Axe FX II and Kemper Profiler (Yes, another one...please read!)

I don't understand how you can letting a shipping cost have any impact on such a important purchase ..
but it sounds to me that you've already pretty much decided to buy the kemper .. so why argue about shipping cost ..

I mean no disrespect at all!!

it's just my honest respond, and I do not want to raise an argument

have a good one and good luck with whatever you decide

:D
 
I'm sorry, but to a certain point I have to agree with Luke. Not about the Troll part, I don't believe that.

But if you read the ops posts, especially relies to the forums points he always has an answer "why" he shouldn't get the axe and he should get the Kemper.
That's the way I read it. His mind was already made up-at least 90% say, and the forum goes thru all this to satisfy the 10%.

Not so cool IMHO. I am not being NEGATIVE-I am being HONEST. Lets not strat confusing the 2
Thank you very much.........:)
 
Stringmanipulator said:
I don't understand how you can letting a shipping cost have any impact on such a important purchase ..
but it sounds to me that you've already pretty much decided to buy the kemper .. so why argue about shipping cost ..

I mean no disrespect at all!!

it's just my honest respond, and I do not want to raise an argument

have a good one and good luck with whatever you decide

:D
Click to expand...

I agree 100%
 
Sometimes I can't help but feel that the most level headed of "discussions" about the two units really aren't anything but a sly way to market for the competition. You can't go and just say "this is why you should buy a KPA" BUT..... if you disguise your marketing in the form of what on the surface looks like an honest debate of features between the two units, then you can get your own competing product discussed in "enemy territory".

Perhaps other prospective Fractal owners go to these forums to try to read up a bit on the unit, and what do you see ? Why right on the first page discussion about the KPA and its features. Normally a manufacturers dedicated forum is full of nothing but users of that product but then amazingly you've got some mentions of the competition there.

I can't go and tell everyone on the KPA forums to buy an Axe, they'd just delete it in 5 minutes, but if I'm good, very good, I can present it like I'm a conflicted buyer, and for every reason they'd try to sell me why a KPA is right for me, I could counter with "well the Axe II does this....."

Clever, clever, clever.
 
There are some very tech-saavy characters on this forum. Someone out there has to have a way for a person to play their guitar into an Axe FX, and operate Axe Edit for that Axe-FX online, for online demos.

I'm thinking, you register with Fractal, get an authorization code for a 10 min. demo, and then make the connection, tinker, and then it's over.

You are sending your guitar digitally across the connection, and the Axe FX is sending the output audio back to you so you can monitor with headphones or your studio monitors, etc.

PS - I don't know what I just said, but I was hanging a picture over the toilet and slipped, and thought of it.
 
Do we really need to reinvent the wheel though ? Its a big ticket item, and since a buyer should be sure it works for them, Fractal provides a 15 day return policy. Do a little research about the product, if it sounds like it meets your needs and budget, buy it. Try it. Love it or return it.

Works pretty well and I think Fractal gets very few returns.

You can lead a horse to water...... as the saying goes, and likewise, you can tell people how great the Axe is, but we can't, nor is there really any reason to, try to make everyone out there use one. Heck, I kind of half don't want the masses to all start using one because it means I often can get better tones that a lot of dudes who are using other gear LOL
 
Heinzi said:
I really think this is a very important discussion!
Many people bring up the Argument: they´re are different units, designed for different purposes and you can´t compare them! To me that´s just not true -when you´re a professional guitarplayer you will always choose on basis of the simple fact: what sounds and feels better (or like a real amp - probably) - no professional would argue like "well the kemper sounds better but I like the FXs from the Axe FX..." or vice versa - so to me: yes you can and you must compare them!
But here´s the point - if one unit sounds better or worse - what´s the reason? Bad or good programming? Bad or good IRs? Bad or good Profiles? Bad or good playing? Bad or good userknowledge? Bad or good FW?
I´ve chosen the AXE FX for many reasons but somtimes in different studios I had to use the Kemper, which is a fine one and I have no pride issues running, when I play through it - the stock profiles in the Kemper are really "improvable" but with companies like "The Amp Factory" (or similar) you get amazing Profiles -and to be honest, maybe someone can enlighten me - I miss something compareable with the Axe Fx.

Of course you have the Cab Packs but different patches made by professionals in the Studio? I know there´s Axe Change but since every person can upload Patches (which is great from a democratic point of view but not neccessarily regarding the quality ;) ) you really have to go through hundreds of Sounds to get a real good one. I´m sure that many people would pay for the possibility to get High Quality Patches (made for different guitars and setups) and it would help to make the AXE FX more attractive for people whou would choose the Kemper because they´re a not tweakers - just an idea.....
Click to expand...

Thanks...great insight and food for thought.
 
Rotti said:
FWIW, I preferred the Axe's delays, including the multidelay block, to the Strymon Timeline. They were close, especially for tape settings - that was tough to match - but the FAS delays just seemed more natural & organic to me.

The El Cap had something special about it I didn't quite nail, despite it supposedly being the same algo as the TL, but it was still close.

IMO, the best delay on the market, not counting old tape machines, is the Empress Tape Delay (or VM, take your pick), and I can juuust about nail it in the Axe.

