Do you still use outboard pedals?

  • Hi everybody,


    I am a Kemper Profiler owner since May 2019.

    I use the Kemper in my studio, where I am working as a Pop-producer/songwriter fulltime. I bought the Kemper to upgrade the sound of guitars, whenever I use them in one of my productions. I am not a great guitar player yet, still learning, but I am veryy much an enthusiast when it comes to sound.

    Therefore I was wondering if Kemper owners/users generally still use outboard pedals in front of their Kemper.


    I am always on YouTube watching videos about nice pedals and stuff, but I already found out that for my setup it's almost undo-able to add Stereo FX Pedals into the Kemper chain. Because I have the Send/Return/Alternate Input connections always connected for Re-Amping. So therefor I kind of cancelled out the idea of buying nice Choruses, Delays and Reverbs.


    But, of course there are more nice pedals you could use. So I was wondering what kind of pedals you use in combination with your Kemper.

  • I believe the Stage will do what you need. Two send/return loops. Loop one is used for reamping and 2 is left free for outboard effects. Mono sends/stereo returns.


    For my needs, I only use outboard dirt pedals. But I understand the desire to use other types.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

  • No. I have a midi controlled pedal board with RJM Mastermind PDC, Strymon Timeline and Mobius, TC HoF, Cali76 Compressor, Full-Tone 2 and various other OD/Boost pedals, CryBaby and Whammy DT. I played around with it and the Kemper for a few days then put the pedal board back in its flight case and haven't opened it since (March 2017).

  • I know many people do but I don’t. I play live & the Kemper has everything I need. It’s also put an end to my continuous buying of pedals & amps; chasing the unicorn. I’m richer and more focused on the music since I got my Kemper.


    • Could some of the drive pedals in Kemper be a few percent better in certain frequencies? Yes but then I don’t often use the drive pedals, instead I found a higher gain amp profile.
    • Does the audience notice 5% difference in tone in the midst of a song & a full band mix? No.
  • Okay, so I see that a bunch of Kemper owners are not using pedals anymore.

    In a way that's kind of a surprise, as the are soooo many pedals available in shops/online nowadays.


    Does that mean that the "No-Outboad-Pedals-People" think that most of the pedals needed are already inside the Kemper Fx?


    For example; I had my eye recently on a Qtron Plus pedal.

    And I don't have any wah pedal in my setup yet. Still figuring out if I should get a CryBaby (1 of the dozen different ones) or the EP1-KP-GN..


    Btw, I think I would easily fall into the same category as @TheSaint, where I am a bit of a "buy-new-gear-addict" :P

  • No. I have a midi controlled pedal board with RJM Mastermind PDC, Strymon Timeline and Mobius, TC HoF, Cali76 Compressor, Full-Tone 2 and various other OD/Boost pedals, CryBaby and Whammy DT. I played around with it and the Kemper for a few days then put the pedal board back in its flight case and haven't opened it since (March 2017).

    Wow... sick haha :P

  • this is for sure a very individual thing...

    when it comes to recordings, I play completely without any fx (this will be added afterwards inside the DAW), for live I use what's onboard in order to keep things as simple as possible... the Kemper offers far more convenient effects than I ever need... and I never felt the need to add some extern distortion pedals to a rig... this even was alreday the case when I still was playing my tube amps...

  • the only thing that I think I need is auto swell - the auto swell in my Strymon Mobius really works and the auto swell in the Kemper is a nightmare (I exaggerate) but it just doesn’t work for me

  • Live, I either use an Eventide H9 in the stereo loop with a midi controller, or nothing at all depending on the gig. When I record, I rarely use external effects, (maybe a Digitech Freqout sometimes). However, Kemper has pretty much all you need already and I usually record dry anyway. Those Youtube pedal/gear videos are a nuisance, making people shift their focus from where it's supposed to be.