Kemper Profiling Amp Thread

[nightlight]

I just created another profile of my Engl Savage 120. I think it sounds really good.

Try it out on the Rig Exchange. Indian Savage Rage is the name of the profile.

 

[ryanougrad]

Okay. I'm considering taking the plunge on a Kemper Floor, but I haven't really kept up with all the Kemper stuff, so I'm not sure what's up to date and out of date with what I've read over the years. With my current situation, living in Vietnam, I have to make a decision pretty quick (grab it over the holidays) and can't test drive before I buy. So my questions are:

I've read delays are great, but not sure about reverbs.
How are the delays and reverbs?
Related to the question above, would an Eventide H9 be overkill when used with the Kemper?
How are the Fuzz tones?
How are the boosts (808, etc.)?

Again, because of where I live I'd like to grab what I need in one go, as finding things here in Vietnam is quite difficult and importing is basically a no go.

If it helps, I'm looking for tones similar to Mastodon and Pallbearer as well as some KSE and wonder if I can hit all that in the Kemper or if it needs some help. (Yeah I'm old and don't djent). A big pedal board rig and amp is a nonstarter.

I know someone might recommend the Axe, but the H9 and floor (with holiday deals) is much less than Axe-III and midi.

 

[lewis]

I love the kemper and its built in effects are great. There was a recent update that added a whole bunch of new reverbs and they sound sweet.

The kemper is one of these things where when you come back to it after playing other rigs and hearing band mates setups in action etc etc, you realise how superior it is. I regularly A/Bd it against my AX8 and it slaughtered it everytime. To the point ive sold the ax8 in favour of making a smaller analog/digital hybrid rig.

Where i would be abit iffy is there are so many horror stories about the stage sadly. My non powered rack has been outstanding quality and lasted great with no issues. Seems the stage is cursed currently though so.

 

[Jon Pearson]

So this is just a FWIW from my experience, obviously others will disagree - I really think the Helix is the better buy over Kemper.

I owned a Kemper for a while and really tried to like it, and it did do a great job catching the sound of an amp, but it was a no-go for me once I realized there is pretty much no significant tweaking of a profile.

Here's my process typically with modeler/digital tech: find a baseline amp sound that I like pretty well, and then tweak it to get it just right.

The problem with Kemper is that the profiles simply can't be tweaked very much before they sound bad, which makes sense if you think about how it does what it does, it obviously can't model individual amp tone control so the EQ just isn't ideal for the profile in most cases.

With Kemper you need a great profile that is 99% perfect and requires minimal tweaks, but for me that was difficult. I'm not saying it sounded bad, it sounded great, but I'm always going to want to make tweaks to personalize my sound.

I owned the Helix afterward, and it isn't as close necessarily to the "real deal" but it sounded fantastic and I could pretty well always get what I wanted from it, it's cheaper, and the interface is great (an area the Kemper lacks in for sure).

Just my opinion, YMMV.

 

[ryanougrad]

S

Just my opinion, YMMV.

Thanks. I actually have an HX stomp right now and I'm over trying to dial things in. I only need some base amps tones that are ready to go. I think for me, the Kemper is a better route.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Okay. I'm considering taking the plunge on a Kemper Floor, but I haven't really kept up with all the Kemper stuff, so I'm not sure what's up to date and out of date with what I've read over the years. With my current situation, living in Vietnam, I have to make a decision pretty quick (grab it over the holidays) and can't test drive before I buy. So my questions are:

I've read delays are great, but not sure about reverbs.
How are the delays and reverbs?
Related to the question above, would an Eventide H9 be overkill when used with the Kemper?
How are the Fuzz tones?
How are the boosts (808, etc.)?

Again, because of where I live I'd like to grab what I need in one go, as finding things here in Vietnam is quite difficult and importing is basically a no go.

If it helps, I'm looking for tones similar to Mastodon and Pallbearer as well as some KSE and wonder if I can hit all that in the Kemper or if it needs some help. (Yeah I'm old and don't djent). A big pedal board rig and amp is a nonstarter.

I know someone might recommend the Axe, but the H9 and floor (with holiday deals) is much less than Axe-III and midi.

