Rig Manager 3.0 Editor

  • The cab/speakers is ~75%+ of your tone. Definitely pay attention to profiles you really like, and try that cab out on other profiles. Tone Nirvana awaits...

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

  • There is a great feature of ToastMe as you can lock the “cab” only and then you try other profiles. Hopefully this or a different approach that allows easy changes of IR is going to be in the editor Locrain is right that it’s large part of the tone.

  • Quote

    For the Kemper users who are playing thru a guitar cab, the cabinet section will have little to no use. They are getting a significant portion of their tone from the speakers themselves. I suspect many of the posters who mention they have no use for an editor possibly fall into this category.

    If this is really what they think, they are being a little short-sighted in my opinion. There will be lots to tweak on besides just the cabinets, as this is just a "section" in the editor. Besides, a speaker may be 70% of your sound, buts it's tone is only as good as the pre-amp and amp that drives them too. Don't believe me? Hook up an old TG&Y stereo receiver to a Marshall cab and see how it makes your 1960A sound. In other words, it "all" matters. ;)

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

    Edited 4 times, last by spikey: spell checkers sux ().

  • I agree with you that the charts(are they still relevant today;) don't say much about good taste but gear is not as much about good taste as it is about sound,reliability and ofcourse personal needs..I just don't believe that people today spend double as much money for the stage as they could save buying a helix Lt or whatever half the price and with "the world's best editor/UI" because they "don't know" that the editor is still not ready or that some kpa-stages have qc-issues..


    Obviously most customers don't care..and there must be some reasons for this..;)

    Not sure where you are getting this assumption from. If you go to Thomann and look at sales ranking for the past 2 months, Helix tops in both amps and preamps. Stage is #19, I believe.

  • There is a great feature of ToastMe as you can lock the “cab” only and then you try other profiles. Hopefully this or a different approach that allows easy changes of IR is going to be in the editor Locrain is right that it’s large part of the tone.

    Interesting...is this different than locking the cab block on the KPA? Like it keeps the same ir, but allows the other settings in the cab block to change?

    Disclaimer: When I post demo clips for profiles, there will be some minimal post-processing, unless stated otherwise. I normally double-track hard L/R, and add to the main buss a small amount of EQ and a limiter/comp set pretty light as well. Sometimes I get test profiles in advance of release, though 90% of my clips will be from packs I have purchased.

  • I agree with you that the charts(are they still relevant today;) don't say much about good taste but gear is not as much about good taste as it is about sound,reliability and ofcourse personal needs..I just don't believe that people today spend double as much money for the stage as they could save buying a helix Lt or whatever half the price and with "the world's best editor/UI" because they "don't know" that the editor is still not ready or that some kpa-stages have qc-issues..


    Obviously most customers don't care..and there must be some reasons for this..;)

    At the Thomann section where last month’s sales are ranked I see no kemper stage in the relevant category where the top 19 are listed.


    If I check the all time sales (another page) stage tops the list. But that can’t be correct considering how new stage is compared to helix. I’d ask Thomann for details if strongly interested. I’m either not understanding this (surely possible) or something’s off about some of these rankings — perhaps some mistake, I’d assume.

    In any case, I wouldn’t say sales numbers matter much to me. I don’t use one unit or another because it currently sells best... Neither would this make me feel nice to sort of be on one team vs another, which seems fairly common in “gear fights”. Perhaps I could take some credit or feel cool if I’d be making profiles that influence customer decisions... which I haven’t done/don’t do.

    But yes.. Helix topping the list would hardly influence my decisions, in this case.


    Now sure, your point was about “winning the war”, not “what matters and/or should matter to one in terms of what unit they use”. I don’t mean to set up a straw man.

    When it comes to that, I don’t know whether I’d tie a “war” to sales, total sales, recent sales, what other attributes there could be. It depends on what we consider “winning the war”. Perhaps there’s more cultural aspects of this where the impact of a unit can be greater than another — even considering less sales. Maybe a case can be made for the relevance of this.


    In any case, Stage is a floorboard. The importance of editor is even greater there. I think that’s a rather uncontroversial claim. And I hear talk about the editor often enough. Heck, I know some waiting for the editor to determine whether they go the kemper route. Certainly this is not to say that, for example, “better tone” cannot be, is not — on average — a bigger influencing factor for the consumer.


