So...I received today Kemper....

[jlynnb1]

This is a common misconception about the Kemper. While a profile is indeed a "snapshot" of a given signal chain, it can just as easily be viewed as a starting point rather than the endpoint. I thought of profiles more like default settings and wasn't afraid to touch the knobs.

it's not a misconception...you can tweak them to a point but the farther you get from the original profile the sketchier it gets. Also, it's like post processiong, you aren't interacting with the "amp" at all, unlike the Axe. That's huge when dealing with how the signal is hitting a non-mv power section, etc.

 

[Will Chen]

it's not a misconception...you can tweak them to a point but the farther you get from the original profile the sketchier it gets. Also, it's like post processiong, you aren't interacting with the "amp" at all, unlike the Axe. That's huge when dealing with how the signal is hitting a non-mv power section, etc.

I disagree. While it's nothing like the Axe in terms of authenticity of controls (though depending on the model the Axe does have a great many parameters not part of the original amp), saying it gets "sketchier" is a stretch IMHO.

The way the Kemper works is there is an underlying amp model (or models actually) with a great many parameters. The profiling process sets those underlying parameters and creates an accompanying IR to match the response from the target amp so you get something very close from the Kemper. Now you have a starting point on which a generic gain and tone stack is applied (and a bunch of other advanced parameters) which when you tweak absolutely act like an amp, just not absolutely accurate to any specific amp.

That said, the AX8 is really a bargain considering what you get in comparison to the Kemper or even AxeFX2, which is a huge consideration for me. There's advantages to both concepts IMHO and like I said before competition is a good thing.

 

[Deadpan]

Editing the sounds with the tone stack on the Kemper is much like editing with plugins in a DAW.

However the Kemper does have some in amp and cabinet editing options that effect the sound and feel in ways not possible in a DAW. They have videos on their website showing them in action. They really are very unique, powerful and useful.

Edit: The Kemper takes EQ amazingly well.

 

[barhrecords]

For me it depends on the profile as to how pleasing the results are when you change parameters.

MBritt, for example, profiles a lot of amps in full bodied neutral amp settings. These profiles can be changed a lot and still hold up and sound great.

Profiles created at extreme amp settings don't tend to fair as well for me when I change them. But I've only got limited experience with these so it could be my own lack of knowledge of the Kemper.

 

[bradlake]

For me it depends on the profile as to how pleasing the results are when you change parameters.

MBritt, for example, profiles a lot of amps in full bodied neutral amp settings. These profiles can be changed a lot and still hold up and sound great.

Profiles created at extreme amp settings don't tend to fair as well for me when I change them. But I've only got limited experience with these so it could be my own lack of knowledge of the Kemper.

Your perceptions match mine. Britt's Guytron pack in particular can be manipulated in awesome ways.

 

[bshaw92]

I had to change speaker cabinets and add treble and presence to make MBritt profiles work. Not in love with a standard speaker profile as it has a tendency to make all the amps sound alike.

Most eq. adjustments, if used, can be very slight with great potential. The gain knob is more generic than tone stack eq. adjustments when deviating from the base profile.

 

[bradlake]

I had to change speaker cabinets and add treble and presence to make MBritt profiles work. Not in love with a standard speaker profile as it has a tendency to make all the amps sound alike.

Most eq. adjustments, if used, can be very slight with great potential. The gain knob is more generic than tone stack eq. adjustments when deviating from the base profile.

I almost always switch to an Ownhammer cab when working in Kemper.

 

[haffner1]

I have to bump this thread, I thought I would get the opinion of some of the Kemper users out there. I finally got the chance to play one the other day and I was in part very impressed, but in other ways rather disappointed. I should preface this by saying that I was playing it a Guitar Center store, so I have no idea where the profiles came from or how old the firmware version was on it. Also, the guitar they had on hand had EMGs, so probably not the best thing to use for some of the tones I was testing. The higher gain settings sounded immediately great playing straight into an orange cab of some kind, probably with V30s, but I didn't really look at it. The issue I had was that when playing mid to low gain profiles, fender and vox (I tried several of each) when rolling off the volume to attempt to clean up the sound it developed this low level background noise sort of like the wash of a high gain amp in the background beneath the clean sound, very distinct and separate, almost like another signal. My initial thought was that it is some kind of aliasing or digital artifact that becomes apparent when the input signal is dropped, but I don't know enough about the device to rule out other factors. I did find an old thread about aliasing on a kemper forum that seemed to indicate that there was an aliasing issue that was never resolved, but that was from about 3 years ago. Is this kind of thing just a shortcoming of the equipment or the process used or was there something else going on?

 

[fourtet]

Michael Britt's profiles saved Kemper IMO.