It's been an interesting run

For me, feel is EVERYTHING. if I feel the slightest bit of lag, a rubbery or 'sagging' feeling, I put that amp down. I have always been floored by how far Fractal has come in attaining a beautiful spectrum of sounds for me to use! I'm absolutely grateful.
Then I plug into an old vintage fender, or my Egnater. Aaaaaah, yes... There is definitely something very special about the feel, push, and sound of a tube amp.
I personally am totally satisfied with my axefx rig and can get 99% of everything I require, but I fully understand why you moved on to another Rig! We're guitarists and have insatiable appetites. There's simply too much amazing gear around to sit on to one rig and only one rig!

Good luck!
 
I'm only a few weeks into the AX8 (after having a Kemper for years) and have been slowly getting there with dialing in the raw tones that came very natural on the Kemper. I'm finding it hard to dial them in, but eventually I succeed.. so far. Honestly, it's the whole FAS ecosystem that's really impressive.

Like @stm113 says, dialing in that tubes-on-fire plexi-ish sizzle with low end punch is eluding me at the moment. The tone and EQ is easy, it's the feel that's not there yet.
 
benvigil said:
I'm only a few weeks into the AX8 (after having a Kemper for years) and have been slowly getting there with dialing in the raw tones that came very natural on the Kemper. I'm finding it hard to dial them in, but eventually I succeed.. so far. Honestly, it's the whole FAS ecosystem that's really impressive.

Like @stm113 says, dialing in that tubes-on-fire plexi-ish sizzle with low end punch is eluding me at the moment. The tone and EQ is easy, it's the feel that's not there yet.
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If you don't mind me asking, what prompted you to go to the AX8?
 
bdrepko said:
If you don't mind me asking, what prompted you to go to the AX8?
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Sure.

I'll start by saying there are a number of [simultaneous]] long time users of both systems (Kemper and FAS) that assured me you can get amazing tones from both, so I was confident in at least trying the AX8. With the exception of high gain tones, the Kemper nailed everything in spades, from super cleans to mid-gain all the way through plexi tones. For high-gain tones, I felt like many profiles had a very similar tonal character that became the "signature" Kemper tone to me. It's not "bad", per se, because that signature tone made the plexis/JTM45/marshall-y profiles sound amazing. However, a Boogie doesn't have that signature top-end grit, and shouldn't.

But honestly, that alone is not what made me try out the AX8. I don't make money from gigging and music production, so the raw amp tone isn't paramount. If it was, I'd start throwing gear at the Kemper, like an FX8 for better FX, or the Kemper remote, or some other great switcher. But all that gear costs more $$$ and I'm not going to start throwing money at a "system" (just because I like the amp tone) when it's not making me any money.

The real reasons are: the great FX, the great drives and fuzzes (and the variety of them), the routing flexibility, the controllers and modifiers, reverb hold, GEQ in every amp, integrated switching and pedalboard, and 100 other things. These are all better on the AX8 than on the Kemper (IMNSHO). Any ONE of those things wouldn't make me try the AX8, but all of them together did.

I also prefer the FAS/AmpliFIRE way of storing banks/presets vs Kempers' separate browse/performance modes.

That said, I still think the Kemper is easier to tweak inside the amp. Also, there are a number of Kemper profiles that I haven't been able to even come close to with the AX8... yet. Only time will tell. But on the flip side there are a few AX8 patches I've created that I was never able to touch with my Kemper.

So like @Speculum Speculorum said, these are all great systems, but none are perfect for everyone.
 
benvigil said:
Sure.

I'll start by saying there are a number of [simultaneous]] long time users of both systems (Kemper and FAS) that assured me you can get amazing tones from both, so I was confident in at least trying the AX8. With the exception of high gain tones, the Kemper nailed everything in spades, from super cleans to mid-gain all the way through plexi tones. For high-gain tones, I felt like many profiles had a very similar tonal character that became the "signature" Kemper tone to me. It's not "bad", per se, because that signature tone made the plexis/JTM45/marshall-y profiles sound amazing. However, a Boogie doesn't have that signature top-end grit, and shouldn't.

But honestly, that alone is not what made me try out the AX8. I don't make money from gigging and music production, so the raw amp tone isn't paramount. If it was, I'd start throwing gear at the Kemper, like an FX8 for better FX, or the Kemper remote, or some other great switcher. But all that gear costs more $$$ and I'm not going to start throwing money at a "system" (just because I like the amp tone) when it's not making me any money.

