Delay - good, but c'mon there is more possible sounds flat, no room, just flat
enlighten me: how can a delay sound flat and in which way do you expect a room? for sure, a delay can sound colored and have more or less character but that's certainly not what you describe
enlighten me: how can a delay sound flat and in which way do you expect a room? for sure, a delay can sound colored and have more or less character but that's certainly not what you describe
well then take "lacking character". it always almost impossible to describe those things with words, although many try. 
me included.
lacking character describes it, dunno what i search, but i know it when i find it. Maybe a tutorial would be of great help, for dummies like me.
I find the effects themselves are fine for my needs.
The current way the Kemper manages presets (saving effect/stomp presets and utilizing them) on the other hand, leaves a LOT to be desired. I've been vocal about this in the past and Mr. Kemper himself actually responded at one point on another forum and assured me they would be addressed at some point so I am hopeful that in the near future it won't be an issue anymore.
I'd like to see Sharry play naked
My KPA is not called Sharry 
For me the effects are fine. I mainly use Wahs, Delays, Reverbs, Phaser and sometimes a Green Scream. The Wah is extremly good and versatile but a little bit hard to understand and you need some time to dial it in. I would definitely record with it. I really like the Phaser and there was this Phase90 preset package wich was awesome. I would never record with delays or reverbs because it's much easier to dial them in directly in the DAW world and it avoids timing mistakes. Even my space echo is unused these days.
For live I can't find anything negative about the Delays or Reverbs, they deliver what I expect from them and I'm not missing anything there but I like it easy here... delays and reverbs can mess up a good sound and there I prefer clarity over uniqueness. (And I'm one of the few people how don't like spring reverbs 
)The Green Scream works pretty well for me most of the times. Some profiles don't take it very good but that depends on the profile. Sometimes I use my TRex MAB Booster which is nearly the same but a little bit more creamy.
I think some are good, some are less so. I really like the phaser, tremolo and delays.
The flanger is a bit crap, no way near the same league as the Mobius, but I do think in terms of quality the delays are up there with the Timeline, DD500, etc, but definitely aren't as versatile.
Not a fan of the rotary or the distortions.
But I see the effects with the KPA as a bonus, I love my pedals and in a twisted weird way, would be upset if the KPA sounded better than each and every one of them. For most gigs, I like the effects enough to just run a front end pedalboard. If I was recording or at a big gig, I'd consider using a bit of both.
For most gigs, I like the effects enough to just run a front end pedalboard. If I was recording or at a big gig, I'd consider using a bit of both.
Yep, for me it seems there is a big difference if you play live or you want to make a recording session.
I think also the Pedals I used earlier for live performance would not be used for recording. (I do not talk about homerecording)
General the KPA has to see as an AMP, but the effects are pretty good enough for the most type of life perfomance. (except Reverb which is not bad but not good enough)
I'm a bit disappointed to be honest. They are decent for the most part, but I still haven't warmed up to the reverb and the delay. With that said, I could easily just use them and nothing else, but when it comes to splitting hairs, I prefer the reverb in my Strymon and even 11r for example.
I think if you are comparing effects with the top of the line dedicated effects e.g. Strymon then you are going to be disappointed - don't forget these cost £250 to £400 for a dedicated effect.
Personally reverb isn't that important and I'd never spend that amount live as it most cases it gets lost in a regular band mix or changes based on the natural reverb of a room.
Display MoreThanks for all the responses. They are all over the spectrum, so I am not sure what to do other than try the effects out. I currently have:
Strymon El Capistan
Strymon Blue Sky
MXR Phase 90
MXR Flanger
Ibanez TS9
Boss Ch-2 Chorus
My question is can the Kemper effects get close enough to these pedals so that I can sell them? Or am I better off using the pedals?
I think give yourself time to explore and experiment with the kemper and trust your ears.
For live usage I got for most songs the sound I want with the kemper. And the rest is not worth to carry other stuff.
For recording I can imagine one of the pedals could be for specific songs or sounds better.
For recording I am using most vst plugins.
Hey Scary Groove, while the KPA is likely to be able to cover what you want to go for with these effects (except if you go crazy with the Strymons), I'd suggest not selling them because what you listed are both flexible and "staples" sounds that one will be able to use regardless of the setup (ie. if you have to use a backline instead of KPA). While the KPA is great, it's good to not be 100% dependent on a single machine. I also have a smaller pedalboard made out of similar boxes I carry around for short rehearsals or times I have to use an amp.
On another note, I feel the survival of the music gear business partly relies on convincing us we need lots of gear (and preferably the latest ones) to get the job done but from my experience unless it's for a very specific application, effects are really just the icing on the cake. I might have used a flanger twice in my career so far so take this contribution for what it is but for me it's all about being practical and if the KPA has these effects it's redundant to carry the same sounds in stompbox format and then busting my luggage allowance during check-in. That being said, I am pretty happy with the Kemper effects I do use (mostly delay, reverb, compression, occasional wha and the magical "transpose" effect to learn songs in my singers' keys) and to those who aren't satisfied, I suggest spending some more time tweaking because for the most part, it's somewhere in there. I think PaulTs, or those who contributed to the Wah settings etc... lots of generous users around who explored different effects and I give them all a thumbs up. Also another way to approach this is to take effects or settings from commercial profilers who did explore them and apply them to your own rigs (ie. MBritt/TAF compressor/delay settings etc). Cheers.
When I was using vintage amps and high end boutique pedals I loved the tone.
