Kemper vs. AX8 vs. Helix vs. BIAS Head - BLIND TEST!

I love a good metal tone, but these all sounded like crap, sorry to say that.

This proves that a skilled musician can get the same sound out of most available gear. I'd be willing to bet that Ola can shoot an IR of the cabinet that was used and run it through amplitube, revalver or most guitar plugins available and he still would have gotten a very similar sound. The two main things that are very relevant, to me at least:
1-Which of these felt good to play
2-If you were to change or use the high EQ in any of the models and the amp, which one remained usable or gave a musical results.
I've tried a very similar thing and got the sounds to be the same and found out that the Kemper captures the actual feel of the amp, it just feels no different than playing the amp.

Recently I actually I tried Bias and I got a very similar sound but whenever I wanted to add highs, it completely sounded like trash ( and to be fair so did the AXE II, Eleven and POD HD). Something about the treble frequencies, that plagues all modelers except for the Kemper fortunately (to my ears of course) I was just testing to see if I can get a way with getting the same results from a $ 200 plugin and the result for me was that I was just wasting time. The sound was similar but the experience and dynamic response was simply uninspiring/ (hence the wasted time)..

Is it worth the multiple dollars to get an inspiring sound or save the money and play a similar sound that 's uninspiring and lacks dynamic response or even spend more dollars on AXE FX II that also lacks in the feel department if compared to Kemper. To each their own and everyone can answer for themselves but to me that point is that we shouldn't be fooled by produced sounds alone because that doesn't tell much about the way the instrument feels or how it will sound in our own hands.

I think a more telling test would be to gather few guitarists and do a blind playing test and see which they prefer to play, also give them the option to request to increase the treble or bass and see which is more musical. I've done this on many occasions and I actually truly wanted the $200 plugin to work the same, who wouldn't like to save $1800 but so far the KPA is still untouchable in the feel, response and musical high frequencies that are usually reserved for top of the line expensive processors unfortunately.

Oh my!!!!
I thought No. 4 sounded the least like the rest of 'em. I did not like No. 4 at all - I guessed this was the Bias.
The No.3 sounded like my HELIX so I got this one right easily.
Pretty stoked that No. 4 was the Kemper though.

But to be honest, the lad in the vid does not really have a good tone to begin with... but still surprised that the Kemper sounded this 'orrible with that lad.

I think all of them have delivered a good tone regarding what was tried to achieve. The sound of it will not match everybodies taste and this is true for almost all of those comparison videos for taste is extremely specific as we all know. Second I find it hard to tell what such a sound would be like in a mix and this apllies to choosing profiles on the Kemper home allone as well.
But I think it's true what Dean_R wrote above for you cannot tell how well you'd like the response and feedback you get while playing or the ease of you you get in your own surrounding with the other stuff in your workflow. So such videos give an idea whether a product can deliver something generally (like a gain stage) or not. But all the rest has to be tried in person (or band or studio or.. whatever you work with) I think.

Quote from sinmix

Anyway tested many things even direct amp part and real head pream signal with the same cab IR in my DAW and still head part is not the same what real preamp.

But that's maybe because a Direct Amp profile includes the power section, where a preamp obviously doesn't...?

It sounded to me like some the differences could potentially be EQ'd out

Ah cool @sinmix
It's cos you just wrote "preamp"

Quote from sinmix

First of all, I'm not a Kemper fanboy who is blind and closed for other solutions.

I just trying to understand what Kemper can improve to be able to sound even better. Let us not be blind and deaf, because then all stand in the same place.That's all. Peace and Love.

Stay Metal!

Neither am I, certainly not a fan boy because, I actually took the time to try Bias and the high frequencies sounded like crap (don't mean to be offensive, but they were terrible. "Let's not be blind and deaf"!! You want the Kemper to sound better and that really goes against the design as envisioned by Chris Kemper who designed the product.

When I was researching the Kemper, I read an interview where he said, "He didn't want it to sound better, he wanted it to sound and feel the same as the amp it profiles". Everyone here agrees that in 99% of the cases he has succeeded to make profiles sound the same as the recorded amps, not better. Better is an idea that was adopted early on by AXE FX that it was intended to sound better than the real thing. For me, it's not about being a fan boy, but it's about settling down with something that I know works and getting on with my life without constantly wondering what's out there. If a tool (KPA) provides a perfect solution, why am I constantly going to keep looking at other solutions?

Am I deaf or blind after trying every plugin and modeler and finally settling with something that sounds exactly like the amp, which is what I also want, I don't want better. So I'm supposed to keep a lookout for other solutions even after I've spent countless hours and research time to find something that works perfectly otherwise I'm deaf and blind!? Why waste time, it's very precious and we don't have enough of it!!

Peace Love and Happiness!

sinmix
Based on your experience, what product would you recommend to use to print on record for someone who doesn't want to use real world amps/ microphones if the choice is only one product? It would be nice to be able to afford everything but that's a different topic, one product only please.

Thanks

Quote from sinmix

For recording and for noobs (included Me) Many of ampsims with proper IR sounds killer, in the mix almost impossible to recognize what is what. For live use Kemper and Axe but IMO both with miced real cab Dont know really for me with killer song everything sounds killer (and sometimes like Kemper).
Stay Metal!

Sin,
I asked for one product bro, and you gave me a politician's answer, that's not metal! That's playing politics, but thank you for your response in either case. We're just having fun aren't we . By the way your free razor profile is my ultimate metal profile, it really rips!

Perhaps not the brightest moment for Kemper. Although the test was a bit strange, meaning that it included the power amp in the IR. Still, KPA sometimes has trouble reproducing a tight bass and pronounced midrange.