Wow. So I did not think that I would be making this post. Some people have been following my latest debate of KPA vs AxeFXII as I am primarily looking to pull out money from my AxeFX rig. I have really loved the rig but I really wanted to test both modelers' latest FWs to see if I can make the switch. In the past it was primarily a toss-up with the sound but the workflow led me to the Axe. However, I decided to setup a bit of an experiment to test the two to the best of MY inaccurate abilities. So I setup both modelers to be able to A/B test them using the same guitar, headphones, power, etc.... I then identified amps/profiles on each modeler that I was reasonably sure should correspond to similar amps at similar gain level. I know this methodology is not perfect, but it let me find some generalities that I could state between the modelers. I then tested approximately 10 amps extensively and A/B'ed back and forth quite a lot. I looked at each of these amps at mid gain and high gain as I was not particularly interested in clean comparisons.
I started with the assumption that KPA was going to blow the Axe away in pure amp tone and feel. I have heard this over and over and over again on the forums and I guess it stuck in my head. Well here is what I found. If I modified the Axe amp parameters as below, I could get the two boxes extremely close in the character of the gain and the feel. Over and over again these modifications seemed to work and made me understand the differences I was hearing between the two boxes. Once I made these equalizations, I found the tone and feel of the Axe to be much better FOR ME. The Axe was much more "present" and forefront in the sound field compared to the KPA, it sounded fuller and it felt bouncy in the same way the kemper did. The kemper seemed to have consistently these weak and nasally characteristics across profiles.
Again, THESE ARE JUST ONE MAN'S FINDINGS. AND THESE ARE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS. But I find these results really interesting at least for myself. Let the flaming begin.
Xformer Match: about +1.5 to 2.5
Sag: about +2.0
Character: about -1.5
(Treble: to taste but generally approximately -1db at 1k, 2k and 4k)
I started with the assumption that KPA was going to blow the Axe away in pure amp tone and feel. I have heard this over and over and over again on the forums and I guess it stuck in my head. Well here is what I found. If I modified the Axe amp parameters as below, I could get the two boxes extremely close in the character of the gain and the feel. Over and over again these modifications seemed to work and made me understand the differences I was hearing between the two boxes. Once I made these equalizations, I found the tone and feel of the Axe to be much better FOR ME. The Axe was much more "present" and forefront in the sound field compared to the KPA, it sounded fuller and it felt bouncy in the same way the kemper did. The kemper seemed to have consistently these weak and nasally characteristics across profiles.
Again, THESE ARE JUST ONE MAN'S FINDINGS. AND THESE ARE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS. But I find these results really interesting at least for myself. Let the flaming begin.
Xformer Match: about +1.5 to 2.5
Sag: about +2.0
Character: about -1.5
(Treble: to taste but generally approximately -1db at 1k, 2k and 4k)
Last edited: