Switching from Fractal to Kemper Honest Advice

If you are a simple person who doesnt want to spend hours tweaking a Kemper can be your friend. Especially if you buy profiles from someone like Michael Britt. Since most of his profiles will have a similar volume and tone. So you can get numerous sounds that will work together.

But the Kemper is not without its own set of adjustments.

As far as Age, the Kemper player was just introduced and is like a Kemper lite. So there may not be a "new" Kemper anytime soon.

Kemper has been constantly updating its software with upgraded effects etc all for free (that may change with the Player model).

I doubt the Kemper will perform any better than a Fractal if you think the sound is changing all the time. That is an effect of volume, amp being used, etc. A lot of factors that have nothing to do with the units. Your hearing changes at diff volumes. Your amp and speaker freq responses change. When I got my Kemper I spent a year chasing my tail because the sound was "changing". It was not. It was the amp I was using. Switched out the amp and things got much better.

The best thing you could do would be get a Kemper to try. Most people say its the best "amp" sound and feel. With all of the new AI profilers out, that may not be 100% true anymore. But a Kemper Stage will be super good and have everything you need to play out. The AI units are not there yet. You could also get a Kemper Player and patch it into the Fractal just for the amp section.

Hope that helped some.

-cheers

My experiences since 2015, when I started using Kempers:
The Kemper is nothing you just plug in and then it works for the next 10 years, like an original Marshall.
Most of the users are tweaking all the time they use the Kemper.
For me, it took at least 1 year to get sounds which fullfilled me with joy. You can use the Kemper from day 1 on stage with good profiles, f.e. Michael Britt profiles. But to get what you really want, you have to tweak and that takes time.

When i read your arguments and question, the main point for me is here ;

Quote from circletrack15

he amp modeling sounds just sound lacking to me. Also I’m starting to notice that I’m always having to change parameters and such to make it sound better? I know us guitarist are always tweaking but it just doesn’t sound right to me?

I've never owned a Fractal but, It reminds me my story with Helix. I bought all the familly from the Variax to the Powercab+ and, at the end, was always tweaking to improve my sound... I've tried everything possible with this rig but at the end i came back to simple chains (one of Kemper's limitation, i mean, you won't be able to put 2 amps/cabs in // or have 30 other blocks)....

I read some guitarists don't notice any difference between Helix/Kemper (or can tend toward the same result), i don't join this point of view and hear really a difference when i play alone in front of these 2 modeler/profiler. I won't argue against that and i'm rather satisfied that poeple can be pleased with Helix.... No matter for me

I haven't had the luck to try one Kemper before ordering my Stage and was pretty anxious when i ordered it cause i didn't know if my sound would or not be improved.... It was clearly the case for me !!!

Could you try to play on Kemper devices from poeple who owned them ? It's pretty hard to tell you to take the plunge and it will be allright, cause it's just a question of taste....

Kemper platform is old but for me, this is a huge advantage and i don't understand Fractal's strategy in fact..... Helix was launched in 2015, Fractal launched the FX III (2018) - the mark II - the mark II turbo - the FM3 dsp limits was just a disaster, they launched the "turbo" to correct this problem --> i wouldn't like to sell a "simple" FM3 today....

Since 2019 i have my Kemper Stage, updates are just amazing : delay, reverbs, Kone, Rig manager (edit on the PC) rig manager for android/iOS, fuzz, drives, and all those changes are available even on the first units

A new One could appear (more appealing, etc...And more expensive too) but i imagine that the Head/Rack/Stage first generation won't disappear immediately and will be followed. I don't even know if i will buy this new one cause my Stage fills all my needs .

Furthermore, they've just launched the Player and homogenized the software, so.... They are not gonna stop this familly product tomorrow....

In conclusion : if you can ; try to play on a Kemper and see if it changes something for you and take your decision

I've owned modelers, but never a Fractal. Despite that....

You've got two mentalities. If you like tweaking sounds and DEEP editing......a Fractal is the way for you. Plenty of people love that workflow.

Kemper is highly tweakable, but in something of an unconventional and unique manner. I also think it lends itself more easily to live performance, but that gap may have narrowed with units like the FM3 & 9.

All I know is I'd been using several different modelers over the years and plugged into a Kemper because the situation required it.

One strum and I thought "Welp....gonna have to have one of these....." I sold most of my gear, bought a Head...and that was like....6 years ago.

I'd say Kemper has a much quicker learning curve than Fractal. Liquid Profiling is a game-changer where you can quickly dial in your tone and go - just like a real amp. For live use, Kemper FX are sufficient but I find them lacking for studio use and use my own FX pedals and ODs (which Kemper handles very well). One great thing about the Kemper is we've never had to buy a newer version. Kemper's free OS updates gives us most of what we need to be competitive and actually go beyond other modelers.

