List of stomps and what they're *really* modeled on

    Is there a list of the stomps and effects in the Kemper and what they are modeled after? The green scream is pretty obvious, but some of the other stomps, and other effects aren't for a guy like me. Is there a list out there?

    Look in the latest manual and addendum included with FW 1.6.0. Can be downloaded from the Kemper homepage.

    "Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" Serghei Rachmaninoff


    Like 1

    From the Kemper docs:


    KEMPER overdrive and distortion effects are based on the following
    Green Scream = Ibanez Tube Screamer TS-808
    Plus DS = MXR Distortion +
    One Ds = Boss DS-1
    Muffin = Electro Harmonix BigMuff
    Mouse = ProCo Rat
    Fuzz = Dunlop Fuzz Face
    Metal DS = Boss Metal Zone

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

    I would also like to know the references for the chorus/flanger/phaser stomps. Other than the Phase Vibe (obviously Univibe) I could only tell that some sound a lot like Boss/Roland devices although I couldn't point my fingers to which ones exactely.

    Quote from burningyen

    I believe the chorus, flanger and phaser FX are generic and not modeled after particular pedals.


    The manual gives some hints that at least the various chorus flavors are modelled after some specific devices. They mention the "chorus of the Jazz Chorus" amp and also the "famous chorus ensemble". The latter might be a hint for a CE-1 as the modeled pedal for the "vintage chorus" and the chorus-unit in said amp as the model for the Air chorus.


    BUT:
    To my knowledge the circuit in the JC-120 actually is a CE-1. At least the famous version of that amp. I know there are many revisions of the amp and the built-in chorus circuit and they might have modeled one which is not similar to an CE-1 anymore.


    But anyway, it would be interesting which device they actually modeled.

    Quote from Garrincha

    The manual gives some hints that at least the various chorus flavors are modelled after some specific devices. They mention the "chorus of the Jazz Chorus" amp and also the "famous chorus ensemble". The latter might be a hint for a CE-1 as the modeled pedal for the "vintage chorus" and the chorus-unit in said amp as the model for the Air chorus.


    BUT:
    To my knowledge the circuit in the JC-120 actually is a CE-1. At least the famous version of that amp. I know there are many revisions of the amp and the built-in chorus circuit and they might have modeled one which is not similar to an CE-1 anymore.


    But anyway, it would be interesting which device they actually modeled.


    The Air Chorus nails the JC 120 chorus so much like I've never heard before.

    Quote from DocLine6forum

    The Air Chorus nails the JC 120 chorus so much like I've never heard before.


    The only JC I've ever played was a beaten up unit in the early 80s and going after how beaten up it was, I assumed it was an early one from the 70s. I remember the chorus sounded fantastic to me back then but it's too long ago to really remember how it sounded exactely. I love the AIR chorus in the Kemper though, but then I always loved the Roland/Boss flavour of a chorus.


    I only remember having read somwhere that the first revisions of the JC 120 had a CE-1 circuit and later revisions a completely different chorus/vibrato circuit. So it would be interesting to know which revision they modeled.

    Quote from Garrincha

    The only JC I've ever played was a beaten up unit in the early 80s and going after how beaten up it was, I assumed it was an early one from the 70s. I remember the chorus sounded fantastic to me back then but it's too long ago to really remember how it sounded exactely. I love the AIR chorus in the Kemper thought, but then I always loved the Roland/Boss flavour of a chorus.


    I only remember having read somwhere that the first revisions of the JC 120 had a CE-1 circuit and later revisions a completely different chorus/vibrato circuit. So it would be interesting to know which revision they modeled.


    I had an earlier made in America JC-120 (with the toggle power switch versus the newer button). No device is going to exactly match the experience of playing one of those as a huge part of the experience of a JC-120 is that one speaker was affected and the other wasn't. Couple that to the open back cab and you got this lush complex tone from the chorus which was just beautiful. That said, most modern devices can get close to the sound of Roland's chorus circuit. Where the KPA truly excels is actually being able to get closer to that amp's sound than any other device I've owned. Since I sold my JC-120, I've regretted it. I've been trolling ebay for a good deal on another one (or maybe a JC-77) for years. However, boosting the mids on one of the The Amp Factory's profiles really, really puts a nostalgic smile on my face so much so that my gas for the original amp is gone.


