the agony of choice

  • So, I'm a month into the Kemper and loving it. On the waiting list for a remote, I can't switch while playing yet, so have decided to wallow in ignorance until it arrives and then figure performance mode and all the flexibility this stunning unit provides. Have a dvp-1 xl en-route too, prefer the larger size to the dvp-3, so that should be fun. I really like the rig manager, took a little head scratching at first but got there pretty quick. So far I've skimmed the rig exchange and organised folders into amp types; marshall, orange, engl etc. ( just the top rated ones so far and believe me that's enough) with a view to cherry pick my favourites. It's impossible! I empty the kpa, backed-up of course, load an amp type and go tone hunting. Simples.
    What's happening is that I'm playing to whatever profile is loaded, and in the main they all sound great. Albeit not necessarily what I intended to play in the first instance. A song/artist will lend itself to a profile and it just comes out. For example I end up butchering Rhandy Rhodes tunes for an hour and it sounds awesome ( the profile not me!) but I planned on some chord work. Then I browse on and f**k me the next ones even better and on and on.
    I would love some advice on how to develop some disicpline and not get side tracked by almost every profile I check out. Kid in a candy store doesn't even come close!
    Cheers for reading.
    P.S. I'm not even looking at the pro-rigs until I've developed some control :/

  • No I am a year into my ownership and I am still in an eternal loop of rig madness with no end in sight.


    Sorry, I was lying and trying to give you hope that there is an escape.
    There is not.
    Please forgive me.

  • Well....there IS a point where you have rigs that you really like of many amps, and other rigs of those same and similar amps start to sound the same as what you already have:)


    If you concentrate on finding the amps you consider to be the most important first, there will be less urge to randomly go through several thousand other "I wonder what that amp sounds like" rigs ;)


    But, getting to that point is the challenge. You may want to start with the Kemper Factory Rigs - mark the ones you like well enough to be "Favorites". Then, you can see how other profiles compare to your Favorited Profiles.

  • One month is not a long time to have owned the unit. Experiment to your heart's content, over time, you will find profiles that fit whatever covers or originals you are doing.


    One thing you should do is get into some of the editing parameters, like cab definition, etc. This will help you in the long run when you get around to perfecting the profiles you are working with.

  • Thanks for the input Paults, Raoule23 and nightlight. :)
    Coming from the digital mush of line 6, I have no real experience of genuine amps and therefore no 'that's my amp, I'll check those rigs' sorta thing. Sure I could say ' I love rock- gotta be marshall ' kinda thing but that seems very limiting. Reading back over my original post, maybe the answer is right there? See what tunes a given rig coaxes out of me and take notes. A backwards methodology? Let the tune find the rig instead of looking for the rig to fit the tune?

  • I guess that two things that often gets in the way in these situations are a kind of "greediness" if you wish, something like "I want this all!", even if you have already found good sounds and you could live forever with just them (as if you owned say 5 amps and 5 cabs and could combine them at will).


    Another thing I think of is a form of insecurity: a perverse thought could sneak into one's mind: "how do I know if theresn't actually a better profile hidden here and I have not yet found it?


    I guess that the latter needs a bit of the former in order to really become debilitative LOL

  • With the profiler I'm pragmatic only when I need to program performances for my band.
    Then I commit to a sound and to profiles.
    Otherwise I enjoy the ride where exploring profiles and playing them lead me.
    The profiler is a 'playful' unit and that's its main strength, that you actually play more.