It’s April 2020 and much of the world was recently put in lockdown. Attempting to swerve a cripling and unforgiving pandemic that would ultimately go on to cost so many lives and caused tremendous sadness and grief. It still is, to this day. Many made lifestyle changes, many started hobbies, but for us guitarists, being stuck at home was a good thing in some ways, because it meant we had more time to play and to check out new gear....
Two years of using digital amps lead me back to the real thing. The last year (2019) has been a massive overhaul for me, in terms of gear. I started the year with a Kemper Profiler and many of you will know that I have raved about that piece of kit for the best part of 18 months now. It’s a game changer. However, I missed the flexibility of real amps and pedals at my fingertips....
The paralysing limitations of having access to every guitar amplifier in the world. I admit, the last few months have been a bit of a struggle with the Kemper. Not because it sounds anything less than superb, but simply because the profiles aren’t versatile enough once I’ve found ‘the one’. Once I’ve settled on a profile, I’m stuck with it because no other profile comes close. That makes me feel a little uneasy as I’d like to feel a bit more freedom than that....
After seeing a video comparing the Axe FX III and the Kemper (that has unfortunately now been deleted by its maker, Camilo Velandia— an Axe FX III owner) which I spoke about in my previous post, “One year later with the Fractal Axe FX II XL, was it a keeper in 2018?”, my first instinct was to try the Kemper in the interim, whilst I wait for the Axe FX III to arrive in the country....
In March 2017 I made the massive leap to a fully digital guitar rig. I can now document my year long journey from Axe FX newbie to massive digital convert. Big investment I had to sell a lot of my old analog gear, including my amp and pedals, to get back some of the money I spent on the Axe FX II XL. It was a huge make or break investment of time, money and loss; of things I’d come to cherish....