Please stop me from buying an AXE FX III

    Quote from nightlight

    ... if I read anymore of these arguments on "Choosing an ethical amp modeller", I may feel tempted to go on a diatribe of my own... :thumbup:

    Nooo... not the diatribe, AJ. Anything but the diatribe! :D


    @Octavio Molina Shaw, thank you for updating us, mate.


    Quote from ColdFrixion

    I think there's somewhere around 4,500 rigs in total on Axe Change so far(last I checked), though while there are some really good ones, I generally create my own. Either way, Rig Exchange has more than twice as many.

    Interesting, '80s Bro'.


    The point I was making was that if Octavio had gone Kemper he could have at least had access to 300 odd Axe Profiles right now in addition to any he might've had others make for him. That way he'd at least have had a Kemper with a "bit" of an Axe.


    OTOH, you can't have an Axe with a bit of a Kemper.


    Quote from benvigil

    IMHO, it's not just the core amp sounds, it's all the other features the AxeFXIII brings to the table. The OP needs to decide if those features are important to him or not.

    Agreed, Ben. I was only suggesting that the "bonus" on the Kemper side that I outlined to ColdFrixion would've been a factor for me at least; I'd certainly have taken it into account.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Interesting, '80s Bro'.
    The point I was making was that if Octavio had gone Kemper he could have at least had access to 300 odd Axe Profiles right now in addition to any he might've had others make for him. That way he'd at least have had a Kemper with a "bit" of an Axe.

    Okay, thanks. Gotcha. You weren't talking about Axe FX presets. In my experience profiling the Axe, I think the KPA does a pretty good job overall, though I can't say I've ever found any Axe profiles I preferred over presets I've created myself. As a side note, I do love one of the Axe FX profiles I created, though it's undoubtedly tailored to my taste.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Good work, mate.


    That's exactly why I included the possibility of the OP's Profiling the unit (via a third party if necessary), the implication being that he'd be more-likely to target presets he liked or, if time permitted, program some himself.

    There's a lot the KPA can't capture in an Axe III preset, such as the effects(and their flexibility), which I perceived as a fairly big factor in the OP's decision.

    Well I could say IMHO, that playing in a live band situation, all 'nuances', marvellous parameter enhancements, and general Harry Potter dark audio like pleasures, will be lost in the chaos that 'is' live performing. As for the studio, everything is laid down dry, so effects of breathtaking wonders are not too high on my list. The Kemper nails it 100% for my needs.
    So any decision based purely on infinite tweaking is irrelevant in my case. :)


    NB: I 'did' own an AXE FX11xl, so I speak from experience.....

    Edited 2 times, last by LiamUK ().

    Like 1

    3.gif

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Yup. That's partly why I said he could own "a bit of an Axe" through Profiling and partaking of the existing freebies.


    It'd be an Axe sans FX, model-tweaking, dual-amp capability and the fancy routing.

    Right, however a large part of what made the Axe so attractive to the OP seems to be related to the bits that the KPA can't capture.

    Quote from LiamUK

    As for the studio, everything is laid down dry, so effects of breathtaking wonders are not too high on my list.

    I do like the flavor of some of the Axe's effects even compared to some of my high-end plugins, which is why I tend record a DI and re-amp with them later.

    Quote from Monkey_Man

    Correct, '80s Bro'.


    As I said to Ben 'though, "the 'bonus' on the Kemper side that I outlined to ColdFrixion would've been a factor for me at least; I'd certainly have taken it into account."

    I understand and appreciate that it would've been a factor for you, though I'm ultimately looking at this from the OP's perspective.

    I assume Axe allows this too 'cause its routing is something we hear mentioned a lot, but don't forget that you can separate the effects and record them from "dedicated" (designated) outputs on the KPA, Liam.


    If you were to try adding them via reamping, that'd be the way to go I reckon for flexibility's sake when mixing.

    I don't re-amp, or anything like that. I was just saying to the other poster that I respected his opinions of wanting to do that. I'm strictly old school :)
    I do appreciate your advice, I was unaware of separating the effects being an option.

    Unless you are studio engineer or like to fuck around with gear instead of playing (there is a massive market for that :) ) it really doesn't matter. Both are good enough to deliver consistent, workable sounds.

    Ok, I don't really care to comment on much of what is going back and fourth here, but .....


    Any "update" that altered my tone for any rig would be totally unacceptable. I have literally put YEARS of time into getting the sounds I need for various songs in our play list.


    In fact, if a KPA2 were to come out with absolutely every feature ever desired by anyone on the forum (including me) and it did not absolutely preserve the tone of all my rigs, I would never buy it.


    I understand that by the very nature of the Axe architecture, firmware updates will necessarily change tone (if you touch any modeling block, the tone of any chain in any patch that block is used in will change). I am not blaming the company here for bad practices, I am simply pointing out that for many, this is a job stopper.


    If others have different work flows and requirements than me (live gigging for mostly covers), the Axe may well offer a compelling argument. I would think that anyone that did live work would be very much put off if a firmware update altered their tone.