PROFILER™ Head and Rack are including the same electronical circuits and running the same operating system.

Head and Rack offer identical inputs and outputs.

Rigs, presets, even complete backups are interchangable.

There are no sound differences.

Because of space limitations two knobs are not available on the front panel of the PROFILER Rack / PowerRack™ compared to Head / PowerHead™:
- the two direct access knobs for MODULATION RATE and INTENSITY (you can open the MOD Module to control these two parameters instead)
- the LED rings for the four soft knobs below the display and for the VOLUME knob (values are indicated on the display instead).

PROFILER PowerHead™ and PROFILER PowerRack™ offer an additional speaker output to directly connect a guitar cabinet. That's the only difference! All other capabilities, analog and digital inputs and outputs, .... are identical amongst all powered and unpowered PROFILER Head and Rack models. Powered PROFILER models have no feature and connectivity limitations compared to unpowered PROFILER Head and Rack models.

Dimensions

PROFILER Head / PROFILER PowerHead™

Height: 21.7 cm (8.54 inches) Width: 37.8 cm (14.88 inches) Depth: 17.3 cm (6.81 inches)

PROFILER Rack / PROFILER PowerRack™

Height: 13.9 cm (5.47 inches), 3 HE (3 RU) Width: 48.3 cm (19 inches) Depth: 22 cm (8.66 inches)

Height: 7.5 cm (2.95 inches) Width: 42 cm (16.53 inches) Depth: 18 cm (7.09 inches)

PROFILER Stage™ 

Weight

PROFILER Head

5.32 kg (11.73 pounds)

PROFILER Rack

5.00 kg (11.02 pounds)

PROFILER PowerHead™

6.5 kg (14.33 pounds)

PROFILER PowerRack™

6.18 kg (13.62 pounds)

PROFILER Remote™

PROFILER Stage™

You can chose amongst the following approaches:

1. Either you chose one or two full-range cabinets on stage e. g. PA monitor cabinets. This way you leverage the flexbility of the virtual cabinets included in the PROFILEs and get a tone as close as possible to what the audience is hearing via the PA system.

2. Or you chose a classical guitar cabinet directly connected to PROFILER PowerHead™ / PROFILER PowerRack™ or powered via an external power amplifier (preferably mosfet or digital). In this case you switch off the cabinet simulation for the output driving this guitar cabinet specifically. Simultaneously you could send a stereo signal including cabinet simulation to the front of house mixing desk. If you own a guitar cabinet and like its sound, this might be an inexpensive approach. However, you will always experience the sound of this physical guitar cabinet on stage.

3. KEMPER Kone and KEMPER Kabinet offer maximum flexibility. These can be used either as linear full-range cabinet OR as a guitar cabinet in the room by selecting one of the speaker imprints built into the PROFILER software.

4. If you are using in-ear monitoring you obviously need no cabinet at all and monitor the same sound as the audience.

Yes - and even better, you can have it both ways at the same time: Use the stereo XLR MAIN OUTPUTS to send your signal to the front of house mixing console, and use the dedicated MONITOR OUTPUT in mono or stereo to feed your poweramp and physical guitar speaker cabinet with a signal that bypasses the cabinet simulation.

Owners of a PROFILER PowerHead™ or PROFILER PowerRack™ can connect a guitar speaker cabinet to its mono SPEAKER OUTPUT.

Yes!

Any Studio PROFILE™ consists of an amplifier PROFILE and a cabinet PROFILE. Therefore it is possible to virtually combine amps and cabinets as you like or even play an amplifier PROFILE through a physical guitar cabinet. You could also use the Cab Maker application to transform cabinet impulse responses into PROFILER™ cabinet presets, which you could then import and combine with any amp PROFILE.

The PROFILER Remote™ is the perfect companion for your PROFILER™ Head, PowerHead, Rack, and PowerRack models and can be seperately ordered in the KEMPER™ online store.

Basic remote control functionality is available for simple applications with expression pedals and/or momentary switches directly connected to these PROFILER models.

The PROFILER Stage™ has its foot control onboard.

