Well, as some of you may already know (or can read in my old posts) I used to be an AxeFx user...first official Axe Standar user in Spain, also owned the Ultra and one of the firsts AxeFx II units..........till the Kemper came out.
I owned both, compared and reviewed them for a while and decided to continue with the Kemper and sell the AxeFX II.That was when AxeFx II was firmware 7.
Some months ago I got an used Ultra at a good price, wanted one because of some effects (Crystal pitch, multidelays,etc) and mainly for playing ala U2 stuff.
I love the Axe FX effects, but can't justify to have it just for playing some songs, and to my taste, the Ultra effects didn't blend well with the Kemper, being in the Kemper loop, or puting the Kemper in the Ultra loop.I don't know why, but some magic of the Kemper get lost when you put it in the AxeFx loop.
Well....I sold the Ultra, but some friend told me that I should test the AxeFx II with the latest firmware, because the amp sounds has really improved.Some tone matching presets from Metallica, some friends that uses the AxeFx and get good tones and, again, the AxeFx wonderful effects, has made me buy an AxeFx II MkII (can't justify the XL extra dough).
I've just tried an hour, but the AxeFX II has really improved the raw amp sound, now it has some very good tones, I still have to dig it a little more, but I've really enjoyed some of the sounds.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to sell the Kemper, love the tone, flexibility, profiling functions and is my main option for playing live right now...but I'm gonna also keep the AxeFx II and get good sounds from it, don't want to choose between both units, I've been blowed away with the Guitarjon Metallica tone match presets, also Michael's U2 presets, and a lot more, so I'm gonna experiement and try to find sounds and tone from both units.
I would like to know who of you also own an AxeFx II so we can share impressions, thoughts, ideas, conclusions, etc.I think is great if you can have both units, it doesn't have to be a gear competition and choose wich one is best and get rid of the other unit.
Peace!