Personally, I would not sell the Fractal but add the Kemper to my inventory especially if you can afford to do that. Or get the Kemper and hold on to the Fractal until you are sure it's no longer needed.

As for the Helix, I found it totally Blah and unloaded it after just 2 weeks. I've owned the Kemper for almost 5 years now. I never intend to part with it.

Former Fractal user here, too. I can't imagine ever going back. Just way faster and easier with Kemper in every way.

My honest opinion is that both are great platforms and are easily capable of providing professional quality results in the right hands. The real question is which workflow suits you best.

For example, there have recently been quite a lot of new users posting on the forum asking for modelling functionality for specific amps, pedals, even power supply and battery impact on tones. These are great features for some people but are generally inconsistent with the Kemper workflow and seem unlikely to ever be implemented as they don’t sit well with the general philosophy of Kemper’s profiling ecosystem. On the other hand Fractal offers almost infinite deep dive tweaking options for those that want to chase the ultimate tone of their imagination. You van lose hours or even days in the rabbit hole when you could simply pick a tone and start playing guitar. If you know how to tweak these parameters and, more importantly which parameters to tweak then the Fractal workflow is for you.

By comparison in Kemper land you don’t have the same ability to tweak really deep parameters so users tend not to lose so much time messing around in menus. BUT………you can lose days searching through the tens of thousands of profiles that are available for free or from commercial sellers.

As for basic amp tones, the Kemper sounds close enough that I either can’t tell the difference or actually choose the Kemper in blind tests. However, I have heard Fractal devices first hand and on record/video which blew me away.

Too often the grass is greener on the other side

Quote from RosboneMako

The best thing you could do would be get a Kemper to try. Most people say its the best "amp" sound and feel. With all of the new AI profilers out, that may not be 100% true anymore

If profiles can be made with the Kemper that even the owner of the amp cannot tell the difference between the amp and the profile how could a new AI profiler be better? What could be better than creating an exact duplicate feel and sound? I have profiled amps from naysayers and they could not tell the difference at all. How could that be improved?

If it just the amp models your not happy with, why not get a Profiler Player and put it in the loop of the FM9 and have the best of both worlds, Fractal effects and Kemper amps, and lots of options in between.

Its what I do, not that i'm unhappy with anything I just like all the options

Theres a certain 'chug' that i just haven't been able to get at low volumes on the Fractal, more a feeling than a frequency, if that makes any sense

Quote from BayouTexan

Personally, I would not sell the Fractal but add the Kemper to my inventory especially if you can afford to do that.

As BayouTexan said, if can afford to keep the Fractal then do so. Plenty of pros use the Axe FX with a traditional amp purely because the FX are so good. You could do the same with Axe and a Kemper- Kemper as Amp/Cab and some FX with Axe giving additional FX where required. This would be overkill for the kind of simple rigs I rely on but is a great option for some people.

Quote from smfelton

If it just the amp models your not happy with, why not get a Profiler Player and put it in the loop of the FM9 and have the best of both worlds, Fractal effects and Kemper amps, and lots of options in between.

Its what I do, not that i'm unhappy with anything I just like all the options

Theres a certain 'chug' that i just haven't been able to get at low volumes on the Fractal, more a feeling than a frequency, if that makes any sense

I was literally typing the same idea at the same time. Great minds think alike 😆

I have owned Kemper, Axe Fx 3 and Helix.

I’m a serious guitarist who plays all styles of music including extremely experimental guitar.

The workflow of each is a little different.

The amp sounds on the Axe are nothing compared to the Kemper.

Kemper has the best amp sounds and feel as far as I’m concerned.

Currently I’m using Helix the most as I can use it inside my DAW (without the hardware) and have access to much better and more complex effects then any device currently available for guitarists as I design my own effects using software.

I use it because I don’t want to carry around the Kemper as it doesn’t need to be this large!!

Currently Kemper is not letting people with the Kemper player use Morphing. This is a huge and tragic mistake that has pushed me away from this device (that I own) completely.

The rest of the Kemper line up is absolutely stellar.

Remember when you purchase this device to put a graphic EQ after the amp to adjust the treble of the profile.

Otherwise unless you have the newest liquid profiles you cannot adjust these as they are baked into the profile.

I would recommend the Kemper over all of them.

I've never owned a fractal but run my kemper rack for 10 years now and would never change because it does everything I need.

I think the advice above is generally spot on...fractal stuff is great stuff and the sound differences between the platforms are probably more influenced by settings and the player than the platform itself. I've heard a Helix sound awful and brilliant - like anythign depends on the set up.

Couple of other things that sold it for me - the rack and toaster have the option of the power amp - so I can drive any cab I want. Also, the dedicated Kabinet has been a game changer for me, I love it.

Like anything, psychology and personal preference play a huge part but I think you will like the "complex made simple" approach from Kemper ( Kemper marketing - you can have that one for free ).

