Jumping from axe-fx II to kemper

Quote from caveman

Jumping from axe-fx II to kemper

I think you meant to say 'Climbing' not jumping...you're going to need a step ladder, do you have one?

Kidding aside...
It's easy, get a Kemper and give yourself a few days to figure things out, once you've done that you'll never look back...it's almost impossible to not to love the tones, the feel & amp realism you get with the Kemper.

And, btw, WELCOME to the forum.

I've got several friends who have made the jump -
some of which on account of the XFXII FW10 sounding fizzy, some to stop tweaking and start playing, some because they've recorded albums in studios that use the KPA and got their album tone at home and live now - and the majority of the guys i can recall ATM have been on the heavier side of the sound spectrum.

They are all quite happy - while a completely different approach it functions similarly as a guitar preamp and i doubt you'll be disappointed - at the very worst, it will be very close to the XFXII with the latest firmwares.

IMO, read the manual and reference, take a couple of weeks to settle in and then go for the WiKPA. I know it sounds like much, but it isn't half as bad as it sounds and tweaking on the KPA becomes much (much, much) easier than tweaking an actual amp once you know what you're doing.
And most of all - welcome to the new bandwagon!

If you are enough lucky to nail the profile which is in 100% accordance with your guitar /pups - you will be on heaven in 35 seconds , literally .
In opposite, you might need another 5 minutes to find your first nice tone.
Use this Forum as Encyclopedia , and you will come right in very short time.

Tweaking my ex-Mesa Boogie was far more complicated activity than tweaking Kemper.
In other words, goodbye tweaking , hello Guitar Playing !

And, yes, as Lance said, do not forget step ladder, you will need it ....

Quote from caveman

Hi Guys
Very close to pulling the trigger on a kemper
Grown sick with Fractal from the clumsy release of the II/waitlist, the FW updates killing the patches everytime and a bunch of advanced parameters which the average guitar player would not even know what the hell they do
I had high hopes for the MIMIC deal but the gain structures still don't come close to the real deal IMO and was having a hard time getting a sound that didn't sound like a speaker covered in blankets.....
And from the amps I messed with I know using them IRL I don't have to fiddle with anymore than the EQ to get them sounding great...maybe its just the factory IR's ...honestly never had much luck with them anyway , always using 3rd party ones
(strange thing is I absolutely love the ultra with user IR's...)
I've been blown away by some of the kemper YT videos especially these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQgWNmjk2o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9PE9IflYY
Just wondering if anybody that did the switch wanted to chime in on how they are going with the kemper!

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Not to play the devil's advocate, but in what setting are you using the Axe FX? I've heard this description of the "blanket" on the speakers several times, and most times it comes from using it with a guitar cab and not setting the cab simulation off. And if you're not (i.e., you're using it with some FRFR system), have you tried? IMO setting the power amp and cab sims off, and using it with real power amps and cabs makes a HUGE difference. (as one would expect: 2/3 less digital emulation!)

Having said that, I am not advising you not to get a KPA I never tried it myself but I am getting curious, from what I hear around (clips and witnesses) it is far superior with respect to the Axe FX.

Quote from Guitartone

I think you meant to say 'Climbing' not jumping...you're going to need a step ladder, do you have one?

Kidding aside...
It's easy, get a Kemper and give yourself a few days to figure things out, once you've done that you'll never look back...it's almost impossible to not to love the tones, the feel & amp realism you get with the Kemper.

And, btw, WELCOME to the forum.

i totally agree with this!!!!! Its the best piece of equipment ive ever brought!!!!!!!!!!! well worth the cash

Welcome!
As was said before, try it yourself.
In this case only hearing is believing and I mean it.
I had personally owned the Ultra and the Axe II before and was able to come to a personal conclusion within a few hours comparing those units.

Problem is...it's impossible to guess how strangers on the internet hear things, and what they prefer!

I can say though, that it took me 5 minutes of playing with a Kemper to decide putting my Axe II up for sale. This is the first time ever, playing through a modeler, that gave me a BIG grin . It just sounds so much more pleasant than all other modelers, to me.

