New Kemper Owner- Not too impressed, useable

  • Because of course, one's audience is completely dependant upon every single amp nuance :) I've never witnessed a punter walk out of a gig because of such trivial matters... However, I HAVE seen a few punters walk out because the the backline was too loud..


    It's beginning to seem a lot like the "Emperors New Clothes" are fading and the inevitable backlash is starting..


    Stop comparing and start gigging.. Only then can a PROPER comparison be made IMHOOC :)

    I gig, record, have done (and do) sessions, have worked in amplifier design, with pickups, ect, and got the kemper (well this is the third one) for recording my own music more conveniently.


    I think it's possible to both be critical of A and also make good use of it. Live shows are one story; recording is another. For some difference A, B, C may matter more than others. Some may agree that the audience is what matters the most. Others may not. And some may consider feel differences more than others as well.


    Usually I prefer real amps. I think kemper is great. I also think it's not perfect and that there is some room to evolve, much like many amplifiers.


    That sums it up, really..

    Edited once, last by Dimi84 ().

  • Of course there is room to evolve. but you need to ask yourself if said "evolution" is based upon YOUR ears or the ears of your audience


    You say that you prefer "real amps" you say that Kemper is not perfect, like many amplifiers.


    So, what exactly are you saying? I do not wish to be rude, I'm just trying to understand you and the points that you are tying to convey.
    .

  • Of course there is room to evolve. but you need to ask yourself if said "evolution" is based upon YOUR ears or the ears of your audience


    You say that you prefer "real amps" you say that Kemper is not perfect, like many amplifiers.


    So, what exactly are you saying? I do not wish to be rude, I'm just trying to understand you and the points that you are tying to convey.
    .

    There was talk about perceived imperfections/issues.


    Then it was said that we should stop making comparisons and start gigging. Hence I said that I gig, and I still do comparisons.


    The point is that this doesn't have to be a case of "either/or". You can be critical of A and also make good of A, as post said.


    In terms of audience: audience also doesn't mind if I use an EMG 81 or Fishman Fluence. But I still much prefer the fluence. Similarly, I would go further when it comes to examining issue A, B, C than the audience would.


    Of course the audience matters, but the above I also see to be true.

  • ......For example: I did a fender today and kicked it up to the max. I loved the tone. But the profile was miles, miles apart; the response was gone, the profile wouldn't sag, the dynamics were way different. And that's fine -- we know kemper is not made to do these kinds of tones where everything is blasted to heck.

    If you fully crank everything in a master volume Amp in most if not all cases the sound will be terrible and this is not just coming from me.


    The actual amp might even start dropping out. However you like to crank both power amp and Pre Amp and unfortunately for you the Kemper wasn't designed to Capture both cranked stages together as because they are very rarely ever used.



    Keep in mind that Kemper will capture accurately when you crank the Master volume to get power amp distortion even if you add some Pre amp. as long as you don't crank both. I've cranked a small tube amp and got very accurate result because I didn't blast the Preamp. That's almost more than 99% of guitar player who use tube amps. I haven't heard of anyone who cranks both Power amp and Preamp until I met you here, Please don't take that to be in anyway negative, I'm just pointing out my personal experience on the topic and also pointing that's it's shared by many guitar players.


    Eddy Van Halen cranked everything to 10 but there was no Preamp back then tone, the tone was pure power amp distortion with no Pre amp.


    Here's a link to another very smart engineer who modeled tube amps where he demonstrates various vintage amp cranked at ten with audio clips of real tube amps and he states


    "these clips more illustrate how not to set your amp"


    http://community.avid.com/blog…04/real-amps-cranked.aspx


    I think we all agree that KPA currently produces the most authentic tube tones among all the the other digital devices.

    Edited 2 times, last by Dean_R ().

  • I think many here have enough expertise to know what kinds of tones they like/want.


    You can crank up my orange with preamp distortion at 4/10 and master where you have some power amp distortion, not max, and you are faced with similar issues.


    I don't normally crank up amps to the max. The fender was just a test. It's still a tone that has its uses nonetheless. It's not like people will try to do death metal with it. Everything cracked to Max is a "specialty" tone, sure, and you very rarely hear it in recordings, that is true.


    I think it can be a fun tone to play with. But I also rarely use such a tone myself. It largely depends on the amp too, what kind of tone that produces.

  • Hey :) Thanks, I'm glad you like it, it is a profile of just the poweramp of my Victory Kraken D.I. and i added my Orange ppc hp8 cab to it and in front of the Kemper is the HBE Big D Distortion pedal

    great...wish you had a profile for it...!