Via MIDI it is possible to load Rigs in Browser and Performance Mode via program changes as well as switching effects on/off and controlling continuous parameters like for example "Delay Mix" via control changes. Please refer to the manuals for more details.

In addition it is possible to control nearly all internal parameters with the 14-bit MIDI protocol NRPN. Please consult the MIDI Parameter Documentation for details.

The PROFILER™ Head, PowerHead, Rack, and PowerRack models offer two and the PROFILER Remote™ offers four additional sockets to connect up to six expression pedals or dual momentary switches via TRS cables. For single switches TS cables are sufficient. The PROFILER Stage™ offers four sockets for expression pedals, dual or single momentary switches.

All types and brands of expression pedals are supported. Analog volume pedals are not recommended.

Switches must be momentary (not latched).  The polarity can be adapted for each switch in the System Settings. Tube amplifier channel switches usually latch and therefore cannot be used.

KEMPER™ offers an expression pedal and a switch 2-way in the online store.

There are video tutorials available focussed on technical prerequisites and the set-up of expression pedals and switches.

The serial number can be found on a sticker under the bottom of the PROFILER™ and is displayed on the last page of System Settings.

If you have acquired a PROFILER™ second hand you should create your own KEMPER™ user account and register the device in your account like a new owner. Simply click on the small icon Login at the top right corner of the KEMPER homepage and follow the instructions. At that time the former owner will receive a warning e-mail and owner privileges will be transferred automatically.

Yes, you can register multiple devices in your KEMPER™ user account.

The internal power amp delivers up to 600 watts at 8 ohms and 300 watts at 16 ohms. At 4 ohms its power is electronically limited to 600 watts.

The power amplifier provides sufficient headroom to avoid clipping, even with dynamic clean sounds. Very loud signals and transients will then be compressed by a nice, organic-sounding, soft-clipping circuit.

If you are afraid of damaging your speakers with the built-in 600 watts power amp, then use the Wattage Meter to monitor exactly how much power is being delivered. At normal volumes the amp might just provide between 15 and 25 watts. If you are running at extremely high volumes and notice any indications of speaker distress, turn down Monitor Volume or Power Amp Boost.

In case you are using an expression pedal to control your wah effects and rarely want to control your volume via pedal, you don’t need a second expression pedal. You can activate the Wah Pedal Booster in the X or MOD module instead and use the Wah Pedal to boost the signal. This is a Rig specific approach.

You could also link Volume Pedal as well as Pitch Pedal to your Wah Pedal globally in System Settings. If currently a wah effect is active in your Rig your Wah Pedal will work as usual. If there is no active wah effect, but a pedal pitch effect in your Rig, the Wah Pedal will control the pitch. If no wah and no pitch pedal effects are active, the Wah Pedal will function as a Volume Pedal. That means: one expression pedal leveraged for three different purposes. In addition the type and the settings of wah effects as well as pedal pitch effects, and the Volume Pedal Location and Range could vary by Rig. So, this one pedal is extremely versatile.

You could also use Morph Pedal as your master pedal and control wah effects, pedal pitch effects, Rig Volume as well as other continuous parameters with it, even simultaneously.

There are multiple options which aplly to all PROFILER™ models:

You could leverage the Volume Pedal to control Gain in particular Rigs. On page Volume Pedal Settings in Rig Settings you are able to chose the position of the Volume Pedal in the signal flow (Off, Input, Pre Stack, Post Stack, Output). If you select Input or Pre Stack you are able to control the Gain of the AMPLIFIER module in a Rig.

The parameter Gain can also be directly controlled via Morphing. So you could for example use the Morph Pedal to raise Gain from level x to level y in a particular Rig. 

Yes, any PROFILER™ model can send MIDI commands to up to two different external devices whenever Slots get loaded in Performance Mode. You can configure the two external MIDI devices in System Settings globally and edit the MIDI commands by Slot under Edit / Slot Settings / MIDI Settings. Please refer to paragraph "Transmitting MIDI Commands in Performance Mode" in the Main Manual for more details.

In addition you can forward the four pedal controllers for Morphing, Wah, Volume, and Pitch to those two external devices. Please read about "Pedals to MIDI".

And you could enable "UI to MIDI", which allows to forward all transactions triggered from your PROFILER Remote™ or PROFILER Stage™ foot control to a second PROFILER as a backup or a sequencer for automation purposes. 

The PROFILER™ is an excellent tool for reamping either via S/PDIF or analog in- and outputs. Even no additional hardware is required as the internal circuitry is designed for connecting your instrument with studio environment. All PROFILER models offer an analog and an digital input source optimized for reamping plus a parameter Reamp Sens. Please refer to the dedicated chapter about reamping in the Main Manual.

Yes, PROFILEs of modelling amps or software can be created, although the results from PROFILING™ modeled amps can sometimes be underwhelming. The reason is that some emulations try to mimic the typical tube sound using techniques that don't necessarily match the analog reality.

Yes, absolutely!

You could create a PROFILE™ of your favorite bass amplifiers or just leverage our factory bass amp PROFILEs. Some are included in our preinstalled factory content. All bass Rigs are available in KEMPER Rig Manager™ and on the KEMPER™ download page.

In Browser Mode you could turn the Type Knob and select the View "Just Bass", so that only Bass Rigs will show up. Current software does also include some specific features for bass players such as Parallel Path and Analog Octaver. Please refer to the related information in the manuals.

Yes!

As a matter of fact, we offer multiple factory PROFILEs taken from one of the best-sounding solid state amps in history: the Roland® JC-120.

Yes, even a PROFILE™ of an acoustic guitar preamps can be created!

RETURN and ALTERNATIVE IN (or Return 1/2 at PROFILER Stage™) can be used to feed a stereo audio signal into the output stage of the PROFILER™. You just require a cable feeding the stereo signal into two separate TS jacks. 

There are individual mix controls for the MAIN OUTPUTS/SPDIF OUTPUT, MONITOR OUTPUT, and the HEADPHONE OUTPUT in the OUTPUT section. 

All PROFILER™ models offer koax S/PDIF in- and outputs. It acts as master of the clock (PROFILER Stage™ also as slave). Please set your soundcard to 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 kHz and 24 bit.

There are four methods to create new combinations of existing modules within a Rig:

For a temporary test the lock feature is most effective. You can lock single or multiple modules of the signal chain e. g. module A, CABINET, the DLY module, or even the whole STACK. When you now load other Rigs only those modules not locked will change, while the locked modules are "frozen". This way you can test new combinations without making permanent changes. If you store a Rig, it will be stored with the modules that you see and hear.

In the STACK section you could use the "Selective Browse" feature, while either AMPLIFIER, CABINET or STACK is in focus. Turn the BROWSE knob and select the option "From Rigs". Now you can for example browse through all amplifier PROFILEs embedded in the Rigs in your pool while all other modules of your current Rig stay "frozen". This is very effective, if you just want to checkout another amp or cab in combination with your current effect configurations.

In all modules and sections you can use the BROWSE knob to pick one of your presets. If you have created presets of you favorite effects, your favorite amps, your favorite cabinets or your favorite stacks, you could just load one of those.

In order to create new permanent combinations the copy and paste feature is very convenient.

Each PROFILER™ comes with a representative selection of sounds for various genres and applications. All our factory Rigs are available in KEMPER Rig Manager™ and can also be downloaded from the KEMPER™ download page.

We recommend to keep the selection on the PROFILER tailored to your real playing needs while maintaining the larger sound collection in Rig Manager.

Turning the BROWSE knob while an effect module is in focus you can select from a list of effect presets. Such effect presets include an effect type plus all its settings. Users are able to create such effect presets themselves under a name meaningful to them. The preinstalled factory content includes effect presets for demonstration purposes and as a basis for your own tweaking. These are excellent starting points checking out effects and their wide range of possibilities and then fine-tune parameters as needed to find your intended sound.

