Fractals effects are not the BEST. They don't have convolution reverb, and they certainly can't compete with a Bricasti The other effects aren't as good as top of the line Eventides either. Their built in stuff isn't even as good as Strymon for that matter.
So let's see, Kemper has amps that sound as real as real amps, Fractal dosen't, and Fractal effects are not the BEST, so what does Fractal have to offer, nothing, unless you are happy with mediocrity, which apparently one Fractal obsessed person in this forum obvisouly is haha. This is a Kemper forum, you are never gonna get any of us to like Fractal the way you do. Give up. Nothing you can say about Fractal will convert any of us or change our opinions in the slightest even.
I think the Fractals effects are better than the Kempers effects, but both units effects suck, and I don't use the Kemper for effects, and the Fractals effects aren't good enough for me either.
As far as the mentions of Metallica... Metallica are has beens, they haven't put out a good record since Burton died. Although Justice and Black were listenable, they weren't no Puppets or Lightning. What a band uses live means very little, live sound dosen't matter much to anyone. I doubt Metallica actually RECORDS with their Fractal units.... but then again, perhaps they do, that would partially explain why all their records sound like more Loads of carp haha.
And yes I also want to point out this little gem too about the Axe FX, it's supposed to be so powerful but yet Cliff Chase still cannot for the life of him figure out how to get the Fractal to do a proper Klon Centaur hahahaha!
The only person I've heard that made the Fractal sound good was Mark Day, but then again he makes everything he plays sounds good, maybe it's because he uses so much gain.
I've bought a lot of profile packs from the Kemper, they all have sounded real good to me, I have not toyed with trying to use any of them with a seoperate cab profile, I don't even know how to even go about doing such a thing, but they sound good to me as they are. The only ones I bought that I had a hard time bonding with are the packs from Top Jimmy, they all seem to have a odd frequency in them that is always present that I just don't care too much for.
People that like Fractal are a strange bunch, they are very, very much like some sort of Jim Jones cult.
And yes Cliff and the mods at Fractal Forum ban people for no good reason still to this day. I've been banned there countless times, once just for saying I don't like John Mayor or his music.
I have nothing good at all to say about Fractal or the man that created Fractal, and I will spread that word until my dying breath, I will preach for as long as I live buy Kemper, not Fractal. Anything that I can possibly do to convince anyone to buy Kemper over Fractal I will do. Cliff caused a lot of bad blood with me personally, and I am sure that during the last few years I have done things to cost him potential sales and $$$. And I will continue on until I'm dead.
I am a hardcore Kemper user now and nothing will ever convince me that anything Cliff ever produces is on par or above the great Kemper.
I'm a hardcore Right Wing Republican, a Christian and a Traditionalist... and I mention that because research has been done to show that most people that own Apple/Iphone technology believe in the opposite things that people like myself believe in that own Android/Windows, like totally opposite, and my own experiences have shown me time and time again that 9 times out of 10 Iphone users are progressive/liberals which are totally the opposite of my far right extreme conservative views....
I mention this, because, I've owned the Kemper about a year and been on the Kemper forum about a year, and the people on the Kemper forum are soooo much cooler than the people on the Fractal forum ever were! I mean I feel much more comfortable here in the Kemper forum than I ever did in the Fractal forum, it really makes me think that I bet in general, the personalities/attitudes/beliefs of Kemper users vs. Fractal users are VERY different, I wouldn't be surprised at all.
I love Kemper, and I pray to God that Fractal one day goes out of business and one day everyone that works for Fractal is out of a job.
If I didn't have my Kemper, I'd probably buy a used YJM100 head and use that, but you couldn't pay me to ever go back to Fractal products.
I hate everything about that company.