Why do more than 90% of the metal bands I go see in concert use a Kemper?

Shahar

Shahar

Experienced
I think everyone here would agree that the Fractal sounds much better, but why is Kemper still top dog for almost all live metal bands? The price is not that different, and in terms of resiliency, the Fractal units are built really well. So what gives?

I hardly ever see Line 6 Helix, QC, or Fractal AxeFX III (seen a couple II XLs though).
 
Last edited:
In my experience many people simply don't know about fractal.
Might be the direct distribution approach. If it's not in your major online retailers it doesn't exist.
But I'm just speculating here.
 
Must like the sound of them I guess. I haven’t tried any modeler other than FAS Axe3 and FM3, so I can’t offer an opinion on the Kemper. If a lot of metal bands are using them, that will inspire other metal players to buy the same thing. Seems like more artists are getting on board with Fractal lately. Looking at the Kemper, it seems more amp like with all the knobs. Maybe they dig that too. Don’t forget Metallica using the Axe.
 
My opinion as a rock/metal player:
  • Fractal is more complicated to set up the sound, you need to understand how the sound is created and what affects what
  • many professional profiles are created for Kemper to try, Fractal by nature cannot have this option
  • factory presets are not tuned for metal
  • the drive pedal in older products (Axe Fx II) did not behave as it should
  • a metal player does not need to change the settings of the amplifier, he rarely uses the volume on the guitar, he even gets by with one pickup, so he does not need the kind of setting options that Fractal offers
  • it's easier for pro players to profile their tube rig with a Kemper than trying to get the same sound on a Fractal
 
For better or for worse, the sound does not change so you can load and go. And you can get new features, without the sound changing as you update.
 
Logistics. FAS still sells direct while KPA has relatively major distributors... which means in an "oh shit" scenario a tour manager can start calling the closest Guitar Center, Sam Ash, ect until they find a replacement.

Tonally it's probably close enough to get the job done while being acceptable in their IEM mix, and don't forget these guys have some of the best live sound engineers who can make a toilet sound great in an arena... and those guys have about a hundred other things going on simultaneously, so the easier they can make their life the better since 99%+ of the typical audience thinks sound comes from empty cabs on stage and they're happy with "loud."

The closer the band gets to relying on pushed clean tones, the more those subtleties we love start to actually matter in a live, large room context. I see a lot of metal bands rocking KPAs and a few with their personal FAS units (i.e., the gifts of Christmas crowd), but there's a reason you saw a little Princeton combo at the Super Bowl and why you don't see many KPAs from Mayer-ish players.
 
Worth mentioning that Kemper has been around for about 10 years now and that means there's just plain more of them out there and used ones weren't too expensive even in Europe.

While there are also plenty of older Axe-Fx units too, for the live player those are less convenient to work with compared to the more amp-like Kemper or current gen Fractal. Plus you can just plug the powered Kemper to a guitar cab so it's easy when you don't need a poweramp as well.

There's also something to be said for limitations and simplicity. There is very little Fractal can't do, but it also puts demands on the user to figure out how to make the most of it. That can be daunting compared to plugging into a Kemper that does the amp thing and a few fx on top.

I've been using Fractal since the first gen and still find new things that I just didn't think about or didn't think to use that way.
 
Jarek said:
My opinion as a rock/metal player:
  • Fractal is more complicated to set up the sound, you need to understand how the sound is created and what affects what
  • many professional profiles are created for Kemper to try, Fractal by nature cannot have this option
  • factory presets are not tuned for metal
  • the drive pedal in older products (Axe Fx II) did not behave as it should
  • a metal player does not need to change the settings of the amplifier, he rarely uses the volume on the guitar, he even gets by with one pickup, so he does not need the kind of setting options that Fractal offers
  • it's easier for pro players to profile their tube rig with a Kemper than trying to get the same sound on a Fractal
Click to expand...
Nice summary and I'm inclined to agree.
I have all 3 (not the QC which seems to be being declared dead-in-the-water now 🤨) and it took a while to get to the same point with the III versus the KPA. Instant gratification is available for the KPA but it just all feels a bit static thereafter and the created/bought/tweaked/re-tweaked presets I have on the Axe-FX as goto sounds for primarily metal give back a great deal more. Even with something of a technical background I can get lazy, and from ground zero I guess it was a bit of a climb, but now that I'm here there's no doubt my own preference.
 
Probably they use a Kemper because it must be good at that. A lot of guys using the old axe fx ultra are doing metal with it , probably because the ultra is very good at that and a cheaper solution.
The guitarist I replaced in my actual band had one with some stratty clean sound and it sounded quite alright but always quite the same also whatever be the sound level. In 2011 I choose to get on the Fractal track and am satisfied with that choice so far.
 
Others have already said it better than I can, but my guess is most of them previously toured with tube amps and just made profiles (or had them made) of whatever they were using before.
 
Yes... I asked myself the question several times ... what do they all do with kemper ... I think there is this idea that it is "simpler". They profile their gear and voila...
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTI
Semi OT...

With Fractal, I hear a lot of "this preset that's great in the video doesn't work for me", and I've experienced that myself, more often than not. I get tones I love, but they're rarely unmodified factory or third party stuff.

Why doesn't that happen all the time with Kemper? It has way less ability to customize a factory or third party "preset" than Fractal. Is it because everyone only uses captures of their own great amps dialed how they like them? Maybe at full-on pro level, but not everyone.

Curious.
 
Last edited:
You can buy a Kemper anywhere. Not so with Fractal. Probably awareness plays a big part in who plays what.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom