Pre-Purchase Questions

  • I'm thinking of getting the Profiler. I have a few questions before purchase:


    I have a few amps. I only play for my enjoyment now, I want to downsize a little. I think I will keep my Deluxe Reverb, and get rid of my '65 reissue Super Reverb, Carvin 16, Fender G-Dec., and others.


    I'd love to have this just to play around with and emulate other amps.


    I will probably want to plug in to a cabinet. I'd love to have that matching green one shown on the website, but not available.

    • I assume I need the Powerhead for a cab?
    • What is the smallest cabinet recommendations? I have a Carvin cab, with a 12' in it. Not looking to blow the neighborhood out :evil:
    • Any advantage to the Profiler Remote other than using it on the floor?
    • Can you get Acoustic Amp Profiles? I have a Fishman Loudbox Mini, can it replace this for my Acoustic needs?
    • When an Amp is profiled, is it pretty much flat settings, and you adjust after the profile is created?
    • Is the Reverb profiled? I mean, is it something that is just in the Profiler, and can it sound like the Spring reverb tanks?
    • If anyone has ever had a hardware issue, how hard is it to get resolved, since this is manufactured overseas?


    I'm in the USA, so will probably order from Sweetwater, or somewhere like that.


    Thanks for ANY help before I order this.


    [Blocked Image: http://www.gwfweb.com/guitars/images/4981.jpg]

  • Well we re all different but it's like you want everything at once. For me its one stairs at a time


    1- a profiler no amp inside (I plug it to my sound system KRK speakers plus sub) and it sounds very good I learn all about the profiler, I buy rigs I fine tune them, I download the best i can find on RE ... all that TAKES TIME !!!! And I fine tune also my reverbs delay (of course you save it all)


    2- I will buy a remote and learn everything about it


    3- finally i will buy a cab with an amp inside


    SO you see we are very different in our approach


    Good luck

  • The reverb is not profiled, but the new spring reverb effect of the Kemper is very good. The other reverbs are about to be updated, and the delays are very good already. Powered versus unpowered is a subject for debate here. The same wirh the right active or passive FR cab for the Kemper. Very subjective. Mission and other cabs are made in the US. Some others in Europe. You can get the powered Kemper and use a guitar cab you like (with the cab part of the profiles off in the monitor out), but then all profiles will be coloured by the cab you use. Still, you may send the cab on sound simultaneously to a mixer or monitors thru the main outs or spdif. Your cab, like all guitar cabs, needs some volume to sound great, so studio monitors may be a good solution for moderate or bedroom levels. Sure, you can get the unpowered and use a power amp or an active cab. There are good acoustic amp profiles, bass amp ones, and direct profiles too. Lots of users in the US, so I guess very few have had hardware problems!

    Never too old for rock'n'roll

  • Welcome to the forum. Nice collection.


    FRFR give you the most flexible option. Generally the higher end powered are better than the non powered.


    If you plan to use a guitar cabinet the Powerhead is great.


    Kemper has a US repair facility just in case. There are not a lot of issues.


    Some profiles are set at noon on the amp but the stack eq does not act as the real amp so profilers generally dial the amps in.


    You will not regret it. The Kemper is really that good.

  • Welcome to the forum!


    One of the greatest things about the Kemper is that it allows a bunch of different "workflows" for guitar players.


    If you are a guitar cab person, you don't have to give that up. Get a powerhead and then keep your favorite cab.


    If you are ok going the FRFR / PA / headphone / IEM route, you can still do that and have perfect results.


    There is no "better" solution, it's up to you. Just to give you some perspective, I have some buddies who would never play on anything less than a real 4x10 cab. (As we are getting older, they compromised, just a few years ago, they would no do anything less than a 4x12 :D ). On the other side of the spectrum is me, I play with my kids on a bunch of different instruments (keyboards and woodwinds) so everything goes to a mixer and we listen on a powered PA system.


    For the profiling it's best to image it taking a snapshot of your current amp setting and recreating that. If you had the gain cranked, the profile will have high gain. If you were on the clean channel, you'll get a profile with clean tones. In general it is recommended to profile with no amp effects (like a spring reverb that we all love), the Kemper has excellent effects on its own that you can enable / disable with a press of a button. (You can dial in more parameters for any effect that I'd ever want ;) ).



    The one thing that is not self-evident but still very true is that turning DOWN the gain on a profile yields great results. The opposite is not true, but if you get a mid gain profile, you can totally make it like a clean tone profile with just the turn of a knob.



    As someone said, search the forum, there are threads here about acoustic profiles (and everything else) that you'd probably find very interesting.

    • I assume I need the Powerhead for a cab?
    • What is the smallest cabinet recommendations? I have a Carvin cab, with a 12' in it. Not looking to blow the neighborhood out :evil:
    • Any advantage to the Profiler Remote other than using it on the floor?
    • Can you get Acoustic Amp Profiles? I have a Fishman Loudbox Mini, can it replace this for my Acoustic needs?
    • When an Amp is profiled, is it pretty much flat settings, and you adjust after the profile is created?
    • Is the Reverb profiled? I mean, is it something that is just in the Profiler, and can it sound like the Spring reverb tanks?
    • If anyone has ever had a hardware issue, how hard is it to get resolved, since this is manufactured overseas?


    I'm in the USA, so will probably order from Sweetwater, or somewhere like that.


    Thanks for ANY help before I order this.


    If you want to drive a cab, best to get the Powerhead as its easier, but you can either get a powered cab or or separate power amp, the only real advantage is you can go stereo

    Remote is just that - remote changes the amp. Best for live although can make it a bit easier at home

    Yes there are acoustic profiles

    Profiles are a snapshot of whatever setting they are at. Can then adjust but the more you adjust, the less like the original it can sound. This can have a pleasing effect in itself BTW.

    Never had a hardware issue, others have and I believe generally support is excellent!

    Hope that helps..


    One other thing - best amp I ever bought and I love mine!

  • So after all these great answers, I am narrowing down my purchase choices.


    I am assuming there is no disadvantage to getting the Powered version over the non-powered Kemper. It can still be used Non-Powered, right?


    I think I will order the Powerhead and a HeadRush FRFR 112 to start with. Can you use the Powered Kemper, and put the speaker in passive? Or the other way around, non-powered Kemper, and use the HR as active? If it's either/or, which would you do?


    Thanks for all the help guys.

  • The only disadvantage of the powered Kemper is the lesser amount of money left in your wallet. :)


    The powered has all the connectors the non-powered does PLUS the speaker connector from the power amp. So you can still use the (stereo if you want) Main Outs to connect powered speakers or go to a mixing board.


    Just like a normal amp head, for the speaker connection of the powered Kemper, you want a passive cab.


    One thing to consider is whether you want the rack mount or the toaster form factor. Toaster has more knobs but does not directly fit in a rack.


    Also, if you decide to buy, I would highly recommend adding to card at Musician's Friend and starting a chat. I had a coupon that did not work for the Kemper but was still able to score some goodies after that chat.

  • I'll probably go Sweetwater, since no sales tax in VA and that's about $100+ in savings :)


    I'll go toaster. I don't use a rack.

  • Agree the only disadvantage is price.


    Please note you only use the speaker out for un-powered, you need to use the other outs for powered cabs like the headrush as ToneDeaf says.


    I make this point purely because I think someone damaged theirs by connecting the speaker output into a powered cab..


    If you have any thoughts about gigs at any point, personally I would recommend the rack as its safer in a case, but that's not a biggy.


    Let us know how you get on...

  • I ventured into the Kemper world last December and I'll answer from my perspective as a live performer and recording one:

    • I assume I need the Powerhead for a cab?
      You don't need it, but I'd highly recommend the extra money for one to allow you the most flexibility playing live. You can use a normal guitar cabinet with it and it sounds phenomenal too. Just be sure to turn off cab emulation for the monitor out when you do. I use it mostly either with just the PA or my full-range self-powered monitors, so not having to haul around an additional power amp for cab use is nice.
    • What is the smallest cabinet recommendations? I have a Carvin cab, with a 12' in it. Not looking to blow the neighborhood out :evil:
      I use a 1x12 cabinet and it is perfectly fine. Just depends on what you need playing live, but I can get my 1x12 plenty loud and still sounds great at lower volumes.
    • Any advantage to the Profiler Remote other than using it on the floor?
      The Remote has tons of cool features and is essential for live playing. It makes organizing your performances much easier to access than punching buttons on the profiler. Plus it adds a looper too and four additional expression pedals in addition to the two you can run from the Profiler. I only use two expression pedals myself.
    • Can you get Acoustic Amp Profiles? I have a Fishman Loudbox Mini, can it replace this for my Acoustic needs?
      Yes, there are some out there for free and paid that sound great.
    • When an Amp is profiled, is it pretty much flat settings, and you adjust after the profile is created?
      It will profile the amp or the amp/cab/mic combo with however those are EQ'd. It is eerie how close it profiles an amp, but you always will need to make a minor tweak here and there. I profiled all my amps, but realistically there are so many great paid and free profiles out there, I'm totally content to never use my own profiles.
    • Is the Reverb profiled? I mean, is it something that is just in the Profiler, and can it sound like the Spring reverb tanks?
      No idea, but it sounds great to me.
    • If anyone has ever had a hardware issue, how hard is it to get resolved, since this is manufactured overseas?
      No experience with this. Sweetwater is great for product support, so I'm sure they'll facilitate any needs for that during the warranty.
  • Well, I think I have a pretty good deal lined up.


    Kemper Powerhead with Footswitch (Toaster) $2399

    Headrush FRFR-112 $269

    Two Pro 10' XLRF Cables $33.98


    No Shipping, No Tax, Two year warranty.

    Edited 2 times, last by thegman ().