That's just bull.... The Axe can tonematch/profile just as well as the Kemper and Axe-change already has a lot of amps not available in the main unit + a lot of other cool stuff like acoustic and synth presets.
But a good thing about the amps being added by Fractal themselves is quality control. The Kemper might have loads of profiles available, but from my own experience a lot of those are pretty bad. There are some fantastic ones, sure, but it's definately quantity over quality.
Plus, when Fractal converts an amp to an amp sim it gives us as players a lot of helpfull tools/features that can't be replicated via a profile/tonematch:
- You can seperate preamp, poweramp and cabinet to run it the way you want
- You can mod the damn things yourself with the advanced parameters
- You can change tube type
- etc.
Tone is subjective. Which unit sounds the best can be argued to the break of dawn, but in pure features and versatility the Axe-fx wins hands down.
I absolutely won't argue as far as features go. Axe wins. No contest. Anyone needing tons of effects, deep editing, advanced parameters, complicated routing options, etc. possibly would be better with the Axe.
As Quitty mentioned above, however, Axe tonematch isn't even close to Kemper's profiling. I owned an Axe II. Had it for 18 months. I tried a lot of amp tonematches. They're simply not the same thing and can't be compared.
"Quality control"? I guess that depends on how you look at it. Fractal has quality control over the amp models, sure, but does that mean they're perfect at any given moment? No. The Axe is constantly evolving. Nearly every firmware there's "improved modeling", "fixed incorrect values", etc. I applaud Fractal for owning up to past mistakes and making changes to get things right but personally, I don't want things to change. I want it right from the start. That's what I like about the Kemper. The sound of profiles doesn't change from firmware to firmware. Many times I've seen vids or heard clips of the real rig vs. the profile. To my ears, they're often so close I can barely tell the difference. That doesn't change. It sounded like the real rig when it was done and always will.
As far as profile quality...entirely subjective. I've heard very few that I'd consider "bad". The term "bad" IMO would require the profile to have been done in an unprofessional manner, as in the person didn't know jack about how to mic a cab, etc. There are plenty of profiles out there that don't work for me, due to my personal tastes, but might very well work for others.
"Modding" amp models with advanced parameters...sure, that's possible. How realistic it will sound is subjective and personally I don't want to have to tweak like crazy to try to achieve what I'm looking for. If you can take a Marshall model in the Axe, for example, and make it sound like a Mike Fortin mod, my hat's off to you.
I'm not trying make this a pissing contest but I just think there's always more than one way to look at something. Offering different opinions can be valuable to those trying to make a decision for themselves. I really don't care if anyone agrees with me, just that an alternate view has been presented.