hello and help me pull the trigger.(please)

  • Hello All, firstly I'd like to say what a pleasant vibe this place has and the generosity of members in sharing their hard won knowledge. Thank you! I have done quite a lot of thread reading and am reasonably confident in sussing the unit now. I'm a home noodler who has always yearned a tube amp but the volume makes this unviable and have gone down the digital path. Like many I'm sure, l have spent an unhealthy amount of money and have been ultimately left dissatisfied and with the residual value of a politician's promise. My current toy is line 6 hd. Trying to get a good tone out of that is like trying to level water with one hand whilst throwing pebbles in with other. Not impossible but l just wanna play! So this question to ex line 6 people. How much better is the kemper?

  • Welcome roadrunner :)


    Can't answer your question, but others will chime in for sure.
    I've a feeling I already know what they're going to answer :D
    (Better to post this on TGP IMO ;) )

  • Welcome!


    I had a POD HD500 before I went to iOS sims for a while before getting my KPA.


    In my VERY humble opinion the HD was good, BIAS/JamUp GREAT and KPA is out of this world. Hands down the best of this bunch. It's like Alien technology compared to my previous rigs, tonewise of course.


    Thats my 0.02€ on the matter.

  • Thanks for the welcome Viabcroce and Audiochains. And the replies. I think it's a given that everyone here will say kemper is better and l don't doubt for a second that that is fact. What I'm trying to discover is where other users of pod hd have found its ceiling of performance and how the kemper has superseded it. I'm hoping some answers will resonate with my experience of the pod and finally convince me to go kemper. A lot of my reticence is down to my ultimate disappointment in previous digital gear. Cheers for reading.

  • Hi


    had a POD HD 500, a Boss ME 70, Boss ME 80 (still have that one)


    The Pod a nice toy but I had to do too much tweaking and I actually had to use the pc editor as it was a pain in the ass to do this directly in the unit.


    Soundwise the Pod maybe reaches 75% of the Kemper (just guessing - you can not measure this right?) - The Kemper is the best digital unit I have used so far.

  • Welcome!
    As a former diehard Line 6 user (everything from Pod 1 to HD, incl. 2 Vettas), as an ex- owner of AxeFx Ultra and AxeFx2 my personal conclusion is that the profiler is head and shoulders above all the other aforementioned units, not only soundwise but more importantly feeling- wise.
    So: Go pull the trigger! ;)

  • Well, this sounds exactly like my experience, and I'm sure that of many others as well. Always wanted to stick to tube because "that's the real way." But those amps need to be blasted to get decent tone and you'll always fight weak tone at reasonable volumes. So, off to digital.


    Fender Mustang.....fine, but not good enough....Zoom G3...a little better but, still not good enough...Yamaha lunchbox....a little better, but not quite satisfying.


    I knew at this point that if I didn't by the absolute best unit available, I would keep getting one model higher up until I ended up with the best. So, after the Yamaha it was between the Axe and the Kemper. As soon as I understood what profiling was it was a no brainer. Not to mention that out of the box the Kemper is so much friendlier to a non-professional, though pros will get everything they want and more.


    If you can afford the Kemper you are throwing away tone if you don't get it. There's a huge price difference for a reason.

  • Hi nervousfingers_29, thanks for the input. I totally agree about tweaking the pod and the nightmare it becomes. Tail chasing and never ( in my case anyway) quite getting there. I would sincerely hope for more of an improvement than 25% by the kemper over the pod. I can't offload mine for £125 ( bean version) currently and the kemper rocks in at, well a lot more. Diminishing returns?I know to quantify it like that is very subjective.

  • Thanks Ingolf, is feel the holy grail that the kemper achieves that all other digital stuff fails on? I have difficulty connecting with what l play and what l hear on the pod, like there's a massive piece of the equation missing.

  • Hi PB26, thanks for input. If l truely knew the kemper was the end of the digital chase I'd have bought one yesterday. It isn't a trivial purchase. Nervous at getting it wrong l guess.

  • This. You can try your Profiler at home and return it if you do not like it. Hard to get it wrong. Just give yourself time, expectations can kill elephants at times (North Pole proverb)


    :)

  • I guess it's between the Kemper and the Axe. I would read as much as you can. What tipped the scale for me:


    -There was almost universal agreement in what I read that the Axe requires tons of tweaking to get decent patches. With the Kemper, I rarely have to touch any of the profiles because they are already in bundles of different amp settings and they sound amazing. But if you want to fine tune a given profile, you have enough options to keep you occupied for a full day.


    -The Kemper has more of a real amp interface, with the knobs, etc. Very intuitive and user-friendly.


    -In Kemper vs. Axe comparisons I've heard, the Axe has that computer-generated sound to it, whereas the Kemper sounds like a real amp mic'd up, as if you're listening to a CD.


    That's what did it for me. Not exactly a novel insight here but if you can try both, that's the only 100% sure fire way to decide for yourself which of the two is the king of digital. Good luck!

  • The Kemper has given me many more hours of playing time. Why? because you just play it and dont wonder if it sounds real or not. Its that good that you think youre plugged into your amp. And I own many amps and have use Line 6 and others, which lacked in the areas of authentic sound, feel etc.


    When you switch on the Kemper more than your tube amps, you know you're onto a good thing-and thats the Kemper.

    -Computer:Imac-OS Catalina

    -Kemper non-powered rack version

    -Kemper Remote

  • Hi Roadrunner. Welcome here! You could even buy a used KPA and save a few bucks. Resale should be easy. We each have to make our own determination, but I've done this twice. I sold mine over a year ago, thinking I could get by with some small tube amps. BIG mistake. I had another Kemper in less than 6 months.

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

  • The Kemper has given me many more hours of playing time. Why? because you just play it and dont wonder if it sounds real or not. Its that good that you think youre plugged into your amp. And I own many amps and have use Line 6 and others, which lacked in the areas of authentic sound, feel etc.


    When you switch on the Kemper more than your tube amps, you know you're onto a good thing-and thats the Kemper.


    This is definitely the camp I'm in. Even with my tube amp, I couldn't help but be searching for something to make the tone perfect. With my kemper, I spent some time trying different profiles, found half a dozen I really like... and haven't bothered tweaking or trying new profiles in months. I just love the sound I get out of it.


    Any time I go away, the first hour when I come back is spent thinking how amazing it sounds (that goes away after a short while, but I am never thinking, if only it was a little more X I'd be happy).

  • Thanks for the welcome Zappledan and inputs of yourself, deadpan, Oz_LA,ascl. I appreciate you all taking the time to help me out with this. Whilst l'd snap your arm off for a bargain, like the next guy, this isn't so much about shaving a few quid. The way l see it kemper is the top of the pile. Imagine if l was dissatisfied? Where would l go from there? Soundproofing? Thankfully your replies are pushing me along nicely. Would love to hear more opinions on this. Once I've survived the onslaught of Christmas l shall be taking the plunge.

  • I wrote a huge guide on the pod hd and agree a lot of tail chasing. The best tone i found required using dual amps with different cab/mics which introduced phase issues often so sometimes an eq would align them. Dsp could be an issue. The effects are cool but i just want awesome tone.


    Since i got my kemper i havent turned on the hd. Its a different thing altogether