Kemper KPA vs. Axe-FX II (Yes, another one...please read!)

Quote from mbrown3

I'll do that. Don't they still need to be imported, though? Or do you mean with it connected to the computer? I'm not sure I have one of those old-school USB cables lying around, and one didn't come with the unit. I do own a few for various audio gear, I'm just not sure where they've gotten to as I haven't used one in quite a while. I'll try to do some digging, especially if that will allow the rig exchange to automatically load profiles.

Old school USB cable? Yes, with KPA connected to the computer. The Rig Manager will sync/download all the rigs on Rig Exchange. Then you can immediately audition all rigs with RM on the computer.

Well honestly,

if there was a good magician and he allowed me just one kemper wish it wouldn't be a new green scream or a delay with n input points (nice though).

All I'd asked for was to instantly put a stop to these tedious, zero informative, thousands of words consuming, repeated efforts to compare sth. called fractal axe to the kpa. Down this road there's no truth to be found. It's mainly a matter of personal taste and financial means and since when is that the same for different persons? I will refrain from calling the whole affair fishy but I can understand very well why there's people out there who smell the reek and aks themselves wether they smell a rat.
.
What I can't figure out: Why keep asking for advice, when all the stuff you so desperately wanted to know is ready and waiting in the internet?

To Inthroughtheout wrote:
"Careful Lackey, I am on double super secret probation for treading where you are.
And dammit man.......put that bottle down"

Well...

one could be tempted to take to the bottle!

Quote from mbrown3

I agree with everything you've said...but I hope the bashing section wasn't directed at me.

No, not directed at you in the slightest. I intentionally kept it generic.

I think a lot of the quarreling can be kept to a minimum if issues/problems/frustration is voiced in a needs-based way seeking solutions.

If I absolutely HATE the KPA Matchbox reverb, I'll state why and what I'm looking for. For example I might say it's metallic clanging hurts my ears and I'm really looking for a Spring Reverb. Someone might respond "well, Matchbox isn't a spring reverb, and there currently isn't one, but if you're looking for the closest settings go here.....X.html or else, well, you could either wait for it to be added or buy a pedal."

Mbrown, if you want to try out my effects presets (these cover the entire effects section), the easiest way to do so is by using rig manager to load the demo rigs i posted to the rig exchange. Note they are not under my name since i didnt make the amp/cab profiles, just search "MAB". If you find one that suits your fancy, lock both the delay and reverb (or the whole effects section), and then load the rig you want. The delay/reverb will be "carried" onto the target rig.

these use the delay-reverb interactivity to get reverb sounds with little or no delay. Ultimately the kemper team will have to add delay options outside of the delay block or offer such reverbs in the reverb block to get both lush reverb simultaneously with traditional delay, but i think thats going to be a high priority soon

Great you got your device and can now experience it.

It's just funny to me that you are so eloquent on a lot of very specific questions and concerns that seem to all speak against the KPA, giving the impression you favor the Axe always but when you get to try out the KPA, you do it in a way that doesn't give it a chance at all...(like with any amp or amp simulator), you use headphones...no studio speakers, FRFR cab or even hooked up to a power amp and running a guitar cab. it's like getting a Ferrari and running it on 4 emergency tires going 25 mph down the Autobahn

I am glad you asked a lot of specific question here on the forum and a lot of us tried to explain them to you but to me it seems you already have a negative standpoint to begin with. Just strikes me as very odd.

Anyways, no insult intended. Have fun with the KPA or Axe...

Copy /paste Kemper forum users posts to the FAS forum. Belittling them.
Now this is odd when all the while claiming motives are pure throughout.
Seriously ? Then why is this necessary?

Please don't reply, I am still on super double secret probation.
Just food for thought.

I have been lucky enough to have both. My 2 cents: If you are looking for great amp sounds and variety and feel, KEMPER. If you are a person that needs tons of effects and lean towards a more non-tube electronic sounding amp, then Axe. Most real players, if you look at it closely, use the Axe in a rig with amp and use the effects. If that's you, get the new Axe FX only footboard. IMHO, I think it will take over the Axe market long term as most really like the effects chain more than amp models...

Just my 2 cents...

BTW, I use my Kemper direct to PA with a small Behrenger mike stand monitor. Works amazing and light easy rig for small venues...

While i hate listening in headphones, i find they are the best if not only way to hear the nuances of certain tones. And for me they are often the only means i can monitor. I live in a small house with sleeping wife/kid. Obviously not ideal, but very useful.

Whether he is right or wrong, you have repeatedly claimed to be here for one thing, so I am sure some of us would question why you would do this.
You bought the Kemper and you are buying the Axe what more do you need on these two threads? You will have it all in your hands. You cant do any better than that.
All of this has just caused a bit of Chaos on both sides.

You knew that this would happen. You eluded to it with your thread heading.

I am not starting anything here but there are users on both sides questioning you. Yet you continue with this. All of your technical answers are on this forum or the other so you are still just asking for opinions since you will own them both at one time.
Maybe more should be watching the thread over there too.

Belittling others through a competing forum is just wrong.

@mbrown3...I really don't know what to say anymore. Your posts here in this thread show all your reservations to the device. I will not re-state what you wrote. Simply read again what you wrote to every single form member here trying to answer your questions and you simply coming back with more questions, negative remarks etc...it seems like you are not reading anything anyone writes here or you just don't want to hear it or you might just not understand it at all...

As for your listening issue...try to set it up with your studio set up (Computer, Audio interface, studio monitors)...that is one main major intended purpose of the device.

Hope you'll try to Axe through headphones as well to get you the same point of comparison.

I am done on this thread. Tried my best. Wishing you good luck in finding what you are looking for.

@mbrown3
I experienced the same thing as you when I got my KPA a month ago. Scrolled through the profiles and while I liked some of them (incidentally the same as you, Tills Recto profiles) I was ready to send it back. I was not very impressed at all. I fiddled around for a few days and smartly decided to get the Britt pack 1 and 2 after hearing players raving about them on TGP. Well, the Kemper is staying with me now, I can say that much
I agree on the reverb and delays not being super-great (but still totally useable) but Im ok with that, Im not a huge FX user anyway, I just want killer amp sounds in a easy-to-tweak box to use in the studio and live. With the Britt profiles (and other like TopJimis Mashalls, TAF 1987X, Soundsides JMP etc) the KPA delivers 110% for me.

Which is not to say its perfect for you. If the KPA isnt, the Axe might be. I hope you find what you seek.
Good luck!

So in the spirit of fairness, I decided to try to read most of the sibling thread on FAS's website. Ironically, the thread is almost exactly the same. MBrown is being dogged from both camps for pretty much the same things, accused of being a shill for the other, accused of being a troll, insulted for being indecisive, insulted for opening the threads to begin with, and accused of making mountains out of mole-hills when his concerns could be considered legitimate for his needs.

I should also point out that there were lots of forum members on FAS's site that provided an unbiased opinion of both units, many of which actually recommended the Kemper. Sure, there were lots of one-line "Get the Axe" or "Axe is better" comments, but for those actually interested in helping the OP rather than exercising their bias, they seemed fair. Also, Cliff never came in like a steam-roller, censoring or even shaping the direction of the debate. I don't think it's fair for us to claim this high-and-mighty road in regards to the open-mindedness of our discussion of competitor products. Or if you do want to, maybe go read the sibling thread and provide examples that don't mirror what has been posted here by our members. I didn't find any examples where someone said, "I had both and the Kemper just sucked whereas the Axe RULEZ." The only case I found I disagreed with was that the KPA had worse tone - I don't believe this for a second. But I could understand how someone would reach that opinion by comparing random stock or Rig Exchange profiles against selecting an amp model and cab IR in the Axe and quickly dialing in a sound.

I think the main digs on the KPA were well-founded:

• The Axe has way more effects
• The Axe has much more flexible effects routing
• There are lots of free KPA profiles that aren't very good at all and can make finding good profiles a more time-consuming process, or may add additional costs in that it is quicker to pay for commercial profiles
• Profiles aren't models and cannot be tweaked exactly like the original amp (which I don't consider a minus for the KPA - it's not something it claims to do, and the profiles are still very flexible IMO)
• The Kemper has no PC-based editor
• The Kemper does not do SPDIF sample rates outside of 44.1 kHz (although 48 kHz may be coming)
• The Kemper does not record via USB

I will say I did listen to most of Fremen's video where he tone matched a bunch of KPA profiles on the Axe, and I could hear a difference in some of them between KPA and Axe tone match. However, the differences were minute - if blind-folded I could not tell you which was which or which was better. With my eyes open, I preferred the KPA, where I could perceive a difference, but I would be uncomfortable saying it was an authenticity or feel issue vs. a small volume or EQ difference. I am still a bit skeptical that the Axe could tone match a KPA profile where the Axe does not offer that specific amp model, but I suppose with the right tweaking or pre-EQ to a similar amp model, it would be close.

MBrown, unfortunately I cannot help you with finding awesome free profiles for your tastes, as we likely have a small overlap in that department. I suggest you take up Fremen's offer to provide you with his selection of free profiles. The best I can do you is try to show how far the Kemper's Delay/Reverb can go from my personal experience with trying to get the more exotic time-based sounds of the unit, from what it currently offers. I think that is and should be your main concern, as it would likely be my main area of disappointment in the KPA. As for cleans, I suggest, in addition to playing through the higher-rated clean profiles, profiling your amps at clean settings to try to determine if cleaner profiles carry the amp's characteristics or if the KPA's cleaner profiles are all a bit generic. From what I've read, those who appreciate the cleaner side of things tend to believe that the KPA clean profiles are accurate to the amp, not a generic clean sound run through some EQ.

Finally, if anyone believes that the Kemper's Delay/Reverb is on par with Strymon/TC (at least outside of basic sounds), I don't think you're being honest. I do defend the quality of the basic sounds of these effects on the KPA, but they lack lots of features that the more advanced units deliver. AFAIK, the Axe does provide such more advanced stuff - I cannot speak for the quality of it, but I've never heard anyone dog it. Rather than say this is the fault of the user ("you don't need that", "you're not dialing it in correctly"), I think we should stress the importance of this stuff to the mothership. Ultimately, what is necessary for Kemper to consider themselves a complete Axe substitute, it needs much more flexible routing and greater variety/features of effects. I personally feel the time-based effects are the priority, since virtually all guitarists consider Delay/Reverb staple effects. I feel Kemper knows this considering they have dedicated blocks.

That said, clips speak more than words. If you feel some Strymon unit's delays or reverb are so superior to the KPA's, post a clip and let an advanced user try to emulate it using what the KPA offers. If they cannot, then let's just accept that and post a feature request.

Before everyone piles on me, let me say I am 100% confident in my decision to go with the KPA, and I freaking love my space toaster. My use cases do not require most of the advanced stuff that is "missing", but I won't dismiss it for those who consider it important. What's important for me is core amp tone, and I think the KPA is as good as a digital device can be in this regard. Also, the UI is smart and makes editing quick and easy. I came from a Pod HD that I had to use complex hacks and spend lots of time to get what I felt were good bordering great tones. I am glad I left the infinite-tweaking paradigm and now that I've seen the other side, I won't be going back. Kemper is my Gas-X.