Okay... another comparison....

guitarfishbay · September 2014

I think it in some part comes back to 'whole picture' thinking. The Kemper gives you the whole picture. Most people seem to use the Axe with stock, or Ownhammer/guitarhack/etc impulses, rarely their own created in context... really it is like dialling in an amp but making someone who hasn't heard your tone pick the mic position. I'm guessing people then use EQs to compensate that pull stuff in unsuitable directions. Also I think more producers use the Kemper, seems to be mostly players using the Axe as a gross generalisation, so I wonder if there is a skills gap as well as a technological one.

So far most of my playing time on the Axe has been through a real cab. We've already discussed this but for the sake of this thread it just shows how different needs can be - for me the Axe has made my switching needs so easy that I can now perform some songs only using an expression pedal to go between high gain inc boost no delay, and low gain boost off plus delay.

guitarfishbay · September 2014

Drew_fx said:
You mean the Darkglass profiles or the Axe profiles? Darkglass profiles I've seen on the Kemper forum, Axe profiles I just grabbed from the Rig Manager software. Which actually.. works really damn well.

I meant these Kemper ones:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/merch-stand/924202-stymphalian-productions-darkglass-b7k-kpa-pack.html

guitarfishbay · September 2014

I want the real pedal tbh!

Drew_TNBD · September 2014

guitarfishbay said:

Drew_fx said:
You mean the Darkglass profiles or the Axe profiles? Darkglass profiles I've seen on the Kemper forum, Axe profiles I just grabbed from the Rig Manager software. Which actually.. works really damn well.

I meant these Kemper ones:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/merch-stand/924202-stymphalian-productions-darkglass-b7k-kpa-pack.html

Yeah demz the ones. He posted on the Kemper forum too.

ThePrettyDamned · September 2014

koneguitarist said:

Don't think it matters with that much distortion, I certainly can't tell.

As a high gain player, it matters most to me with that much distortion.

It's something I notice a lot - cleaner players often say modellers can't nail clean tone 'right', whereas high gain tones 'are good enough' or 'there is too much gain to hear the difference'. As a high gain player, I've so far found most modelling things (to be fair, I've not used the premium kit Drew has) to be lacking in high gain, but the cleans are fine, certainly usable, and often very good and take pedals well.

A clean freak would disagree entirely.

Maybe modelling just sucks

(FWIW the best I've tried is the Blackstar ID, which was very good across the board).

steamabacus · September 2014

ThePrettyDamned said:

koneguitarist said:

Don't think it matters with that much distortion, I certainly can't tell.

As a high gain player, it matters most to me with that much distortion.

It's something I notice a lot - cleaner players often say modellers can't nail clean tone 'right', whereas high gain tones 'are good enough' or 'there is too much gain to hear the difference'. As a high gain player, I've so far found most modelling things (to be fair, I've not used the premium kit Drew has) to be lacking in high gain, but the cleans are fine, certainly usable, and often very good and take pedals well.

A clean freak would disagree entirely.

Maybe modelling just sucks (FWIW the best I've tried is the Blackstar ID, which was very good across the board).

Very true. I think different players are 'tuned in' to different aspects of the sound. Drew is obviously tuned in to a particular aspect of the low end punch in the sounds. To me, the standout differences (and I certainly CAN tell a difference) in these comparisons are most obviously in the 'depth' and 'openness' of the tones.

With my own lead guitar tones, a certain mid range resonance is very important to whether they 'work' for me or not. If that certain something is there, other aspects of the sound are less critical. If I can get the guitar singing in a certain way, I immerse myself into the playing and play freely and naturally. If the tone isn't 'happening' then I struggle, it all becomes a bit 'forced'.

I think this is all a factor of developing your own tone and why, with experience, you can get that tone out of quite different amp/fx setups. As long as you can get the important elements of your sound happening you can make it work for you.

Drew_TNBD · September 2014

Was playing some bass tonight through a few profiles on the rig exchange. There are some really nice GK rigs, but not many freebie SVT ones. There was a freebie B7K profile that rocked, and a few Sansamps. I don't like Sansamps much though, they're too clippy sounding to me.

Time to get those b7k profiles I think, just sounds too good!

Again... I was finding (and no clips yet!) that the Kemper sounds more direct and in your face and fuller than the Axe FX. The more I use them both... the more a long-term preference for the tones seems to be emerging.

BTW: The delay and reverbs in the Kemper are brilliant. So is the rotary speaker effect. The tubescreamer is a bit crappy to be honest... doesn't really sound like a real tubescreamer to me. It's too gainy and doesn't really have the tightening effect that real ones do.

steamabacus · September 2014

I saw some photos of the gear setup for the latest King Crimson gigs and noticed Tony Levin is playing his basses and Chapman Stick through three Kempers. Fripp has an AxeFX in his (massive) rack setup while Jakko Jakzyk (the other guitarist) had a small Vox Night Train (I think) through a small 1x12" cab.

There's more than one way to amplify a guitar...
:-?

koneguitarist · September 2014

You may have a point regarding High gain V Clean due to the user, my main thing is slightly overdriven, but I do play a lot cleaner than most. But high gain sounds are often not from just valves but a mixture of circuits, like the later Marshalls etc.

If you play clean through a Fender Twin, AC30 or JTM45 then you hear the sounds of those amps, and the guitar characteristics much more clearly. Not actually saying Gain sounds are crap compared to clean or anything.

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Okay... another comparison....

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