For everyone who has said that the tones I got in the audio comparison were poor, I only had a day or two with all 3 units so didn't have loads of time to tweak the tones unfortunately. For that reason I tried to use stock presets on each unit to try and make it fair. I agree that the tones I got definitely could've been better but I still think the points I made about the tonality of each unit stand
I bought a Helix right when this video was posted, January 2017. Over two years of experience with it now. I love it! Best money I ever spent on guitar equipment. This video doesn't reflect what the Helix can do in terms of tone. My usage is playing with a cover band ('80s/'90s rock), and modern P&W on Sunday mornings. So tons of live playing, with heavy effects usage. I run a single XLR cable straight to the soundboard. I show up to play with nothing but my Telecaster in its case, and my Helix in its backpack. That's it! Sure beats all the years dragging around a huge pedal board and 35lb tube amp. As Jordan says in this video , the Helix is designed and built for live playing. I really see it as unbeatable in that area compared to the Kemper setups I've seen. The Kemper guys I see usually only use it as an amp, and are still running a full size analog pedal board into it. They always sound great, no doubt. But not great enough to spend more money, let alone give up the Helix convenience. I definitely would also complain about the Helix tones in this video if that's what I was getting. But the tones in this video are not reflective of what the Helix will do. Thanks to Jordan for specifying that he was using a stock Helix preset in that video. Fair enough. Line 6 should have better stock presets. But from my experience just a little effort is required to get stellar tone from the Helix. The tone may not be quite equal to the others, but close enough that it almost comes down to personal preference as to which is preferable. The tone quality is at least close enough to the other devices that it becomes a non-issue when playing live in a mix. Also, Line 6 releases updates to the Helix every few months. They are still updating it. They keep adding more amps and effect pedals. It's like getting new amps and pedals for free every few months. The Helix is far more heavily equipped now than it was when that video was created. There is no reason to run down the other devices here. I've never played through them. They sound great. But for ease of use, convenience in setup, and with nearly indistinguishable tone quality, the Helix is more than a viable option. That doesn't even get into the question of price. I've never owned any other piece of Line 6 hardware. Didn't like how they looked, and wasn't impressed with how they sound. That changes with the Helix. It's really beautiful. When I play out people often comment how cool it looks. That's icing on the cake given how great it sounds. My favorite thing about the Helix is, it's completely cured me of GAS. I was on the new pedal/new amp merry-go-round for too long, always feeling like I needed something else to really have a complete rig. With the Helix the rig is complete. Nothing else is needed. There is nothing else I want. When I go to Sweetwater in person, and stare at that walls full of effect pedals and amps, walking away with no GAS is sublime!
I have a Helix. The stock cabs are usable but not great. A good collection of IRs makes a massive improvement. I got the Ownhammer and Celestion IRs. I prefer the Celestion ones at the moment although the Ownhammer IRs are also really good.
I have the Axe Fx2 XL Plus and I love it. I originally just bought to try it out not thinking I would like as I have never really like digital. I am continually blown away at how good it sounds and how "real" it sounds.
I have owned all three. Started with the Axe FX, sold and got Kemper, and sold and got Helix. Kept Helix. Easiest interface hands down, and with the IR's you can get online, it's killer. They are all great units, they can all do what you need them to. It's how fast can you get there and with how much effort learning the interface. If you're not a 'tinkerer', then the Helix is an easy choice. If you get off on endless parameters and a world of tweaking, then the Axe is your baby. If you've got money to burn after purchasing, the Kemper is incredible. I spent loot on some Britt profiles and wasn't disappointed. If I had more money I'd own all three.. They're all killer. Get what makes you happy. For me it was the Helix.
After over a year of watching demos and reviews I got the helix rack and controller and I'm glad I did, plus have cash left from not getting the axe fx I can buy a pair of frfr powered cabs to boot awesome machine!!!
I also went with the Helix. Needed floor unit, and with the celestion IRs I have the best guitar sound I have ever had. I get compliments every gig. Went all in with the Line 6 PA speakers and mixer, so easy to use and amazing sound. Axe FX was great too, but too much fiddling for me. Admittedly I have never tried a Kemper, would love too but no real need now. I have some samples of my helix tone on my page if interested.
Well laid out video. Well done mate. I have heard much better tones dialled through all 3 units using identical cabs and mics. Kemper is without doubt the best in regards to being closer to that air moving punch of a real amp. I owned an AXE FX 2 and my engineer pulled phenomenal sounds out of it for live gigs. But when we went into the studio the high gain amps on the AXE had a slight digital fizz compared to the Kemper. Then we AB'd the Kemper with the real thing, and the Kemper lacked that real amp air push. So really, in the studio, it's hard to beat the real thing. However, for live gigs, I'd never use the real thing again unless I had full time roadies setting everything up and packing up every gig, as the AXE was so versatile and sounded incredible when plugged directly into FOH, and the reason I chose it over the Kemper at the time was because it was more of a '1 stop shop in a box'... But considering I'm not a huge effects guy and only really use reverbs and slight delays, I think I'll get a Kemper Power Rack next time in order to get as close as possible to the real thing. So: AXE FX 2 - Excellent versatility and incredible effects with high quality versions of your favourite amps but not quite able to completely erase that digital vibe (almost but not quite there yet.) KEMPER - Closest to the real thing you can get. Versatile. Simple to use. Lacks high quality effects compared to AXE but hard to pass up on how close it gets to the real thing. For recording, I still cannot go past a real tube amp for that rounded punchy push. HELIX - Great fun. Easy to use. Fails in comparison to AXE and KEMPER in regards to sounding real & authentic but still a very useful tool for all purposes. Purists looking for easier options (kind of me) would be happiest with a combination of Kemper's amp sounds but with AXE's effects and HELIX's usability. Somebody invent this immediately.
One of the things that is a pet peeve for me with most of these kind of shootout demos, is that these differences in the sounds can be evened out with simple EQ changes.
The Helix is unreal, if you can't get good sounds out of it... you simply don't know how to use it. 1) Select the proper mic, mic distance and early reflections. 2) Set the amp master volume, which is somewhat hidden on the second page of the amp settings. Crank it to 10 for power amp distortion. 3) Use low cut and high cut on the cab to get rid of any rumble or hiss from the raw amp sound. 4) Pad your guitar signal on the input if you're using super hot pickups (EMGs, etc.) for clean sounds. 5) Level out the volume on the cabs if you're using multiple amps. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to leave the default settings for any amp/cab after you add it, some of them have the master volume initially set to 2 (weak!) and the mic set back from the cab (weak!).
Yup. Agreed. I have had a Kemper since it was released. It is fantastic. But the drawback is in production. You have to spend a lot of time going through profiles to find the right fit in the mix. You can tweak the knobs on the Kemper and cheat but that get's away from the authentic tone of the amp. I find myself using the Helix more honestly simply because it's faster to get the sound I need. I don't use the presets. I just tweak until I like and the results are great. And when pairing it with Two Notes Torpedo IR cab plugin you can get even better results.
Could not agree more. YES, the Helix takes some time, but now with the new update, the use of snapshots the use of IR's (which TOTALLY changes the tone of the Helix) make this a new machine. I love it and enjoy my time with it tweaking and creating my own tones. Functionality in the Helix and ease of use also puts in on the top for me.
Chris Jones, I’ve never tried a Kemper, but I did have an Axe fx 11xl. It sounded very good, after some in-depth tinkering. I liked it, but never loved it. This week I’ve bought a Helix. Already I really thinks it’s superb. Once again, a bit of personal editing is needed, but it’s so user friendly, and I have it sounding on par with the Axe fx I had. I concur with all the positive things that’ve been said about the Helix. 👍
I decided on the Helix rack and controller, after months of research and glad I did wasn't to hard to get started making your own patches from scratch and paying attention to helix owners who know what the hell their doing and taking their advice, and not listening to people who were not happy with the sounds coming out of the presets and gave up before they learned how to use the tools that are there to make it your own, so they bash a fine quality piece of gear, their loss!!!
It's interesting as someone who has been out of the field for well over a decade to listen to these new digital gizmos. I was in to preamps with multi-effects long before Line 6 was a gleam in young Jordan's eye, so let me tell you; it would be hard to go wrong with ANY of these units in terms of owning one for their intended use. The profiling amp is brilliant. I just watched a demo where they did the profile on the spot and then did an A/B sound-off; the results were as convincing as anything I've ever heard. I could twiddle and tweak on the Axe FX for days. I'm not sure they'll ever make an all-in-one unit that will satisfy everyone's needs but based on what I am witnessing in these videos, we shouldn't be much more than a decade-plus away. Thanks for the video!
I’m liking the Kemper. The Kemper sounds more natural, balanced, and sits in the mix better, even if it is a tiny bit thin/digital sounding, which is not a deal breaker; the Axe FX 2 sounds like they put a filter on the sound simply to darken it; and the Helix sounds like they also put a filter on the sound to make it seem more “midrangey”.
The ultimate shootout would be lining up the new Line 6 Helix LT, Fractal Audio AX8, HeadRush Pedalboard, Atomic Amps AmpliFire 12, Kemper, Positive Grid BIAS head/rack and where possible use the same speaker cabinet impulse responses from a renowned source like Own Hammer, RedWirez, Rosen Digital, Two Notes, Joey Sturgis, 3 Sigma, Celestion Plus, etc
Thanks! I have been comparing all three of these, and this really helped me decide which guitar effects and amp modeler was the one I needed. Great review!
