Question regarding effects

  • This is maybe a kind of weird question, so let me just preface it by saying that I don't have much experience with different effect pedals and units that have been popular through the ages. I know all typical effects by heart, but my frame of reference are the software plugin versions that follow Propellerheads' Reason software. So whenever I am comparing effects to find one to pick, my frame of reference is limited. I can hear the effects compared to one another, and I can compare them to how I feel they should sound, but how would I know a good phase effect from a bad phase effect. Well obviously, whatever my ears prefer.


    That said and put aside, though, it would still be helpful (and it would help me get a better overview) to know if any of the effects in the Kemper are celebrated as particularly good within their respective categories. I've heard people say the stomps aren't very good (to which I agree) , and that the reverbs are limited. I know better reverbs are coming. I think the delay section seems fleshed out and strong but back to what I sais earlier, how would I really know this. There are many types and many options which to me implies sophistication, but like... Yeah. You probably get what I mean by now.


    So I am looking for opinions or research on how the Kemper effects compare to dedicated pedals of the same effects, or to the most high-fidelity and renowned versions of the same effects preferably. Are one of the flangers renowned as the obviously best flanger in the Kemper over the others? And so on.

    Edited once, last by Preacher ().

  • So I am looking for opinions or research on how the Kemper effects compare to dedicated pedals of the same effects, or to the most high-fidelity and renowned versions of the same effects preferably. Are one of the flangers renowned as the obviously best flanger in the Kemper over the others? And so on.

    Yes sure there is always better if you put the $$$$$$

    Better = $$$$

    So the kemper cost $$$$ but is very good to profiles amp so you dont need an amp any more (which is fantastic)


    Ok next the reverb are OK but not the best

    You want better everb? Fine just put some $$$$$$ buy the Strymon and reverb like that and plug it on the effect loop behind the Kemper


    You think the flanger is not good enough? Fine put some $$$$ and buy a better flanger put it on the effect loop behind, you can build a whole pedal board with the best pedals and put it behind the Kemper on the in and out FX


    Now you want a great cab I choose mine. Its 1200$ so I need $$$$ I wait I put money aside. I could chosse an OK cab of $300 but i want better, I want THE cab


    You got a guitar but you want better pick up? Sure there is I just ordered two humbuckers 500$ pickup to replace the ones on my Gibson. It was ok but I want better


    So I hope I answered your question even if its not the answer you were expecting.


    ConclusionL: What we can achieve and reach doesnt depends on our ear and knowledge only ... it also depends on our wallet too.


    Look at U2 equipement... yes it sounds great but $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

  • Wow. Just wow, what, are you married to your Kemper and thought I was calling it a bitch, or what's your deal?


    I am wondering what the best Kemper effects are in other people's opinion, and possibly what people consider the worst ones. Does that bother you? Am I OK to wonder that or can you drop me you e-mail so I can consult you prior next time and we can avoid this farce?


    I'm so sorry if you thought I was trying to personally and consciously belittle your possessions.

  • I think your comment about the stomps not being any good is what caused that reaction. It's an incorrect generalization of a whole suite of effects and mean to a bunch of people that I like and respect. I don't know how you'd be surprised by the reaction. ;)


    I've tried thousands of effects over 40 years and my opinion is that when used properly they're just as good as any other multi effects unit ever and in many cases are better than the physical units they're based on.


    The wah, octave, chorus, delays, EQ, Green Scream are good examples.

  • Just to add to Finally’s list, the phaser is as good as the classic stomp box equivalents. Always hated flangers, so I tend to stay away from those. The Kemper compressor is better than any pedal I’ve ever tried by a long way. I’d advise starting with some of MBritt or Bert Meulendijk’s settings from their free Rigs, as the parameters and functions aren’t what are usually found on a regular stomp. Once you get your head around it though, you’ll never buy a comp pedal again. The pitch and whammy functions are excellent, though if you’re looking for the artefacts and flaws that are exploited by Tom Morello in the Digitech Whammy series, you’re out of luck. The Kemper version is too well programmed, unfortunately.


    There are some unique effects in the Kemper that you don’t really find elsewhere, or at least with the same scope and depth, so tweaking can sometimes be confusing at first. This is true for the more conventional effects too, as the Kemper parameters tend to be unfamiliar compared to the pedal equivalents, as their range and depth is larger. Some people take this to mean that they’re inferior, when actually it’s more the opposite. Case in point : the original Green Scream model. Kemper made the tone scope larger than a Tube Screamer, but people were dialling the Stomp the same way as their physical pedal and comparing, then coming to the conclusion that it sounded nothing like the original. Kemper eventually neutered their model a few firmwares back, to keep the old school happy.


