Stepping in the game

  • Hi,


    I’m Joey from the Netherlands and picked up my Kemper rack this week.

    I have been using modeling amps for quite a few years now but have owned a few valve amps in the past. I started gigging 12 years ago on a Peavey Valveking and soon after that I bought myself a Engl Powerball. That amp was really to my likings but damn they are heavy, especially in a flightcase. So when my band fell apart I sold that thing immediately because what’s the point of having a 100 watt valve amp if you only play it at home. So I came across the poor mans Kemper in 2015; the Digitech GSP1101. I still love the thing for what it can do and how versatile it is. With my recent band, we went in-wat and build 1 complete rack for the whole band and it’s just plug n play. The ability to load IR’s really is where it powers up.

    I have been playing with a Line6 POD X3 in the past and to be honest, I really don’t understand the point of use heavy equipment which is a pain to transport twice a week. Besides the fact that in a metalband with 2 guitarists, the audience doesn’t even hear (or care) the difference.

    I have been thinking to buy a Kemper for 2 years now. The thing that hold me off was it’s price compared to the GSP1101. I mean the GSP works and I bought 2 units and a floorboard for €500. One is stuck in our rack and I don’t have to botter taking it home every week.

    But since we are all stuck at home and started to recordings I felt the GSP lacked something. For 3 months I have been asking myself if buying a kemper was valid enough for that little bit of extra. So I went to my boss and asked if he could payout 100 hours which I had saved over the years and he said yes. Valid reason for me to buy a Kemper and not breaking the bank.


    I bought a non-powered version. My goal is to play in-ear only and never touch an amp or cab anymore.

  • Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. Thanks for sharing your story... which is similar to a lot of the others here including myself. I still own an ENGL 4x12 Pro cab... but you need a bunch of good friends to carry it around 8)

  • Welcome, Joey.


    Yeah, the GSP1101 is a good unit (I had a 2101 for a few years and it was a beast), and so is the X3 (probably my favourite POD, and I've owned them all), but the Kemper's in a different league, as you'd know by now. 8)


    Great that your boss enabled this to happen or who knows how long you might've been saving for and putting off buying your Kemper, eh? :/

  • Welcome, Joey.


    Yeah, the GSP1101 is a good unit (I had a 2101 for a few years and it was a beast), and so is the X3 (probably my favourite POD, and I've owned them all), but the Kemper's in a different league, as you'd know by now. 8)


    Great that your boss enabled this to happen or who knows how long you might've been saving for and putting off buying your Kemper, eh? :/

    I still love the GSP1101 considering it’s price, there is absolutely nothing that can beat the unit price/value-wise. The Kemper is sounding a lot better not it doesn’t equal the money compared to the GSP1101.

    But the Kemper sounds so real. Unbelievable.


    It’s not that I didn’t have the money, it was more a case of justifying it for myself :D