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I've not tried a Axe fx. I have played with a Kemper and was impressed and I didn't like the Helix.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
I also have a Mesa Express 5:25+ head and a 1x12 cab with some great pedals but it's the AX8 I take to gigs. To me, it sounds terrific and is capable of so many things. I find it just as easy to tweak tones at a gig as it is with a conventional rig. However, setting up tones/ patches initially can take a bit of time. It's quite straightforward using the software editor on a PC but the sounds are worth it. The interface on the Helix is universally praised but for me, I prefer the sound of the Fractal.
1. Its about the workflow. How easy it is to use ?
2. How steep is the learnig curve ?
3. Does it inspire, or fundamentally frustrate me ?
4. It is more hassle than its worth ?
Ive tried em (and owned em) all... the learning curve and vocabulary on some stuff is just frustrating and tedious. The Kemper, for example, seemed to have multiple volume options.
The Kemper is very impressive at sounding like an amp, but always lacked the feel for me personally.
I loved the FX8 but not the drives.
I actually have currently only got the Helix HX. Simplest and easiest to use, with awesome routing options. Couple it with 2 awesome amps... Ramber amd Redplate, and Im sorted.
The most important overriding factor for me; can you plug it in and get ‘unity’ volume, without studying at degree level for 3 years...
FX8 - yes
Helix HX - yes
The rest - no
The workflow of the Helix sets it apart from the others for me, though. The four signal paths make all sorts of things possible that you can't do with the others, and the snapshot functionality is something I couldn't live without now.
As has been stated - amplification is the issue NOT the use it for live work. Are you playing via your PA, in which case how are you monitoring onstage? Can you get used to the "recorded" tone live? If not - are you using a real cab with power amp? if so your compromising on available tones as the cab is the biggest part of the tone - and your only using one. If you DO go this way.. Solid state amp or valve one. Both have pros and cons.
For recording, and practice with headphones these modellers are FANTASTIC. For low volume home practice they also shine (even with a real cab set up). For Jams and live gigs there harder to integrate unless your on a maga stage where everything is mic'd up and the audience doesnt hear much from the actual state.
Thats not to say it CANT work. Ive used AFX rigs for over a decade now. I cant work with FRFR outside of a studio, so run a Fryette Power Station into a 2x12 cab (though I can send a signal with a cab ir to a desk if I need to). Its a compromise BUT I never wanted to "clone" amps - I wanted the tones in my head that I couldnt get in an amp (or rather couldnt get them all from one amp). My AFX rig lets me do that and Ive never really looked back.
I’ve owned all three, they’re all massively capable. It just comes down to workflow really. In fact I changed modellers purely based on my needs at the time. Any will be able to get a decent tone but it’s only after you’ve lived with them for a while will you k ow if it’s right for you.
As has been mentioned, the real issue is amplification. Will they sound like a real amp? If you’re running them through a power amp and cab then yes. If you’re running them through monitors then yes, but It’ll sound like a real amp micd up in isolation then fed through to monitors as you would in a studio which is a different thing that some people can’t get used to.
It depends on what you’re aiming for and what you’re expecting.
Live, I still prefer my FX8 into a real amp or two by a fair margin, though. Personally I'd never use the AX8 for recording unless it was just home demos.
It can be complicated, but it can be as simple as you want for the most part.
I love it, it's amazing
the AxeFX gets the least use, The Kemper sounds great but is fiddly to use
I gig with the Helix
I enjoyed the FX8 and integrating it with my amps, although I too felt the drives let it down. The AX8 was fine, but didn’t blow me away. I like the Kemper a lot but find the effects a bit hit and miss and couldn’t imagine gigging it. I’ve stuck my flag firmly in the Helix camp and have gigged nothing else for the last 9 months or so... and I love it. It just seems to get better with each subsequent update and the community is good too.
Can only speak for Kemper and Fractal as the wife would kick me out if I got the Line 6 part of the modelling trilogy.
Both are great but I'd say from my experience that the Kemper is better suited to the studio than live as I never got it to play nicely with power amps / PA rigs. Sound in the studio is just amazing - even more so if you profile your own amps. Downside was it sounded a bit naff as soon as you played with the gain or EQ controls. Key point here is one profile for clean, another for breakup, another for crunch...etc etc...Effects were OK in isolation but pants compared to Fractal.
Fractal (AX8 and Axe FX2) was a revelation for me. Plug in, dial up an amp and fiddle. Everything sounds amazing and editing on the Axe Edit on the laptop make life so much easier than the Kemper. Effects are the bomb
I’d like a Kemper but only if I also had my own amps to profile. I don’t fancy going through loads of profiles looking for something when I already know what I want. I haven’t used one though so I might be overestimating how hard it is to find the right profiles.
I personally prefer the Axe FX sounds vs Helix, and tweaking the Axe FX is not difficult, it just involves a bunch of button pressing. It is very logical how it works, but perhaps offers too much control/options for some people’s tastes.
However it’s really tough to beat the price of Helix. It wasn’t an option when I bought my Axe FX, if I was deciding now I might well have only gone with a Helix.
I feel they can all do heavy Rock or metal or any highly processed guitar sound very well indeed .
Kemper and Helix will both do extremely good Clean Fender type sounds almost indiscernibly.
Where they all fall down is that organic edge of break up sound IMO
I found Helix could be made to sound better than Kemper
I have no AXE FX experience.
If you play in a band alongside Drums,bass,vocals or keys you will never tell the difference.
Very hard to tell difference if you record.
I f you play in a room/studio alone you will notice very tiny difference but I find it is mainly adding in Reverb that can leave a slightly digital zing on the tail of notes/chords.
You will notice with Helix and Kemper that some amp models sound more realistic than others no matter how much you tweak them.