The real reasons are: the great FX, the great drives and fuzzes (and the variety of them), the routing flexibility, the controllers and modifiers, reverb hold, GEQ in every amp, integrated switching and pedalboard, and 100 other things. These are all better on the AX8 than on the Kemper (IMNSHO). Any ONE of those things wouldn't make me try the AX8, but all of them together did.

I also prefer the FAS/AmpliFIRE way of storing banks/presets vs Kempers' separate browse/performance modes.

That said, I still think the Kemper is easier to tweak inside the amp. Also, there are a number of Kemper profiles that I haven't been able to even come close to with the AX8... yet. Only time will tell. But on the flip side there are a few AX8 patches I've created that I was never able to touch with my Kemper.

So like @Speculum Speculorum said, these are all great systems, but none are perfect for everyone.
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I own both. I definitely like both. I have gigged with the AX8 but not the Kemper yet. I agree that the FX and routing in the AX8 are absolutely fantastic.
 
bdrepko said:
I own both. I definitely like both. I have gigged with the AX8 but not the Kemper yet. I agree that the FX and routing in the AX8 are absolutely fantastic.
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I'm trying to recreate rmpacheco's Morgan AC20 profile right now. Tall order for the AX8.
 
benvigil said:
I'm trying to recreate rmpacheco's Morgan AC20 profile right now. Tall order for the AX8.
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I will have to try that one. I am a classic rock/hair metal fan. This makes me a big Marshall 800 fan. I can get great 800 sounds out of both. I have limited success with more cleaner sounds.
 
bdrepko said:
I will have to try that one. I am a classic rock/hair metal fan. This makes me a big Marshall 800 fan. I can get great 800 sounds out of both. I have limited success with more cleaner sounds.
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What's your go to tips for the JCM800 I cant ever seem to get the 800 to get me there...
 
jlynnb1 said:
i wouldn't think it to be a "tall order".....the Ax excels at those types of tones.
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That profile is pretty special.

I don't spend time making one sound like the other though. For me the purpose of having both is to use which one is best for the situation; not to make one sound like the other.
 
bdrepko said:
I will have to try that one. I am a classic rock/hair metal fan. This makes me a big Marshall 800 fan. I can get great 800 sounds out of both. I have limited success with more cleaner sounds.
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That profile is definitely not in your wheelhouse then. But try it, it's so chewy and amazing.

bdrepko said:
I can get great 800 sounds out of both.
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Agreed. I tend to gravitate toward Mark II C+ and Friedman tones myself.
 
barhrecords said:
I don't spend time making one sound like the other though. For me the purpose of having both is to use which one is best for the situation; not to make one sound like the other.
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Agreed, but I don't have the cheese to own everything :) so I'm stuck with 1 (or 2) at a time.

But whatever the platform, you end up finding tones that you want to take with you to the next platform. I had a modded JCA 22 that had an amazing mid-gain tone that I always try to recreate... Kemper, AX8 or whatever. Also I'm not a huge SRV player, but I love whipping out that tone when I want. I had an amazing profile on the Kemper, and it was pretty quick to dial in on the AX8. Same with AC/DC and the JTM45 -- but the JTM-ish profiles from Acy's AGL were just amazing too.
 
stm113 said:
What's your go to tips for the JCM800 I cant ever seem to get the 800 to get me there...
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I use the brit 800 mod. No special tricks or anything. I set the master to around 5.88, crank the mids, adds some dynamic presence and dynamic depth. It seems to work for me.
 
OP - I hear ya. Sometimes I think of just going back to an amp with 4cm or fx8. I think we all tend to go full circle sometimes. You're not the first. One thing i can say is I'll probably always have an FAS product in the change. The effects stand well on their own. Good luck.
 
Best of luck. It's always hard when you have a lot of time invested in a product. The axe has a learning curve no doubt for some of us.

I actually came back to Fractal. I've realized not to hold the same expectations however. I now have a moddest tube amp collection and when I need the real thing that I long for they are there. The AFX is just simply convenience.

I struggle to get raw amp tones. I really would like to get to the point where I could nail a raw amp sound to 99%. Through a power amp and cab that is.
someday...
 
after reading up on it, it's not the profile itself that is great...the creator did some tweaks like cranking the amp compression etc to get it to where it was. even Don Peterson said as much. it does sound great but it's not the profile...so pull up the Ac20 and go crazy in the deep parameters and see if that gets you closer.

as to whether or not i've played it, yeah, but I'm not a big AC20 person anyway so it didn't do much for me.
 
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