...oh and this community is also pretty good!!

On another forum, I have been debating the value of a device like the Kemper that I have had since 2013 ..... that through over a decade of updates, the original rigs that I have from the very beginning, still sound exactly the same today.

I was surprised to hear that when Fractal updates the firmware, the users sounds can all be changed. People who own a fractal pedal all seem to think this is just normal. For me, I (like others) have spent a great deal of time making rigs that sound good live for the set lists I am doing live. If I had to go through and tweak every rig every time a firmware update was released, I might have to throw myself off of a cliff! .... and yet, there are some who are OK with this (I am thinking they don't play live much, but maybe they do?).

I have a buddy that has an Axe III Fx. We have spent several weekends jamming back and fourth between each others rigs and playing around with the settings. My observations are as follows:

• The rigs I have honed on my KPA Rack for live sound better live than what we were able to obtain using the Axe III Fx
• I can obtain a specific "tone" faster on my KPA than he can on his Helix.
• The efx on the Axe III Fx are generally better than the KPA and are much more flexible; however, the reverbs and delays are close to my ears (I know there are some that really feel the need for an Eventide ... but good Lord knows there is certainly nothing wrong with that pedal either).
• The KPA is considerably less expensive than an Axe III Fx (but not an FM9 I think). A Kemper Stage is comparable to an FM9 in price.

I personally like the KPA rack and the Kemper Foot Controller as a live rig as I have only a single Ethercon cable going out onto stage which reduces the clutter around my live stage position. Also, it is a very robust gigging rig. If you don't gig much, this might not mean as much to you.

I personally think that the amps with more "touch" sound better on Kemper than on the Axe III Fx. They also "feel" better to me (if that makes any sense at all).

Take this all with a grain of salt though. I am MUCH more experienced with the Kemper than the Fractal. I do love their PC editor though (I am an Electrical Engineer though .... so I like complex routing capabilities).

At the end of the day, since I play guitar in a band, I like to have the ability to create a sound quickly that sits in the mix well, and that doesn't need tweaking forever (and doesn't change when a new firmware is released!). Because of this, I feel the KPA is a better tool for the job I want done.

I don't think anyone in the audience would be able to tell the difference between a Kemper and an Axe (or a real tube amp that is miced for that matter). Both are the top-of-the-line for digital amps.

Quote from OneEng1

On another forum, I have been debating the value of a device like the Kemper that I have had since 2013 ..... that through over a decade of updates, the original rigs that I have from the very beginning, still sound exactly the same today.

I was surprised to hear that when Fractal updates the firmware, the users sounds can all be changed. People who own a fractal pedal all seem to think this is just normal. For me, I (like others) have spent a great deal of time making rigs that sound good live for the set lists I am doing live. If I had to go through and tweak every rig every time a firmware update was released, I might have to throw myself off of a cliff! .... and yet, there are some who are OK with this (I am thinking they don't play live much, but maybe they do?).

I have a buddy that has an Axe III Fx. We have spent several weekends jamming back and fourth between each others rigs and playing around with the settings. My observations are as follows:

• The rigs I have honed on my KPA Rack for live sound better live than what we were able to obtain using the Axe III Fx
• I can obtain a specific "tone" faster on my KPA than he can on his Helix.
• The efx on the Axe III Fx are generally better than the KPA and are much more flexible; however, the reverbs and delays are close to my ears (I know there are some that really feel the need for an Eventide ... but good Lord knows there is certainly nothing wrong with that pedal either).
• The KPA is considerably less expensive than an Axe III Fx (but not an FM9 I think). A Kemper Stage is comparable to an FM9 in price.

I personally like the KPA rack and the Kemper Foot Controller as a live rig as I have only a single Ethercon cable going out onto stage which reduces the clutter around my live stage position. Also, it is a very robust gigging rig. If you don't gig much, this might not mean as much to you.

I personally think that the amps with more "touch" sound better on Kemper than on the Axe III Fx. They also "feel" better to me (if that makes any sense at all).

Take this all with a grain of salt though. I am MUCH more experienced with the Kemper than the Fractal. I do love their PC editor though (I am an Electrical Engineer though .... so I like complex routing capabilities).

At the end of the day, since I play guitar in a band, I like to have the ability to create a sound quickly that sits in the mix well, and that doesn't need tweaking forever (and doesn't change when a new firmware is released!). Because of this, I feel the KPA is a better tool for the job I want done.

I don't think anyone in the audience would be able to tell the difference between a Kemper and an Axe (or a real tube amp that is miced for that matter). Both are the top-of-the-line for digital amps.

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Great summary and this is where I think Kemper have go it right...they have focused on the core sound and functions along with stability

Unfortunately you missed one of the best parts of Kemper ownership...us...we are a fab community!!!