    "...why being satisfied with an amp, as great as it can be, while you can have them all?" michael mellner


    "Rock in Ecclesia" - new album on iTunes or Google music

  • Thank you for this rather elaborated and fruitful discussion here guys!
    Sincerely
    Joachim
    :);):)
    PS
    :D
    The following remarks are meant to be entertaining. In no way can they further the aforementioned discussion.


    Most of my questions even those I did not know I had are answered now.


    With regard to the following quote and the quite noticeable care for precise language (love it!) in some statements of this lengthy discussion the following question comes to my mind after racking my brain with:


    1. The KPA is an amp.
    2. Like many amplifiers it is not perfect either.


    [Since many things of the amp kind are not perfect it stands to reason that the KPA probably isn't perfect either.
    I believe that the statements "room to evolve" and "not perfect" essentially mean the same fact. That is why I stick to the shorter statement here even though the KPA might be perfect as it is and might evolve to something new - not necessarily better - that I know nothing about.]


    3. Logic then has it that there exists at least one perfect amplifier.


    [Many is less than all, ain't it?]
    [It cannot be the KPA, now can it?]


    Then what is that wondrous, perfect amp? Do please tell us!

    Usually I prefer real amps. I think kemper is great. I also think it's not perfect and that there is some room to evolve, much like many amplifiers.

    Greetings
    Joachim

  • I Thank you for this rather elaborated and fruitful discussion here guys!

    If we are going to do philosophy, I can break down why this "logic" doesn't add up, including straw man and uncharitable interpretations.


    But that's not very interesting for me here. It will involve 1) a lot of text 2) detail the thread and 3) I don't have the energy/care to post such a "substantial" reply.


    Back to doing something productive other than having the same discussions over and over again ;)

    Edited 3 times, last by Dimi84 ().

  • 1. The KPA is an amp.
    2. Like many amplifiers it is not perfect either.

    None of my amps is perfect, but in all of them I can dial some settings that the KPA can't profile and those settings sound awesome.


    Trying to convince me that more than one stage distorting is not good will not work. I've been stacking overdrives pedals for more than 30 years and my favourite amp (a Dumble style amp) sounds awesome when you find the good combination of clean channel gain -> overdrive channel -> the power amp.


    A Fuzz Face with both controls at full into a not so clean Marshall with the guitar volume down to taste is another good example of two significantly distorting stages and it sounds awesome and has been recorded by many guitarists.

  • None of my amps is perfect, but in all of them I can dial some settings that the KPA can't profile and those settings sound awesome....

    That is a true statement, but don't forget that you can also dial so many tones using the KPA that you will never be able to dial using your amps and they will sound just as awesome and realistic with authentic tube tones at any volume level that you can't do with your amps.


    The fact that you personally was unable to use the feature of the Kemper to get satisfactory tones, doesn't take away from the thousands of successful guitarists (Rock Star Status selling hundreds of thousands of records), producers, studios and home studios who are joyfully using the Kemper to bring music and joy into millions of lives while making money at the same time.


    Glad t your amps are working for you and I'm sure you're also glad that Kemper is working perfectly for countless numbers of guitarists.

  • That is a true statement, but don't forget that you can also dial so many tones using the KPA that you will never be able to dial using your amps and they will sound just as awesome and realistic with authentic tube tones at any volume level that you can't do with your amps.
    The fact that you personally was unable to use the feature of the Kemper to get satisfactory tones, doesn't take away from the thousands of successful guitarists (Rock Star Status selling hundreds of thousands of records), producers, studios and home studios who are joyfully using the Kemper to bring music and joy into millions of lives while making money at the same time.


    Glad t your amps are working for you and I'm sure you're also glad that Kemper is working perfectly for countless numbers of guitarists.


    My Kemper was politely banned by the other guitarist and producer of the band, a guy who has produced and mixed songs that are played in front of 10-20K audiences. The truth is I couldn't compete against his original 60s Super Reverb, Royers, Coles and Neve preamps. The best Super Reverb profile was so far...


    I bet that the Kemper would arrive to even more professionals if it could replicate those settings. Yes, It sounds good, better than the rest of digital amps, but has room for improvement.


    Why many of those super stars are using the Kemper for world tours and still recording with their old tube amps? The Kemper is a nice practice amp for John Mayer but he doesnt use it for gigging.

