I see what you did to "make it fair" but I don't think that was the best way to approach this. I would have preferred for you to present each unit in it's best light. I would be interested in this same comparison with you choosing the IR's that you think make the AxeIII sound its best compared to your favorite KPA profiles.
Personally, i liked the Kemper more in the video.
The Axe sounded kinda harsh, in comparison. Though, it would probably cut more in a mix.
Yes, I learned that lesson early in Kemper ownership, don't touch the knobs if you find a profile you like...As many users, as illustrated here, who have settled on MBritt stuff as the gold standard for that format , he really has done all the work for you (except for the unwieldy preset management)My beef with the Kemper is that despite its name and the controls you are provided, it does not work like an amp at all. At least not the actual in the profile. I get it, they made the process simple to capture a snapshot of the amp. But since a profile is just a snapshot, you do not have a simulation of the amp at all. If you vary the BMT, volume, gain, etc, more than say a few clock ticks in any direction, it stops sounding like the amp. Maybe that’s cool for creating new sounds, but it ain’t amp simulation. So you end up with an unwieldy profiles you have to audition and manage.
If I happened to own some magical amp that I wanted to preserve but still have that sound when I gig, I’d get one again. But I don’t have such an amp.
Also, as the Kemper is older tech than the axe fx iii, it's just not a fair comparison.