    A couple of areas I feel the Kemper lacking are the tremolo, which is just ok, and I’m missing an authentic UniVibe. There are a couple of workarounds I’ve seen on the forum, using the phase vibe Stomp and the wah vibe (I think that’s what it’s called), but none of them get that laggy, broad, wobbly nature quite right. They’re too linear, for want of a better description. Hopefully they’ll work on these, and maybe give us a couple of extra tonal options for the Green Scream and distortion Stomps, so we can mould them into other real-world iterations of those type of drives. Otherwise, I’m very happy with the effects as they are, now I’ve got Spring Reverb :)

  • I dig most of the FXes I use on a daily basis : vintage chorus, tape delays, hall verb , cry baby wah , I love the whole integration , lack of noise . You can also save the 4 stomps pre or post amps as a preset for other rigs / profiles.


    There are all very good to me. The delays for instance are really on par with high end range like the eventide. Harmonizers, µpitch and transpose are also very nice and usable, I constantly use the transpose for my stoner tracks.


    I also use real pedals ( in loop or front ) that have no equivalent yet on the KPA , a boutique fuzz , and a dimension D chorus for instance

  • For me...


    The Kempers effects are easily good enough for general use. Personally I don't use distortion or overdrive because I use the profiled amps for that.


    The comment about them not being very good is usually in relation to Axe FX and Helix effects which do have the edge. This does not mean Kemper effects are not good.


    The transpose is close enough to a digitech drop, wah's compete with crybabys, flangers and chrous's I think are also pretty good.


    Delays are now very much improved.


    Unless you have a really specific pedal ( e.g classic fuzz) then I think externally pedals are unnecessary ( certainly for me).

  • I wish we could erase this myth that the Kemper effects aren't up-to-par somehow; it's just not true.


    IMHO, there's a distinctly warm, analogue vibe to many of the time-based ones that might otherwise be misconstrued as being inferior. Not so. Just because a more processor-intensive implementation on an Axe or Helix appears to have more fidelity and detail about it doesn't mean the Kemper's equivalent is inferior in any way. When it comes down to it, IMHO, glitzy, sparkly, detailed fairy dust can only take you so far. In the real world, it's more often mojo that counts, especially when it comes to guitar stomps, and IMHO the Kemper already has plenty of it.


    When the new stomps / effects overhaul drops, I daresay said mojo will be further-increased.


    More mojo = a good thing... always!

  • Just to be clear, I am not under the impression that the Kemper actually is better or worse than anything else. I have no impression, that's why I asked. The only opinions I have heard repeatedly are that reverbs and boost/overdrive stomps aren't great, but it has good delays. Didn't they do a delay pass a while ago, reworking them all? So that seems to make sense. I have a Helix and I seem to prefer the boosts on that. They're not necessarily better, but it's easier to cycle through them and listen for distinct qualities. With Kemper it seems the variety in sound textures comes from adjusting settings within a few select stomps, while the Helix has a longer list but they all have less parameters. If I don't know what I'm looking for, but I know I'll know when I hear it, the Helix stomps are easier to navigate. That said, I think the Kemper boosts have a fuzz-like quality to them, even the non fuzz ones. I remember really liking one of them, though, so it's not all bad either. We should be able to discuss these practical details without s bunch of emotions, honestly. I am trying to solve a concieved problem, so why kick at me? Makes no sense to me, I'm not a bad guy lol.


    I am very happy with the product. I got it primarily for amp sounds and am more than happy with that choice. Trying to find its strengths and flaws because I have a multi-device setup so it actually matters to me and shortens the tinkering time before I can play. I am trying to develop a gefühl for what should be my go-to effects across several devices, and doing an A/B comparison seems like a daunting task. Then there are renowned effects so there is a bit of gear history to be learned, too. I like it to read people's thoughts about what they choose or decide, and why.

    Edited 2 times, last by Preacher ().

  • The dist are not that bad and you'll get tons of variety just by cranking the gain on most profiles. Lots of fuzz mayhem and caricatural fizz but some experiments there will bring some great results.


    I keep my boutique fuzz in front mainly because of the EQ ,shelving , boost and gate options, with real knobs at the reach of my hand. I won't buy any of these fancy dist/drive/fuzz boxes that constantly hit the market.


    I thinks CK told us there might be a future upgrade on the stomp boxes. I have lots of hope for an editor, we could easily match stomps / EQ & other Fx in a much funnier and creative way than the sub menus.

  • I did a test when I got it to compare the KPA DS1 distortion to a real DS 1 in the loop. I couldn't get EXACTLY the same tone out of them both but they were very close and even two actually DS1 will sound slightly different due to component tolerances. Its safe to say I would have recognised them both as being the same general effect pedal even though they were't exactly the same. I should probably have tried the real DS1 in front of the KPA input too to see if it made a difference but I didn't at the time and can't be bothered now 8o


    I also have Strymon Mobius and Timeline pedals still sitting on an old pedal board not getting used. Again, I couldn't get the exact same sounds out of both but I felt they were just "different flavours" rather than better or worse.


    For me the simplicity of having everything in the one box without the weight, physical size, power problems and cable problems of a real board win hands down every time now.

  • We should be able to discuss these practical details without s bunch of emotions, honestly. I am trying to solve a concieved problem, so why kick at me? Makes no sense to me, I'm not a bad guy lol.

    Dude, apart from post #2, which you already said this about, I don't see anybody kicking you.


    You said this following my post, so I can only assume that you took the "I wish we could erase this myth that the Kemper effects aren't up-to-par somehow; it's just not true." comment the wrong way.


    I went on to talk about the analogue-like vibe of the time-based effects (chorus, flanger, phaser...) and why I think it's important, but my opening statement, quoted above, was a logical preface to my argument in favour of Kemper's effects given the "myth" I referred to, which is IMHO just an impression many have gained based upon comparisons with the "fidelity" / accuracy / heavy-DSP-driven power some other units possess. I specifically referred to this 'cause it's been an "issue" that raises its head periodically here in the forum, and indeed one that fuels the creation of threads similar to this one.


    In case it's not-obvious, I'm basing all this on the highlighted text below from your OP:

    So I am looking for opinions or research on how the Kemper effects compare to dedicated pedals of the same effects, or to the most high-fidelity and renowned versions of the same effects preferably.

    All too often, as I suggested in post #10, the high-fidelity thing is given more weight than mojo and analogue vibe, which is essentially what my whole post was about.


    Again, IMHO, the tiny differences one might detect in super-high-frequency detail between Kemper's time-based effects and the best of the competition counts for nothing when producing and mixing a song, whereas IMHO mojo and analogue vibe actually mean something and contribute a Helluva-lot more to a project overall than the accuracy and lack of granularity beyond 16kHz could possibly dream to.


    To quote what I said earlier:

    More mojo = a good thing... always! 8o8)

  • Wow. Just wow, what, are you married to your Kemper and thought I was calling it a bitch, or what's your deal?


    I am wondering what the best Kemper effects are in other people's opinion, and possibly what people consider the worst ones. Does that bother you? Am I OK to wonder that or can you drop me you e-mail so I can consult you prior next time and we can avoid this farce?


    I'm so sorry if you thought I was trying to personally and consciously belittle your possessions.

    LOL I'm not married to my Kemper . I got external effects in the back send and return. I tried to buy better guitars and then buy better picks up . I am waiting to 500$ humbuckers now . I got Immerse neunaber linked to the kemper... But great sounds is A CHAIN that cost a lot of $$$$ And the Kemper is only a part of this chain ONLY A PART. Thats my message. So continue to write here as much as you want without permission. Thats OK with me!!! anyway I am too busy working and putting money aside to buy better equipment to complete my CHAIN !

  • I like the Kemper effects and find them as good or better than pedal offerings of similar.

    I have said I would like more added to the OD/Dist but only because I wind up using a second stomp spot for EQ just to get the sound I want. If they allow for more EQ options , etc in the revamped 0d/Dist update in the future than that would go a long way to bring everything I need in one unit.

  • Dude, apart from post #2, which you already said this about, I don't see anybody kicking you.


    You said this following my post, so I can only assume that you took the "I wish we could erase this myth that the Kemper effects aren't up-to-par somehow; it's just not true." comment the wrong way.


    I went on to talk about the analogue-like vibe of the time-based effects (chorus, flanger, phaser...) and why I think it's important, but my opening statement, quoted above, was a logical preface to my argument in favour of Kemper's effects given the "myth" I referred to, which is IMHO just an impression many have gained based upon comparisons with the "fidelity" / accuracy / heavy-DSP-driven power some other units possess. I specifically referred to this 'cause it's been an "issue" that raises its head periodically here in the forum, and indeed one that fuels the creation of threads similar to this one.

    Oh lol I'm sorry, I was unclear, I was still butthurt about and arguing towards the original second post lol. Letting go is hard. But I actually think I misunderstood his point altogether. English isn't my first either. Had a rough morning. Ah, the awkward, lol.

  • LOL I'm not married to my Kemper . I got external effects in the back send and return. I tried to buy better guitars and then buy better picks up . I am waiting to 500$ humbuckers now . I got Immerse neunaber linked to the kemper... But great sounds is A CHAIN that cost a lot of $$$$ And the Kemper is only a part of this chain ONLY A PART. Thats my message. So continue to write here as much as you want without permission. Thats OK with me!!! anyway I am too busy working and putting money aside to buy better equipment to complete my CHAIN !

    I thought you were trying to make a point that I was asking a stupid question. There are a lot of camps in the online scene, and I thought you were in the "all you need is your guitar and an amplifier" camp and was trying to make a point at my expense. I've now retorted to reading your post a little more literally and you are right, lol.

  • LOL Well without meaning to preach to you, Preacher, I can safely say that it's generally not a hostile environment here, so it's IMHO definitely easiest to always assume the best intentions when reading others' posts here.


    We're a passionate mob, sure, but we respect the "each to his own" philosophy a great deal more here than one might expect considering it's a manufacturer's forum.