Kemper - Are you still Happy With It?

asimmd

As I have just bought my PRS I got to thinking maybe it would sound better through a decent amp. My thoughts were for a Two Rock or Mesa Boogie,but then I remembered the Kemper. So I was wondering if Kemper users were still happy with it after a few months of use? It would represent a considerable cost saving,and would give me a lot more than just one Amp.

ROOG

Hi @asimmd, I thought that you had bought one?

I was rather hoping you could answer the question you raised for me!

asimmd

No I bought the Blackstar ID30 and my new PRS Custom22. Now I need a decent amp and as I need to DI my recordings a Kemper now seems more logical.

PVO_Dave

Yes, very happy, still probably the best guitar related purchase I've made.

Brilliant recording solution for home, with an FRFR speaker and a Behringer FB1010 an excellent live amp/monitor solution too

I've only so far bought 3 lots of commercial profiles too, a DSL and '68 TSL from Top Jimi and the Marshall pack from TAF (they had a 50% off sale).

Dave.

ROOG

Hi @PVO_Dave , what do you think of the factory profiles? they don't always seem to get positive press. 

PVO_Dave

Hi @ROOG, like anything, it's personal prefernce, I liked a couple of the inbuilt TAF profiles and quite a few others too.

I guess coming from a POD HD, I was actually pretty blown away with the in built profiles - Certainly enough to buy the unit on the strength of them anyway.

If you're worried about the expense of commercial profiles, the two packs I've bought from TopJimi so far have been under a fiver each , with the beta release of Rig Manager, it's also a hell of a lot easier to find some excellent profiles (for free) in the rig exchange, very cool.

ROOG

Hi @PVO_Dave thanks for your thoughts, I don't mind buying "bolt-ons" if they are worth while, I wouldn't be quite so impressed if they were a necessity as the unit is quite pricey for a computery type gadget with the usual obsolescence issues.

jd0272

Just watched the Andertons Youtube demo with thingy and thingy, and some other impressive thingy's. It's v impressive, but I wonder, outside of recording/studio etc etc how one stands up in the bog standard pub gigger's environment?

Is it in the ears or the perception? I've done it at gigs, the "Pffff, it's not valve yap yap."

Some bloody nice sounds mind you.

sunshinewelly

what about the axe fx 2 - as @PVO_Dave has said about the kemper the axe is the best guitar related purchase i have purchased and each firmware update it justs gets better and better. The customer service from cliff and his team is unbelievable. He is a regular poster on his forum site and constantly keeps on improving the firmware.

The fact that metallica went completely axe fx for their south america tour says a lot about it. Also Edge who know a thing about tone (whether you like him or not) also has been seen playing through an axe fx 2. 

I demoed both and for me the axe was clearly the better sounding and feeling unit (pricier as well)

PVO_Dave

ROOG said:

Hi @PVO_Dave thanks for your thoughts, I don't mind buying "bolt-ons" if they are worth while, I wouldn't be quite so impressed if they were a necessity as the unit is quite pricey for a computery type gadget with the usual obsolescence issues.

@ROOG I don't really see them as bolt-on's, you buy the Kemper for the technology, the sounds bundled won't be for everyone, if there are some you like, then bonus

jd0272 said:

Just watched the Andertons Youtube demo with thingy and thingy, and some other impressive thingy's. It's v impressive, but I wonder, outside of recording/studio etc etc how one stands up in the bog standard pub gigger's environment?

Is it in the ears or the perception? I've done it at gigs, the "Pffff, it's not valve yap yap."

Some bloody nice sounds mind you.

Who *really* cares what the average pub punter thinks? They probably don't like your choice of guitar either - If you're happy with the tone and it sounds good, then that's all that matters

sunshinewelly said:

what about the axe fx 2 - as @PVO_Dave has said about the kemper the axe is the best guitar related purchase i have purchased and each firmware update it justs gets better and better. The customer service from cliff and his team is unbelievable. He is a regular poster on his forum site and constantly keeps on improving the firmware.

The fact that metallica went completely axe fx for their south america tour says a lot about it. Also Edge who know a thing about tone (whether you like him or not) also has been seen playing through an axe fx 2. 

I demoed both and for me the axe was clearly the better sounding and feeling unit (pricier as well)

Without drawing either of us into an Axe vs Kemper debate, as they are both the best tools out there in their respective fields, in my mind, the Axe is an amp simulator, the Kemper is an amp emulator, both different devices to achieve the same end result, great guitar amps . For clarity, a simulator is someones idea of the amp sound, an emulator copies the amps sound.

The reason I went for the Kemper, I absolutely love the way it mimics the amp's behaviour, I've had valve amps and the Kemper nails how they respond, the 'natural' decay etc.. perfect, the limitation of course is that the capture is a snapshot of an amp recorded at a particular setting, with a specific mic in front of it, to mitigate this, the guys offering the profiles tend to produce several at various sweet spots, whether that's mic'ing speaker positions, using different mic's or simply adjusting the amp settings.

