AxeFX & Kemper - thinking the unthinkable and selling my soul to the devil

Jonathanthomas83

Lads, this little nugget is coming back to haunt me!!! I've pretty much ruled out a Kemper but tried a Helix in PMT yesterday and the UI on there is amazing. Can't help but think that I'll always wonder about what kind of sounds the Axe FX will give me though...that's holding me back from taking the plunge! Any advice! 

guitarfishbay

Unless you can find someone local to try a Fractal then you could do the 30 day returns with G66.  That;s what I did and I kept mine (Axe FX 2 XL).

welshboyo

The AxeFX is not x times better than the Helix, in fact, there isn't anything in it IMO.

Fractal users will have you believe that it is better because they know there is a cheaper, easier to use, as good sounding Helix chomping at the ankles..

Same, Helix users will tell you (almost in a fit of smugness) that it's just as good.

Having owned both (admittedly not using the latest greatest AxeFX) I really can't see why you would need more than the Helix - its also easier to get hold of on 30 days return..

For me (and others will say differently) once you have loaded up 3rd party IR's to the Helix, its too close to call on the "sound quality" front - for me it was anyway.

There will be "tone snobs" in both camps..

Jonathanthomas83

@guitarfishbay do you ever find yourself hankering for a "real" amp? 

@welshboyo I agree with your points in that Helix is much easier to get hold of, it's an impressive unit. I got a sound I like dialled in within 10 minutes yesterday. But couldn't help but feel I needed to dig deeper to get it perfected, does that sound right? Obviously 10 minutes isn't enough.

With both, how much control do you have over delay repeats and subdivisions etc? 

The Axe has a far bigger array of effects and amps, which appeals to me (mostly for effects, being a Gilmour fan), is the Helix getting more FX and amps?

Anyone tried Gilmour-ish stuff on either unit and been happy?

guitarfishbay

I'd like a valve poweramp, other than that not really.

If you're the type that wants access to tweakable parameters the Fractal stuff lets you do a lot of deep editing.  

If you want I can screenshot a bunch of Axe Edit pages to see what parameters there are later on when I get in.

Jonathanthomas83

@guitarfishbay that sounds good to me, thank you very much! I really appreciate that!

guitarfishbay

Drive Block




Amp Block











Delay Block

Jonathanthomas83

@guitarfishbay that's amazing, thank you so much. Will look at those in greater detail and see what my options are. Really appreciate it!

guitarfishbay

No problem, if you need to see any other drop down menus/blocks let me know and I'll do them when I get time 

Beexter

Can't comment on the Helix as I haven't tried one but I just didn't like any of the online demo's I watched enough to want to try one (and I watched loads!) - there was something about the sounds that didn't sit right with me- i even did the "Helix challenge" on the L6 website 3 times in a row (it randomised the samples each time) and picked the real amp 4 times out of 5 on each run through which suggests I'm hearing something I don't like. That's in no way knocking the Helix - the connectivity and hardware interface are class leading and many are really pleased with the tones they get.
I recently purchased an AX8 (arrived 2 days ago) and am delighted with it. I set up a bank of 8 presets using the computer editor and it was pretty straightforward for someone used to s simple amp and pedals. 
I took it to band rehearsal tonight and was very impressed. I was able to easily make on- the-fly adjustments to basic parameters just as I would do with pedals. Whilst there is an incredible depth of parameter tweaking you can do, you don't have to to get it to sound good. No doubt, the deep editing possibilities will enable me to refine my patches over time but you can do a lot with the basics.

It was a revelation to walk into the rehearsal room tonight with the AX8 in one hand and my guitar in the other. Plug straight into the pa and go within 5 minutes.

This latest generation of modellers is in a different league to what I've had before and on my very limited experience so far, I can highly recommend the AX8

KrisGee

My view on this:

Axe fx - too much tweaking, hate those deep edit menus and lack of basic adjustments on the front panel. It's what puts me off straight away no matter how good the unit can sound.
Helix - I know some of you guys swear by those units and judging from the clips they can sound fantastic, but after hd series I just can't trust line 6 anymore. Great UI tho.
Kemper - I like the simplicity of use, light weight, built in power amp (powered models), real amp controls and feel and a fact that the unit hasn't changed internally since the day it was introduced. It's firmware updates which make it better. Of course there are now rack and power versions but they all offer same tonal quality.

My powerhead arrives in 9 days

Drew_TNBD

Beexter said:

i even did the "Helix challenge" on the L6 website 3 times in a row (it randomised the samples each time) and picked the real amp 4 times out of 5 on each run through which suggests I'm hearing something I don't like.

Can you do it again and post a screenshot of your results?

Drew_TNBD

KrisGee said:

 a fact that the unit hasn't changed internally since the day it was introduced. It's firmware updates which make it better. 

um... firmware updates ARE internal changes, and the Kemper has had at least one update that changed the profiling mechanism and the low-end response. So you're incorrect.

Jonathanthomas83

@Drew_TNBD Looks like there is a healthy split down the middle with those who chose Helix at 44%, 12% didn't know, 44% chose the real amp. I picked the real amp, like @Beexter ;

Beexter

@Drew_TNBD I was clear to point out that I'm not in any way knocking the Helix and as @Jonathanthomas83 posted,  44% of people taking the challenge preferred the real amp. I'm one of those 44%. Incidentally,  it was exactly the same percentage split when I did it......
They're both good units but naturally,  some will prefer one over the other, just like some will prefer Fender over Gibson - it's all cool. 

Drew_TNBD

The test isn't about preference though. It's about choosing which is the real amp - ie; being able to spot the difference. So those figures don't reflect much more than random chance. If the Helix were obviously inferior to the real amp, you'd see a swing towards everyone picking the real amps most of the time.

I don't really have a dog in the game tbh. I just found your statement a bit bizzare.

Jonathanthomas83

Really? Random choice. I'm not sure about that, there's something in it that makes one person choice the correct answer 4 out of 5 times. I'll admit, they were all very close and sometimes I had to give them a second listen, but overall, I found it fairly easy to distinguish. That's not knocking the Helix, sounds amazing.

TimmyO

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Really? Random choice. I'm not sure about that, there's something in it that makes one person choice the correct answer 4 out of 5 times. 

Yep really. It's an easy trap to fall into because the maths of statistics is very counter-intuitive 

Jonathanthomas83

Fair enough :-)

gearaddict

Beexter said:

i even did the "Helix challenge" on the L6 website 3 times in a row (it randomised the samples each time) and picked the real amp 4 times out of 5 on each run through which suggests I'm hearing something I don't like. 

I went and tried this challenge after reading your comment and I'm surprised you could pick the real amp so often. I was really impressed with how similar the two were. I picked the real amp for the first and last one but was wrong for the others and tbh it was a bit of a toss-up for all of them.

Listening to it made me want to buy one a lot!

I'm kind of hanging on to see what the Headrush looks like...but may well go Helix in the next couple of months.