  • Why many of those super stars are using the Kemper for world tours and still recording with their old tube amps? The Kemper is a nice practice amp for John Mayer.

    Because they wanna hate on kemper. Why are you being so hateful against Kpa, man? You must be paid by fractal, marshall, mesa boogie and line 6.

  • My Kemper was politely banned by the other guitarist and producer of the band, a guy who has produced and mixed songs that are played in front of 10-20K audiences. The truth is I couldn't compete against his original 60s Super Reverb, Royers, Coles and Neve preamps. The best Super Reverb profile was so far......

    Of course it's going to be banned by some of those who invested thousand of dollars in Studio Gear that included many guitar amps.They have something that has been working for them and they don't see value or even investigate the change, Some will never accept change and modern science. There are still some who believe that landing on the moon was a hoax :D

  • Of course it's going to be banned by some of those who invested thousand of dollars in Studio Gear that included many guitar amps.They have something that has been working for them and they don't see value or even investigate the change, Some will never accept change and modern science. There are still some who believe that landing on the moon was a hoax :D


    I had to accept it after listening to both his and my recordings...

  • Because they wanna hate on kemper. Why are you being so hateful against Kpa, man? You must be paid by fractal, marshall, mesa boogie and line 6.

    Well let's ask the question of why Mr. pacocito who sold his Kemper because tube amps work much better for him still hangs out over here in the Kemper Forum only to pop in to say how limited the Kempr was. If he truly moved on. why does he feel that he needs to justify his decision? Emotional attachment for something that he doesn't find useful? :D


    I really don't know and I'm not about to speculate except to say it's very odd and weird that he's looking for affirmation that his tube amps are the correct choice in no other place than a digital amp website group forum, I'm sure he will greeted as hero in many of the Dumble communities or tube amps communities out there but instead, he wan't to convert Digital Amps users to affirm him emotionally that he did the right choice.


    Is this like a religious thing being a tube amp fanatic? 8o

  • Because they wanna hate on kemper. Why are you being so hateful against Kpa, man? You must be paid by fractal, marshall, mesa boogie and line 6.


    They paid my Kemper so I could learn about it ,come here to share profiles, promote a Spanish comunity, rehearsing, gigging and recording during 5 years and half so I can have some arguments to destroy it! :P


    Ok. It's enough to my. I'll win a grammy to have the experience needed to discuss about guitar tone here and I'll come back!


    Enjoy your gear kids!

  • Well let's ask the question of why Mr. pacocito who sold his Kemper because tube amps work much better for him still hangs out over here in the Kemper Forum only to pop in to say how limited the Kempr was. If he truly moved on. why does he feel that he needs to justify his decision? Emotional attachment for something that he doesn't find useful? :D
    I really don't know and I'm not about to speculate except to say it's very odd and weird that he's looking for affirmation that his tube amps are the correct choice in no other place than a digital amp website group forum, I'm sure he will greeted as hero in many of the Dumble communities or tube amps communities out there but instead, he wan't to convert Digital Amps users to affirm him emotionally that he did the right choice.


    Is this like a religious thing being a tube amp fanatic? 8o


    And no, I don't want to convert to you. All I'd like is to see some of those issues fixed, use my Kemper for everything and sell some of my amps.


    I can perfectly understand that the Kemper is awesome for 99% or their owners and during 5 years and half i have convinced many guitarist to buy one. Visit guitarristas.info, find the Kemper thread, with 350 pages. I started that thread on January 2012 and has activity almost every day. You will find me there helping users and sharing my profiles and experience on every page.


    So please don't use that dirty strategy and try to kick me out of here.

    Edited once, last by pacocito ().

  • I had to accept it after listening to both his and my recordings...

    Well his recording implies his skills. He's a skilled engineer. Maybe you should have lent him the Kemper and with his Skills he could have still got better results.


    If you give and Eric Clapton guitar to someone w, he doesn't become Eric Clapton but he might get close. If you give a guitarist a Kemper he doesn't become a studio engineer. Kemper doesn't have a talent button yet. No offense intended but I'm just trying to make the point, that no device is going to be a complete substitute for skills.

  • Just my 2 cents...I ordered my Kemper without hearing it in person...after seeing the "Nashville" video on YouTube....an amazing device that has not let me down...perfect? Probably not but was able to use it for 3 shows a weekend for a number of years...my favorite story involved a legendary tube amp repair man that asked me after a gig which Marshall and Fender amps was I using and where the amps were stored back stage...I apologized and pointed at my Kemper...