I just thought I’d share this story with you all as an official “I’m wrong” admission, as well as what will hopefully be a helpful reminder to those who are thinking about buying a Kemper or have just bought one. If you’re new to Kemper or on the fence, this post may be a little wordy, but it’s one that you should read!
As many know, after I got my Kemper home and tested it out for the first time, I wasn’t impressed, and discussed it at lenght in the “Dear God, I Hope It Gets Better Than This” thread that I created. As I stated later in that thread, it certainly did get better. So I’m not going to reiterate everything I already typed in that thread. Long story short, it just took the right amount of time to sit with the Kemper, get the right profiles (which is the most important part) and the right monitor (which was pretty easy), etc.
Anyway, I have yet to use the Kemper in a live situation because I’ve been so limited with my time, that I haven’t been able to devote a day to go through my band’s set list and get all the specific tones dialed in that I’d need each night. So I’ve been using my main live rig (tube amp, cabs, pedals, etc.) for gigs, and tweaking the Kemper here and there when possible. Well, this past weekend, I finally got to the point where I figured I was ready to use it live. But me being an overly cautious person, decided that instead of using it live, I’d use my main rig for one last gig, and use the KPA for the first time next week at a smaller, and less crowded venue, just in case it doesn’t sound great. But I decided to bring the KPA to our gig this past weekend so that I could see if it passes the final hurdle of sounding good to this club’s soundman (who is very respected in our area) and to get his advice/opinion on it. To me, everything sounds great when I’m playing at home through what will be my future live rig, but I needed the second opinion.
So I got to the gig, got my main rig set up, and then took the KPA back to the sound booth and just plugged directly in to the board. I told the soundman to start out by leaving the EQ completely flat and then give me advice on what he’d personally like to hear in order to make it sound better through the PA. I loaded up my Steve Stevens signature model Friedman profile and let it rip. I asked him “Is that EQ flat” and all I saw was the back of his head nodding “yes.” Then I swapped over to a JCM800 profile, followed by a Mesa Mark V profile, then some clean stuff. After I ran through about 5-6 of what would be my main profiles for live gigs, I still hadn’t seen his face. I asked, “So, any advice?” He turned around with a big smile on his face and said “Yeah, don’t touch ANYTHING.”
The Kemper sounded AMAZING. Even better through a PA than it does through my setup that I’ve been using it with at home (which I really like a LOT). My biggest concern over the last couple weeks was, what would happen if I found a Friedman profile that I liked, and the soundman then tweaked it during a gig to make it sound the way he wanted, but then I switch to a JCM800 profile (or something else) and those tweaks then made the JCM800 sound bad? Well, this test run before the gig took care of all of those concerns. Our soundman said that IF he had to tweak anything during a gig, based on the profiles I was using, it’d be so negligible that even a far less talented soundman, using a less impressive system, should be able to make the guitar sound good with minimal effort. The fact that it sounded so good at a flat EQ setting was just mind blowing to me. I LOVE the live rig that I’ve been using for the last however many years (Mesa Roadster, Thiel Cabs, TC Electronic G-System, etc.). And that sounds great on stage. But even with a great sound man like the one we have, it doesn’t sound as perfectly clear as the Kemper did once it all made its way through the PA. Stage sound is one thing, but how well does it sound AFTER it gets through the PA is another. And the Kemper just aced that test.
So, with that said, after about 3 months of testing, and at times, even TRYING to find things to justify not using the Kemper as my main rig going forward, I admit defeat. I cannot find a reason. The Kemper really can do what it advertises as long as you put in the initial work and don’t judge it based on the first 10-20 stock presets you hear. And that is coming from someone who has most certainly never been a “fan-boy” of any piece of gear, even the stuff I’ve loved, like my Mesa. I still have questions about the Kemper, but they are no longer have anything to do with me wondering if I can get the unit to sound good at home or live. The questions now, are more fine-tuning related and revolve around areas like getting a certain tone or effect.
So, to all of you out there who are extremely skeptical, I can promise you that you’d have a hard time finding someone who was more skeptical than I was. I’ve been playing professionally for quite a while now, and play a lot of top 40 modern rock, which covers a HUGE range of tones (not just the death metal stuff that seems to be all that comes up when I search for Kemper videos on YouTube). At one point or another, I had all the usual thoughts running through my head, like: “there’s no way this thing can sound as good as a tube amp”, “these guys are all just fan-boys”, “they’ve never heard my main rig to know what good tone sounds like”, etc. If I could go back in time and slap myself in the face for having those thoughts, I would. I’d go full on Brad Pitt in “Fight Club” with myself. But instead, I’ll now just enjoy selling off all my old gear and using this amazing little dream come true at all future gigs. Oh, and in terms of the cost, after I sell my existing live rig, I’ll have MADE money by buying the Kemper. WHAAAAAAT!?!?!?!?!
