Hello All! Excited to be here! Eleven Rack -> Kemper Convert!

  • Hi everyone just thought I'd drop a note and introduce myself!


    My name is Andrew and if you go to YouTube and search for 'VaiSatchAtrucci' you'll see what a fan I have been (and STILL am) of the Eleven Rack!


    That said I've been OBSESSING about the Kemper since I saw it at NAMM I believe 3 years ago now but just couldn't justify the cost as I was getting such killer tones from the Eleven Rack but as fate would have it, I was looking on Craigslist one day around Christmas time and someone was selling one BRAND NEW in the box (the powered rack version) for LESS than the non-powered version! My first question was "ok what's wrong with it?" and nothing at all was wrong with it and so I JUMPED on that bad boy and here I am today!


    All I can say is what an INCREDIBLE piece of gear and it's changed my entire approach to guitar playing and stylistically its taking me places I've never ventured PURELY because the amps at my disposal now react so incredibly different and translate the tones GENUINELY of all the various guitars I have. So for the first time I am RELIGIOUSLY playing my strat, tele, Duesenberg and Les Paul -vs- my Musicman JP6's because the CLASSIC tones I've always dreamt of are now right at my disposal!


    The MAIN difference sonically that I have experienced with the Kemper -vs- the Eleven Rack is that the character of the instrument you're playing through it REALLY shines through and becomes so much more of an integral component to the tone than the Eleven Rack was able to translate with them. Now don't get me wrong, I STILL have and NEVER plan on getting rid of my Eleven Rack as (a) I always want to have a solid backup rig (until I can afford another Kemper!) and the Eleven Rack is just that backup I am more than stoked to have at my disposal still but also (b) the other back-up guitar players in our rotation who primarily are keyboard and acoustic players "normally" are now using my Eleven Rack as their main rig so I'm pumped to be able to provide that resource for my team members and collectively, the team has never sounded better! WIN / WIN all the way around!


    So a little bit about what I am doing currently if you haven't caught on yet! LOL! I am in a Praise and Worship band at a church in Murfreesboro TN though I live in Nashville (long yet INCREDIBLE story of divine intervention and "fate" if you believe in that sort of thing - I know I sure do!) but also have done some session & demo work over the last few years though not nearly as much as I would like due to my full time job as an IT Director.


    What's CRAZY is I had a ridiculous pedalboard (two actually) that I was using with the Eleven Rack and I had gotten to the point where I was using more pedals rather than a bunch of different various 11R presets and running those pedals into the Eleven Rack set to a real nice clean tone and getting stellar tones running direct to FOH since we use in-ears -vs- monitors. So why is that crazy? Well, it's crazy because I had JUST recently purchased all these pedals within the previous year and turned right around and have sold them all (except 2 which I am still trying to sell locally) because why? Because I profiled them all or rather profiled a KILLER clean amp (CARR Rambler that a close friend of mine named James Atkinson owns who plays with me at church) with all the pedals in front of it and dialed in all the tones I was using and viola no need for the pedals! ***NOTE*** I will upload the profiles I did ASAP by the way and can't wait to hear feedback on them and hope people dig 'em! HOWEVER, as killer as they sound, I'm actually not using any of them honestly because I have found SOOOO many amazing profiles on the Rig Exchange and of course purchased a few hundred dollars worth of various 3rd party profiles and enjoying the journey those are taking me on so much I'm straying a bit intentionally from my "bread and butter" tones in search of those PERFECT tones which suit each of the different guitars I am using.


    I only wish that I had waited just ONE week to profile everything I had because another close buddy of mine who manages House of David Studios here on Music Row (Sidebar: Google "David Briggs" - you'll get a kick out of the studios history and see what a LEGEND David is!) purchased a coyple new ribbon mics like Michael Britt used to profile his amps and we all know how incredible his profiles sound! But such is life... They still sound killer with the Sennheiser 906 I used and am very pleased with how they turned out and as I mentioned will be pleased to share those with everyone who may be interested!


    If there's anyone who has seen my YouTube videos before, you'll know what a HUGE fan of the FRFR SXA250 powered wedges by EV for use with the Eleven Rack and Im here to say... HOLY SHEEEEIT do these sound INCREDIBLE with the Kemper!!! It shouldn't surprise me but I've fallen in love with them all over again as this past weekend was the first time I got to just crank the buhgeezus out of the Kemper through them over at House of David. The thing I LOVE about them and you just have to hear it to believe it is that it LEGITIMATELY 100% sounds like I have 2 guitar cabs in the floor moving air. They resonate JUST like a guitar cab and the build of them is just wonderful and believe me I spent an entire day at Sam Ash when I decided on them playing through EVERY SINGLE MONITOR, powered and non-powered when I was looking for that solution and it's NEVER dissapointed. I know I saw a thread on here with regards to the FRFR dilemma and I personally could bet my house that anyone who plays a Kemper through these would have a difficult time walking away from them... Yes they're expensive but wow SO worth it you'll not want to settle I PROMISE you!


    Anyone who lives in Nashville or is planning on coming down for NAMM even hit me up as we're also hosting a REVV Amp "listening party" at House of David and will have all my gear down there as well so it's going to be a blast and you'll get to experience the EV's in their full glory if you're at all interested. also, bring a thumb drive with your rig(s) on there and we'll load 'em up and let you check 'em out so you can hear "YOUR" tone as a reference. I think that would be a blast and we'll probably stream the whole event online so everyone who can't be there or come down can watch if they're interested at all. When I first got my Kemper we actually hosted a Kemper listening party and Michael Waggener came out and showed me a ton of neat things I hadn't learned yet - what a GREAT GUY HE IS and what a blast we had.


    I'm just so blessed on so many levels these days and can hardly contain my excitement for what the future holds for me personally and musically and I could just go on and on and on all day and night about the Kemper and what a game changer it is and is going to continue to be but I'll stop for now and just reitterate what a privilege and honor it is to be a part of the Kemper community and look forward to making new friends and new videos for YouTube to spread the Kemper love!


    (Attaching the most current photo of my setup as well!)


    Sincerely,


    Andrew

  • Hey Andrew,
    I loved your presets for 11R. It was great time with 11R for me.


    Man, I'm glad you are back and join to kemper family. :D
    I look forward to new movies after your four-year break on youtube :). :D