    But then again a few friends couldn’t care less if helix “sounds like the real amps it models”. They love the tones they get, the flexibility, routing, editor, even display on the unit. Whether kemper sounds better or a bit better (some even prefer how helix can sound) is not a big determining factor for them. If they thought the difference was substantial, perhaps it’d be more likely to matter more — but there’s possibly some line where extra convenience receives a boost for these fellers.


    This is not very surprising to me considering that’s also a massive reason I use Kemper. If I was dead set on dealing with “more inconvenience” I’d only be using tube amps, depending on the scenario, not even my Kemper profiles. Where the proper line for each person is can differ a lot. And I’m just not sure what the “average” is in this case in 2019.


    PS: this post isn’t perfectly OT. But it’s also hard to keep rehashing the same stuff ad nauseam. If I’m banned, at least I fell not saying that editor is maybe coming tomorrow.

    PS 2: I am well aware that not “a few friends” and “people I often talk to” are not proper grounds to build an inductively strong case (in most scenarios). Certainly should not be taken as such. What I’m saying isn’t as “mak wow omg lelz all the truths k” as it can be interpreted as.

    The bonanza

    Edited once, last by Dimi84 ().

  • I hear the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, "Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting an editor! "

    If you use FRFR the benefit of a merged profile is that the cabinet is totally separated in the profile.


    For my edification only... ;) Kemper/Axe-FX III/ Quad Cortex user

  • Maybe it is another Thomann?From mars or the Venus?


    When I Google "Thomann Kemper Stage" I get this:


    https://m.thomann.de/gb/kemper_profiler_stage.htm


    Number one in the category of "guitar preamps"..it is not that hard.And it is there since it appeared.Out of stick everywhere..


    Twisting reality is the last resort for the desperate..

  • Mentioned total sales stat. You can re-read my post if interested. I’m just trying to understand what’s up with these rankings. Not that this has much bearing on how I feel about a unit or what I use, again.

    The bonanza

  • Within your logic everyone who wants "the best guitar combo amp available" (incl. tube amps!) has to buy the number 1 in sales ranking on Thomann in this category: The Harley Benton HB-10G :D:D:D:D:D

  • Within your logic everyone who wants "the best guitar combo amp available" (incl. tube amps!) has to buy the number 1 in sales ranking on Thomann in this category: The Harley Benton HB-10G :D:D:D:D:D

    Don’t bad mouth the G, k...... ;D Uhm, when I first bought Kemper, didn’t know many who were aware of the unit. It has since evolved (better aliasing performance, which for me was a big deal), but the core sounds are rather similar. And certainly the unit improved with release of rig manager and so forth and so forth... But possibly low total sales ranks (or even monthly ones) didn’t make it a “bad” unit back then — if that would be a point to make.

    The bonanza

    Edited once, last by Dimi84 ().

  • Look guys..I don't even like the Stage..I would never buy into this "form factor" which has no real benefits for me.A huge pedal board is completely useless for me.


    But it should be allowed to state the obvious.


    It is a "sold out product" despite qc-issues with the first batch and a pending editor.Reality.Not?Presenting "alternative truths" is not hip anymore btw..


    @Dimi


    Excuse me..which again is the "relevant category" for the stage;If it is not "guitar preamps" I mean..you're one of the more intelligent folks here..please stop playing with words.


    @ibot


    Again..I could not care less about the "success" of anything.I don't care about the stage.I only stayed that Kemper reacted " to the market" and took a huge part of the competitors strengthhold..one of the competitors announced a floarboard and fukced up.Still.The other big competitor despite being cheaper,having the "worlds best editor/UI and whatever eats dust..


    So again..how important is the editor to potential customers;The answer is obviously "in the charts"..if this is good or bad I really don't care. Just a fact.

  • The whole idea that the target group of the Kemper Stage is mostly "tube amp only guys" is just ridiculous. How many "tube amp ONLY" guys do exist nowadays - definitely a dying species ;)


    High sale ranking suggests rather that ALL sorts of people buy it - ordinary people, younger people...


    And none of them is amused about broken buttons or non booting units. See the post of Glenn DeLaune - that is just a no go.


    People bought because Kemper had a good reputation and now they hope they are lucky with their unit. Or send it back for repair...