Hey Jordan, thanks for taking time to put this video together. Really nice to compare their sound, really helps to choose between them. Btw, great riff on the demo, love the three of them… 🤘
For anyone coming here several years after this vid, I'll leave a few comments on the Kemper, which I've owned for nearly five years, and the Axe-Fx III which I've owned for a few months now. The TL;DR is that the Axe-Fx knocks the spots off the Kemper, like seriously so. But it's not quite as simple as that because there is one, and I would say only one, use case for the Kemper (aside from the price difference). This is where you already have a bunch of your own amps and a full pedal board. You can then profile your own amps, which you will do by trial and error with infinite care to get exactly the tones you want, and use your own pedals. The important thing about the Kemper is that is only really good for running the profiles pretty much exactly as profiled. This is because it uses, since it has to, the same algorithms to alter EQ and gain for every profile - to the Kemper any profile is just another profile, it doesn't know that one's a Fender Twin and another's a Marshall head for example. For this reason if you profile your own amps you will probably want to take two, three or more profiles of each at various settings and then use those as is with all controls left at noon. What the Kemper can't do is emulate properly the way the real amp it was profiled from sounds when you alter gain and EQ. Aside from the reverbs and arguably the delays the Kemper effects are pants compared to the Axe-Fx. In contrast the Axe-Fx amp models not only sound amazing, stunningly amazing, but they can be tweaked massively to alter any models tone dramatically and perhaps more importantly accurately like the real amps behaves. It can do that because each model is crafted individually. The quality of the Axe-edit software is very high. The effects are amazing and they sound just like you hoped they would sound which the Kemper's definitely don't. Also the Axe-Fx tracks beautifully into your DAW, crystal clear sound. The Kemper has a slight nasal quality to it, a sort of buzz or white noise underlying recordings especially on high gain profiles or when you increase the gain on the unit itself. It's very slight, it's not immediately obvious perhaps and you yourself will get used to it and ignore it, but the moment you record from an Axe-Fx you instantly notice it's gone. The presets on the Axe-Fx are miles better than the Kemper's. Creating your own patches from scratch is obviously more difficult and takes some learning. However if you pick one amp and work with it for a few days you will start to get to know it. Once you start to make progress designing tones the rate at which you make further progress increases exponentially but you do have to put the work in. So all in all, except in this one use case where you want to profile your own amps and use you own pedals, if you've got the money I'd say going for the Axe-Fx is a no brainer. If you haven't I would look at the Helix which I can't comment on since I've never used one except that I know it works on the same principles as the Axe-Fx and has better effects than the Kemper. I know Def Leppard, Metallica and Robert Fripp all use Axe-Fx live now and I'm sure many major artists do too. There's a reason for that. In some ways that's all you need to know really.
Probably the best explanation I've seen -- I'm in the market for a modeler and I'm both frustratingly familiar with and not a big fan of that white noise you mentioned. I've been in a toss-up between Kempers and Axe FXs and every day I seem to be swayed more and more towards the latter especially if I'm going for a specific sound in a recording and want to maintain that consistence with it if I go gigging. Some other places I read reviews and forums I see the trash talk about the 'cult' of axe users but it just seems like a solid product and there's a following for a very good reason.
@@7StringBlazer Yeah, I found this short (2m) vid of Steve Vi showing off his pedal collection. But they're all in his cupboards. At the end of the vid he shows off his Axe-Fx II and III. He says of the Axe-Fx III "That thing is a beast. It's like a space station. It's got everything and that's what I use, usually." 'Nuff said. th-cam.com/video/-KZfkqOj3BE/w-d-xo.html
Bryan Hamilton yeah I think you guys are right. I had the approach of explaining who each unit would be best suited for and not so much which is better as they're all great so I didn't put as much effort into the sound comparison, and i only had a couple days with all 3 units. I think you're right though and I should've spent more time on this part! I'll definitely take that into account if I make more of these videos in future, thanks
some people are voicing constructive criticism and the uploader seems to be positive and open for constructive criticism. so yeah...all peace here and no need for a cock fight attitude like "do your own video" :)
thanks man, but i rather enjoy this guy here improving his vids than watching one of yours if i would ask the same thing from you. but keep up the work and maybe you will get good content like this dude here. peace
Interesting comparison. I have the Helix and I agree that some of the high gain amps can sound digital, but with some external IR's and some minor editing, they can be made to sound pretty good. Not perfect, but very usable and just fine when double tracked and in a full mix with bass.
I feel Kemper and Axe tie in terms of sound quality, axe just sounds darker for me. With axe you have LOTS of fx possibilities and I really love to experiment with fx in series, parallel, looping, etc. Helix seems quite user-friendly and its already a pedalboard, no need to buy a midi footswitch controller. By the other hand it sounds awful to me for that price and has a kinda "Guitar Rig" or "Digitech" sound that I'm trying to avoid at all costs. I'm buying Axe FX 2XL. It's quite expensive but you can find one used for half the price new. All is personal preference. If you need an easy to use, decent sounding, all in one piece of gear or youre in a budget looking for something to take with you to play gigs, buy Line 6 Helix. (I would buy Ax8 btw, it's a better sounding version of this imo) If you're looking for a really nice sounding device and you don't mess up very much with fx, buy Kemper. If you're into deep fx and stereo setups go for Axe, you have the most possibilities with it than any other device.
I own a kemper....have for about 4 years. It is the single best piece of equipment I've ever purchased (and I've purchased many). However, I will say that it's not for everyone. It will never sound just like your amp like your studio or backline sound. It's very close, but that is simply not what I think it sound be considered for. for a purist, stick with your amp. That said, what your amp has difficulty doing is getting that 'sound' to a board for live or studio work. The kemper hands down wins in this category and blows away trying to mic your rig. I had great amps but always struggled translating that sound to the mains. In addition, the profiles have gotten so much better you can literally play through your amp profile, amps that you'd never be able to afford, and amps for mulitple instruments...and they truly sound awesome. Tired of hauling gear, mic'ing up, or using an in-ear setup, using multiple instruments (acoustic, bass, guitar), and recording...Kemper is an awesome solution. In my live setup I play a dumble amp, a marshall for high gain, and a fender for my cleans. My acoustic sounds fantastic and I even use it to get a 12 string effect. I get compliments all the time...and sound guys love it as it is controllable with a great sound to start with. Don't know much about the Axe, or orHelix, but IMHO you can't go wrong with the Kemper.
Ron Dallas Coverband what if dont own any of the amps i want profiled in, like the evh5150 iii, peavey 6505 plus or the dual rectifier, will it be factory profiled or do i have to it myself with the real amp?
Bit off topic but that was some sick guitar playing man!! (Btw it was the Kemper for me, sounded much more dynamic to me, certainly on the gain tones, thanks for the useful comparison!)
Can't complain about Fractal either. Cliff can be a dick, and the Fractal camp has been known to be a bit....harsh, but you can't say that its not badass in every sense of the word.
I would have to agree completely. It doesn't matter how many bells and whistles one has, if the foundation isn't sound in the amp tone department, responsiveness to touch and the like, how inspired are you going to play with it?
AX8...skip the whole thing. Have you ever played a Fractal? The good thing about all of these products is that now virtually anyone can have sick tone...shit, when I was young, none of my friends had good tone...lol...me included.
I got the KPA, friend has the FXII. We do "tweak matching" and both can do it. The forum "wisdom" that it's not a tweakers delight is not true. The FXII has more parameters, but the KPA has enough parameters to match. The forum "wisdom" that the FXII is still evolving to a real amp sound is no longer true. It's "arrived". The FXII has a nice editor, the KPA will be getting one hopefully this year. Both foot controllers are nice. I agree that the FXII is perfect for Prog Rock because it's FX is IMO still "better" overall. The KPA has great and some unique FX, but it's still "arriving" in that area. They finished delays but need work on Reverbs (which r coming.) Really good video. My summary is is, if you like EVH, Rush, etc go FXII. If you like classic rock, old raw amps w/o much effects, KPA. Both can do Hard Rock & Metal, although the KPA can, like you said, nail individual amps, so it has much more variety for a much lower price. I don't even consider the Helix in the same arena as the other two. It's a good step-child.
gauloiscalifornien At NAMM there was talk of them going to do one. After years of saying "no" this is refreshing. Meanwhile, there are third party who have released Beta but IDK their level of production of if they stopped after Kemper's announcement. The KPA forum will have links and answer in more detail from those who went to NAMM.
Dennis Barrington so it sounds like you've probably never sat down with a helix with firmware 2.5 and used 3rd party IR 's. They're all 3 great pieces of gear, but the helix is EASILY in the same arena as the other two.
Fractal has the most organic tone.. kemper has 2nd place Hilix sounds too digital especially distortion...Thanks for such a detailed, proffessioinal video without swearing and lame jokes!
Hey... I own an Axe-Fx Ultra and a Line 6 Helix. I LOVE the Helix! I like the Axe-fx too, but am thinking about selling it. I also have the MFC-101 foot controller. It's just too much stuff and not as user friendly as the Helix. I use IR's and I'm really happy with the tone. In a dark club with no visual reference, no one would ever know what I'm using unless I told them. I used to be a purist... But I just grew tired and don't care anymore. I love the Helix for the interface mostly, and am looking forward to its evolution going forward.
I feel like there's this bias towards the Helix just because of Line 6's pre-Helix digital stuff. I have had a Helix for about a year now with no knowledge of frequencies or effects and such, I have dialed in great tones both clean and metal that blow all of these examples out of the water. I myself have always disliked Line 6 products but I will swear by my Helix now and I can't justify spend over $2000 on an Axe-fx when my Helix sounds amazing.
Michael Suico the ax fx and Kemper aren't audio interfaces?? Shit thought they were.... I have a helix LT though and fucking love it. Best piece of gear I've ever purchased.
I felt the same way about Line 6. But once I tried the helix I was sold. After the last few firmware upgrades and the addition of the Friedman amps, paired with the Celestion IRs and my new Powercab....I have the guitar tone of my dreams. Practising at home, recording and live it is covered.
what type of music do you think helix is most suited to? it seems the different units have different jobs they do best. I'm hearing a lot of good things about helix and its clean sounds and effects where as BIAS head gets high marks for authentic tube tone. fractal and helix seem almost identical in sound quality but neither gets good high gain sounds imo. I like the BIAS head best. what makes helix best for you?
Great Examples & Concise Summaries on the three units! Very helpful to myself - Thank you very much indeed! Been waiting for something like this to help me make my mind up. And it's definitely the Fractal Axe effects for me now! Albeit the most expensive out of the three! It suits my needs best which is down to your threes comparisons! Great!
If you are going to do something like this you should use the same Cab IR’S for a fair comparison . I don’t even use the Factory AXE IR’S rather I use Ownhammer and Celestion which does make a pretty big different in sound quality over the stock stuff . Regardless when it comes to the Kemper Vs the Fractal its sometimes just comes down to individual taste as they are both fantastic .
Kemper sounded the best. but honestly, if it's supposed to model straight from the amp, I think it should. I still prefer the Ax FX. The amount of tone shaping and options is RIDICULOUS. And it still sounds better than the Helix. But yea, I agree. They're all good. Just depends on what you're looking for.
I want to get a Kemper. It sounds awesome! I still haven't even scratched the surface of my FXII though. My wife is going to be mad. Sometimes she doesn't notice my new gear but she'll notice that thing.
@depechex I have heard it, but honestly IMHO I didn't think they measured up to the effects in the Axe. There's a certain transparency in the effects of the Fractal unit. I do really love some of the Kemper tones though, but wasn't really crazy about the layout. I honestly think both are great additions to any players arsenal. I just think that stating either is better "hands down" is going WAY over the top, and honestly sounds like it's coming from someone who probably hasn't tried either for an extended period of time. At the end of the day, after trying the Kemper, and owning the Axe-fx II, I still find myself going back to my Mesa-Boogie Mark IV when recording. Modeling has come a LONG way, and buried in a mix both the Kemper and Axe hold up fine, but we still have a number of years ahead of us before we can toss out real Valve amps anyway. I will also say that the Helix doesn't even belong in this discussion......
Peter Bond axe does not sound more realistic, I had Axe FX2 and Kemper and although I had to learn how to dial in the tones, as far as generating tones, Fractal loses because it's competing with profiles created by The Amp Factory in a $100,000 studio with $5k mics etc. You really think a tone clone can compete with a profile of the real thing? a profile of a $10,000 vintage marshall plexi?. It can't, that's why I sold Axe FX2, even though Fractal might have better effects, for now, but Kemper keeps updating their effects side so it's only a matter of time before they pass up Fractal, OR Kemper 2 comes out and completely beats AXE2
Line6 Helix Rack. If your willing to put the time in, you can make one of the best tones possible. I definitely recommend checking out their IRs. And 100% get the update.
The only problem with these devices is that some guitarists will spend more time pushing buttons and turning knobs than learning and playing actual music on their guitar. For indecisive perfectionists, these devices could become a tweaking nightmare.
I have been using quite a few L6 products in the last few years. I find good success to cutting the frequencies beyond ~5.5k+ and the things like fizz and unwanted sound they are disliked for. Cab impulses through they DAW or a pedal make them much more effective in general as well. I'd be happy to use any of these!
Tell you the truth they all sounded decent but at the same time nothing like the amps they are going for, I have three of those amps, the 5150, dual rec and the Twin, and four cabs loaded with different speakers... No matter what cab/amp combination I use I don't hear, for example, a 5150 like it was represented here... I guess I could get somewhat close to it if I I really tried, but that's the point isn't it? I would have to tweak the amp to make it sound like the modeler, naturally the gain structure, the harmonics are very different, not necessarily better (though I love their sounds), but different. Another thing to note is that all of these units are going for the "signature sound" of the particular amp they are modeling, and keeping the 5150 comparison, I have never heard the green channel of the 5150 with the crunch button pushed in and the gain pushed high, which gives you a real beautiful JCM800 kind of tone, for all the talk about modeling the amps to the component level, why are little nuances like that ignored? No one amp sounds like the "signature sound" all the time, you can get very different sounds out of even the most "one trick pony" amp like the 5150. Also, one thing I could never quite understand... Unless you are in a cover band, maybe a worship band, and definitely in a studio, why in the heck do you need 50 different amp sounds? Seriously? Like I said, I can see the uses for a modeler in a studio, sure, very nice to have indeed, but in your "regular" band? Just get yourself a nice amp and be done with it.
I've posted this before, but 5150's , dual recs or twins side-by-side will sound different from one another, just like 2 different Strats or Les Pauls. A few are great , most are ok, and some suck. How old are the tubes, the caps , the speakers in each amp? How's the power going to the amp? I've played in clubs where my amp sounds great on Friday and terrible on Saturday. Those variables make these comparisons kinda pointless. I found the modelers way more consistant. I'd bet everyone on this comment section would pick the modeler 50%+ of the time as the preferable sound in a blind test. Plus, every player I know today does home recording and unless you've spent major money on mics, pre's and have a great room, you can't record a tube amp and have it sound better than these modelers, and you can't re-amp your track worth a damn.
Theres pro and cons for everything but tube amps seem to always feel most natural playing. Maybe 100 years from now the digital world has caught up with the analogue world but in my opinion were just not there yet...
@Jordan Harris So how close does the Helix get to the AxeFX with 3rd party IRs? The sound samples were really illuminating. Something about the distortion grain, it has bigger grains than the Kemper and AxeFX. Kind of like rough sand paper vs fine sand paper. Makes it sound digital and shrill. Thanks for your work!
I have one and after spending a few months with it I can tell you this. Importing IR's is a must. The unit sounds good but if you try a patch with stock cabs and A/B it with imported IR it's night and day. This way it comes really close to the Axe FX in sound and feel, especially with clean, crunch and gainny sounds but...I think it lacks a bit in over the top Metal high gain tones. Don't get me wrong it sounds awesome but not all of it's high gain amps are perfect so you're stuck with a few models and it needs some tweaking to get it just right. I went with the Helix because A) I wanted a Audio Interface B) a good versitile amp modeler C) a floorboard unit that I can record with and gig with on the spot and D) Ease of use. If I was only concerned about the core amp tone I'd go with the AXE FX or would have kept the Atomic Amplifire (rediculous amp tones but lacks in OD/FX).
I have the Helix as well, feel the same about IRs. I'm very satisfied after IRs. Plus, it's $800 cheaper. I'm new to listening to heavier music, so I don't have too great a feel for the high gain amps. Which ones sound right to you, and which ones are off sounding?
You can use the Axe FX for live and recording and no one would ever know that you are running it instead of a tube amp. In a blind test, that's almost impossible to distinguish between a real tube amp and the Fractal, so the Kemper profile technology doesn't impress me that much. Use the Axe FX with a power amp and a cabinet or FRFR and you'll get the same feeling that lot of people missing with studio monitors. Fractal are the best in the business, even before the 3 has been introduced. It just does anything you could ever want in the highest level.
yes you can get decent tones with a modeling amp. but the tedious time spent tweaking is not worth it. with kemper, you start on a good base. tweaking is reduced to what you would do with a real amp, bass mids and treble. there are other nerdy options, but they won't matter. profiles are good from the get go.
I think i use irig + amplitube 4 + poweramp + 4x12 or smaller gigs 2x12. Kemper has a realy unique sound wich is impressive and i can use my old pedalboard again. Fractal audio does not ship to Hungary and Line6 is just Line6 like nickelback is nickelback...
Sorry if it's already been stated; the Axe FX II is also capable of "profiling" amps and guitars; Jordan was wrong to state that this could not be done by an Axe FX II.
Power amp and speakers play huge role in tone. This is preamp tone and fx even with IR and cab sims. You need correctly voiced speakers with lots of power.
This is great. Of the three I like the sound of the AxeFX best. With every multi effects unit I've had I always end up just using four tones plus and acoustic option so conclude a unit this expensive is not necessary. I wonder how many other people do that? I had a Firehawk until recently but concluded that was overkill too. It sounded OK though. A low cost alternative to Helix.
my question is with "aftermarket packs" on each of these 3 units....what's actually happening with those packs?......are the packs putting NEW SOUNDS into the machine or are they "packs of sounds created ON that machine and saved as presets?".........meaning it's just a file telling the machine to go to a bunch of it's own specific settings (A preset patch)... did you mention that in the video or did i miss that? ANSWER below. i think it's a combination of things (Pack types) that can be sent into the machines right?.....YES i think that new sounds can be sent into the HELIX (for example) in as IMPULSE RESPONSE file.....you can also then send in an extra file called a PRESETS FILE for settings for that new "impulse response"..... new sound. i don't know about the AXE FX but i would imagine you can send new sounds into that too. As for the Kemper.......yes, "profile files" are sort of like sending new sounds into it. mbritt.com/product/m-britt-helix-preset-pack-1/
The 5150 models at the 8:30 mark demonstrate how important the EQ is to the sound. The Kemper sounds scooped, the Fractal has the mids pushed wide open. I could make them sound identical just by messing with the EQ. Pretty sure you'd be happy with either. If the Kemper is good enough for Paul Gilbert, then it's probably good enough for everyone. If the Fractal is good enough for Tosin Abasi, it's probably good enough for everyone. As for effects, I can only speak for the Axe: they are incredible, and the editing is super easy via a PC.
I thought Kemper finally released an app that you can use to edit on pc? Question: can you profile effect PEDALS with the Kemper? Like an Eventide H9 for example?
Chris Jones obviously never used a helix now in 2.50 firmware build with better editor easier to get 3rd party ir's, line 6 made some lower consumer gear but the Helix is a whole different animal and I've heard some people make incredible tones with the helix,for 1k less than the axe- fx plus now they got Yamaha behind them with massive financial resources,the helix will only get better,
Great vid! I had a Helix and now own a Kemper. As you pointed out, Helix you build the rig from the start, Kemper you start with the captured and can tweak with an EQ.
Thanks for taking the time to do this... these are the exact three units I am considering. I am leaning towards the Kemper, but still weighing options before I pull the trigger. Very helpful vid!! For the record, I have used Line 6 units for nearly 20-years. Most recently have been using the Roland GR-55 (but it just doesn't hold up well playing lots of shows) So giving up the versatility for something that sounds far better and more robust for a heavy gig schedule.
The Kemper and Helix both sound like they were closed miked cabs with no room mics. The Axe FX sound like they have room mics. This makes sense since the Axe FX is mainly marketed towards the studio whereas the Kemper and Helix are marketed towards both live and studio use and therefore would rely on the room sound of the real room in a live situation but sound dry in the studio and you'd have to add your own reverb to make it sound more realistic, I guess you could run it through a speaker and re-mike it if you wanted to using room mikes and blend the room mics in. It looks like Axe FX still has the advantage for plug and play studio use.