Question, are you considering mainly the AxeFxII MkII or XL vs the KPA?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Capistan is a great pedal. I actually slightly prefer TC's delays to Strymons...call me crazy. I do like the Empress though.

I'm considering mostly the II mkII. The XL is more than I'll need, and I actually prefer the cat5 to the FASlink (again, call me crazy), partly because I already have a bunch of the shielded cat5s that I've used with my G-system.
 
Rick said:
I have not owned Egnator gear, but a Road King 2 and 2x12 cab was my main rig for a few years before the Axe FX Ultra replaced it, without regret (especially during load in/out). I now have the Axe Fx II because things were being offered I wanted beyond FW 11 on the Ultra, and the unit does everything I can ask of it. I still have other amps, and I think you should keep yours if you like them. I mean, I play PRS 513s as my main guitars but I have lots of others... same idea.
Click to expand...

This is REALLY helpful, from a real-world RK user. Thanks!

Rick said:
On the price, it's best to just compare total cost instead of considering shipping.
Click to expand...

But...I don't. You guys may think it's crazy but I'm hung up on why 20lbs of gear costs $80 to ship. But, again, I'd prefer to leave it at that. I'm not going to change my mind, and you guys aren't either. I don't view it as part of the whole cost...I view as an exorbitant cost to get it to me.
 
mbrown3 said:
You guys may think it's crazy but I'm hung up on why 20lbs of gear costs $80 to ship.
Click to expand...

Have you entered the weight, box dimensions, and valuation for insurance into the UPS calculator? If you do you'll find the reason it costs $80 to ship is because that's what UPS charges.
 
willowdale said:
You claim $ is not the problem, so how's it so hard for you to outlay some funds to just try 'em? There is nothing else you can learn from other folks opinion at this point!
Click to expand...

The money is not an issue in the sense that I could afford it. I just don't want to. I didn't build wealth by spending money...I built it (and will continue to do so) by saving money wherever I can. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard. But I'm simply not paying $80 to ship 20lbs of gear, no matter how "worth it" people think it is. So, if I do decide on Axe-FX, it will absolutely be used unless they adjust their shipping costs to, you know...what it actually costs to ship 20lbs.

PLEASE can we leave the shipping issue alone? Continuing to harp on it is driving me further away from the product...right or wrong.

That said, you're right about
 
I can definitely recommended to buy Axe FX II rather that Kemper ,that`s is my thought but try first both of units if you have chance for that. I did own Kemper before Axe FX II ,it was nice unit but light years behind if compare to Axe FX II. I say Kemper is not bad device at all ,but something there was what i did not like a lot. But try before buy if you have chance for that. But one thing i must say is that ,Kemper Drop Tuning features and Whammy was better than Axe FX II. That why i was need to buy Original Whammy ,and wait and hope there will be some improvements for Pitch Block.
 
If I understand your first post correctly, you want simplicity. I'd say go with the Kemper.
They both sound great, and I love my Axe-Fx II and have no plans to jump on to the Kemper train.
The advantage of Kemper is basically "instant tone", you simply browse through the big bank of profiles that people have posted on the Rig Manager, find the ones you like and save them to the Kemper.
The disadvantage however is that these tones are all based on what the people who created the profiles like in terms of tone and therefore it might not sound the way you'd like it to, there are a few parameters that you can shape the tone with, but it's way less than the Axe-Fx offers.
You can get similar results with both units however, with the Axe-Fx you build your tone from scratch and can select from 200(!) different amps and channels, you have a bunch of really nice factory IRs and the option to add some of your own IRs(created yourself, downloaded or purchased).
If you're impatient with getting to that sound you hear in your head, I'd say the Axe-Fx is not for you, there's a lot to learn about the unit, I've had mine for 2 or 3 years now(can't remember) and I still haven't figured out all the neat tricks.
The other guitarist in my band has an Axe-Fx Standard and he's the one who turned me onto the unit, he switched to Kemper a while ago because he got tired of constantly searching for the ultimate tone and just wanted to be able to plug in his guitar and crank up the volume.
Me on the other hand, I like to take part in the quest for tone, I have a lot of different sounds that I've felt has been the one for me, it constantly changes though and I'm really closing in on the best possible sound for me.
I'm making it sound like it's gonna take forever to dial in great tones, but this is not the case, you can get there pretty fast as long as you know what you're looking for, and with FW18, it's even faster.

So in short:
If you want to plug-n-play, go for Kemper.
If you want to be able to customize and tweak the tiniest little detail, go for the Axe-Fx.

And also, I think that during the past few weeks, the other guitarist has started to warm up to the thought of Axe-Fx again :)

EDIT: Oh yeah, and since you already have the amps you seem to want to use and you're only looking to bring down the size of your rig, you can simply capture those and store them in the Kemper(or Axe-Fx using the Tone Match).

EDIT 2: And for the record, I find that dialing in clean tones in the Axe-Fx is a breeze, it sounds instantly awesome, tones with more gain is a bit more difficult. I have yet to hear clean tones from the Kemper that beats the Axe-Fx.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom