kemper profiler users, what's your "profile" ;-)

    Ok that's a strange title, but I want to know if the Kemper Profiler is more or less "idiot proof".
    Situation is this : I'm just a hobby player, without too much talent, living in an appartement.
    I enjoy playing lessons from (blues)books, websites like justin guitar etc,


    I discoverd that tube amps are not ideal for my situation,especially when playing in the evening.
    Modelling devices can be a solution but often loose the "simplicity" of the tube amp, certainly the more advanced modelling amp models (like line 6 hd etc...).


    The kemper seems different to me : it seems to behave more like a normal amp. But it is also more expensive. So I want to think twice before I buy.
    Are there any guitarists that have this hobby "profile" like me and are using the kemper succesfully as a practice amp at home or are you all mor or less high skilled pro's ?


    Denis
    ps : big applause to the soccer team of Belgium !!!
    ( USA you were very worthy opponents !)

    Hobby player/pro, high/low skills ... it doesn't matter. It all depends on what you like to hear (soundquality) and what you're willing to pay. Let me tell you that the Kemper sounds great and is easy to handle in my opinion. But be aware of the fact that the Kemper can only sound as good as your speaker system is. My advice is: Just do it! :)

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    As other members reported: Very, very good. I don't use headphones, so I have no personal experience. Somewhere in the forum there are threads about good headphones and the fact, that the headphone-impedance is important too. But I think you can't go wrong with the AKG's.

    I could have farted and it would have sounded good! (Brian Johnson)

    Quote from denishermans

    How good can it sound with headphones (with the "space" thing)
    I have high quality studio AKG headphones.

    I wish did not have to say this, but it sucks. It's not a prerogative or Kemper amps, actually: I find that monitoring guitar with headphones always sucks.
    Regarding your other question: the Kemper has - IMO - one of the best interfaces that one could think of. The surface is superintuitive, you can tweak your amp as you would with a real one, and you can delve deeper, but you don't need to, really. Similarly, you can bypass/activate stomps with a click on a button, as easy as pressing the stomp on the ground; also, the colored leds tell you what kind of stomp is on in which slot. Really, amazingly well designed.
    Soundwise, the Kemper sounds, in my short experience - great at each level, but beware: our ears enjoy decently loud volumes, and it has nothing to do with Fletcher-Munson changes in eq (that you can clearly fix to a certain extent); I found out that, for me, is just best to allocate some time in the late afternoon to play with a cranked up (still at apartment level, though) volume.

    Suggestion Maybe some brands are better than others. I sometimes heard that "neutral" phones sound better than fo example headphones with "extra bass" added (in other forums and with other equipment than the kemper forum).


    Wat is the brand/type of your headphones

    Hello , Sloegin
    I think I 've seen you also on "gitaarnet" ?


    Yeah , I'm considering a Kemper but for a " not so advanced" hobby player like me it's indeed expensive. So I want too consider wel before I buy.


    Greetings,


    Denis

    Quote from denishermans

    Wat is the brand/type of your headphones

    Audio Technica ATH M50, they're really good and have a very neutral eq signature.

    Quote from Ingolf

    Hmm and I can't understand how you could hate this.
    Since the arrival of the space parameter it even got better.

    Ahah, fair enough :D
    Well, what can I say? I wondered myself the same, expecially since I should probably hear the same that I do after recording, but instead when I am listening to it real time I hate it. But again, I never ever liked monitoring guitars with headphones, so I am biased ;)

    I'm not crazy about playing with headphones, but sometimes late at night it's a necessity. I find playing through the Kemper with cans more enjoyable than any other digital guitar solution I've tried, including the Axe II. As mentioned, using the "space" control is a must.


    A person's perception of their tone through headphones is extremely dependent on the headphones themselves. They have different frequency responses or "sonic signatures" and different models sound massively different from one another.


    Generally, it's best to choose as "flat" of a frequency response as possible, yet no pair of headphones is perfectly flat. Also, take into consideration the design of the headphones (closed back, open, semi-open). This makes a huge difference. Open-back designs leak sound both in and out of the headphones but a lot of people (including myself) find them much more enjoyable to play guitar through. They don't sound so boxed in or isolated.


    ATH M50s (mentioned previously) are a popular set of headphones and may be "flatter" than say, Dr. Dre Beats, but really are still far from flat. Anyone who doesn't believe me can just check out the response graph at headphone.com. Also, not a fan of the closed back desing of the M50s.

    Well, that may be, but out of the affordable options they were by far the most neutral sounding that I tried.
    In any case, when I want to play at night I normally just play my electric unplugged, I like it better this way than with headphones.

    @ OP: hey, welcome!
    I guess your best option would be to order one and try it for two weeks... Forst hand experience (with some tutoring) is unbeatable to determine if you two guys are going to cope with each other :D


    @ Laimon: using HPs with the Profiler is not exactly like monitoring "guitars": it's rather like using HPs from the monitor room in a studio while musicians are playing. IOW, if you record a track and the listen to your song via HPs, you'll hear the same sound (post-production apart of course).


    I'd also underline that, as with all the audio devices, coupling is always a concern. In this case I'd say that impedance should be checked carefully with respect to the HPs' sonic characteristics.


    :)

    Hi Denis


    I'm in almost your same profile. I started to play electric a few years back when my son at age 13 wanted to take lessons, then gave up. I kept all the gear and am fulfilling my life long dream of becoming a rockstar (well at least in my own mind) :) Anyway, I had a cheap modeling amp (any distortion tones sounded terrible), then I went to a tube amp (sounded better but too loud and really only a few good tones) then went to pedals and floor modelrs to try to keep volume down and expand tones (too many parts), then went to computer DAW/VSTs (too much latency and occasional dropouts), and finally to the Kemper (had it now for about a year). I love it. It is pricy but I got mine used and saved about 30% plus no tax. So in a nutshell, it solves all the problems I noted above. Sounds good, can sound good at low volume or w/ headphones, not complex (just one box + monitors and maybe an expression pedal), lot's of amp tones w/ lots of built in stomps and effects, and no discernable latency or dropouts. So all is good, and I find my self practicing more than ever. Now if I could just find that one perfect guitar I would be set.

    Playing and listening through headphones with the Kemper sounds fantastic to me!
    Since we get the miced recorded sound of an amp I can't understand why that wouldn't sound great through headphones.
    I can always enjoy good music and recorded guitar tones on both headphones and through speakers.


    What we don't like is like is having our ears pressed against the amp speaker on axis where the mic often is placed.
    That often sounds too dry and harsh. Therefore the common thing in music production for decades is to add some room space reverb to make the close miced guitar sound more roomy air 3d and more pleasing to our ears. That way we achieve the same sound we are used to standing a few meters back from the amp in a room. The kemper space does a great job at this, or a short room reverb.


    Best tip is to NEVER skimp on headphones, test the upper budget popular ones before buying if possible. For 50-100$ extra you can get a night and day difference in sound that you can enjoy every day for many years. Good speakers or headphones is IMO the most important thing to really enjoy mixing and listening to music. For years now I really like the open AKG K601 and 701. I wish I never spent all those years before with lower budget headphones.
    I'm surprised that I often see users with very expensive gear use the popular cheap sennheiser hd 280 pro closed heaphones. IMO after comparisons they have terrible sound but are good for tracking vocals because they offer great sound isolation.

    To the original OP: I play professionally and am very picky about my tone. It took me months to get the sounds I wanted out of my Mesa Boogie Triaxis I used before I got the KPA. To make my KPA purchase feasibIe I had to ship the Triaxis 2 days before I got the KPA. It came the same day I had a big audition and I had never played on one before. I got some very cool tones almost immediately and the audition went fine. Bottom line is the Kemper is an extremely easy unit to work with and get phenomenal sound from, whether you are a bedroom player or a pro. If you can swing the expense get a Kemper, you won't regret it IMHO.

    OP: Welcome!


    First thing: Being a hobbyist only (so far), it is a pretty big purchase. If you truly have that kind of money to spare on your hobby, then proceed to point two :)


    Point two: I'm just as much a hobbyist as you - although I dabble in recording as well (also hobby level so far). Furthermore, my history is a bit like yours (having tried a bunch of options, trying to get a good sound at low volumes). I'm also not much of a tweaker, especially on the screen. For these reasons, the Kemper has been awesome for me. I have barely touched a knob on it so far, because there are so many great profiles available for free or for cheap - I just tend to switch profiles instead (which makes more sense to me, really). The biggest problem is the huge quantity to choose from.


    Keep in mind that whatever we say here, you could end up finding out that the Kemper is just not for you - so if you DO get it, make sure you get it with a good return policy. But I can only say that for ME, this thing has been a blessing.


    Just don't get into debt over it. No gear is worth that :)