Will a Kemper cure my amp GAS?

Dominic

Kemper brilliant
A lot depends on your own self discipline and the needs ........home player needing to be quiet ,always gigging/on the road 
Kemper is very tidy ,light and convenient
I found that Kemper was a total distraction and I 'played' the Kemper more than the guitar !.....or should I say 'played with'

ToneControl

Jonathanthomas83 said:

ToneControl said:

Fractal Axe Fx2 cured my Amp GAS, I had 16 amps, now just 3 
My Kemper would not have achieved that, the feel is much better on AF2 and AF3

I believe @octatonic has an opinion on this too

That's so subjective though. I mean, it's inherent in your comment that this is your opinion only, but it's the statement as if it's a fact that I take issue with. I get that you feel that way, but it's not fact, is it?

I really don't understand your point
Were you expecting scientific proof?

KrisGee

I loved kemper when gigging, lightning fast setup and same, consistent live tone wherever we gigged with the band's PA. 

Home use is where having a chance to actually hear the kemper in detail I always preferred powering up an actual amp even if it involved not getting the best out of it due to low volume. 

Jonathanthomas83

ToneControl said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

ToneControl said:

Fractal Axe Fx2 cured my Amp GAS, I had 16 amps, now just 3 
My Kemper would not have achieved that, the feel is much better on AF2 and AF3

I believe @octatonic has an opinion on this too

That's so subjective though. I mean, it's inherent in your comment that this is your opinion only, but it's the statement as if it's a fact that I take issue with. I get that you feel that way, but it's not fact, is it?

I really don't understand your point
Were you expecting scientific proof?

No, I just dislike statements that are worded as fact.

No hard feelings and apologies.

Onpar

Thanks for all great responses. I purposefully haven’t responded so far as I wanted to consider peoples views and digest the information instead of acting on impulse. But here are some thoughts based on what I have read on the thread.

 I do have an issue with buying guitars and amps. I am always looking for a new price of gear that is better or different. But this is only true of guitar related items in my life. I have very little interest in material possessions in general and don’t buy many things – except guitars and amps.

 “What will cure amp GAS is the realisation that you don't need accurate representations of particular amps, you just need a clean sound and an overdriven sound you like. Or clean-ish and more overdriven, or overdriven and really overdriven, if you prefer. Or just possibly three sounds, if you like truly clean, moderately overdriven and heavily overdriven.”

You are completely right! For 4 years I gigged a Fender Standard Strat into a HRD and 4 pedals and never once even thought about other gear as what I had was perfect for function work. But then something happened. I think YouTube was the biggest culprit.

 But back to amps specifically……. Although I am quite happy with my current clean/crunch/lead tones I would still like to explore the digital modelling/Kemper route, but I am going to restrain myself and try one before I invest any further money, probably because I don’t have any and because have bills to pay. So now to find a Kemper before my GAS for one subsides

Adamski

@Onpar , Might be a good place to say that I’m about to list my Kemper toaster for £750. If you’re interested before I do then send me a PM. I’m only in Hemel too so not miles away from you - you’re more than welcome to come and have a cuppa and play it first. I’ve got loads of amp packs from TopJimi, Michael Britt and Tone Junkie and a good set of cans/monitors so it’ll give you a good representation of what it can do. 

Also, in the spirit of the discussion and not being an ad, it’s the best piece of recording/home practice gear I’ve ever bought. It’s the only amp of any kind that sounds even close to real through headphones thanks the the brilliant “space” feature. Through monitors it’s also brilliant - never tried any other way but I know someone that gigs with it and is chuffed with the sound. I’m selling it (and a few other bits) as I’ve found my dream guitar and it’s one of those where anything that can be rebought down the line is on the chopping block. 

Loobs

A Kemper is not really an amp, so it's unlikely. Personally, I don't find plugging into a computer-looking thing particularly inspiring. I'd prefer to go into an amp, but I'm old school. And besides, how many options does the average guitarist need? I guess it's good for session guitarists who always need access to every single tone but otherwise, why can't you make do with a nice amp and a slew of pedals? Actually, from reading your post, it seems you were quite happy with that. 

Nerine

pickerg said:

Nerine said:

A Fractal FM9 has cured a lot of my GAS. 

The Kemper didn’t. 

Could you explain why if you don’t mind? 

I’ve had and sold an HX Stomp and FM9 and I’m currently looking at getting one again, or a Kemper…

Because you can actually build rigs in the FM9/Fractal world in a way in which you can’t with the Kemper. 

I think half of GAS is just exploring something new. There’s more exploration in a Fractal modeller. More to keep you entertained, more to tweak, more to experiment with. (In my view, anyway.) 

I don’t like having a snapshot of an amp in time and then some kind of arbitrary EQ and gain control like you have in the Kemper. Feels like you need 50+ profiles of the same amp/cab to just capture the EQ combinations. 

I’ve owned both and MUCH prefer the FM9 over the Kemper. I had my Kemper for over 10 years but it was only ever a studio tool. The FM9 I use live and for recording/producing. 

I think the FM9 sounds and feels better, too. 

Suppose it depends what you want from a device. I think the Kemper just feels generally more clunky. The editor isn’t as good, either. I prefer that I can properly build a rig rather than need the correct profiles to begin with with the Kemper. 

mo6020

Not a Kemper, but I have had a Quad Cortex for about 6 months now, and while it's a great device it hasn't cured my GAS in the slightest (I'm considering buying another Lazy J currently).  It makes recording a dream and I imagine it'd make gigging super easy, too, but it still can't quite make me feel the same way my tube amps make me feel. Several of my friends have ditched their amps for QCs and Kempers, tho, so YMMV..

Onpar

Adamski said:

@Onpar , Might be a good place to say that I’m about to list my Kemper toaster for £750. If you’re interested before I do then send me a PM. I’m only in Hemel too so not miles away from you - you’re more than welcome to come and have a cuppa and play it first. I’ve got loads of amp packs from TopJimi, Michael Britt and Tone Junkie and a good set of cans/monitors so it’ll give you a good representation of what it can do. 

Also, in the spirit of the discussion and not being an ad, it’s the best piece of recording/home practice gear I’ve ever bought. It’s the only amp of any kind that sounds even close to real through headphones thanks the the brilliant “space” feature. Through monitors it’s also brilliant - never tried any other way but I know someone that gigs with it and is chuffed with the sound. I’m selling it (and a few other bits) as I’ve found my dream guitar and it’s one of those where anything that can be rebought down the line is on the chopping block. 

Thanks for the very kind offer but I am really looking for a powered Kemper if possible.

I am going to try the 'not thinking about it' technique to see if it cures my gas.

Moe_Zambeek

Have you tried a Kemper? IME all of the profiles feel the same in terms of response - I.e, basically none of the feel you get with an actual amp. I had this weird cognitive dissonance where you dial up a modded plexi or Soldano sound then a Matchless and then a Vox and it sounds fairly close to the amp modelled yet there’s no real difference to the way it feels at the fingertips. I can see the benefits in terms of weight and setup and for recording, but I just didn’t think I’d ever plug in to one for *fun*.

I tried a Helix back to back and thought that was even worse.

Onpar

Moe_Zambeek said:

Have you tried a Kemper? IME all of the profiles feel the same in terms of response - I.e, basically none of the feel you get with an actual amp. I had this weird cognitive dissonance where you dial up a modded plexi or Soldano sound then a Matchless and then a Vox and it sounds fairly close to the amp modelled yet there’s no real difference to the way it feels at the fingertips. I can see the benefits in terms of weight and setup and for recording, but I just didn’t think I’d ever plug in to one for *fun*.

I tried a Helix back to back and thought that was even worse.

No I have not tried one, only seen the YouTube comparisons e.g. Andertons etc.

But thanks for the insight!

Wazmeister

The Kemper is great; will it cure GAS ???

Nothing has cured mine, as you can see !!!

Thr strength of any modeller is what you are playing it through

Lodious

There is so many different things you can do with modelling hardware there are no right or wrong answers, and it might take a while to work out how it best works for you.  On a simple level there is the choice of FRFR or using a guitar speaker. I can't get on with FRFR at all. Then there are lots of other options like using 4CM with an existing valve head or using a modeller into the return of an amp fx loop.

I have kept my valve heads and combos and use the Helix into the fx return or use 4CM. By keeping your existing amps, you always have to option to switch between modelling and physical amps if you need to. I'd definitely recommend this, so you can periodically check you don't feel you are missing out using modelling or get a fix of blasting through a real amp.  

 I know you said you want the minimum connecting of laptops, but if you have an audio interface, you can download demos of most of the main modelling VST's and run the line out of the interface into the fx return on one of your existing amps to get a feel for if you like using modelled amps and FX. Just remember to bypass the cab model in the software. You can get a lot of learning done for not much money trialling this way. 

Onpar

I've seen 3 live bands recently where the guitarist sounded fantastic. 

Some basic pedals and a Roland cube 
Strymon Iridium into the PA
And this week in Sheffield...... Some decent pedals through a Boss Katana!!!! 

My head is spinning. 

Must point out that all 3 guitarists were phenomenal players.

CarpeDiem

Onpar said:

I've seen 3 live bands recently where the guitarist sounded fantastic. 

Some basic pedals and a Roland cube 
Strymon Iridium into the PA
And this week in Sheffield...... Some decent pedals through a Boss Katana!!!! 

My head is spinning. 

Must point out that all 3 guitarists were phenomenal players.

Good players usually have the ability to get the best sound out of whatever they play, which is a skill in itself.