Who here has a Kemper?

ThorpyFX

So who here has a kemper? have any of you created any interesting profiles? experiences, hints, tips etc?

firepaulmusic

When I first got my Kemper I made a couple of simple profiles of my Carr Slant 6 V. One was clean and the other with a Suhr Riot pedal. I was very accustomed to hearing the mic'd sound of the amp through my PA. When I sound checked for a gig I compared the mic'd sound to that of the profiles which had been done in my kitchen with the same mic. As far as I could tell there was no difference at all so I did the gig with the Kemper. Great bit of kit if you want to go direct or do some recording, if you still want cabs and power amps on stage to get 'feel' I would question the point of having one over a valve amp.

crunchman

I profiled my Lazy J.  I just it it really simply with an SM57 directly into the Kemper.  It turned out ok.  I actually prefer it to the Amp Factory Lazy J 20 profile, but he profiled one with a 15" speaker of some kind, not with a Blue.  There is a bit too much low end which I think may be proximity effect as I had the mike very close, but I prefer it to some of the commercial profiles I've got.

I've not gone mad on buying commercial profiles but the Michael Britt ones are excellent.  I've just got one of the packs that contain a variety of amps, and I'm using them at least 80% of the time now.

ThorpyFX

crunchman said:

I profiled my Lazy J.  I just it it really simply with an SM57 directly into the Kemper.  It turned out ok.  I actually prefer it to the Amp Factory Lazy J 20 profile, but he profiled one with a 15" speaker of some kind, not with a Blue.  There is a bit too much low end which I think may be proximity effect as I had the mike very close, but I prefer it to some of the commercial profiles I've got.

I've not gone mad on buying commercial profiles but the Michael Britt ones are excellent.  I've just got one of the packs that contain a variety of amps, and I'm using them at least 80% of the time now.

I have a Kemper to try and profile a few bits and bobs, and to test with pedals etc. So far I've done four simple profiles, one of which is my MJW Orion on the crunch channel. the others are my swart and a tiny terror jim root through the MJW cab.  I've shared them on the rig area so hopefully it'll be of interest to some people. 

guitarmanessex89

I saw Geoff Whitehorn using one live a few weeks ago. Didn't have the direct attack of an amp pushing air, but great, well-rounded tones. Probably helped that it was through a decent PA, and not a struggling pair of SRM450's!

richh

I've got one, really like it!

But no, I've not created any of my own profiles, and don't intend to.  I just find it very convenient for home use especially and it sounds great IMO through headphones or for recording.  I tend to use just a handful of good profiles.  Of course it is great to have lots of choice, but after the initial honeymoon period of experimenting, I really just use a few different core sounds.

What I do like is that on my (toaster) version, it is really easy to tweak the settings, just like on a real amp.  Whether this is gain, tone controls, reverb level, it is really intuitive and easy to do on the fly.

I can't offer any comparisons with other similar products, but I've no complaints!

sherpa_man

Q

jesone

I love mine, it's great for silent home practice through headphones or live through the fx loop of my DSL40c.

paul_xt

@sherpa_man do you have any of the Michael Britt profiles? Thinking of trying them out but wondered if you could share any thoughts on them.

RandomGecko

Had one since last summer, and I love it. Gigged it in a variety of venues big and small, both on in-ears and with an on-stage cabinet and it's been great at everything. Using the Michael Britt profiles for 98% of my tones.

paul_xt

Sorry to hijack the thread but @randomGecko what were you using to control it? I'd like to use mine live but keep chopping and changing between buying an fcb with the uno chip or just going for the remote.

ragingben

I've owned the power head for 18 months and gigged it a bit, fair few band practices and lots of home use. At home I go through a small mixer into a hifi amp and it sounds killer. For this use I don't think you can ask for more, it is fantastic. Through a cab still amazing, and makes for quite a light and neat gigging rig with the remote. I find even the merged profiles and DA profiles are a bit hit and miss through a cab, but once you get profiles that work with you it really clicks. I've found the firmware to be pretty good, and when new features come they are usually worth the wait, but the whole system feels a lot more complex now, there are so many options added that aren't always clear what they do, and it has taken some of the charm away when the system was so straight forward, despite being more comprehensive now. There are also some features that are so standard and I would imagine easy to implement that have been asked for many times and still don't get added while features that no one requested get added frequently, and it is the same for bugs. There are some minor but very annoying bugs that have been in the firmware for years now that I've given up hope on ever being addressed, and while not enough to warrant getting frustrated it has tainted the experience slightly.

David5150

Used mine at rehearsal for the first time in a while last night. Difference this time is I used my own profiles and appear to have got close to sonic nirvana.

I used to use commercial profiles (Top Jimi, Amp Factory) through the band EV PA system and monitors and it sounded kind of OK, but lacked a certain something.

I then wired it into my guitar cab and Marshall 20 20 power amp - disabling the cab sim on the Kemper with the same commercial profiles. Got a bit more of a roaring guitar sound out of it but it lacked a certain wallop.

Last night I used my own profiles made through the cab I actually use and yes yes yes; nailed it. With a bit of EQ (shelving some fizzy top end and bumping up what would be the resonant frequency at the bottom end a little) this thing is finally kicking some serious butt. Sound wise it so close to the actual amp, but a little bit easier to cut through the band mix.

Dave's conclusion - if you're getting mixed results with commercial profiles have a go at sticking a SM57 in front of your rig and have a go.

RandomGecko

paul_xt said:

Sorry to hijack the thread but @randomGecko what were you using to control it? I'd like to use mine live but keep chopping and changing between buying an fcb with the uno chip or just going for the remote.

I have the Remote. It's killing. I also have a real wah, tuner and buffer on my board.

jimification

ThorpyFX said:

So who here has a kemper? have any of you created any interesting profiles? experiences, hints, tips etc?

Just got one recently, and found your Swart profiles on the rig exchange last night (6v6SE high and low I think) thanks for those, very nice indeed!

I've mentioned in other threads but I'm using mine with a stereo Camplifier into a Fender Vaporizer amp that I've rewired as a stereo cab (Vape amp section bypassed and cabs off on the KPA) it sounds bloody amazing in a "where have you been all my life?" kind of way...

Strangely I assumed merged profiles would work better using this method but I seem to be getting just as good a results with the studio profiles and whatever algorithm Kemper use to subtract the cab sound.

Jalapeno

No. But I'd love the pre-amp version for my man cave. It'll have to wait until current spendies are done.

Jez6345789

I love mine for recording and the choice and quality of the MBritt profiles when I got it I hated most of the stuff it came loaded with and was going to return it to Thomann all that said I blew 50 dollars on one of the Britt packs and that changed my mind and I have since added to it and have three or 4 now which cover my recording needs. 

I have rehearsed with it for a couple of times through a nice 10k PA rig and without to much grief got the profiles I had been using to sound pretty epic. 

I still dont know it inside out and have not really gone to the latest firmware as I am getting what I need out of what I have and its been stable but then my needs are pretty simple. 

nikolas7333

Here's a comparison between a profile (made by me) and the real amp. I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to produce something which sounds really quite good, in my opinion: