then you are doing something wrong. I could easily gig either. If I owned a studio and had to copy amps, I'd get a Kemper. If I was strictly live player (and I am) the Axe works as I get a whole bunch of effects to do my Floyd/U2 type stuff. That doesn't mean it's better, it just means it suits my purposes. As a side note, I have 40 or so gig patches I haven't touched in 1.5 years. Maybe I try a new amp or a cab now and then to see what the buzz is about but that's pretty much it.

    Quote from lightbox

    Edited 6 times, last by zentman ().

    Both are great!


    I have owned the AxeFX Ultra and II for a long time - sold the Ultra after I got the II - and the II after comparing with the KPA.


    To be fair my AxeFx II experience is from firmware version 4.


    Would I switch back to the AxeFx if it sounds much better now in fw 11?


    No !
    Here is why,


    There are IMHO only three advantages of the AxeF II
    1) more effects with much more routing options
    2) can be used as an usb audio interface
    3) much more options to tweak a sound


    In most cases are the great KPA effects all I need (I miss a great spring reverb, second delay and additional room reverb) - but all basic effects are in the box.
    The eclipse type effects in the AxeFx are great - but I don't need them.


    I own a much better soundcard allready.


    Since I own the KPA do I play much more - instead of tweaking - because I was never happy with the tone.


    What I hate about the AxeFx:
    The noisy fan - even a silent fan is not the best solution for me(has to be installed by yourself - they still include the cheap loud fan)


    After each firmwareupdate are most - in many hours tweaked - sounds not useable and the patches have to be tweaked again.


    What I prefer in the KPA:
    I don't need to wait for a (in some cases bad) model of my favorite amps - but can profile the amp I love with the speaker I love using the mic I love ...


    The user interface is MUCH better. I love to turn a knob instead of moving the mouse or going into submenues.


    The KPA gives me a great amp feel and sound.


    I like the way the toaster looks instead of a boring 19" rack.

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    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

    Edited 3 times, last by Armin ().

    Quote from zentman

    Pretty sure he was looking for real answers not internet fanboy memes. ;)


    Thanks for your opinion.
    You should have rather quoted the following statement:

    Quote from lightbox

    Remember that your guitar heroes didn't sit in front of an LCD display squeezing and tweaking their sounds out of a stupid piece of silicium.
    They listened to and tried different amps.


    This is my preference, no matter what you say. And I decided to go for the Profiler because it allowed my to easily get amazing profiles of the real stuff that I dial in and enjoy without tweaking at all.
    Try to find a Fender Vibrolux in Fractal's world, try to find Gilmour's very own HiWatt amp, try to find the brilliant Orange Matamp on the Axe Change, try to find the Marshall Bluesbreaker on the Axe Change. I can't although I tried. And I'm not willing to take another Axe FX amp's model and tweak the hell out of it to get close to what I'm actually looking for. I certainly prefer the "real" stuff. And since the OP seems to be in the same ballpark in terms of favourite music styles, I could imagine that he will have similar preferences.


    Again, just my 2 cents
    Martin

    If you like real amps most, try the kemper. It sounds like a tube amp and it feels like a tube amp.
    If you love to change sound settings the hole day and be perfect for some hours, get an axe.

    Not much objectivity in the two posts above. So it goes in fanboy land. :) To the OP, see who in the pros is using what and find out why. Listen to albums made by either unit. Again I will state, with much objectivity, you can't go wrong with either. Despite what fanboys from either camp might type, it isn't as black and white as they might have you believe.


    "After each firmwareupdate are most - in many hours tweaked - sounds not useable and the patches have to be tweaked again."



    The above is laughable at best. Of course if you go to the Fractal forum and follow the same OP's thread, you'll see some laughable stuff about the Kemper from Fractal fanboys as well. People want to be right even at the cost of credibility.

    Edited 3 times, last by zentman ().

    Quote from zentman

    Not much objectivity in the two posts above. So it goes in fanboy land. :) ... The above is laughable at best.


    Is it part of your culture to insult people all the time? We use to have a different way to discuss things here, as far as I experience.


    The "pros" in question (David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page) won't use either of the two devices. It's as simple as that. And it's just as simple to understand that it's way easier in Kemperland to get your hands on the actual amp's profile of one of the afore mentioned artists. But you simply ignore this fact and keep bashing people.


    To be very clear: I'm NOT a Kemper fanboy. There were reasons I chose the Profiler over the Axe FX and I dare to write about my reasons wherever I like. Live with it.