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In this Discussion
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Kemper?
rockmonster
Frets: 845
I know it's again but I'm still getting strangely drawn to one of these! Anyway more questions than answers at the moment.
I can't be arsed to go down the axe-fx route it's too much knob twiddling for me. (And I don't care if the axe-fx is better it's not for me! End of discussion!)
Is the kemper any good live? I love my EVH amps BUT I don't mind an alternative provided it will give me more and still allow me to plug in and play instead of f&ck around with levels, knobs settings all the time blah blah blah!
Come on guys spread the word. This is not a Kemper versus AXe-fx thread. I only want to know about the Kemper. Will I be impressed with its ease of use ( live) not interested in recording (yet anyway!)
It's honeymoon period must be over so let's get the lowdown. Are there startup issues? Power cut related. I've never had a power cut in 25 years of gigging (and I'm from Wales!) is this just a load of bollocks created by the competition? Answers please.
Rack or toaster? Rack or power rack? Pros and cons?
Footswitches? What works for you?
Are they really any good live?
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Comments
I used to use 4 different H&K half rack preamp units to keep things simple, so I can appreciate the sentiment. I wonder if I should buy a Kemper one day. Any small light gear appeals to me if it can do the job
I thought the Kemper would require a lot more tweaking before a gig than a valve amp, can anyone advise on this? It seems to have at least as many knobs and buttons and displays as the AxeFx, although they are dedicated and labelled, which is an improvement in my book, I went through enough multi-function controls in synth world. My assumption had been that with all these units, you save your presets, then just call them up when you need them live, using those tone and gain controls.
I heard a band live last year that I also heard live in 2011 (in the same venue, through the same house PA). In 2011 the guitarist had a Marshall half stack. In 2012 he had switched to a Kemper. The front of house sound was significantly better with the Kemper. I can't guarantee that it was the same sound engineer etc. but it's definitely got me gassing for one at some point.
I've had a Kemper since March and run it with a Matrix power amp into two 2x12's. It's an amazing bit of kit with the best amp tones I've heard from a digital device (my other rig's an Axe Ultra and I've used Digitech, Rocktron, Line 6, etc in the past).
As with any piece of gear like this, there are a lot of buttons, knobs and menus but you don't have to mess with them every time you turn it on. It's easy to get overwhelmed by profiles. The KPA comes with 300+ and there are free packs + thousands of free ones on the Rig Exchange + loads of commercial ones from The Amp Factory, Soundside, etc. There is no computer editor or librarian yet so organising profiles can be a bit of a faff.
I've only done one gig with mine because I recently moved from London to Yorkshire so I'm bandless at the mo'. Had no probs on the gig (I dialled in my patches at gig volume beforehand) and I've had no issues with the unit freezing or powering down unexpectedly. No worries with midi control from an fcb1010 with uno chip. The effects are not as extensive as the Axe fx but there's everything I need and they're all good quality.
If you spend a lot of time tweaking your valve amps and pedals then you'll probably tweak the Kemper a lot but if you're more of a set and forget bloke, then you won't. TBH all these rigs are similar (including the Axe) in that once you've got your patches dialled in there's no need to tweak them all the time but if you're an inveterate fiddler then they give you lots of scope to indulge your nasty habit!
never gigged one, but had a real play with one a few weekends ago as a friend bought one who is a guitar tech for a few professional touring/sizable bands.
Firstly my impressions of it, an amazing recording tool some of the stock patches on it where junk, others not, some of them sounded exactly as they should, the Dr Z patches he had, wow, so good, the two rock patches he had, terrible, nothing like the real thing, so I think you need to be mindful of the defaults that it ships with and some of the junk people are peddling on the web, but also be aware that with time + money you can either make patches yourself or buy some from quality sources. I played it into a 1 x cab, and the patches I liked, really good, I was more open to it as an amp than I have been in the past, and I think because he'd given me a word of advice before hand. Don't expect it to sound/behave like you are standing next to an amp, expect it to sound / behave as if it was a amp that had been mic'd up in another room and is being recorded. This was very helpful advice, as silly as it sounds. This explains why they are so useful as a recording tool, and powerful in a live situation as they are already mic'd up in theory. That can make playing next to one a bit "odd" but playing off the monitor feed, I don't think you'd have any problems.
He showed me a few photos of a few bands that I certainly didn't expect to be using them, using them live, nothing more, no amps to fall back on, just a rack with two kemper's in them, a tray of pedals, a battery backup/ups and that was it. If some big name bands are using them live with great success, it proves it can be done, but I really think it depends a lot on the time / money invested in getting the setup right for the sounds you need.
I'd love one for a recording tool, but I wouldn't buy one for my main amp, but that is only because I like my amp, I enjoy the feel I get from it.
The only draw backs I saw with the Kemper if you're open to it where minor and being improved all the time, long boot up time - but who cares, still quicker than setting up an amp, no editor/pc/mac interface, so it's usb devices and a menu driven system, but I'm told this is coming soon so shouldn't hurt for too much longer.
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Thought I’d share a few insights on the Kemper – I got myself one a month ago to use both in the studio and live.
Used it for 2 gigs so far (modern rock covers). The first was through a big PA system and holy shat it sounds good. Having tried Line 6 stuff over the years and not being that impressed this thing really open my eyes (well ears!) as to how to dial in a great live guitar sound that sits well in a mix. Suppose the greatest compliment was from a couple of friends in the audience who commented about how good the band sounded without my JVM half-stack drowning everything out. The sounds I used were profile of a Diesel VH4, Splawn Nitro, AC30, JCM 800, JTM45 and a Morgan AC20 and through a close to full range PA they sound unbelievably good. Dare I say just like the real thing (miked up, not ‘in the room’) In fact a mate that owns a JCM800 was a tad baffled as he could hear ‘his’ amp but couldn’t see it.
Like a moron I also found myself peering into the PA speakers wondering what witchcraft is making a cranked AC30 come out of themJ
Second gig was a bit smaller so I just linked the Kemper up to a poweramp and my V30 2X12 cab. Tweaked the monitor output EQ to lose some of the mud (big part of the Kemper sound is the profile of the cabinet itself) and wham – great guitar sound that again, blends in so well into the band sound.
Thick overdrive that really does react like a tube amp and nice clean tones
A lot of guys on the Kemper forum go into a lot of detail about what PA gear to use to get a ‘perfect’ sound from the unit but I found interesting using the power amp and cab route was working on my own sound.
Control wise I use a Beghringer FCB board with a modified UNO chip – this works perfectly.
The only downside to the unit is that there is no PC library to sort through the hundreds of profiles most users will end up with. Sure this will be rectified in time.
Usually when GAS strikes I keep my Blackstar, Marshall and Mesa heads ready for action but this time they are all to be sold. This daft looking toaster really is good. Recommend you give one a go – or have a listen to some of the clips on theampfactory website (a pro studio selling great profiles)
They always sound amazing live, whether small gig or festival. When I saw it, it was a gig, about 1500 people.
btw Tone World recommend this,
http://www.toneworld.co.uk/amplifiers-c11/heads-c12/dv-mark-multiamp-2-1-rack-mountable-preamp-effects-processor-p1315
they are very picky, so I'd try to evaluate this too, they don't big up stuff that's not as good as they say, and have given me quite frank opinions about some stuff they do sell, I think they are sticking with the Coda-type reputation the guys cultivated at Sounds Great
Remember, they don't stock the Kemper I think, but if you call them I bet you'd get a decent opinion on the merits