If you're trying to get doomy/sludgy sounds/ KSE sounds, there's about a million profiles on the rig exchange that can get you into those ranges (not including paid profiles).

delays/reverbs are good
kemper takes pedals just fine if you decide to use them with it.
fuzz tones are solid, especially the green pickle/muff models
boosts are relatively limited, there's one clean boost model and a couple variations on the 808 iirc

 

[Jon Pearson]

Thanks. I actually have an HX stomp right now and I'm over trying to dial things in. I only need some base amps tones that are ready to go. I think for me, the Kemper is a better route.

Fair enough! The kemper is definitely a sweet piece of kit, if you don't like messing around with settings then it is probably the one to go for.

 

[cardinal]

OK, I'm starting to look into a Kemper again just to profile some of my own amps. I'm sure this is discussed in here somewhere, but hoping someone can fill me in on the current technology:

There's a way to profile just an amp head, right? Like, I can put a load box on the head and profile directly from the amp's output?

That way I don't have to worry about mic placement and FRFR stuff. I can just put the Kemper output into my cabs and it would sound like the amp into the cab, right?

 

[lewis]

Fair enough! The kemper is definitely a sweet piece of kit, if you don't like messing around with settings then it is probably the one to go for.

This!!

The easiest plug and play = stunning tone ive had.
Ive gone from Pod HD Pro, my bands bassist has a Helix LT, I own a Kemper and until recently an AX8 and my bands 2nd guitarist owns an Axe Fx II.

Its the best sounding right off the bat and easily the easiest to dial in.

The other 2 are forever having to tone tweak

 

[ascl]

This!!

The easiest plug and play = stunning tone ive had.
Ive gone from Pod HD Pro, my bands bassist has a Helix LT, I own a Kemper and until recently an AX8 and my bands 2nd guitarist owns an Axe Fx II.

Its the best sounding right off the bat and easily the easiest to dial in.

The other 2 are forever having to tone tweak

+1. The tweaking was the thing I hated with the POD I had. I could never get it sounding how I wanted it, so the kemper is essentially plug and play for me (and if I don't like the profile, I just find another one. There are a ridiculous number of good sounding profiles out there).

 

[Fierce_Swe]

https://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.php?thread/47112-rig-manager-3-is-available-for-testing/

Well, that was about time....

 

[DudeManBrother]

I’m more excited that you can (apparently) drag and drop IR files now. I wonder if they still convert to .kpir and truncate? Either way it’s more convenient than the extra steps involved with using Cab Maker.

I’ll probably still wait until the release is official. I’m not so concerned with a buggy experience in RM as much as I’m concerned about leaving 5.X OS to 7.1.6 or higher.

 

[Mathemagician]

Yeah I love just being able to swap profiles and maybe tweak the EQ a tad. But at the end of the day the profile is the profile, you can turn off cab sim and play through a cab, or us FRFR and cab sims and that’s it. Loving mine.

 

[lewis]

Its not called "editor" so can we still complain?

If not, we better move focus to the kemper cab. Where the hell is it?

 

[DudeManBrother]

It does have the editor in there so I’m sure it’ll be called that once the release is official. I too wonder where that cab/speaker is. I wouldn’t be shocked if it doesn’t happen for another year or more, but it’s a great idea and I’d love to try it out.

 

[ryanougrad]

Bought a Kemper Stage. Where can I get the best profiles for the following amps:

Orange
Marshall JMP and 800
Fortin Marshall
5150
Recto

Looking for tones similar to Mastodon, High on Fire, Killswitch Engage. Not owned a Kemper before and will be a few days before I get home and have a chance to play.

 

[lewis]

Bought a Kemper Stage. Where can I get the best profiles for the following amps:

Orange
Marshall JMP and 800
Fortin Marshall
5150
Recto

Looking for tones similar to Mastodon, High on Fire, Killswitch Engage. Not owned a Kemper before and will be a few days before I get home and have a chance to play.

Sinmix will cover most of that.

 

[Dead-Pan]

These are on fire!

 

[DudeManBrother]

These are on fire!

I don’t see them on your website. Are they available yet?

 

[Dead-Pan]

I don’t see them on your website. Are they available yet?

They are!

http://livereadysound.com/product/the-legend/

http://livereadysound.com/product/west-coast-killer/

Happy New Year All!