Additionally, having direct access to all amp controls + efx mix, stomps on/off etc on the front panel is a BIG plus when dialing sounds, and in live situations.

Still, ya need to test for yourself. And since it is easily available in most stores, ask to bring it for a test drive at home.

To manage your expectations, there is nothing like Axe Edit to manipulate your FX and names for the Kemper. Naming is a PIA if you are the sort to organize your stuff by name. But by PIA, I mean it will take you a few hours to do a few hundred names. If you can live with their current names, not an issue.

Additionally, there isn't a floor MIDI controller, and setting up one like the 1010 will be, if you use one, a small challenge (you gotta get a chip and program it and the KPA etc), but many here have done it and can help. And there is rumoured to be a floor unit coming one day soon. If a floor unit is not your thing, then no issue there, and only an issue for so many month.

That said, you have a longer trial period with the KPA (30 days) from large dealers (GC, zZounds, B&H, Sweetwater, etc) to return it if it just isn't your thing. And expect to negotiate with dealers to get the lowest prices. Typical is $1600, so don't settle for anything much more. Save that money for buying commercial profiles, my suggestion is a few Amp Factory amps that are your favorite amps (the sound samples are very similar to what you can get when you play them)

But I would certainly invest time in asking on the Fractal or Gear Page forum about your current setup and what's annoying you. You may find that the "blanket" is something in your setup and get a false impression that in general modelers just have that problem, when they don't. I suspect you are not getting the most out of your FXII currently IF you think the ULTRA is the bomb and the FXII is not clearly superior, which it is. If it's not clearly superior to you

Otherwise you'll have the same issue with a Kemper, and you don't want to waste your trial period routing out signal path problems! And no one here wants you to get the impression the Kemper sucks if it's not the Kemper. If you have a decent pair of headphones, your pathway should sound AS GOOD as it does in headphones with the KPA.

What brand of headphones do you currently have?

That said, I can only compare my KPA to my Amps, and they are equal to my ears and fingers as a recorded sound. Live there is a difference since I don't have a CLR, and an amp moves the air differently to your chest than FRFR monitors do, but sitting back and listening to others play them, it's not a difference that breaks it for me. In fact, the variety of amps the Kemper can give you SPOILS you.

And once you are spoiled, it's impossible to go back. So be forewarned!

Best of luck! Many own both units and love them both.

The real magic with the Keller starts once you start playing with different cabinets. Profiles just give you a type of tone or level of distortion. If you find yourself using words like noisy, hussy or not having the proper feel then a cabinet change will wonders.

Even with armins profiles, I switched a few of tills cabs and got some great tones with even some old house speakers that sounded identicle with live and recorded playback. So I suggest trying a bunch of cabs before tweaking a profile as it is much faster to get a good starting point that way. If you play high gain, tills mesa cabs seem to work well for everything I've tried so far. As an added bonus, once you figure out which cabs work with different monitors and foh, switching will be easier than having to make multiple profiles.

But regardless of where you are coming from, the kemper just feels good using it due to having so many options that are switchable and handy just about as fast as dialing in a tube amp once you get over the novelty stage and start diving in.

Quote from db9091

But I would certainly invest time in asking on the Fractal or Gear Page forum about your current setup and what's annoying you. You may find that the "blanket" is something in your setup and get a false impression that in general modelers just have that problem, when they don't. I suspect you are not getting the most out of your FXII currently IF you think the ULTRA is the bomb and the FXII is not clearly superior, which it is. If it's not clearly superior to you

, it's a setup issue or signal pathway issue you need to resolve FIRST.

lol, you think that's an investment?

Just do a TGP search and you'll find 6 years of the same answer repeated 25,000 times by the same person to the same question.
Or, start a thread and within a few minutes you'll receive a PM (I imagine just like you did) from the same person with the 25,000 answers.

You'll be bombarded with this type of BS...
"One of the big changes in FW v.10 for the II was that all the knobs -
including the preamp drive - now match the taper of the actual amp
throughout their entire range. For example, if you used to crank the
mids on a Plexi in the real world... you can now just grab it in v.10
and crank the mids. It is one of those things that separates the v.10 II
from any other modeler.