Turning the TYPE knob while an effect module is in focus you are able to select one of the effect types built into the software. This list of effect types is fixed and could only be changed via update of the PROFILER™ operating system. While you select another effect type all parameter settings are maintained. This is a very effective method to compare different effects algorithms like for example a phaser against a flanger or select one of the many delay types without the need to redial all their settings again and again.

Since OS 7.0 you can switch the function of the TYPE knob to take bigger steps from one effect category to the next, too. 

If you should be missing effect types, your PROFILER™ operating system needs to get updated.

While Rigs include all settings of the input section plus all eight effect modules plus the whole stack, you could create presets of one individual module of the signal chain (input, effect module, amp, EQ, cab) or the entire stack section (amp plus EQ plus cab).

If you for example have the stack section in focus and push the STORE button, you can choose either to store the entire Rig including the complete signal chain from the input to the REV module or you capture a preset just of this stack under a name meaningful to you.

In order to load this preset later in another Rig, you just need to bring the stack section into focus again, use the BROWSE knob and select your preset from the list of stack presets stored in your data pool. While an effect module is in focus you could press STORE and create a preset of an effect, which includes the effect type (e. g. wah wah) plus all its parameter settings. This way you could capture your favorite wah and easily reuse it at any time in Browser Mode or Performance Mode.

The PROFILER™ comes with sets of Rigs and presets. Like with Rigs you can create presets and delete presets. Presets are a very effective tool to capture and reuse your favorite building blocks for your sounds.

It is also possible to create presets of the output section to accomodate settings like output sources, output EQs,.... This way you could create presets for different enviroments like your home studio, rehearsal rooms of various bands, various stage environments. And wherever you arrive with your PROFILER, you just need to load the appropriate output preset.

Clean Sens

Different types of guitars produce different output levels depending on their pickups and string gauge: for example, humbucker pickups generate higher voltages compared to single coils, and active guitars generate even hotter signal levels. If you feel that clean sounds are either very loud or very soft compared to distorted sounds, you can adjust Clean Sens to a level where clean sounds have the same perceived loudness as distorted sounds. Clean Sens determines the volume of clean sounds, but not the way that the amp or the effects are driven. A guitar with low output level stays cleaner; a hot guitar will still distort more easily.

Extremely hot guitars can generate unwanted distortion, indicated by the Input LED flashing red. This is only relevant for clean sounds, however - prominent amp distortion will completely mask a subtle clipping of the input.

Distortion Sens

Distortion Sens should normally stay at zero (middle) position. Every Rig will react as if you had connected your guitar to the original amplifier.

If you feel that your guitar tends to drive the distortion too hot (or too soft) for most of your Rigs, then calibrate your guitar by adjusting Distortion Sens accordingly.

Clean Sens is not a simple input gain; you will notice that it does not affect the gain of a distorted sound. Distortion Sense is also not a simple booster, as it does not affect the gain of clean sounds. Neither of these parameters colors the sound.

The Input Section is locked by default in Browser Mode. Clean Sens and Distortion Sens will be relevant for every Rig until you decide to unlock it. If you unlock this Section, the input settings will be individually recalled per Rig.

In Performance Mode, the Input Section is not locked by default, because most users prepare and store their Performances including the settings of the Input Section for particular songs and guitars.

There is a dedicated video tutorial available about the Input Section.

Yes, this is especially practical for PROFILER Rack and PROFILER PowerRack™ users. You need to select the ALTERNATIVE INPUT as your input source in the Input Section. This setting is global and not included in any Rig.

Even with this setting the ALTERNATIVE INPUT will only function as guitar input if no jack is plugged into the front INPUT at that time. It is not possible to use these two guitar inputs simultaneously.

The PROFILER Stage™ offers just one guitar INPUT on the rear side.

If you are monitoring your playing via neutral speakers or headphones connected to the PROFILER™, you could leverage the same for band monitoring by using the Aux In feature of the PROFILER to mix in the band's monitor mix from FOH. This way you keep local control balancing the band's monitor mix versus your own guitar signal.