The digital sound that comes from Helix I think is just a problem of emulated cabs.. I have a POD HD500x and I've noticed the same result.. if you just try with a real cab you have no problems
Hey Jordan. Just want to say a big thanks. You are a very wise man and I feel like you are giving thoughtful and practical information. Any thoughts on the HeadRush Pedalboard?
Why do you find the Helix more suitable for an all in one studio and live solution than the Kemper? Is it because it has all the amps at the touch of a button, instead of the rig exchange that kemper has? I would think that the better sound quality on the Kemper makes up for that?
So basically, I saw my old friend had a unit in between his head and cab so the unit was on the cab and the head was on top of everything. I think that this just put effects so not a stand-alone amp. What would this be called??
I'm in the process of deciding between the kemper and the axe fx myself, and it seems the axe fx has more bass, or " fullness" to it in general. the kemper does sound good tho, and for the price difference, it is appealing. I'm wondering if you could EQ more body into the kempers sound. thoughts?
I use an old Digitech 2112 Tube Studio Processor that has the best real time sound morphings ever designed . Nothing out there in 2019 can match it from 1997. It's old but it's 2 tubes give the unit a sound that the Helix and Axe FX are missing. I have it Daisy chained with an older Pod HD 500 and then into Reaper with dual IR cabs.
If I were to buy one of these units, it would be the Kemper. No contest tone-wise. It sounds the most amp-like and organic. I'd get that and then add my favorite pedals or FX unit to it and call it a day. To really get apples-to-apples, you should have taken all the FX off of the sounds and just compared raw tones. The AxeFX tones were all swiming in reverb, which makes an honest comparison difficult.
Jordan, nice demo video. I had an AXE FX2 but hardly used it as I have a couple of racks full of audio processing gear. (Eventide, BOSS pedals, G-Force, Lexicon, etc.) Now I think I want to go back to the Axe FX 2 or the 3, after I listen to one of those. Your sounds were recorded fine. Its a demo video, not a Grammy award winning album. The comparisons really helped me get a much better idea of what each "machine" can do. I really like the Kemper amp sounds by far but lack of the tweakability concerns me. So Axe FX 2 or 3! :0) I agree, the Helix is a neat piece of gear, but sound-wise it lacks compared the other two. Thanks again for the information. Best regards, James
mezsh I've been struggling with these 3 and the headrush. To my ears, the Kemper sounded the best with great clarity closely followed by the axe FX. Maybe Jordan can do another great video on the headrush. Great job Jordan!
So the effects pedals on the kempler don’t sound very good compare to the effects on the axe fx? Does axe fx come with amp and effects simulation like the kempler does?
I actually thought the Kemper had the best tone. But both the AxeFX and Kemper were heads and shoulders above the Helix. I'd say go with the Kemper unless you're a total FX geek. And all three of these units would sound much better going through a miked amp and just eliminating the speaker emulators.
PSA, the power in the kemper is how good the starting point is. your tone will never sound better on the kemper than the untouched profile. However, tweaking it causes to lose those qualities as the detailed tone starts to get lost in EQ coloration. Where as the best tone you will hear from the axe fx is when it is painstakingly dialed in, but dialed in by you none the less. So, do you have the means to get YOUR own guitar sound with the kemper? what if your favorite lead profile clashes with your favorite rhythm profile, can you maintain the same quality while tweaking them to work together? No. with the axe fx, the sky is the limit when it comes to dialing in the best sound. This guy even mentioned that he didnt spend much time dialing in the tones. meaning the kemper is very easily going to sit on top in this side by side. its starting point is its best point, but you have to settle with whatever the starting point while your hands are tied with dialing it in to a large degree. If you have lots of awesome tube amps at your disposal, you will be able to dial in your kemper tones to your liking relative to your real amps. Otherwise, every tone you use on the kemper will have been dialed in by someone else. turning the search for ideal tone into a literal search through the rig exchange, instead of dialing it in yourself like on the axe fx. both great units, but I just wanted to add this detail for the people claiming kemper wins easy. I love kemper too btw, I own one. just giving my two cents on the topic. I honestly wish you could dial in more on the kemper.
Gotta say the helix sounds nowhere near like in in this video lol. Get some great Celestion IR's and take some time to tweak the tones and you will get insane results. They keep up easily with kemper and axe fx.
you give a decent explanation of everything here. To me I like kemper for most everything including metal but axe-fx does prog and djent much better. Fractal to me just seems to lend its own unique tone that really works well for tight djent and prog style stuff. It definitely lends its own tone though it's just a matter of do u like it and is it what you want. Kemper just sounds like the amp itself which I usually prefer then just use pedals in front if I need specific effects whereas axe-fx already has the crazy effects built in. On a side note I really love your music and listen to it all the time.
Fractal seems to go "beyond" what's capable in an amp. Tosin Abasi mentions something to that effect, and that he uses amp tones that go beyond what a typical amp can do to create new sounds. So yeah, AxeFX seems suited for prog and djent.
yep this is true. I have a Kemper myself due to the pure versatility. But i want an axe-fx too. lol keep saving i guess.
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weeeeell i profiled all amps of the helix AND Axe fx and it is cool the only thing helix and axe fx and helix do better, when it comes to sound is proper gain staging ... the kemper generates a a single distortion characteristic out of the amps and the helix and axe fx offer preamp distortion and control over the poweramp/mastervolume ... that makes them sometimes creamier, fuzzier and saggier but that is not always better ... but like i say always you do not buy the sound alone but a workflow, a customer service, software and the lenght of the product cycles ... so while the listener only cares about the end product the player needs to consider much more imo ... Btw. if you're a kemper user just go to rig exchange i give my profiles away for free
Wow, I expected to like the Axe8 the best. It sounded dull and lifeless like a Line 6 POD.....as if the mic was sitting behind the cab and not in front of the speaker. My favorite by far was the Kemper. Sounded real and like an actual amp, open and clear. Axe8 is way over hyped. Helix sounded ok but better than the Axe8. I’m using a Marantz pre/pwr amp with Bowers & Wilkins full range DM603S3 towers. Elite stuff not my iPhone speaker ;)
The answer to the 'Which Should You Buy?' question is .......... a tube amp. Okay snarky comment aside, I really appreciate the time and care you took in making this video. I feel that your assessments were fair. I understand why you would include the Helix in this - because if you made a video with only the Axe and Kemper, you would have been criticized for not including it. But based on this, the Helix was outclassed in every example. I owned an Axe for about a year and used to be a big defender of it - but after dozens of hours of tweaking it - and getting it to sound very good - it could not deliver what a good tube amp can. I don't think the technology is there yet. It's closer than it has ever been by far - but for now ..... tube amp. Thanks again for the great video.
I have a question and if you can answer me it would be really appreciated! Can I take Kemper and plug it straight into USB interface and jam on speakers ?
if I was loaded with $$$, Kemper (rack variant) and the Fractal Audio AX8 would be my picks of modellers. They would keep me entertained for years \m/. Something that I may be able to afford one day would be something like the Atomic Amps AmpliFire 12. A basic audio interface and some free or cheap plugins are more within my budget, sadly, lol @ me.
Nice... But as a guitar player, i neveer will change my real valves amps... As a producer in my own studio, no way, my clients lookking for VALVES... But thanks for this demo, really revealing 🤘😎🎸
For everyone who has said that the tones I got in the audio comparison were poor, I only had a day or two with all 3 units so didn't have loads of time to tweak the tones unfortunately. For that reason I tried to use stock presets on each unit to try and make it fair. I agree that the tones I got definitely could've been better but I still think the points I made about the tonality of each unit stand
dont make a video comparing sounds if youre going to half ass it then.
@@drack1997 Just be grateful for posting it!
@LameUFO ?
@LameUFO oooook
I bought a Helix right when this video was posted, January 2017. Over two years of experience with it now. I love it! Best money I ever spent on guitar equipment. This video doesn't reflect what the Helix can do in terms of tone.
My usage is playing with a cover band ('80s/'90s rock), and modern P&W on Sunday mornings. So tons of live playing, with heavy effects usage. I run a single XLR cable straight to the soundboard. I show up to play with nothing but my Telecaster in its case, and my Helix in its backpack. That's it! Sure beats all the years dragging around a huge pedal board and 35lb tube amp.
As Jordan says in this video , the Helix is designed and built for live playing. I really see it as unbeatable in that area compared to the Kemper setups I've seen. The Kemper guys I see usually only use it as an amp, and are still running a full size analog pedal board into it. They always sound great, no doubt. But not great enough to spend more money, let alone give up the Helix convenience.
I definitely would also complain about the Helix tones in this video if that's what I was getting. But the tones in this video are not reflective of what the Helix will do. Thanks to Jordan for specifying that he was using a stock Helix preset in that video. Fair enough. Line 6 should have better stock presets. But from my experience just a little effort is required to get stellar tone from the Helix. The tone may not be quite equal to the others, but close enough that it almost comes down to personal preference as to which is preferable. The tone quality is at least close enough to the other devices that it becomes a non-issue when playing live in a mix.
Also, Line 6 releases updates to the Helix every few months. They are still updating it. They keep adding more amps and effect pedals. It's like getting new amps and pedals for free every few months. The Helix is far more heavily equipped now than it was when that video was created.
There is no reason to run down the other devices here. I've never played through them. They sound great. But for ease of use, convenience in setup, and with nearly indistinguishable tone quality, the Helix is more than a viable option. That doesn't even get into the question of price.
I've never owned any other piece of Line 6 hardware. Didn't like how they looked, and wasn't impressed with how they sound. That changes with the Helix. It's really beautiful. When I play out people often comment how cool it looks. That's icing on the cake given how great it sounds.
My favorite thing about the Helix is, it's completely cured me of GAS. I was on the new pedal/new amp merry-go-round for too long, always feeling like I needed something else to really have a complete rig. With the Helix the rig is complete. Nothing else is needed. There is nothing else I want. When I go to Sweetwater in person, and stare at that walls full of effect pedals and amps, walking away with no GAS is sublime!
To my ears, the Kemper wins hands down.
lol ...
I just bought one! I'm so excited!
@@xxdemonshitxx the PC software is there
www.kemper-amps.com/downloads
i think it gives you editability of Profiles.....not sure
Kemper is amazing, no video on TH-cam does it justice.