Personally, you need to essentially put aside all your "Fractal
conventions" and habits with v.10. That, IMHO, is one of the factors
that makes the V.10 modeling unique and caught some longtime Fractal
owners by surprise. This isn't your Father's Axe-FX anymore"

Or, buy a Kemper.

Quote from Guitartone

lol, you think that's an investment?

Just do a TGP search and you'll find 6 years of the same answer repeated 25,000 times by the same person to the same question.
Or, start a thread and within a few minutes you'll receive a PM (I imagine just like you did) from the same person with the 25,000 answers.

Or, buy a Kemper.

I don't know...
I've heard about the Fractal forum's approach to customers and general preaching, but i haven't seen it personally. I have, however, met Jay Mitchell and Scott Peterson of the XFX brigade and that's all i needed to know i'm never asking anything there, ever - even when i was considering the XFX.

However, it's one thing to say you like the KPA better than the XFXII (I'm with you on that) and another thing completely to say that the KPA is the solution to the XFXII's bad sound.
The XFXII does sound good and there's a good chance the OP has set something wrong.

Quote from Guitartone

lol, you think that's an investment?

Just do a TGP search and you'll find 6 years of the same answer repeated 25,000 times by the same person to the same question.
Or, start a thread and within a few minutes you'll receive a PM (I imagine just like you did) from the same person with the 25,000 answers.

You'll be bombarded with this type of BS...
"One of the big changes in FW v.10 for the II was that all the knobs -
including the preamp drive - now match the taper of the actual amp
throughout their entire range. For example, if you used to crank the
mids on a Plexi in the real world... you can now just grab it in v.10
and crank the mids. It is one of those things that separates the v.10 II
from any other modeler.

Personally, you need to essentially put aside all your "Fractal
conventions" and habits with v.10. That, IMHO, is one of the factors
that makes the V.10 modeling unique and caught some longtime Fractal
owners by surprise. This isn't your Father's Axe-FX anymore"

Or, buy a Kemper.

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Well there is always the chance one of us will post the answer over there for him!

Quote from Quitty

I don't know...
I've heard about the Fractal forum's approach to customers and general preaching, but i haven't seen it personally. I have, however, met Jay Mitchell and Scott Peterson of the XFX brigade and that's all i needed to know i'm never asking anything there, ever - even when i was considering the XFX.

However, it's one thing to say you like the KPA better than the XFXII (I'm with you on that) and another thing completely to say that the KPA is the solution to the XFXII's bad sound.
The XFXII does sound good and there's a good chance the OP has set something wrong.

The OP has had his Axe-FX for a long time, I'm pretty sure he has everything setup correctly.

For all I know he might prefer his Axe to the Kemper, that's up to him to decide...however, I have not read one comment from anyone saying that the Axe FX amp tones sound better than the Kemper amp tones...not one.
I've read the comments about how some guys prefer the FX on the Axe, and the Routing options, etc, but never that they preferred the raw amp tones.

Now that is true.

When it comes to Amp Tones, the FXII is compared parity-wise more with the KPA than actual amplifiers. Whereas the only comparison for the KPA is A/B direct with real amps. It's no secret the success of the KPA profiling and amp realism has sparked a new level of FXII firmware update, for the better of that product. That's a good thing, and kudo's to Cliff for advancing his sonic ground.

I am certainly interested in playing one, but not because of a lack in the KPA. The KPA sounds like real amplifiers, I sold all mine after profiling them and I don't care to buy real amps anymore, so what more can you say about the KPA's tones! The example speaks for itself.

I'm still not convinced from the clips I'm hearing that the FXII is at that level of the KPA yet and apparently neither does Cliff. Why?

Cliff has said he's done with the Amp part and will now work on IR's.
Whereas CK is like "Dude, I was done 3 years ago, I'm currently drinking Vodka Gimlets in the Hamptons" or was it "Dude, I was finished with that problem 3 years ago, I'm chillin' on Victoria Island with my Gin and Tonic" or something like that. I'm not good at translating!

But CK said there is no plan to ever change how the Kemper sounds amp-wise. That's the definition of confidence. Done. Next. Nothing to improve tone-wise.

So if Cliff says there is more work to do, and CK says there hasn't been more work to do for 3 years past, and people keep comparing the FXII to the KPA as to when it "finally is equal to", what conclusion can you draw from just the owner's comments if not the comparisons?!?

Quote from caveman

db9091
Is it easy to move patches around manually? Is there an editor coming in the future?
Also I was going to try Fremens patches but then remembered they were full banks he seems to use 3rd party IR's which is the same as me (and the factory IR's seem to be a big part of the blanket problem)

I have listened to his video and they sound fantastic ...I have a few of his patches on the ultra as well
I will give them a try once I back mine up but I won't be able to source some of his IR's

One question, can you use wav IR's as cabinets into the kemper with some conversion process? It would be awesome if I could as I have a couple that are my go to ones with the fractal gear

I'd definitely use Fremen's stuff, and yeah, it's by the Bank, A, B, C and see if that doesn't at least make it or not.

You can put patches on and off via USB stick easy. "Moving Around" you can set a Profile as a "Favourite" and it goes to that folder, or as a "Scene" and it goes to that "folder" but it's not a real folder. Plus you can sort/choose by Author, Recently Added etc and then sort based on Author or Amp etc. So there is some organizational ability at the touch of a button.

Only renaming a Profile is a bit more a pain than it should be. For example, I'd LOVE the ability to add an external keyboard via USB. How hard can that be for input? Moving on...

Yes, you can convert cabinets via CabMaker software profided under the Support page and it will render them into a KPA format you can upload and choose under the CAB button and put it on any AMP you want. I've done a few hundred conversions and the threads on the forum show you links to freely available ones.

But there are SO MANY great CAB's available, TILLS being the best known here, also for free.

The one thing going for the KPA that is hard to beat is the infinite ability to alter your sound using AMP/CAB matching right there before ever touching EQ or any other FX or available Parameter.

Just by cruising CABS to match you can come up with new sounds in seconds. If you have 1000 AMP/CAB pairs you have right there close to 500,000 amp tones to choose from. Freaking Awesome!

Quote from caveman

Thats something that I've noticed and made my interest peak with the kemper....since about FW6 the II has kinda shifted towards the kemper with the 'tone matching' and now the MIMIC (which IMO might be close with the EQ but nothing close to the gain levels) Those two kemper videos I posted before sound like a pissed off heavy amp!!

Call me crazy but I think with each FW the II has moved more into the scientist area than the 'guitar player' area.

I wish I could say. I've not played the FXII. Scott over at TGP has made the point that before v10 the FXII was capable of "professional recording" but required expertise and proper setup (read: tweaking of parameters), whereas the FX makes that pathway quicker and easier because profiling sort of does it for you. He says that v10 shortens that pathway for FXII owners. From what I'm reading, there is still expertise required in the tweak department, if judging by the advice given to those seeking certain tones on stock amps that don't sound like the real stock amps out of the box to the users posting such questions.

So that's tacit agreement about requiring engineering skills to make it happen on that product.

I CAN say this: Before the Kemper, I was spending a LOT of hours setting up amps, checking lines, tweaking preamps, multiple recordings to check sound levels and quality. Sometimes this put me off from playing and recording it's so time consuming.

I've now played guitar more since having the KPA than ever. I'd say I play as much in 2 months as I used to in a whole year before. It's inspiring, it's open ended tone-wise and the scope is unlimited. Just a cornucopia of variety and storage ability. Plus the FX are pretty numerous and quite routable.

And recording? It takes me a few minutes of choosing the Amp I want, then literally less than 5 minutes to setup. Plug in 2 cords to the back, record a few test takes for volume and quality, and then hit the real take or punch-in.

Best thing is, I can MATCH a take I took 5 weeks ago E.X.A.C.T.L.Y. even if it's one from a live amp. Profile the amp, record the amp, go back later, punch in, add to or fix.

What else can do that? Nothing on the market can do that but a KPA. That's its niche.