You would need to feed the band's monitor mix into the Aux In sockets of the PROFILER (RETURN plus ALTERNATIVE IN  or RETURN 1 plus 2). In the Output Section you will find three controls to selectively mix the Aux In signal into MAIN OUTPUTS/SPDIF OUTPUT, MONITOR OUTPUT, and HEADPHONE OUTPUT. So, you could feed the monitor mix just into the HEADPHONE OUTPUT for example.

If the band's monitor mix you receive is just mono, use the RETURN/RETURN 1 INPUT and activate "Aux >Mono" in the OUTPUT section.

Depending on which outputs you are using to feed your guitar signal to the mixing desk e. g. the MAIN OUTPUTS, you want to make sure, that you don't send the band mix signal back to FOH. Otherwise you create a feedback loop. 

Rig Volume (bottom row left) is made for adjusting relative volume differences between Rigs for your performance. In general it should be placed on or around the middle position (unity volume). If you do that, you should rarely see a red OUTPUT LED.

We have put weeks of work into the PROFILER™ for creating a constant volume situation. One aspect of this is that the volume is automatically fine-tuned during the PROFILING™ process. But this cannot be done 100% perfectly, because a perceived volume is not necessarily equal to a measured energy. The sound (here the frequency spectrum) of your guitar will also have an impact on the perceived volume. A Strat single coil will deliver totally different results compared to a humbucker on a 7-string guitar. This cannot be anticipated or calculated. Last but not least, the most important: The output volume of your guitar. The levels of various guitars could differ by more than 20 dB. That's a lot! Clean sounds fully depend on the volume of your guitar (unless you use a compressor) while high gain sounds are mostly constant due to the compression aspect of the distortion. This is why it's mandatory to "tell" the PROFILER about the volume of your guitar by adjusting the Clean Sens parameter in the INPUT section. Please read the respective chapter in the manual or view the tutorial video about the INPUT section. If you set the Clean Sens parameter correctly for your guitar, so that clean an distorted sounds have the same energy for your ears, you will have the perfect setting for your guitar: - only minor volume differences between different Rigs - no red LED on input nor output. The PROFILER performs automatic leveling during the PROFILING process. This can later be modified by you with the target guitar, your ears and a simple tweak of a knob.

Master Volume is the master control of those output volumes linked to it. Linked could be any combination of Monitor Output Volume, Main Output Volume, Direct Output Volume, Headphone Volume, and S/PDIF Output Volume. While you dial MASTER VOLUME the relative volume differences of the linked outputs are maintained at any time.

Let's assume the output volume of the MAIN OUTPUTS is set much higher than the output volume of the MONITOR OUTPUT while both are linked to Master Volume. If you now crank up Master Volume starting from 0, at the beginning there will appear a signal on the MAIN OUTPUTS only. At a certain level, which could be far above 0, the Monitor Output Volume will start to follow. This behavior is intended and very useful for some applications. If you just use one output, unlink the others in the OUTPUT section and the Master Volume will emerge into a dedicated output volume control.

In addition to the Input Noise Gate, which is controlled with the NOISE GATE knob on the front panel, there are two noise gate stomps available, developed specifically with the hi-gain player in mind. Use the TYPE knob to select those from the list of effect types while an effect module is in focus.

Whereas the noise gate in the input section is designed to preserve the guitar's dynamics exactly, the stomp noise gates behave like classical downward expanders. Downward expanders attenuate a signal once it has fallen below a certian threshold, and are often used to tighten complex metal-riffing. This is because a palm mute will still retain all of its "chunk", but will also become more percussive, thereby preventing the dreaded "mud". The two noise gate stomps feature different expansion ratios that were deemed the most musical.

Noise Gate 2:1

This noise gate is a soft expander, with an expansion ratio of 2:1. If the level of the input signal lies below the treshold, it will be attenuated with a ratio of 2:1. In other words, each dB below the treshold leads to 2dB attenuation of the signal. 

Noise Gate 4:1

This noise gate is a more aggressive expander, with an expansion ratio of 4:1. If the level of the input signal lies below the treshold it will be attenuated with a ratio of 4:1. other words, each dB below the treshold leads to 4dB attenuation of the signal.

As with the Input Noise Gate, there are are no attack and release controls, as we have selected the shortest possible times without introducing any signal degradations. The attack time is 0.05 ms while the decay time is 50 ms.

You can combine the Input Noise Gate with one of the stomp noise gates to benefit from their different noise gate characters.

In Browser Mode you could limit the list of Rigs to select from by turning the TYPE knob and choosing the View "Favorites". Now only those Rigs from your pool get listed, which are marked as your personal favorites.  

You flag any Rig as your "Favorite" by either holding the RIG button for about one second or flagging to option "Favorite" on page 1 of the Rig Settings. In order to unflag a Rig as your favorite, just repeat this process. In addtion you can manage your favorites via KEMPER Rig Manager™.

Favorite Rigs are indicated by a small "*" on the right side of the home screen in Browser Mode. The favorite flag is owner specific! So if you share your favorite Rigs with other users, these don't automatically become their favorite Rigs. Consequently if you change the Owner Name in System Settings or via Rig Manager, your former favorites will not show as favorite Rigs anymore. However, the information isn't lost. As soon as you return to the original Owner Name, the corresponding favorite Rigs will get listed again.

There is another important option "Auto Favorite" in the System Settings. If your prefer, that every Rig you store will automatically be flagged as your favorite, please select this option.

In Browser Mode you could use the TYPE knob to select the View "My Rigs". In that case only those Rigs from your pool get listed, where the Rig Author matches the "Owner Name" of the PROFILER™.

You might have entered your Owner Name, when you started your PROFILER for the very first time. However, you can always go back and change the Owner Name pushing soft button "Edit Owner" in System Settings or edit the Owner Name in the Rig Manager under "Preferences".

Whenever you create your own PROFILEs this Owner Name will be set as default for the tags Rig Author as well as Amplifier Author and Cabinet Author. You can change the Rig Author later in Rig Settings or via KEMPER Rig Manager™. Amplifier Author and Cabinet Author cannot be changed via Rig Manager, but only within the Amplifier and Cabinet Modules of the PROFILER.

Press the STORE button once followed by the soft button "Export Rig to Pool" and the Rig in the Slot currently loaded will be stored as edited in the browse pool of your PROFILER™.

Be aware that locking is completely independant between Browser Mode and Performance Mode. This includes modules of the signal chain as well as Volume Pedal and Tempo. If you want to establish a permanent wah effect across all Performances, you need to lock it in Performance Mode.

In Performance Mode there are different tags for Slot Name, Rig Name, and Performance Name, which help you to organize your sounds. 

On the Performance Mode home screen the Rig Name gets displayed below the Performance Name. The Rig Name comes with the Rig, when you pick it from your pool into a Slot. However, as Rigs in Performance Mode are stored seperately and are independent from their parent Rigs in the browse pool, you could later modify the Rig Name in the Slot. Like in Browser Mode you can edit Rig Name at any time within the Rig Settings selecting Rig Tags and then Edit. Again, such modifications don't affect the parent Rig in the browse pool.

As long as Slot Name equals Rig Name, each time you pick another Rig into a Slot the Slot Name will also adapt the other Rig Name. So far Slot Name and Rig Name will stay in sync. However, you can edit the Slot Name independant from the Rig Name. Select Edit, Slot Settings, and Rename Slot, then enter the new Slot Name. If you organize your sounds in terms of a Performance representing a song and a Slot representing a musical scene, Slot Names like Intro, Refrain, Solo might be convenient. The screens of PROFILER™ and PROFILER Remote™ offer less space for the Slot Names than for the Rig Name. Therefore you might prefer short memorable Slot Names. As soon as Slot Name and Rig Name differ, the Slot Name won't be touched, if you decide to pick another Rig. So you could change the Rig in your Slot Solo and the label Solo will be kept.

Performance Name can be edited while you store a Performance and can be modified at any time via "Edit" and "Performance Tags".