@@xxdemonshitxx kemper is bad ass, Axe FX,, even 3, does not beat it in any way.. good choice.
if my Helix sounded like your Helix.. i would light it on fire..
:D
I agree^^ :-D
LMAO
yup! LMAO
Exactly why I got rid of my Helix and bought a GT-1000. Line 6 laid a HUGE turd with the Helix
as far as pure tone goes: Kemper . Ax FX can do dual amps and has better effects, so the best tone would be a Kemper w/ a Fractal FX8.
I have a Helix. The stock cabs are usable but not great. A good collection of IRs makes a massive improvement. I got the Ownhammer and Celestion IRs. I prefer the Celestion ones at the moment although the Ownhammer IRs are also really good.
I have the Axe Fx2 XL Plus and I love it. I originally just bought to try it out not thinking I would like as I have never really like digital. I am continually blown away at how good it sounds and how "real" it sounds.
I have owned all three. Started with the Axe FX, sold and got Kemper, and sold and got Helix. Kept Helix. Easiest interface hands down, and with the IR's you can get online, it's killer. They are all great units, they can all do what you need them to. It's how fast can you get there and with how much effort learning the interface. If you're not a 'tinkerer', then the Helix is an easy choice. If you get off on endless parameters and a world of tweaking, then the Axe is your baby. If you've got money to burn after purchasing, the Kemper is incredible. I spent loot on some Britt profiles and wasn't disappointed. If I had more money I'd own all three..
They're all killer. Get what makes you happy. For me it was the Helix.
Brunan68 thanks!
After over a year of watching demos and reviews I got the helix rack and controller and I'm glad I did, plus have cash left from not getting the axe fx I can buy a pair of frfr powered cabs to boot awesome machine!!!
I also went with the Helix. Needed floor unit, and with the celestion IRs I have the best guitar sound I have ever had. I get compliments every gig. Went all in with the Line 6 PA speakers and mixer, so easy to use and amazing sound. Axe FX was great too, but too much fiddling for me. Admittedly I have never tried a Kemper, would love too but no real need now. I have some samples of my helix tone on my page if interested.
Don't judge the Helix by presets....trust me. Dig in and you will be blown away
ShredRex Guitar I have and still not blown away
Well laid out video. Well done mate.
I have heard much better tones dialled through all 3 units using identical cabs and mics. Kemper is without doubt the best in regards to being closer to that air moving punch of a real amp. I owned an AXE FX 2 and my engineer pulled phenomenal sounds out of it for live gigs. But when we went into the studio the high gain amps on the AXE had a slight digital fizz compared to the Kemper. Then we AB'd the Kemper with the real thing, and the Kemper lacked that real amp air push. So really, in the studio, it's hard to beat the real thing. However, for live gigs, I'd never use the real thing again unless I had full time roadies setting everything up and packing up every gig, as the AXE was so versatile and sounded incredible when plugged directly into FOH, and the reason I chose it over the Kemper at the time was because it was more of a '1 stop shop in a box'...
But considering I'm not a huge effects guy and only really use reverbs and slight delays, I think I'll get a Kemper Power Rack next time in order to get as close as possible to the real thing.
So:
AXE FX 2 - Excellent versatility and incredible effects with high quality versions of your favourite amps but not quite able to completely erase that digital vibe (almost but not quite there yet.)
KEMPER - Closest to the real thing you can get. Versatile. Simple to use. Lacks high quality effects compared to AXE but hard to pass up on how close it gets to the real thing. For recording, I still cannot go past a real tube amp for that rounded punchy push.
HELIX - Great fun. Easy to use. Fails in comparison to AXE and KEMPER in regards to sounding real & authentic but still a very useful tool for all purposes.
Purists looking for easier options (kind of me) would be happiest with a combination of Kemper's amp sounds but with AXE's effects and HELIX's usability. Somebody invent this immediately.
I'm interested in Your opinion now, when Kemper has a lot better effects and also there is a Kemper Stage unit :)
Thanks
The Kemper is truly lifechanging, an amazing machine that last forever
One of the things that is a pet peeve for me with most of these kind of shootout demos, is that these differences in the sounds can be evened out with simple EQ changes.
the point is to compare the sounds out of the box. anyone can mix and process something to sound good. the point is to already sound good lol
The Helix is unreal, if you can't get good sounds out of it... you simply don't know how to use it. 1) Select the proper mic, mic distance and early reflections. 2) Set the amp master volume, which is somewhat hidden on the second page of the amp settings. Crank it to 10 for power amp distortion. 3) Use low cut and high cut on the cab to get rid of any rumble or hiss from the raw amp sound. 4) Pad your guitar signal on the input if you're using super hot pickups (EMGs, etc.) for clean sounds. 5) Level out the volume on the cabs if you're using multiple amps. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to leave the default settings for any amp/cab after you add it, some of them have the master volume initially set to 2 (weak!) and the mic set back from the cab (weak!).
Yup. Agreed. I have had a Kemper since it was released. It is fantastic. But the drawback is in production. You have to spend a lot of time going through profiles to find the right fit in the mix. You can tweak the knobs on the Kemper and cheat but that get's away from the authentic tone of the amp. I find myself using the Helix more honestly simply because it's faster to get the sound I need. I don't use the presets. I just tweak until I like and the results are great. And when pairing it with Two Notes Torpedo IR cab plugin you can get even better results.
Could not agree more. YES, the Helix takes some time, but now with the new update, the use of snapshots the use of IR's (which TOTALLY changes the tone of the Helix) make this a new machine. I love it and enjoy my time with it tweaking and creating my own tones. Functionality in the Helix and ease of use also puts in on the top for me.
completely agree. once you know how to use the helix it is absolutely awesome. unfortunately most people who demo it on youtube haven't got a clue.
Chris Jones, I’ve never tried a Kemper, but I did have an Axe fx 11xl. It sounded very good, after some in-depth tinkering. I liked it, but never loved it. This week I’ve bought a Helix. Already I really thinks it’s superb. Once again, a bit of personal editing is needed, but it’s so user friendly, and I have it sounding on par with the Axe fx I had. I concur with all the positive things that’ve been said about the Helix. 👍
I decided on the Helix rack and controller, after months of research and glad I did wasn't to hard to get started making your own patches from scratch and paying attention to helix owners who know what the hell their doing and taking their advice, and not listening to people who were not happy with the sounds coming out of the presets and gave up before they learned how to use the tools that are there to make it your own, so they bash a fine quality piece of gear, their loss!!!
It's interesting as someone who has been out of the field for well over a decade to listen to these new digital gizmos. I was in to preamps with multi-effects long before Line 6 was a gleam in young Jordan's eye, so let me tell you; it would be hard to go wrong with ANY of these units in terms of owning one for their intended use. The profiling amp is brilliant. I just watched a demo where they did the profile on the spot and then did an A/B sound-off; the results were as convincing as anything I've ever heard. I could twiddle and tweak on the Axe FX for days. I'm not sure they'll ever make an all-in-one unit that will satisfy everyone's needs but based on what I am witnessing in these videos, we shouldn't be much more than a decade-plus away.
Thanks for the video!
Just entirely based on the sounds in this video, tone-wise I like Kemper, Axe & Helix in that order. Thanks for a thorough demo & review.
I’m liking the Kemper. The Kemper sounds more natural, balanced, and sits in the mix better, even if it is a tiny bit thin/digital sounding, which is not a deal breaker; the Axe FX 2 sounds like they put a filter on the sound simply to darken it; and the Helix sounds like they also put a filter on the sound to make it seem more “midrangey”.
The ultimate shootout would be lining up the new Line 6 Helix LT, Fractal Audio AX8, HeadRush Pedalboard, Atomic Amps AmpliFire 12, Kemper, Positive Grid BIAS head/rack and where possible use the same speaker cabinet impulse responses from a renowned source like Own Hammer, RedWirez, Rosen Digital, Two Notes, Joey Sturgis, 3 Sigma, Celestion Plus, etc
Thanks! I have been comparing all three of these, and this really helped me decide which guitar effects and amp modeler was the one I needed. Great review!
Hey Jordan, thanks for taking time to put this video together. Really nice to compare their sound, really helps to choose between them. Btw, great riff on the demo, love the three of them… 🤘
For anyone coming here several years after this vid, I'll leave a few comments on the Kemper, which I've owned for nearly five years, and the Axe-Fx III which I've owned for a few months now. The TL;DR is that the Axe-Fx knocks the spots off the Kemper, like seriously so.
But it's not quite as simple as that because there is one, and I would say only one, use case for the Kemper (aside from the price difference). This is where you already have a bunch of your own amps and a full pedal board. You can then profile your own amps, which you will do by trial and error with infinite care to get exactly the tones you want, and use your own pedals.
The important thing about the Kemper is that is only really good for running the profiles pretty much exactly as profiled. This is because it uses, since it has to, the same algorithms to alter EQ and gain for every profile - to the Kemper any profile is just another profile, it doesn't know that one's a Fender Twin and another's a Marshall head for example. For this reason if you profile your own amps you will probably want to take two, three or more profiles of each at various settings and then use those as is with all controls left at noon. What the Kemper can't do is emulate properly the way the real amp it was profiled from sounds when you alter gain and EQ.
Aside from the reverbs and arguably the delays the Kemper effects are pants compared to the Axe-Fx.
In contrast the Axe-Fx amp models not only sound amazing, stunningly amazing, but they can be tweaked massively to alter any models tone dramatically and perhaps more importantly accurately like the real amps behaves. It can do that because each model is crafted individually. The quality of the Axe-edit software is very high. The effects are amazing and they sound just like you hoped they would sound which the Kemper's definitely don't.
Also the Axe-Fx tracks beautifully into your DAW, crystal clear sound. The Kemper has a slight nasal quality to it, a sort of buzz or white noise underlying recordings especially on high gain profiles or when you increase the gain on the unit itself. It's very slight, it's not immediately obvious perhaps and you yourself will get used to it and ignore it, but the moment you record from an Axe-Fx you instantly notice it's gone.
The presets on the Axe-Fx are miles better than the Kemper's. Creating your own patches from scratch is obviously more difficult and takes some learning. However if you pick one amp and work with it for a few days you will start to get to know it. Once you start to make progress designing tones the rate at which you make further progress increases exponentially but you do have to put the work in.