    Now there are many flavors of chorus and I had (actually still have one) several flavors of "bucket brigade" analog chorus. In that area, I actually like what you can get from a Digitech and Zoom device better. In this case, the KPA actually sounds too clean not lo fi enough. But that's really a very, very specific sound that only a chorus junkie would appreciate. Who knows, maybe those sounds are possible from the KPA as well and I just haven't found them yet...

    Quote from Will_Chen

    No device is going to exactly match the experience of playing one of those as a huge part of the experience of a JC-120 is that one speaker was affected and the other wasn't.


    Yes, but that's exactly like the air chorus in the KPA is supposed to work.
    You can experience air chorus only if you have L/R stereo amplification going on, and the mixed modulation happens 'in the air', between affected and unaffected channel.

    Quote from DocLine6forum

    Yes, but that's exactly like the air chorus in the KPA is supposed to work.
    You can experience air chorus only if you have L/R stereo amplification going on, and the mixed modulation happens 'in the air', between affected and unaffected channel.


    You of course are correct. If you simulate the JC-120's speaker set up, you likely could achieve similar results. But that experience is typically lost to all but the player, basically an "in the room" type of phenomena. What I was getting at is some "sounds" from amps have more to do with the physical interaction/proximity with/to a sound source which is likely impossible to model in a headphone or standard direct mono type of environment.

    Quote from Will_Chen

    If you simulate the JC-120's speaker set up, you likely could achieve similar results. But that experience is typically lost to all but the player, basically an "in the room" type of phenomena.


    I agree that using air chorus in a live environment with the KPA's L+R feeding left and right of the FOH would yield suboptimal results. But for a stereo channel Strip in a DAW it's awesome.

    Allow me to smile a bit, if people ask me what things are modeled after.
    If every effect was modeled after some 30 year old paradigm, there was no evolution.
    You can see a number of companies suffer from that.


    The distortion pedals are modeled by the original, since it makes sense and there is no big room for improvements.
    Most of the other effects are of course inspired by existing technology, but our own interpretations.
    We try to overcome limitations, where it's wishfull, and stay in limits, where overcoming would yield to unmusical results.


    Here is a list of effects, that cite a famous old effect.


    Rotary Speaker: no reason to go beyond.


    Vibe Phaser: lives by the unique (sic!) LFO waveform of the Univibe effect. Still we kept the full feature set of our phaser.
    Strange: i could not find a source on the internet that state that the Univibe is just a simple phaser circuit. Many state that it's something between a phaser, chorus and tremolo. Technically not true.


    Vintage Chorus: the good old bucked-brigade chorus. Most chorus of that age reveal the same basic sound character, as they use similar circuits, where the frequency responce has to be limited in the same manner. We modeled that behavior, but did out own limits to cover many different models.


    Air Chorus: I was inspired by the philosophy of the Jazz Chorus of having a chorus sound mixed in the air, without having a dedicated direct signal. Here there was no urge to take over the shortcomings of the chorus technology realized in the Vintage Chorus, as it does not make it better. So it is not a model of the Jazz chorus, just inspiration. And no rocket sience.


    This is it, I think.


    We started our Synthesizer company by getting inspired by technology, but not copying, what didn't need to be copied. These days everybody copied Moog Synth etc. We did our own philosophy. 15 years later the Virus has become a classic on its own. I am happy to find many paradigms of the Virus in well known software synthesizers.
    And I can see we are changing paradigms in the guitar amp world, after one year and a bit of physical presence of the Profiler.

    Quote from ckemper

    And I can see we are changing paradigms in the guitar amp world, after one year and a bit of physical presence of the Profiler.


    And this is just the start. Thanks for a GREAT invention! :thumbup:

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer