So, convince me to sell my Kemper...

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Johnkenn

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The gas is hiiiigh right now with me...I listen to the AxeFX examples and to my ears, there’s a realism and distinct difference between amps that I seem to be missing with the Kemper.
I’ve bought and sold and bought enough Kempers to know that the grass isn’t always greener...but for those of you that use both, am I making the “same-ness” thing up?
 
I've not used a Kemper but have a friend who dumped his after trying the Axe-Fx II XL+. His reaction was similar to yours, much more reactive and "real". Can only imagine his reaction to the III.
 
I own both and, in my opinion, one of the big advantages the Axe-Fx has over the Kemper is having complete and authentic control over the tone stack(and other parameters). The Axe-Fx is infinitely more flexible, no question. Personally, I don't hear the "sameness" some people mention regarding the KPA's amps, but that's me. I own both for a reason, though. There are amps available for the KPA that haven't been modeled in the Axe... yet anyway.

For me though, I love that the amp controls react realistically. Having said that, while the KPA's tone controls don't react like the knobs on the actual amp for a given profile, I do find them to be extremely powerful and musical, and lend quite a lot of sonic versatility, though not remotely in the same league as the Axe-Fx.

As far as realism, they both sound exceptional. It's just, in addition to parameters that react just like the controls of the amps they're based on, there are a lot of outstanding features that the Kemper simply doesn't have, and at the end of the day, the sheer versatility and flexibility of the Axe gives the end-user the ability to create (and recreate) virtually any tone they can imagine or have heard.
 
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The KPA uses generic gain stage modeling where as the Axe FX models the amp's entire circuit, so if you can hear and appreciate real tube amp attributes (vs solid state amps for example), things like responses to disonances, freq responses over time, transient responses etc etc, then the Axe FX is much more accurate in those regards when comparing ALL playing scenarios (not just high-gain chugs or first position power chords etc).
 
i own both devices and i love both devices..,to be honest i dont really need a Kemper editor,if money is not a problem buy the Axefx 3.
 
To my surprise, I recently discovered that I like the Kemper....but in a Highlander death match, the axefx iii comes out ahead without breaking a sweat!
 
I have both and they complement each other. I'd probably keep the III over the Kemper just for the fact of it's IO and USB interface ability, if it came down to it. I have a lot of Kemper profiles I'm in love with and feel wise I'd say I don't care for the clean-clean Kemper tones.
It has a weird peaky dynamic response, like a logarithmic scale on picking dynamics. There's an easy workaround though, which is to pick a slightly distorted profile that uses the other internal (dirty) algorithm and turn the gain down.
Kemper doesn't do updates quite as frequently as Fractal, though the last year's worth of updates have been solid and the new delays and reverbs are as good as the III. No editor but one was announced.
 
The axe fx is better and does everything the kemper does better , and it does things the kemper can’t even do at all wayyyy better.....it’s better software, better supprt, better price, better better

why? Because it’s WAYYYYYY better
 
As others have said, only you can convince yourself - try one, pick what works for you.

For me there's no competition - I don't like the concept of profiles (I enjoy programming the Axe much more), I don't like the Kemper support - or the speed of their updates and actually I think modelling is a far better concept in the abstract than sampling, and much more likely to benefit from technology advances.

But if you like the Kemper keep it - both it and the Axe are tools at the end of the day, both can sound good, both can sound crap

Sorry I find these threads a bit like 'I feel like something to eat, convince me to eat cheese or chocolate' - such a personal choice, plus why should you listen to me over your ears?
 
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