"The Kemper does get fantastic tones, but... there’s just a tiny thing missing"

  • Yeah i have always asked every one on this 95% trip..i say okay the 5%, but what about how the 95% sounds? , does it still sound like a good tone, they say YEP...i say so 5% does not hold you back then, just because its an ass hair off, all have said that they still like that ass hair off sound. Wait that does not sound right


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • Many of us, some of us, or at least me, are below, as players, whatever the Kemper delivers. I can't get the most of it, and I will probably never reach that level in which a 5 per cent really matters.

    Never too old for rock'n'roll

  • Or maybe that 5% is the lack of acceptance that a space-toaster looking digital thing can reproduce the sound of tube amplifiers costing much much more. (And a hundred of these amps too.)


    I know I have / had that slight lack of acceptance. :P


    I still go 'this is ridiculous' whenever we turn the thing on. (Still don't understand how 6KB of data can reproduce a tube amp this accurately.)

  • Having never profiled anything I can't weigh in on 5%. I can say, I have better tone now that any combination of tube amps and pedals that I ever owned. Since I primarily play live and in church these days, I would never be in a position to get the real amp to sound 100% as good as the profiles I use. Even if I owned the exact gear and tweaked and miced it like the commercial profile were made, I wouldn't be in a position to turn it up to the necessary volume, and if I did, it would ruin the overall mix. The KPA is now the standard for me for what good tone is.
    The biggest benefit is that since owning the KPA is that I can practice regularly with my rig, since volume and set up time isn't an issue. I know how my go-to profiles and built in effects respond better than any "real rig" I've ever owned. because I can use them and practice with them regularly. Add things like, auto volume matching, the best noise reduction ever, the amp block compressor, and ducking on so many of the effects, I can't replace these things with other equipment, let alone in one light box that I can turn on in 1 minute and practices with headphones. After 5 years, I don't just have better tone, I'm a better guitarist because of the KPA.

  • After 5 years, I don't just have better tone, I'm a better guitarist because of the KPA.

    Agreed, it's so inspiring to play. Every time it's an adventure into tonal bliss. Not only am I a better guitar player from owning the KPA, but also from all the knowledge I've gained from being apart of this forum.


    I love my tube amps and all, but at the end of the day when I can plug in, hit record, and within a few short minutes have a recording that is perfect (for me), well, I'm a happy dude. ;)

  • Note, that despite the 5% off in the original post, the Machinehead bassist still uses the Kemper.


    I guess that says a lot about tone. That 5 per cent is completely unnoticeable, particularly to concert-goers who couldn't tell the difference.


    I think the 5% is only a factor with "tone snobs" who are just unable to keep up or don't want to keep up with the march of technology.

  • The problem is many people will have it in their heads that the 5% is the important 5%...


    For me, I'd get over 5% variation with a valve amp anyway so I've never had 100% tone I want consistently - maybe once in a blue moon but then I've felt that with the KPA as well. As guitarists we are never happy, so 95% in my book is way more than I've ever had.


    I'd rather have 95% of any amp in the world than 100% of one amp. Do the math (as they say in the US, we in the UK say Maths)....


    Add in convenience and consistency....I've just stopped worrying about my amp now.


    Did a festival on Sat and it was just so easy to play in and play without fiddling with mic placement etc..

  • Part of the 5% issue (if it exists) is us guitarists' conditioning to solid state and digital marketing for decades promising "just like a tube amp." The focus was always on sounding just like this or that product. guitarists that had a lot of experience and cut their teeth on tube amps tended to hate these products not because of a lack of tonal similarity (let alone all the conveniences of these products) but a noticeable lack of warmth and digital harshness, missing movement of air; a 2 dimensional quality compared to the 3D quality of real tube amps. If the first solid state amps had been able to achieve the sort of warmth that tube amps delivered, guitarists would have abandoned tube amps decades ago, even if replaced by solid state amps that had a voice of their own. The A/B comparison wouldn't have mattered; guitarists gladly embraced newer tube amps over the years that sounded different than the older ones.
    The KPA has solved this. Whatever magic was present only in tube amps is found in the KPA. In fact, I've found many profiles much more musical, responsive, etc. to any real amp/cab/pedal combo I owned, with all the aforementioned pros of using digital gear. I have no clue if the profiles I like best are 5% off of the real gear used to create them. And if there is a difference, I have no clue to whether I'd prefer the real to the profiled version; although if I had been there when they were created and told which one was which, I might have been biased to prefer the real version. All that to say, don't sweat the 5% even if it actually exists and you can notice it. Just use the gear that makes you sound and play your best. And remember the best gear is the gear you are inspired to use and practice regularly with. Not the gear that you brag to other guitarist about but rarely get to practice with because it's impractical to set up/leave set up in your home/or turn up to where it sounds best.

  • Part of the 5% issue (if it exists) is us guitarists' conditioning to solid state and digital marketing for decades promising "just like a tube amp.".

    It does exist, although I think everyone is missing it. It has nothing to do with copying warmth or quality.


    The missing '5%' (or more) is that tube amps are like people ---- > moody. Kemper takes a 'snapshot' of your tone and you stay at that snapshot, a perfect pleasing tone all the time. It may be your best tone, but it is -that- tone all the time. Solid state is similar, but it isn't a copy of your fav tone, its just a tone. But the same where it is like it is ---- > all the time.


    Tube amps change all the time like the weather. They warm up, sound cold, lack something, sometimes sound even beyond what you'd imagine. Then crap again. A constant battle. You try pedals, whatever, to compensate because of the guitar(s) you use, or just to add constant sparkle, etc., then you throw it all out and start from scratch again, fall in love again, a nice clean amp sound playing direct.. Then you have a bad sound day and what to kick that B_tch to the curb, buy a new amp and start again. Sometimes you have many amps, like dating, you just pick one you know will do it for you that day. Unless it sucks and you plug into another. And another. Then try one of them you haven't seen in a while and magic!! Whoa! Why did I want to sell this POS?!?! It's awesome! until tomorrow....


    It is the tube amp's imperfection that we are attracted to. Like a junkie that keeps looking for a repeat of that first high, but never obtaining it. Or a smoker trying to get that first cig buzz, whatever... Sure, you can buy the 'patch' but is it really the same? :) You can drink diet soda, but is it really like a real soda?!?


    When you have something that never changes on its own, you grow used to it, and naturally, get bored with it. Your ears pick up on the similar details like a chick you get bored with and want to move on. Or maybe try to change her?! ;-O You want the thrill of having to fight something to see how far it will go. You get in your car and exceed the limits, not know if the engine will blow the hell up. That is the fun of tube amps.


    Safe amps seem to give you the deal but you always think something is missing, well there it is. The only way to change digital stuff to that is to come up with some 'humanizer' or 'real world-izer' to simulate the subtle moody tube amp circuit that we constantly try to tame.

  • The solution to that dilemma, dear Nemo, is for CK to figure out how to Profile chicks.


    I bags first place in line to test the prototype. :D

    I hope the tracking on her pitch shifter is good with all that wah wah she's gonna have. :rolleyes:

    Gee, what'll they think of next? Racial profiling? :D

    I've used that to explain to people what a kemper does, "...and then through the magic of German Wizardry, and a series of sonar sweeps, ufo bleep boops and white noise, it racially profiles your amp lol"

  • I was responding to Nemo's point and didn't intend to inspire an off-topic diversion; sorry about that. Had I known...


    When you have something that never changes on its own, you grow used to it, and naturally, get bored with it. Your ears pick up on the similar details like a chick you get bored with and want to move on. Or maybe try to change her?!

    I think this is a valid point, Nemo.


    Sure, part of the "problem" is it's so-easy for us to switch amps now as opposed to going out and buying new ones, but IMHO the lack of natural variations you spoke of may well play a role, albeit a smaller one, in feeding that "hunger" for change.


    That said, as guitarists, it seems to be par for the course to never be 100% satisfied with what we have, especially in the long term. We see the odd member here who settles on one or a few Profiles and sticks with them, but that's the exception rather than the norm. I envy those guys!

  • Most of those 5%'ers and naysayers are also used to playing 100, or 200, or 600, or 1200 watt tube amps/several amps at once on full tilt, which moves a lot of air! A tube amp cranked is a bit different, for sure. Not to say that the KPA can't move air but I don't think the majority are using it full blast!

    it seems to be par for the course to never be 100% satisfied with what we have, especially in the long term.

    This is so true, Nicky! The never-ending search for tone. However, having a quarter million worth of amps in one little magic green box sure reinforces this need and eternal desire lol.