Kemper No. 3 - Some observations from a five-year relationship and two divorces

Let's try this again...

Man, walking into a room and seeing "my baby" always reminds me of that Stevie Wonder song "Isn't She Lovely".

https://image.ibb.co/hcHate/49…A9-EB-F8-AAF418-C5-DB.jpg

But how lovely is she really? I bought one first in October 2013 and it was love at first sound. I had never owned a tube amp, though I did have a relatively high-end Boss GT-8 modeller at one point of time. The difference to my ears was night and day, less fizz and more gee whiz.

The honeymoon lasted for a good three years. And part of why that lasted was the fact that my girl always had something new to show off every few months - whether it was new profiles, new FX, or other new capabilities, I was mesmerised.

And with good reason too. Putting make up on a pig is still going to leave you with a pig. The Kemper has never been lacking in the tonal department, something I was reminded of when I plugged in after a short divorce No. 2.

Divorce No. 1 was a lot messier: I was ogling other girls, with red hot vacuum tubes, you know the type, real high maintenance and real high price. It was a veritable wife swap where I traded away my baby for a couple of tube amps, an EVH5150III and a Mesa Boogie Mark V:25.

And all was well for a while in that relationship, but then I started thinking about having a Kemper again. The main reason was convenience and reliability. I could piggyback her across the countryside and with a button press or two I could get her to scream like a banshee or low like a demented lost soul. Music to my ears. And she would never complain to me about needing a fixer upper or act up and humiliate me when I needed her to shine like "Wonderful Tonight".

Needless to say, we hooked up again and it was blissful. During the time I held her in my arms, she rewarded me with new peeks at her hidden treasures.

And then I sold her away to fund for a guitar and a couple of amps. That was Divorce No. 2.

But lust, it would seem, never dies, it just takes other forms. I wanted my baby back, I emptied my wallet and got her back. But she had changed, got a little boxier compared to her old space age curves. And she had a new trick to show me, a little jack that could plug into a cab and level a small house.

But let me tell you, guys, tricks be damned. She still had her same old soul and character. God Bless Her. I still love my baby, and I just had to let you all know

"Ooh baby I love you soo, oh, darling please, don't go"

(PS: The other girls are hiding in the back, but don't tell the missus)

Quote from ashtweth

WB my brother, you can still switch the power amp off and run it into a mission FRFR in stereo right?

Try it in stereo..she will be more kinky and surprise you tee hee

Ash

Gracie, Ash! I am working on a slightly different set up because unfortunately, with shipping, the Mission Engineering stuff becomes waaaay too expensive. Like even a volume pedal costs something like 400 Singapore dollars (that's about 400 Aussie bucks) here, I have no idea why even though GST is just 7 per cent. Shipping costs and mark ups, I guess.

Planning to get a couple of Matrix CFR12 passive speakers and a power amp. Then run the main outputs into those for stereo goodness. Then, take the built in speaker output in the Kemper and run that into a traditional cab (4x12 or Mesa Boogie Thiele 1x12) with the cab section switched off on that output.

Basically simplify that W/D/W concept I've been dreaming about.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Seriously AJ, IMHO that's your best post ever!

It's not just the story, but the delivery, mate. Brilliant!

Welcome back yet again, brother.

You should have seen the one that got me banned, bro, haha! Thanks a lot!

Quote from Dean_R

Hey AJ, I can't believe that you think that one of your Hecklers on the gearpage is me!! Nothing surprises me however and that's why I haven't been posting anywhere for almost a year. I now spend 10 to 20 minutes a week only scanning some of the forums but rarely ever post. I don't even remember why you would think that I would have anything against you. I actually think you're a very nice guy. Don't get caught up in thinking that many of the contents on any of these boards are really serious, because as you already know, everyone is a comedian, right !?

Finally, don't let these Hecklers get you down. I think you have very good ears because those with good ears know that Kemper is definitely the closest to a tube Amp than any other modeler. Seriously, I've again tried other modelers just for the Hell of it, and I hear a major difference in the feel and sound, that I don't think it's even close. Kemper is still King in the world of modeling and no wonder you keep coming back.

Good to hear from you, Dean, I'm not sure why I thought it was you, must have been some kind of mental fart.

I only traded the second one because I could manage to snag the powered version plus Remote for a couple of hundred extra versus selling it. Definitely could not do without it as long as I did the last time.

This is a really poor mix because my UAD plugins kept crashing every time I tried to export this. But I like the guitar tone, even though this was essentially a scratch track before reamping.

I love this machine! Not sure why the plugins crashed when exporting when they worked fine during the mixing process. But the tone is quite brutal.