I love my AxeFx2, should I buy a Kemper as well?

Tone Control

Inspired
I've had my AF2 for 2 years nearly, I love it
but, I do find that my boutique cleaner amps (with nice real hot valves) please me more to play (DC30, Tweed twin, Dumble clone, etc) when I just want a plain old guitar tone with not much FX/
But - they are loud, and are damaging my ears, and are a pain to record from

I'm wondering if getting a Kemper in addition to my AF2 is worth it, would it be just too similar to my AF2?
Has anyone got plenty of experience of both?

I'd like sometimes to DI AF2 or Kemper into Protools, since I have a lot of nice plugins there, and since I sold a nice amp last week, I have to decide what to buy, yet another electric, a dobro, a Kemper, some nice Strymon stuff for my amp rig?

then I thought- maybe a Kemper could address my cleaner-amp needs?

This is not some troll, I've been here a long time, I just want to know if owning both at the same time is pointless

Cheers
Tone
 
They are similar in some ways but I find the Axe-fx more flexible and versatile. Some prefer the Axe's sounds and others the Kemper. You seem to have the money for it. You can go and buy one and then return it if you don't like it.
 
Do you run your Axe fx as loud as your boutique amps? I bet not because like you said, playing those are ear soaring! The advantage of the A2 is you can get creamy tube saturated tones at lower volume. But if you crank your A2 on a clean boutique amp patch at the same volume you play your real amps, my guess is you would enjoy it as much and beyond.

And to be fair at this comparison, you should use the same speaker and caninet for both. But if you like the tone of your cranked amp miked, than use a good FRFR monitor. in fact, if you like FRFR, for the price of a Kemper, you could buy an Atomic CLR or any other good solution instead!
 
I would say buy one if you want, but if you're not getting the sound of those amps from the Axe then something is wrong in your setup. The Kemper may not do any better if your setup is the weak spot.

My point is that those sounds are in there if you have the right setup. I have put my favorite amps SuperReverb, Suhr Badger right along side my AxeFx setup and with very few adjustments have gotten sound and feel that was indistinguishable from the original. I've used an A/B box to split the signal between the AxeFx rig and my amp so I can easily bounce back and forth and I can get it to a point where if I didn't know which was which because I'm keeping track I wouldn't know at all.

I had a Kemper for a while when a friend went on tour and left his with me. I could not get any sounds that were satisfactory to me. It may have been due to the fact that his taste is different and I didn't want to download profiles as it didn't belong to me. His profiles were more heavy metal and my taste is for cleaner sounds. I was looking for more open sounds with lots of chime and his profiles seemed kind of congested. The pick attack was weird too.

Some people seem happy with the Kemper, but it didn't work for me.

On the other hand I never get a bad sound out of the Axe with the latest couple of firmwares. Just lots of variety.

I'm just curious what are you using for amplification and speakers? I think that is the key.

You can see what I'm using in my signature.
 
It's not just volume, or Fletcher-Munson curves, I do like to play my AF2 pretty loud usually, through powered monitors: a pair of Focal CMS65 (each containing a 100w and a 60w amp) and a CMS sub (300w) the sub is barely on, it's so loud. I always tell people to get proper power monitors, you can see I take my own advice.
I can play backing tracks loud enough from these FRFR monitors to play my real amps against (not at max vol of course, but the vol I use them at, 120-130dB I think). The OD sounds on my valve amps can get louder of course, I tend to use 30w amps just starting to saturate

My favourite tones are: DC30 set to clean on the EF86 channel, scooped a little, and an HRM dumble blackface clone (John Mayer type Ceriatone), into a Celestion Gold with master all the way up, preamp on 3 - very very clean
I'm sure I can get closer on my patches, just wondered if the Kemper would complement the AF2, or be a pointless duplication. I mean, some of my valve amps are similar to each other, but they are different enough for me to be happy paying for both (even more so with guitars of course), I thought I could get some good advice here, and as I say I'm not wanting to get partisan about which is best

If I bought one, I would use a Kemper for DI straight into protools, same as my AF2, not into guitar cabs.

Anybody else got plenty of experience using both AF2 and Kemper?
 
I own both. Both units are excellent. Both do similar things, in different ways. The AFX has more features and FX options whereas the KPA has access potentially to unlimited amp models (profiles). I'm thinking of selling my KPA rackmount, drop me a PM for more info.
 
Both the Axe2 & KPA are very good. It's good to own both & you will prefer some things more from each one.
 
I have a pair of Focals CMS 50 and while they are phenomenal for mixing, I never really liked them to monitor the Axe fx for jamming. I don't know why, the feel is just not there.
 
I have a pair of Focals CMS 50 and while they are phenomenal for mixing, I never really liked them to monitor the Axe fx for jamming. I don't know why, the feel is just not there.

after using 8 inch Dynaudio monitors previously, and blowing them up, I have made sure I got an overspec sub to go with these. I have no doubt that the feel would not be there with the CMS65s on their own, the CMS50s would struggle more on the bass. Are you using a sub?
 
Had the Kemper, sold it. Much rather have another real amp for strymon stuff than a kemper at this time. Maybe their next generation.
 
I have both and they are both top notch, the Axe fx has the advantage of a really nice editor, dedicated midi controller and tons of effects and routing options. The Kemper is easy to setup and get some really nice guitar tones. Disappointed there has been no editor/librarian released or the dedicated midi controller. If you can get both, do it and consider yourself fortunate to have the best of both worlds.
 
You should be able to get any tone imaginable from the AxeII. Maybe try to hunt down some other Axe II users presets for this style amp/s?
 
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