So all in all, except in this one use case where you want to profile your own amps and use you own pedals, if you've got the money I'd say going for the Axe-Fx is a no brainer. If you haven't I would look at the Helix which I can't comment on since I've never used one except that I know it works on the same principles as the Axe-Fx and has better effects than the Kemper.
I know Def Leppard, Metallica and Robert Fripp all use Axe-Fx live now and I'm sure many major artists do too. There's a reason for that. In some ways that's all you need to know really.
Probably the best explanation I've seen -- I'm in the market for a modeler and I'm both frustratingly familiar with and not a big fan of that white noise you mentioned. I've been in a toss-up between Kempers and Axe FXs and every day I seem to be swayed more and more towards the latter especially if I'm going for a specific sound in a recording and want to maintain that consistence with it if I go gigging. Some other places I read reviews and forums I see the trash talk about the 'cult' of axe users but it just seems like a solid product and there's a following for a very good reason.
@@7StringBlazer Yeah, I found this short (2m) vid of Steve Vi showing off his pedal collection. But they're all in his cupboards. At the end of the vid he shows off his Axe-Fx II and III. He says of the Axe-Fx III "That thing is a beast. It's like a space station. It's got everything and that's what I use, usually." 'Nuff said.
th-cam.com/video/-KZfkqOj3BE/w-d-xo.html
Thank you Jordan, for putting this together. I've been wondering about the difference between these units for awhile now!
Job well done!
Why apologize for clipping? Redo it instead. Why different cab models? That's not apples to apples. Not a fair comparison at all.
Thinking the same as you. The actual listening comparison is lacking the quality of he beginning to say it mildly...too bad.
Bryan Hamilton yeah I think you guys are right. I had the approach of explaining who each unit would be best suited for and not so much which is better as they're all great so I didn't put as much effort into the sound comparison, and i only had a couple days with all 3 units. I think you're right though and I should've spent more time on this part! I'll definitely take that into account if I make more of these videos in future, thanks
If you do an updated version of kemper vs axefx vs helix, can you please add in a 4th option for Bias fx?
some people are voicing constructive criticism and the uploader seems to be positive and open for constructive criticism. so yeah...all peace here and no need for a cock fight attitude like "do your own video" :)
thanks man, but i rather enjoy this guy here improving his vids than watching one of yours if i would ask the same thing from you. but keep up the work and maybe you will get good content like this dude here. peace
In general, I preferred the Kemper, then the Helix, and the AXFX last.
As a pro mixing engineer for alternative music I can say the axe fx sounds the best and would work the best in a modern rock/alternative album.
Interesting comparison. I have the Helix and I agree that some of the high gain amps can sound digital, but with some external IR's and some minor editing, they can be made to sound pretty good. Not perfect, but very usable and just fine when double tracked and in a full mix with bass.
Thanks for taking the time to do this Jordan it was a big help !
Great video. I think the Kemper shines over all 3 of these. Very impressive! !
I feel Kemper and Axe tie in terms of sound quality, axe just sounds darker for me. With axe you have LOTS of fx possibilities and I really love to experiment with fx in series, parallel, looping, etc.
Helix seems quite user-friendly and its already a pedalboard, no need to buy a midi footswitch controller. By the other hand it sounds awful to me for that price and has a kinda "Guitar Rig" or "Digitech" sound that I'm trying to avoid at all costs.
I'm buying Axe FX 2XL. It's quite expensive but you can find one used for half the price new.
All is personal preference.
If you need an easy to use, decent sounding, all in one piece of gear or youre in a budget looking for something to take with you to play gigs, buy Line 6 Helix. (I would buy Ax8 btw, it's a better sounding version of this imo)
If you're looking for a really nice sounding device and you don't mess up very much with fx, buy Kemper.
If you're into deep fx and stereo setups go for Axe, you have the most possibilities with it than any other device.
I own a kemper....have for about 4 years. It is the single best piece of equipment I've ever purchased (and I've purchased many). However, I will say that it's not for everyone. It will never sound just like your amp like your studio or backline sound. It's very close, but that is simply not what I think it sound be considered for. for a purist, stick with your amp. That said, what your amp has difficulty doing is getting that 'sound' to a board for live or studio work. The kemper hands down wins in this category and blows away trying to mic your rig. I had great amps but always struggled translating that sound to the mains. In addition, the profiles have gotten so much better you can literally play through your amp profile, amps that you'd never be able to afford, and amps for mulitple instruments...and they truly sound awesome. Tired of hauling gear, mic'ing up, or using an in-ear setup, using multiple instruments (acoustic, bass, guitar), and recording...Kemper is an awesome solution. In my live setup I play a dumble amp, a marshall for high gain, and a fender for my cleans. My acoustic sounds fantastic and I even use it to get a 12 string effect. I get compliments all the time...and sound guys love it as it is controllable with a great sound to start with. Don't know much about the Axe, or orHelix, but IMHO you can't go wrong with the Kemper.
Ron Dallas Coverband what if dont own any of the amps i want profiled in, like the evh5150 iii, peavey 6505 plus or the dual rectifier, will it be factory profiled or do i have to it myself with the real amp?
Thanks for the video. I'm currently trying to decide which to get and this helped me understand a lot more than before. Cheers!
Bit off topic but that was some sick guitar playing man!! (Btw it was the Kemper for me, sounded much more dynamic to me, certainly on the gain tones, thanks for the useful comparison!)
Perhaps it's subjective, but to my ears the Kemper is worth the extra expense; the other two weren't anywhere near as convincing.
not just your ears, kemper really does sound excellent
Can't complain about Fractal either. Cliff can be a dick, and the Fractal camp has been known to be a bit....harsh, but you can't say that its not badass in every sense of the word.
I would have to agree completely. It doesn't matter how many bells and whistles one has, if the foundation isn't sound in the amp tone department, responsiveness to touch and the like, how inspired are you going to play with it?
AX8...skip the whole thing. Have you ever played a Fractal? The good thing about all of these products is that now virtually anyone can have sick tone...shit, when I was young, none of my friends had good tone...lol...me included.
c'mon, everyone knows the Boss Metal Zone or Digitech Death Metal pedals through a 1980s practise amp beats all this modern gear :P
I got the KPA, friend has the FXII. We do "tweak matching" and both can do it. The forum "wisdom" that it's not a tweakers delight is not true. The FXII has more parameters, but the KPA has enough parameters to match. The forum "wisdom" that the FXII is still evolving to a real amp sound is no longer true. It's "arrived". The FXII has a nice editor, the KPA will be getting one hopefully this year. Both foot controllers are nice. I agree that the FXII is perfect for Prog Rock because it's FX is IMO still "better" overall. The KPA has great and some unique FX, but it's still "arriving" in that area. They finished delays but need work on Reverbs (which r coming.) Really good video. My summary is is, if you like EVH, Rush, etc go FXII. If you like classic rock, old raw amps w/o much effects, KPA. Both can do Hard Rock & Metal, although the KPA can, like you said, nail individual amps, so it has much more variety for a much lower price. I don't even consider the Helix in the same arena as the other two. It's a good step-child.
Dennis Barrington there will be an editor soon you think for the Kemper?
gauloiscalifornien At NAMM there was talk of them going to do one. After years of saying "no" this is refreshing. Meanwhile, there are third party who have released Beta but IDK their level of production of if they stopped after Kemper's announcement. The KPA forum will have links and answer in more detail from those who went to NAMM.
Thanks for the infos, i look forward to it.
Dennis Barrington so it sounds like you've probably never sat down with a helix with firmware 2.5 and used 3rd party IR 's. They're all 3 great pieces of gear, but the helix is EASILY in the same arena as the other two.
I am using a few out board FX units such as an H9 and Time line with my Kemper and am very pleased !
Fractal has the most organic tone.. kemper has 2nd place Hilix sounds too digital especially distortion...Thanks for such a detailed, proffessioinal video without swearing and lame jokes!
Hey... I own an Axe-Fx Ultra and a Line 6 Helix. I LOVE the Helix! I like the Axe-fx too, but am thinking about selling it. I also have the MFC-101 foot controller. It's just too much stuff and not as user friendly as the Helix. I use IR's and I'm really happy with the tone. In a dark club with no visual reference, no one would ever know what I'm using unless I told them. I used to be a purist... But I just grew tired and don't care anymore. I love the Helix for the interface mostly, and am looking forward to its evolution going forward.
I feel like there's this bias towards the Helix just because of Line 6's pre-Helix digital stuff. I have had a Helix for about a year now with no knowledge of frequencies or effects and such, I have dialed in great tones both clean and metal that blow all of these examples out of the water. I myself have always disliked Line 6 products but I will swear by my Helix now and I can't justify spend over $2000 on an Axe-fx when my Helix sounds amazing.
Jack Elliott too many Line 6 haters I love my Helix. Kemper and Fractal are good but I prefer the Helix ease of use.
Pino_74 plus let's not forget that the Helix is also an audio interface
Michael Suico the ax fx and Kemper aren't audio interfaces?? Shit thought they were.... I have a helix LT though and fucking love it. Best piece of gear I've ever purchased.
I felt the same way about Line 6. But once I tried the helix I was sold. After the last few firmware upgrades and the addition of the Friedman amps, paired with the Celestion IRs and my new Powercab....I have the guitar tone of my dreams. Practising at home, recording and live it is covered.
what type of music do you think helix is most suited to? it seems the different units have different jobs they do best. I'm hearing a lot of good things about helix and its clean sounds and effects where as BIAS head gets high marks for authentic tube tone. fractal and helix seem almost identical in sound quality but neither gets good high gain sounds imo. I like the BIAS head best. what makes helix best for you?
Great Examples & Concise Summaries on the three units! Very helpful to myself - Thank you very much indeed! Been waiting for something like this to help me make my mind up. And it's definitely the Fractal Axe effects for me now! Albeit the most expensive out of the three! It suits my needs best which is down to your threes comparisons! Great!
