I've been impressed by the sounds of a Kemper...

Dixiethedog

Experienced
I recently fell back in love with my AX8 and thought I'd treat my gee-tar to some new strings. Old and rusty dont help the tone even with my Fractal unit.
I visited a local guitar shop to buy the strings and was blown away by the demo I heard of a Kemper being played.
The young lad playing the kemper unit was there to buy an amp and happily ran thru some of his patches as I had mentioned I was an AX8 owner.
He played some Hendrix, which if I had closed my eyes would have fooled me into thinking it was Hendrix, he played some Dire straits, some Pink floyd and then some newer twiddly stuff which sounded amazing even though I cant remember the bands names he was covering. The sounds or tones sounded like the records (Im old...).
I left the shop with new strings feeling slightly deflated mentally, his Kemper was doing everything I thought my Fractal should do. I've been saying it for ages now, but I really do need to invest in some studio monitors to see if I can get the sounds I really want to be hearing.
I still feel excited about my humble AX8 when I plug in, but that Kemper toaster thing really caught my attention sound wise. It was amazing.
Mind you, my request fell onto deaf ears when I asked the young chap playing if he could do toast, one slice with butter and one with marmalade. :) He was a great player but he was very very serious not seeing the funny side about toast or his "toaster". :) Unlike me...
I'm still a Fractal convert but if the Kemper had been the first modeler/profiler thing that I had ever seen theres a chance I would have bought one.

I'll get my coat on the way out.....
 
A good player will make ANYTHING sound good

It's why companies usually have some of the hottest popular players around on their demo roster

That being said, I would also suggest trying out a kemper, but do yourself a favor and try it with the axe or better yet a FM3/9 or Axe 3. I can guarantee that if you A/B the units you're leaving the toaster at the store, and the same hot new player would be asking you 'serious' questions about your Fractal.

Done this enough times to know that the Kemper, while cool, has nothing with anything Fractal, even older units

YMMV, so try it yourself and let us know how it goes 👍
 
The Kemper or AX8 is only going to sound as good as the speakers or monitors you're using. Should you decide to give the Kemper a shot, take your AX8 back with you and plug into the same system you heard the Kemper on. Then make the decision to either get the Kemper or different monitors for your setup.
 
It's not only about how it sounds and feels to play, it's also about workflow. If I'm looking for a new thing, I'd rather pull up one of the hundreds of amps in the Axe and adjust to taste, than browse a bazillion freeze-dried profiles you can't adjust much without it getting weird, and in many cases, paying for the privilege.
 
Last edited:
I've been thinking about my post tonight and think even though I enjoyed hearing the Kemper, I think the word "hearing" was a part of it.
The young gent was not playing at stage volume, but he was certainly loud enough for the small music shop. Enough volume to make me stop in my tracks and listen.
When I play in the house, I play at a db level about the same as my television set. The volume level that most people would have on their tv's. Being so quiet when playing I can't tell the difference between (as an example) a Fractal Marshall JCM800 Mod and any other gained up amp. I know that if I was at a live show and the band had two guitarists playing two different amps, I'm sure I would be able to hear the differences.
So, I've said it before and I'm going to say it again, I need some decent studio monitors (and a move away from my sitting room...) to properly hear what my AX8 can achieve. I have tried more than once to buy monitors locally from Facebook but the sellers either dont reply or have messed me around. So I am trying!
For the record, if I was to buy another unit it would be a Fractal rack mounted one. With a number 3 in its name.
 
Still astonished they are on the same hardware (different form factors, but same hardware) since the start. Was just at a show, my sons band opened up for Black Veil Brides and Ded and it was like a Kemper commercial there. EVERYONE had one, bass and guitarists.
 
I had a Kemper, and thought it sounded really good..... especially with some volume.

I have less nice things to say about that one that starts with "H." ;)
 
No one here should be getting out the torches and pitchforks because you liked how someone sounded on something not made by Fractal Audio. If it sounded good, it did. Get some good monitoring, turn up a bit, learn those licks, and you’ll find the AX8 plenty capable of equalling that tone. The newer Fractal units are, no doubt, the business, but the AX8 is no slouch when it comes to making killer tones.
 
A good player will make ANYTHING sound good

It's why companies usually have some of the hottest popular players around on their demo roster
They tend to hire the popular players so their fanbois will rush to the stores to get the same shit too. Doesn't they will be good at demoing the gear to non-fanbois. You want to sell gear to everyone, hire people like Andy at Reverb or Bill at EHX. They can make ANYTHING sound good.
No one here should be getting out the torches and pitchforks because you liked how someone sounded on something not made by Fractal Audio. If it sounded good, it did. Get some good monitoring, turn up a bit, learn those licks, and you’ll find the AX8 plenty capable of equalling that tone. The newer Fractal units are, no doubt, the business, but the AX8 is no slouch when it comes to making killer tones.
Bands and artists are not the only ones with obsessed fanbois. Fractal has some fanatics too. There's a reason why Glenn Fricker LOVES to make fun of Fractal owners. A: they're easily provoked as their Axe-FX is almost a religion to them and B: fanbois are highly annoying when triggered.
 
It's not only about how it sounds and feels to play, it's also about workflow. If I'm looking for a new thing, I'd rather pull up one of the hundreds of amps in the Axe and adjust to taste, than browse a bazillion freeze-dried profiles you can't adjust much without it getting weird, and in many cases, paying for the privilege.
Define "weird"...and even if the EQ doesn't respond exactly the same as the amp ...does that mean everyone should throw out their graphic/para eq's?

The Kemper has one of the most musical EQ's I've used IMO.


I loved my Ax8 but the UI has always been the weakest link compared to the competition, hopefully he axe4 will nail it to a non engineer/iphone level.

QC/Helix lead the pack on the UI IMO
 
I've had my power rack for coming up on seven years now, and still like it just as much as I ever did. My Marshalls and Mesas live together harmoniously as well.
 
Back
Top Bottom