Jarick
Experienced
Hello. I am on the wait list for an FM3 and I currently have a Kemper. I have an opportunity to purchase an axe Fx3. I am curious if there is anyone who has used both and could weigh in on the feel and response. If I do the fx3 I would have to sell my Kemper to find the fx3 but the fm3 would allow me to keep both to a/b the units. Any subjective input would be appreciated as I am leaning towards the fx3 based on its capabilities.
Thanks, Rod
I had a Kemper with pedalboard for a few months last year, which I sold to get an Axe 3 + FC6 controller. I'm very happy with the decision overall but there are some big differences, depending on how you like to use your devices.
For pure amp tones, if you have the right profiles, the Kemper sounds and feels amazing with no effort on your end. The Axe 3 might take some work to get there. You may need to experiment with impulses to find the right ones, or learn how the amp works to dial it in. But when you do learn that, it's going to apply to other tones you create. On the flip side, if you don't like a Kemper profile, you'll need to find a different one, which costs time and money (I easily spent a few hundred trying different profiles). And you may not be able to get your different profiles to work well together (that was my biggest issue with it). For instance, I could never get a great high gain sound I loved out of the Kemper.
Now when you add in effects, personally I think the Fractal runs away with it. They are a lot more engaging, interesting, just better quality overall. A lot of the Kemper stuff sounded dated to me and you have to fuss with it quite a bit to get where you want to be (or at least I did). That's not to say Kemper can't sound good, I just liked the Fractal effects a lot more, and that was another big reason I jumped ship.
Workflow is going to be different. Kemper is more plug and play in finding a profile, tweaking it, then adding a few effects on top. I actually liked how simple that process generally was and there was no computer editor at the time. But there were many times the menu was a real pain to navigate, like scrolling through hundreds of profiles, or requiring a USB stick to load files (welcome to 2006)! Fractal on the other hand works brilliantly on a computer, and it can be simple or complex with a lot more possibilities. On the device it's not nearly as fun (there are no dedicated knobs like the Kemper), but it's usable to edit.
I think if you use more than a few effects at a time, and can handle the extra expense of the Axe 3, it's a better purchase. It's got a lot more power and will be the flagship for Fractal with the most recent developments. But the FM3 is a great bargain for a more simple rig.
Also, I really don't like having multiple modelers at once. For me it makes for more options which is distracting. And then I end up comparing them and swapping around and spend less time playing.