If you are going to do something like this you should use the same Cab IR’S for a fair comparison . I don’t even use the Factory AXE IR’S rather I use Ownhammer and Celestion which does make a pretty big different in sound quality over the stock stuff . Regardless when it comes to the Kemper Vs the Fractal its sometimes just comes down to individual taste as they are both fantastic .
Kemper sounded the best. but honestly, if it's supposed to model straight from the amp, I think it should. I still prefer the Ax FX. The amount of tone shaping and options is RIDICULOUS. And it still sounds better than the Helix. But yea, I agree. They're all good. Just depends on what you're looking for.
Great video, mr Harris. I've been following your video's for a while now and I really enjoy them. Cheers!
I want to get a Kemper. It sounds awesome! I still haven't even scratched the surface of my FXII though. My wife is going to be mad. Sometimes she doesn't notice my new gear but she'll notice that thing.
Nice job on this brother... Clear, concise, and well reviewed on all three. I'm going for the Kemper.
Kemper. Maybe one day. For now I’ll remain old fashioned with real amps and pedals.
Real tube amp and effects combi still wins for me.
Kemper hands down!
Exaggerate much?? lol..... Axe fx has it on high gain tones and slaps it silly on effects. Kemper wins on the mid gain tones though.
Brian Jones About the effects. With the last upgrade on the Kemper (5.1), you have sick and top notch effects!
@depechex
I have heard it, but honestly IMHO I didn't think they measured up to the effects in the Axe. There's a certain transparency in the effects of the Fractal unit. I do really love some of the Kemper tones though, but wasn't really crazy about the layout. I honestly think both are great additions to any players arsenal. I just think that stating either is better "hands down" is going WAY over the top, and honestly sounds like it's coming from someone who probably hasn't tried either for an extended period of time. At the end of the day, after trying the Kemper, and owning the Axe-fx II, I still find myself going back to my Mesa-Boogie Mark IV when recording. Modeling has come a LONG way, and buried in a mix both the Kemper and Axe hold up fine, but we still have a number of years ahead of us before we can toss out real Valve amps anyway. I will also say that the Helix doesn't even belong in this discussion......
I dont have all of these, but base on those amps tested, I say Kemper is going to my wish list cart. thx Jordan for the vid!
Peter Bond axe does not sound more realistic, I had Axe FX2 and Kemper and although I had to learn how to dial in the tones, as far as generating tones, Fractal loses because it's competing with profiles created by The Amp Factory in a $100,000 studio with $5k mics etc. You really think a tone clone can compete with a profile of the real thing? a profile of a $10,000 vintage marshall plexi?. It can't, that's why I sold Axe FX2, even though Fractal might have better effects, for now, but Kemper keeps updating their effects side so it's only a matter of time before they pass up Fractal, OR Kemper 2 comes out and completely beats AXE2
Line6 Helix Rack. If your willing to put the time in, you can make one of the best tones possible. I definitely recommend checking out their IRs. And 100% get the update.
The only problem with these devices is that some guitarists will spend more time pushing buttons and turning knobs than learning and playing actual music on their guitar.
For indecisive perfectionists, these devices could become a tweaking nightmare.
I have been using quite a few L6 products in the last few years. I find good success to cutting the frequencies beyond ~5.5k+ and the things like fizz and unwanted sound they are disliked for. Cab impulses through they DAW or a pedal make them much more effective in general as well. I'd be happy to use any of these!
Tell you the truth they all sounded decent but at the same time nothing like the amps they are going for, I have three of those amps, the 5150, dual rec and the Twin, and four cabs loaded with different speakers... No matter what cab/amp combination I use I don't hear, for example, a 5150 like it was represented here... I guess I could get somewhat close to it if I I really tried, but that's the point isn't it? I would have to tweak the amp to make it sound like the modeler, naturally the gain structure, the harmonics are very different, not necessarily better (though I love their sounds), but different. Another thing to note is that all of these units are going for the "signature sound" of the particular amp they are modeling, and keeping the 5150 comparison, I have never heard the green channel of the 5150 with the crunch button pushed in and the gain pushed high, which gives you a real beautiful JCM800 kind of tone, for all the talk about modeling the amps to the component level, why are little nuances like that ignored? No one amp sounds like the "signature sound" all the time, you can get very different sounds out of even the most "one trick pony" amp like the 5150.
Also, one thing I could never quite understand... Unless you are in a cover band, maybe a worship band, and definitely in a studio, why in the heck do you need 50 different amp sounds? Seriously? Like I said, I can see the uses for a modeler in a studio, sure, very nice to have indeed, but in your "regular" band? Just get yourself a nice amp and be done with it.
I've posted this before, but 5150's , dual recs or twins side-by-side will sound different from one another, just like 2 different Strats or Les Pauls. A few are great , most are ok, and some suck. How old are the tubes, the caps , the speakers in each amp? How's the power going to the amp? I've played in clubs where my amp sounds great on Friday and terrible on Saturday. Those variables make these comparisons kinda pointless. I found the modelers way more consistant.
I'd bet everyone on this comment section would pick the modeler 50%+ of the time as the preferable sound in a blind test. Plus, every player I know today does home recording and unless you've spent major money on mics, pre's and have a great room, you can't record a tube amp and have it sound better than these modelers, and you can't re-amp your track worth a damn.
Theres pro and cons for everything but tube amps seem to always feel most natural playing. Maybe 100 years from now the digital world has caught up with the analogue world but in my opinion were just not there yet...
@Jordan Harris
So how close does the Helix get to the AxeFX with 3rd party IRs?
The sound samples were really illuminating. Something about the distortion grain, it has bigger grains than the Kemper and AxeFX. Kind of like rough sand paper vs fine sand paper. Makes it sound digital and shrill.
Thanks for your work!
I have one and after spending a few months with it I can tell you this. Importing IR's is a must. The unit sounds good but if you try a patch with stock cabs and A/B it with imported IR it's night and day. This way it comes really close to the Axe FX in sound and feel, especially with clean, crunch and gainny sounds but...I think it lacks a bit in over the top Metal high gain tones. Don't get me wrong it sounds awesome but not all of it's high gain amps are perfect so you're stuck with a few models and it needs some tweaking to get it just right. I went with the Helix because A) I wanted a Audio Interface B) a good versitile amp modeler C) a floorboard unit that I can record with and gig with on the spot and D) Ease of use. If I was only concerned about the core amp tone I'd go with the AXE FX or would have kept the Atomic Amplifire (rediculous amp tones but lacks in OD/FX).
I have the Helix as well, feel the same about IRs. I'm very satisfied after IRs. Plus, it's $800 cheaper.
I'm new to listening to heavier music, so I don't have too great a feel for the high gain amps. Which ones sound right to you, and which ones are off sounding?
You can use the Axe FX for live and recording and no one would ever know that you are running it instead of a tube amp.
In a blind test, that's almost impossible to distinguish between a real tube amp and the Fractal, so the Kemper profile technology doesn't impress me that much.
Use the Axe FX with a power amp and a cabinet or FRFR and you'll get the same feeling that lot of people missing with studio monitors.
Fractal are the best in the business, even before the 3 has been introduced. It just does anything you could ever want in the highest level.
Kemper DOES have full PC software now and it also has vastly improved effects from updated firmwares i believe........June 2019 .....i'ts FREE
yes you can get decent tones with a modeling amp. but the tedious time spent tweaking is not worth it. with kemper, you start on a good base. tweaking is reduced to what you would do with a real amp, bass mids and treble. there are other nerdy options, but they won't matter. profiles are good from the get go.
I think i use irig + amplitube 4 + poweramp + 4x12 or smaller gigs 2x12. Kemper has a realy unique sound wich is impressive and i can use my old pedalboard again. Fractal audio does not ship to Hungary and Line6 is just Line6 like nickelback is nickelback...
Sorry if it's already been stated; the Axe FX II is also capable of "profiling" amps and guitars; Jordan was wrong to state that this could not be done by an Axe FX II.
Power amp and speakers play huge role in tone. This is preamp tone and fx even with IR and cab sims. You need correctly voiced speakers with lots of power.
This is great. Of the three I like the sound of the AxeFX best. With every multi effects unit I've had I always end up just using four tones plus and acoustic option so conclude a unit this expensive is not necessary. I wonder how many other people do that? I had a Firehawk until recently but concluded that was overkill too. It sounded OK though. A low cost alternative to Helix.
my question is with "aftermarket packs" on each of these 3 units....what's actually happening with those packs?......are the packs putting NEW SOUNDS into the machine or are they "packs of sounds created ON that machine and saved as presets?".........meaning it's just a file telling the machine to go to a bunch of it's own specific settings (A preset patch)...
did you mention that in the video or did i miss that?
ANSWER below.
i think it's a combination of things (Pack types) that can be sent into the machines right?.....YES i think that new sounds can be sent into the HELIX (for example) in as IMPULSE RESPONSE file.....you can also then send in an extra file called a PRESETS FILE for settings for that new "impulse response"..... new sound.
i don't know about the AXE FX but i would imagine you can send new sounds into that too.
As for the Kemper.......yes, "profile files" are sort of like sending new sounds into it.
mbritt.com/product/m-britt-helix-preset-pack-1/
Kemper wins on tone, sounds like a real analog guitar amp across the board on these demos.
The 5150 models at the 8:30 mark demonstrate how important the EQ is to the sound. The Kemper sounds scooped, the Fractal has the mids pushed wide open. I could make them sound identical just by messing with the EQ. Pretty sure you'd be happy with either. If the Kemper is good enough for Paul Gilbert, then it's probably good enough for everyone. If the Fractal is good enough for Tosin Abasi, it's probably good enough for everyone. As for effects, I can only speak for the Axe: they are incredible, and the editing is super easy via a PC.
I thought Kemper finally released an app that you can use to edit on pc? Question: can you profile effect PEDALS with the Kemper? Like an Eventide H9 for example?
Ah, poor Line 6... the Beats of the guitar world.
And deservedly so !! lol
you really don't know what you are talking about
Chris Jones obviously never used a helix now in 2.50 firmware build with better editor easier to get 3rd party ir's, line 6 made some lower consumer gear but the Helix is a whole different animal and I've heard some people make incredible tones with the helix,for 1k less than the axe- fx plus now they got Yamaha behind them with massive financial resources,the helix will only get better,
Please check out Marco Fanton, he makes the Helix sound top notch. (I own Helix, Kemper, and a $3000 tube amp) anyone want to buy my David Bray amp?
actually he does lol
Great video and demonstration, man. I also appreciate your opinion, looks like I'm saving up for an Axe FX II.
