I also got that impression. But: a distorted amp is a kindof compressor anyway. So its harder to hear an additional compressor. Maybe its a part of the "direct signal" (undistorted) which got affected and then mixed into the total. Can't remember... (...when old ears meet old brain! 
)
I also hear differences, especially with higher settings.
I believe this comes from the fact that even in a distorted signal there's a clean portion of sound which gets affected by the compressor.
For me the effect sounds a little like a " low end" boost if you tweak higher than 3 or 4.
For playing at bedroom level its not so bad, but at rehearshal it cut it because the sound is to bassy for me.
Cheers
Frank
It sounds to me like someone put a compressor on the pre-Amp signal - your tone gets much flatter, but also consistently louder, so it can be useful if your picking isn't always the best.
For me the effect sounds a little like a " low end" boost if you tweak higher than 3 or 4.
Yep, thats what single band compressors would tend to do. The higher frequency stuff has less energy, the compressor will mostly react to the bass part and hence dull the sound a bit. A multiband EQ would be extremly neat in that case. Some other digi amps got those...
"If you need a multiband compressor for a simple guitar signal, you are trying to fix things that are going wrong someplace else.for example pickup height and tilt, picking technique, string gauges (low strings too heavy) etc."
"always fix it at the source."
I guess there are two kinds of Kemper users. One is seeking for his own, cool and unique tone. Most probably he is playing in a band or as session guy and working on his career. For him this advice seems perfect. And this could well be the majority here.
The other breed might be more like me. I am also a sound engineer. Either I have to deal with what is just there. And fix it by filtering - because the source is already gone. Or I am searching for something very special for that mix in question. And a multi band EQ is just more versatile. I certainly understand that this is not at the highest priority for Kemper, though. People like Robert Fripp might still like it. 
Then there are the cover band guys. They want to come as close as possible to the current top 20 with maybe just one or two guitars during the gig. Every dirty trick might then be welcome...
"Why compress (actually limit) distorted guitars (even more) - especially during tracking - you are setting yourself up for problems during mixing. Compression cannot be undone."
Exactly. A tube amp acts like a very nice guitar compressor, when driven hard. Hence its popularity among guitar players. But what about clean or crunchy sounds? Maybe that is the reason why the Kemper already has a compressor in the amp section? Again: a multiband EQ would just be more versatile/powerful. But I will love my Kemper even this will never show up... just in case I had to pick the stomp -1 - this is one slot before the Kemper during reamping and multi-compress in the DAW. 
"not to long ago, multiband compression wasn't even used in mastering"
Hmmm... that must have been *before* the loudness war 
"not to long ago, multiband compression wasn't even used in mastering"
Hmmm... that must have been *before* the loudness war
the 'loudness war' and 'everybody with a MB limiter plug in can master material now' are two different things
My understanding of this particular compressor is that it is used to boost the volume of the clean sound of a dirty amp when you roll back the guitar volume knob. Try it. Take a dirty profile, put compressor at zero, and then note the difference in overall volume when rolling back the guitar volume. Now put the compressor up around halfway and try the same thing. Hear how the cleaned up tone remains at the same volume as the dirty tone?
By the way, this is actually in the manual.
"Distorted signals are not affected by compression; so only clean signals will be
boosted. The dynamics of your playing are fully retained, so, purely by the strength of your picking, you can go from
a crunchy sound to a compressed, clean sound. The volume knob on your guitar works exactly as you would expect:
for instance, reducing the volume of your guitar will transform a dynamic crunch into a clean, compressed sound with
full energy. "
Display MoreMy understanding of this particular compressor is that it is used to boost the volume of the clean sound of a dirty amp when you roll back the guitar volume knob. Try it. Take a dirty profile, put compressor at zero, and then note the difference in overall volume when rolling back the guitar volume. Now put the compressor up around halfway and try the same thing. Hear how the cleaned up tone remains at the same volume as the dirty tone?
By the way, this is actually in the manual.
"Distorted signals are not affected by compression; so only clean signals will be
boosted. The dynamics of your playing are fully retained, so, purely by the strength of your picking, you can go from
a crunchy sound to a compressed, clean sound. The volume knob on your guitar works exactly as you would expect:
for instance, reducing the volume of your guitar will transform a dynamic crunch into a clean, compressed sound with
full energy. "
Good hint Karl, i overread this, but imo , when I use a dirty sound and set the amp comp to half, the sound volume rises def up and it is more bassy or for me, it has more high end like a bass boost. Tried it at rehearshal with my frfr ( rcf sma nx 10") and i reduced it again to zero because too much bassy punch appears and in bandcontext it was too powerful when i play a deep e chord and the bass player is also right on a deep e. May it depends on the kind of guitar is in use. I will check out if there is a difference between a strat with singel coils ( therefore it could be good to fatten up the sound) or a Les Paul. I use a dimarzio super distortion in my les paul and this pu has a lot of bassy high end.
Cheers
Frank
What exactly is "bassy high end"?
What exactly is "bassy high end"?
Hmm, dont know how to describe exact, i mean this punch on the low e and a string. The pu forwards it and when i set the amp comp to 3 or 5 it is too "punchy", not muddy just too many bass. Ok , i can rduse the bass on the eq but i also can set the amp comp to zero, Same effect right out of the box when playing loud.