I still own an early Klon, Analogman pedals, even a 70's Mutron iii and others.
The Kemper is no way near them. What the Kemper does is gets me 60-70% there in an easy to use setup.
No one in the audience listening to our band cares or could tell, if its a Kemper or a Klon pushing vintage 67 Black Face Reverb.
For my live needs i find the effects to be excellent. When i record i never commit effects anyway i always use plugins so i can tweak when mixing
enlighten me: how can a delay sound flat and in which way do you expect a room? for sure, a delay can sound colored and have more or less character but that's certainly not what you describe
Just try to hook up your guitar in a modern Boss digital delay and then hook it up to a Strymon Dig afterwards. You'll clearly hear the difference even with identical settings. Both are simple digital delays but the Strymon sounds richer, way more expensive for a lack of a better word. It's really hard to tell what the Strymon does differently.
Maybe this could be addressed with the modulation functionality in the KPA's delay. But currently the modulation is just a on/off settings that misses all the important parameters for me (depth, mix, speed, waveform, envelopes, filter etc) . I turn the modulation off every time because it sounds really cheap to me in it's current state.
I think that the Kemper sets such high expectations due to the amp profiles. It's widely considered as the best solution for the actual tone of the amps it recreates and I am entirely happy with it. I am of the belief that it is the best currently available; improvements, for me, have been when successive commercial profilers have got better and better at the craft of capturing an amp's soul. YMMV for those who make their own
So, barring evangelical fanboys of one product or another, there won't be many people out there who would argue against the pure amp tones being at the top of the tree or (if they're being picky) it's still way, way up there.
On the FX, there are certainly some great ones in there but there are also some that are not so good (for my tastes anyway and all this stuff is subjective!). Compared with other products, they are not *consistently* top of the tree. IMO again
Part of this is going to be perception and the interface. Many of us, if we want a 'Fender Twin' tone will select a Fender Twin profile. It's entirely possible you'd get a better sound from an entirely different profile if you tweak it but your brain feels better in the first place if you select 'Fender Twin' and go from there.....
If you select a Delay on the Kemper you can for sure tweak it to get a nice sounding delay with modulation so that it goes in the direction of a Memory Man. It'd be a lot kinder on my brain if it did that for me..... That's one of the 'ease of use' things that the Strymons / Line 6 / the actual real unit had. If you want a Memory Man, you have something that is pretending to be one with controls laid out in a similar manner. Whether it sounds like the real deal or not is another matter Starting with something that is supposed to recreate an original is compelling - we all do it with profiles and crave 'the best Marshall / the best Vox etc'. With the effects, they are just called 'delay' or 'vintage trem'.
You might think this argument is crazy but look at all the love for the wah thread whereby the names of the actual units is mentioned. Suddenly, lots of folks are loving the wah who previously didn't know how to tweak it. Ease of use / perception of the recreation of classic units is something that we're all clearly interested in because the whole process of profiling does just that - it gives us a copy of something great with a much easier use model (no weight issues / volume issues / you can have a million pounds worth of amps in one unit). Doing it for the effects is a sensible progression IMO.
Of course, being Kemper, these guys go beyond the old classics and do cool new stuff the the originals never even thought of and that is also wonderful. But I do hope that some sensibly laid out classics make it in there
As to the original question (got there in the end!) it's depending on your current love for your pedals. If you expect the chorus to sound exactly like your pedal, you may be disappointed with how long you have to tweak. If you approach it as a new unit, you've got your maximum chance of happiness. You'll get a great sound of it, or it would be great to my ears...... I'm not fond of chorus so I'm not the best judge! And that's my point - if you get ANY modelling unit and expect it to sound like your original then it'll potentially get close. If it's close enough really depends on how much love you have for the original and how much you'll forgive the model. Especially when the model does have tricks up its sleeve that the original couldn't do
I hope my latest experiences is fitting right here:
I own the Kemper for a couple of weeks now, dialed in my favourite amps to satisfaction and meeting the high expectations I had. So my POD HD500 was to be handed over to my daughter...
She came over that weekend and played the POD while I was just listening and fine tuning the sounds to her guitar and her needs - with the edit software on my laptop. This experience was *very* interesting. The POD sounded way better by just listening than I remembered it with me playing it lately! Looks like I am over-sensitive and over-critical when I judge the sound playing myself. (of course I handed over my guitar to make sure hers is not the reason. On the other hand she might be a much better player than myself... 
) [SHE IS NOT! ] [[Hopefully she wil never read this]]
The same is true for the Kemper: I tried my Zoom mobile recorder as a USB interface for my laptop and recorded just the stereo mains. When I checked the sound later I expected to hear some flaws I still have to fine-tune. I am new to the Kemper... But in fact it sounded even better than I remebered it while playing!
So try recording the Kemper FX and listen to it some days later. 
Or get yourself a daughter to play your stuff! 
Or get yourself a daughter to play your stuff!
A priceless experience i think everyone can share. Being over-critical often kills the music. Happens to me still.
Just try to hook up your guitar in a modern Boss digital delay and then hook it up to a Strymon Dig afterwards. You'll clearly hear the difference even with identical settings. Both are simple digital delays but the Strymon sounds richer, way more expensive for a lack of a better word. It's really hard to tell what the Strymon does differently.
Thank you, you have said what i wanted to say much better. thx 
very good discussion here,,but,, is there any official word when 5 is coming? 4 is unsuitable for me because of the switching delay, lag time, still on 3,
Thanks all for all the great info here,,lovin my kemper,,