Great vid! I had a Helix and now own a Kemper. As you pointed out, Helix you build the rig from the start, Kemper you start with the captured and can tweak with an EQ.
Nice video bro thank you for this! Great guitar playing I love your style of play!!! ❤️👊🏻
Thanks for taking the time to do this... these are the exact three units I am considering. I am leaning towards the Kemper, but still weighing options before I pull the trigger. Very helpful vid!! For the record, I have used Line 6 units for nearly 20-years. Most recently have been using the Roland GR-55 (but it just doesn't hold up well playing lots of shows) So giving up the versatility for something that sounds far better and more robust for a heavy gig schedule.
The Kemper and Helix both sound like they were closed miked cabs with no room mics. The Axe FX sound like they have room mics. This makes sense since the Axe FX is mainly marketed towards the studio whereas the Kemper and Helix are marketed towards both live and studio use and therefore would rely on the room sound of the real room in a live situation but sound dry in the studio and you'd have to add your own reverb to make it sound more realistic, I guess you could run it through a speaker and re-mike it if you wanted to using room mikes and blend the room mics in. It looks like Axe FX still has the advantage for plug and play studio use.
The digital sound that comes from Helix I think is just a problem of emulated cabs.. I have a POD HD500x and I've noticed the same result.. if you just try with a real cab you have no problems
Hey Jordan. Just want to say a big thanks. You are a very wise man and I feel like you are giving thoughtful and practical information. Any thoughts on the HeadRush Pedalboard?
i'm surprised to say that kemper is the winner for me
Thanks so much man, mega useful! Digging the Coma Eliptic shirt as well 👌
Tbh I've read the comments and you've done a decent job given a unbiased opinion. Cheers for the video.
Why do you find the Helix more suitable for an all in one studio and live solution than the Kemper? Is it because it has all the amps at the touch of a button, instead of the rig exchange that kemper has? I would think that the better sound quality on the Kemper makes up for that?
I'm a high gain bass player and I use a Helix. Almost got the AX8, but I'm more than happy with my choice!
So basically, I saw my old friend had a unit in between his head and cab so the unit was on the cab and the head was on top of everything. I think that this just put effects so not a stand-alone amp. What would this be called??
I'm in the process of deciding between the kemper and the axe fx myself, and it seems the axe fx has more bass, or " fullness" to it in general. the kemper does sound good tho, and for the price difference, it is appealing. I'm wondering if you could EQ more body into the kempers sound. thoughts?
I use an old Digitech 2112 Tube Studio Processor that has the best real time sound morphings ever designed . Nothing out there in 2019 can match it from 1997. It's old but it's 2 tubes give the unit a sound that the Helix and Axe FX are missing. I have it Daisy chained with an older Pod HD 500 and then into Reaper with dual IR cabs.
If I were to buy one of these units, it would be the Kemper. No contest tone-wise. It sounds the most amp-like and organic. I'd get that and then add my favorite pedals or FX unit to it and call it a day.
To really get apples-to-apples, you should have taken all the FX off of the sounds and just compared raw tones. The AxeFX tones were all swiming in reverb, which makes an honest comparison difficult.
Jordan, nice demo video. I had an AXE FX2 but hardly used it as I have a couple of racks full of audio processing gear. (Eventide, BOSS pedals, G-Force, Lexicon, etc.) Now I think I want to go back to the Axe FX 2 or the 3, after I listen to one of those. Your sounds were recorded fine. Its a demo video, not a Grammy award winning album. The comparisons really helped me get a much better idea of what each "machine" can do. I really like the Kemper amp sounds by far but lack of the tweakability concerns me. So Axe FX 2 or 3! :0) I agree, the Helix is a neat piece of gear, but sound-wise it lacks compared the other two. Thanks again for the information. Best regards, James
A very nice breakdown of the difference between the three units. I've been saving up to buy a Kemper... I'm undecided again, now. Great video, thanks!
mezsh I've been struggling with these 3 and the headrush. To my ears, the Kemper sounded the best with great clarity closely followed by the axe FX. Maybe Jordan can do another great video on the headrush. Great job Jordan!
Jordan, when it comes to the Axe FX II, did you ever find out if the newer XL+ is worth the extra money?
So the effects pedals on the kempler don’t sound very good compare to the effects on the axe fx? Does axe fx come with amp and effects simulation like the kempler does?
Outstanding review. Very thorough and fair!
The Boss GT 1000 I feel is pretty amazing! Good video! Thanks!
AxeFX for the tone, Kemper for the amps, Helix if you're on a budget
I actually thought the Kemper had the best tone. But both the AxeFX and Kemper were heads and shoulders above the Helix. I'd say go with the Kemper unless you're a total FX geek. And all three of these units would sound much better going through a miked amp and just eliminating the speaker emulators.
PSA, the power in the kemper is how good the starting point is. your tone will never sound better on the kemper than the untouched profile. However, tweaking it causes to lose those qualities as the detailed tone starts to get lost in EQ coloration. Where as the best tone you will hear from the axe fx is when it is painstakingly dialed in, but dialed in by you none the less.
So, do you have the means to get YOUR own guitar sound with the kemper? what if your favorite lead profile clashes with your favorite rhythm profile, can you maintain the same quality while tweaking them to work together? No.
with the axe fx, the sky is the limit when it comes to dialing in the best sound. This guy even mentioned that he didnt spend much time dialing in the tones. meaning the kemper is very easily going to sit on top in this side by side. its starting point is its best point, but you have to settle with whatever the starting point while your hands are tied with dialing it in to a large degree. If you have lots of awesome tube amps at your disposal, you will be able to dial in your kemper tones to your liking relative to your real amps. Otherwise, every tone you use on the kemper will have been dialed in by someone else. turning the search for ideal tone into a literal search through the rig exchange, instead of dialing it in yourself like on the axe fx. both great units, but I just wanted to add this detail for the people claiming kemper wins easy. I love kemper too btw, I own one. just giving my two cents on the topic. I honestly wish you could dial in more on the kemper.
Gotta say the helix sounds nowhere near like in in this video lol. Get some great Celestion IR's and take some time to tweak the tones and you will get insane results. They keep up easily with kemper and axe fx.
you give a decent explanation of everything here. To me I like kemper for most everything including metal but axe-fx does prog and djent much better. Fractal to me just seems to lend its own unique tone that really works well for tight djent and prog style stuff. It definitely lends its own tone though it's just a matter of do u like it and is it what you want. Kemper just sounds like the amp itself which I usually prefer then just use pedals in front if I need specific effects whereas axe-fx already has the crazy effects built in. On a side note I really love your music and listen to it all the time.
Fractal seems to go "beyond" what's capable in an amp. Tosin Abasi mentions something to that effect, and that he uses amp tones that go beyond what a typical amp can do to create new sounds. So yeah, AxeFX seems suited for prog and djent.
yep this is true. I have a Kemper myself due to the pure versatility. But i want an axe-fx too. lol keep saving i guess.
weeeeell i profiled all amps of the helix AND Axe fx and it is cool the only thing helix and axe fx and helix do better, when it comes to sound is proper gain staging ... the kemper generates a a single distortion characteristic out of the amps and the helix and axe fx offer preamp distortion and control over the poweramp/mastervolume ... that makes them sometimes creamier, fuzzier and saggier but that is not always better ... but like i say always you do not buy the sound alone but a workflow, a customer service, software and the lenght of the product cycles ... so while the listener only cares about the end product the player needs to consider much more imo ... Btw. if you're a kemper user just go to rig exchange i give my profiles away for free
Cool video Jordan, what did you use for the recording of your EP?
yr kettelhake thanks! I used the Kemper for that but have been using the Axe Fx to track my bands upcoming album :)
Wow, I expected to like the Axe8 the best. It sounded dull and lifeless like a Line 6 POD.....as if the mic was sitting behind the cab and not in front of the speaker. My favorite by far was the Kemper. Sounded real and like an actual amp, open and clear. Axe8 is way over hyped. Helix sounded ok but better than the Axe8. I’m using a Marantz pre/pwr amp with Bowers & Wilkins full range DM603S3 towers. Elite stuff not my iPhone speaker ;)
they're all good and produce top sounds, it's more a matter of which one is the most intuitive and easy to use
The answer to the 'Which Should You Buy?' question is .......... a tube amp. Okay snarky comment aside, I really appreciate the time and care you took in making this video. I feel that your assessments were fair. I understand why you would include the Helix in this - because if you made a video with only the Axe and Kemper, you would have been criticized for not including it. But based on this, the Helix was outclassed in every example. I owned an Axe for about a year and used to be a big defender of it - but after dozens of hours of tweaking it - and getting it to sound very good - it could not deliver what a good tube amp can. I don't think the technology is there yet. It's closer than it has ever been by far - but for now ..... tube amp. Thanks again for the great video.
Kemper of course. Though I feel it has not been a real " apple to apple"- different cabs, reverb in some of them and in some not....
Really good break down of the three. Well done.
FXII Seems a deep labyrinth of folders to get lost in. Im so happy for the Kemper !!
I have a question and if you can answer me it would be really appreciated! Can I take Kemper and plug it straight into USB interface and jam on speakers ?
I dont own any of these modelling amps but I dont see why that shouldnt work, seems like the most basic setup for home users these days...
@@TheRobGuard Thanks mate!
Nice review, makes me realize that kemper may be better suited for re-amping the "cloned" amp sound during production.
if I was loaded with $$$, Kemper (rack variant) and the Fractal Audio AX8 would be my picks of modellers. They would keep me entertained for years \m/. Something that I may be able to afford one day would be something like the Atomic Amps AmpliFire 12. A basic audio interface and some free or cheap plugins are more within my budget, sadly, lol @ me.
Nice... But as a guitar player, i neveer will change my real valves amps... As a producer in my own studio, no way, my clients lookking for VALVES... But thanks for this demo, really revealing 🤘😎🎸
Very good objective analysis. Thanks.