The Kemper is also now widely used by big name bands, Trivium and Muse are two good examples.

I think better is far too subjective, you need to try both units and make your mind up. Not that the OP even asked for comparisons :S.

My summary; if you want a huge amount of effects, routing options and tweaking capability, the Axe is probably the tool for you (with the risk of your sound changing with each firmware update ), if you want realistic amp tones, that respond like a more reliable version of the amp you have profiled, then the Kemper is the way to go.

Dave.

ROOG

Thanks @PVO_Dave you make a passionate case, I actually unwittingly had a demo of the axe fx with those nice people from matrix amplifiers, I thought it was very good, perhaps the thing that swings it for me is the interface, the Kemper looks and has controls like and amp, I'm not so keen on down loading and up loading files and stuff.

PVO_Dave

Not really trying to make a case @ROOG, I don't care either way where people spend their money  

To load purchased profiles on the Kemper you'll need to do that either via a memory card, or using a USB lead and Rig Manager btw, the difference is no software interface to then go in and tweak them, you can just do it very simply to taste on the front panel.

ROOG

PVO_Dave said:

Not really trying to make a case @ROOG, I don't care either way where people spend their money  

Quite so Dave, I spend money like this fairly infrequently, so I like to get it right, sometimes!

To load purchased profiles on the Kemper you'll need to do that either via a memory card, or using a USB lead and Rig Manager btw, the difference is no software interface to then go in and tweak them, you can just do it very simply to taste on the front panel.

I'm in the position where Id like to buy a quality amp, I have considered a simple Marshall RI, also a Fender Deluxe reverb, I can't have both. I like my yamaha thr so I wouldnt mind a really good digital solution, which makes the Kemper an interesting proposition.

I also find my self using headphones more than I'd like, so it all seems to point to the Kemper.

jd0272

@PVO_Dave the latter part of the post answered the question re; dynamics and not sounding flat/processed. FTR, I do care about what hits the punters ears front of house. Been to many a gig where the band have been top notch, only to be let down somewhat by their sound. Ultimately, if the punters aren't happy, they're not there, the bar's empty, we don't get booked, my Piss Money depletes    But that's the result of a strong and demanding live music 'scene' up here I suppose. They know what they want.

Having been a valve stalwart for two decades, I may have a foray into Kemper-ness however, as what you've posted makes it all seem a shame not to.

Wife'll not be happy. 

PVO_Dave

jd0272 said:

@PVO_Dave the latter part of the post answered the question re; dynamics and not sounding flat/processed. FTR, I do care about what hits the punters ears front of house. Been to many a gig where the band have been top notch, only to be let down somewhat by their sound. Ultimately, if the punters aren't happy, they're not there, the bar's empty, we don't get booked, my Piss Money depletes    But that's the result of a strong and demanding live music 'scene' up here I suppose. They know what they want.

Having been a valve stalwart for two decades, I may have a foray into Kemper-ness however, as what you've posted makes it all seem a shame not to.

Wife'll not be happy. 

@jd0272 Cool, agree it's got to sound like the real deal, what I was trying to get at, was that I don't care for the valve snobbery thing, if it works it works! It definitely doesn't sound flat, or like an amp simulation, but as a sort of warning, it can feel odd to play as a live amp, as you basically hear the FOH guitar sound / a recorded guitar sound, I'm used to it now from playing and gigging with a POD 500 HD rig, but it can seem odd at first.

Most people don't seem to know what it is when they first see it, the new band I've just joined thought it looked like something from an 80's SciFi movie

ROOG

Been eyeing up a Yamaha DXR 10 too, one thousand D class watts, LOL!

PVO_Dave

@ROOG The DXR10 is insanely loud, mine is used at -6db I think!

Jeztone

Nick McCabe of The Verve is using the Kemper, that's why he sold off a load of back line recently. He a just stored all his gear sounds into it.

I'm curious about them. I used to own a Fender Cyber Deluxe & that just sounded like "Def Leppard". I'm not totally sold on Modelling, but it's clearly where things will go eventually.

Steph Carpenter from Deftones is an AXE FX user too.

ToneControl

still happy with my KPA. you do need to buy and "download" profiles though to get the value (most shared profiles are awful), and then edit the FX for you on the unit. I don't get this idea that only AxeFx needs tweaking

AxeFx is stellar at FX, very good at ampsims, especially metal ones, excellent dedicated floorboard. Many freely shared patches are exceptional

Kemper is stellar at amp sims, including clean and breaking up ones, pretty ordinary for FX, easier front control panel

crunchman

I heard a gig where the guitarist was using a Kemper, after hearing the same band the year before where he used a half stack.  The FOH sound was a lot better with the Kemper.

sunshinewelly

Ultimately they both offer things that a normal amp doesn't. They also both satisfy amp and pedal GAS so even though initial outlay is high for what you get they are both bargain devices.