Hi all,
I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place. Feel free to move the thread.
Well, long story short... I have been using a kemper for quite a time now. While it's great, I'm not totally happy with the accuracy of profiling. I hope this does not turn into an Axe vs Kemper war either, in some ad hominem sense. But I will offer my short evaluation so that you understand what I am looking for.
I've done tests and results seem consistent: kemper gets in the ballpark but there's always the same "signature KPA tone". There are dips in certain low frequencies, boosts in others, which creates a "garbled" feel for low riffs; then there are some weird peaks in the highs, raspy feel... tendency towards "wah"-like frequencies... And when this happens, which is much of the time, there's not much you can do, really, other than EQ matching in DAW your recorded tone to the real amp to get closer. At least I have not found another "solution". And I don't wanna have to go that far. Don't get me wrong, differences are not "Big" -- but they are there. To some they matter, to others they do not.
That is perfectly fine and I have absolutely no problem with people who are happy with this. B
ut when I compare S gear 2 with "best" Kemper profiles and Kemper feels "congested", then profile a marshall plexi, also s gear, make comparison and it's all the same stuff... I begin feeling skeptical in terms of keeping the kemper. Amps are rather similar to begin with, and for this reason kemper's profiling needs to be more accurate imho for this approach to make sense for me. Otherwise you end up with many tones that share too much of the same characteristics -- even if these are subtle.
So I'm considering my options. I know torpedo plus real amp is great, has been the best option for me. But it's not as convenient as Axe Fx and convenience matters a lot of to me now. And let me just say that I have zero interest in being some Axe Fx "fanboi" either (I am sure there are some here too, like Kemper forum, like elsewhere, as it always happens). I care about what works for me. And I've worked in the the music industry too -- amp mods. I am not totally clueless when it comes to tone. Just looking for the right tool for my own music, creative process.
I have also profiled an Axe fx btw and got many of the same results. There is more variety from amp sim to amp sim in axe than there is in kemper. I also think the feel of axe tends to be less "congested" and the pick attack feels better somehow. The one weakness of Axe fx for me has been the built in cab sims. That is where I think kemper does better. But it's not because of the "magic voodoo" technology involved with KPA imho... Just has to do with cabs of great profiles vs what comes in stock with Axe.
When it comes to amp simulation, I seem to prefer the Axe. I have had time with the Axe Fx 2 unit when borrowing from a friend to test out. And anything I can get ouf of kemper I was able to get with Axe, too, just with some more work on the cab side (I have made IRs out of some kemper amps as well as real cabs). It takes more work there for me to get where I want to, but at the end I seem to be happier with the tone because of the quality of the amp sims. At least this is my evaluation up to now. I don't have access to Axe Fx anymore to test further as friend moved to other country.
Also Axe Fx 2 is quite expensive here. I am not sure if Axe 8 would be good enough provided that it lacks tone matching, which can be important to me. So I'm weighing my options and seeing what I can do Questions are: especially previous kemper users, do you feel happy with using cab IRs with axe? Is there something about Axe Fx that you feel is lacking? And where is the best place to find used Axe Fx in EU? And in the case of "wah like frequencies", do you feel like you can dial these out using axe fx? Kemper offers a few EQs but they don't really work that well on that end.
Thank you
I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place. Feel free to move the thread.
Well, long story short... I have been using a kemper for quite a time now. While it's great, I'm not totally happy with the accuracy of profiling. I hope this does not turn into an Axe vs Kemper war either, in some ad hominem sense. But I will offer my short evaluation so that you understand what I am looking for.
I've done tests and results seem consistent: kemper gets in the ballpark but there's always the same "signature KPA tone". There are dips in certain low frequencies, boosts in others, which creates a "garbled" feel for low riffs; then there are some weird peaks in the highs, raspy feel... tendency towards "wah"-like frequencies... And when this happens, which is much of the time, there's not much you can do, really, other than EQ matching in DAW your recorded tone to the real amp to get closer. At least I have not found another "solution". And I don't wanna have to go that far. Don't get me wrong, differences are not "Big" -- but they are there. To some they matter, to others they do not.
That is perfectly fine and I have absolutely no problem with people who are happy with this. B
ut when I compare S gear 2 with "best" Kemper profiles and Kemper feels "congested", then profile a marshall plexi, also s gear, make comparison and it's all the same stuff... I begin feeling skeptical in terms of keeping the kemper. Amps are rather similar to begin with, and for this reason kemper's profiling needs to be more accurate imho for this approach to make sense for me. Otherwise you end up with many tones that share too much of the same characteristics -- even if these are subtle.
So I'm considering my options. I know torpedo plus real amp is great, has been the best option for me. But it's not as convenient as Axe Fx and convenience matters a lot of to me now. And let me just say that I have zero interest in being some Axe Fx "fanboi" either (I am sure there are some here too, like Kemper forum, like elsewhere, as it always happens). I care about what works for me. And I've worked in the the music industry too -- amp mods. I am not totally clueless when it comes to tone. Just looking for the right tool for my own music, creative process.
I have also profiled an Axe fx btw and got many of the same results. There is more variety from amp sim to amp sim in axe than there is in kemper. I also think the feel of axe tends to be less "congested" and the pick attack feels better somehow. The one weakness of Axe fx for me has been the built in cab sims. That is where I think kemper does better. But it's not because of the "magic voodoo" technology involved with KPA imho... Just has to do with cabs of great profiles vs what comes in stock with Axe.
When it comes to amp simulation, I seem to prefer the Axe. I have had time with the Axe Fx 2 unit when borrowing from a friend to test out. And anything I can get ouf of kemper I was able to get with Axe, too, just with some more work on the cab side (I have made IRs out of some kemper amps as well as real cabs). It takes more work there for me to get where I want to, but at the end I seem to be happier with the tone because of the quality of the amp sims. At least this is my evaluation up to now. I don't have access to Axe Fx anymore to test further as friend moved to other country.
Also Axe Fx 2 is quite expensive here. I am not sure if Axe 8 would be good enough provided that it lacks tone matching, which can be important to me. So I'm weighing my options and seeing what I can do Questions are: especially previous kemper users, do you feel happy with using cab IRs with axe? Is there something about Axe Fx that you feel is lacking? And where is the best place to find used Axe Fx in EU? And in the case of "wah like frequencies", do you feel like you can dial these out using axe fx? Kemper offers a few EQs but they don't really work that well on that end.
Thank you
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