Posts by FearAbsolute

Quote from skoczy

Have you updated the firmware, so it had "Open" speaker tuning?

Of course. I'm anal about updates & I go through every possible amp/cab/eq/setting possible.

Look, I'm a huge THR fan. I played my 10X each and every day for five years. Wonderful piece of gear! But the Kemper & the Yamaha are two totally different beasts. The THR is basically a wonderfully simple, transportable thing of beauty. But Yamaha overpriced it, and, imo, ruined the high gain amp models. I mean, c'mon - four of the tones are from the same amp, a supposed 5150iii. There's only so many tones in the thing, yet they put four of the same amp in there? That perplexes me.

*Edit* Look, if the new THR works for you, that is all that matters! Sound is subjective. I can tell you the Brown 2 is the best thing Yamaha Music has ever created. My god that amp model is truly incredible, but that took months to get right. The Kemper? Literally seconds after turning it on, my rock-filled brain went "Ummm. Yeah. Ok. Haha. The THR10X is going up on for sale. Like, now."

Five years with an amp & the K comes along and just TKO's the THR. *ding ding*

Quote from GearJocke

Give us proof and profile it.

I bought a THR30iii to replace my THR10X & returned it a few days later. In my opinion, Yamaha went backwords with the tones. Was the amp bigger, louder & with more features? Yup! Did it sound any better than the Green Box of Doom? Not even close.

Frankly, the Kemper through in-ears or studio monitors wipes the floor with the Yamaha stuff...and that coming from a massive fan of those amps!

I like the OP's idea about just making music.

So far, my strategy has been somewhat similar to how I've always approached any digital amp: Create & tweak 4 or 5 main presets that are for what I play on guitar, but leave time to browse, trying out new sounds that inspire.

The great thing - among many - with the K is all of the room you can store a Profile. You're not limited to 5 on the internal hard drive of a Yamaha THR10X, for example. Those 5 slots were for the main tones I used, but if you wanted to go off the map, you had to either delete a main tone, make a tone & lose it when you power off, or be stuck using their software to continually upload & download sounds.

With the K, I just "Favorite" my main half dozen tones, but have loads of other Profiles in different stages of editing. When I need the main tones, I just hit favorite. When it's time to go hunting/editing, it's "All Rigs."

That amp coming into my world has been a life-changing event. The Kemper guys seem to have thought of everything! Every day it's like I'm 5 & Santa just left all the goodies under the tree.

+1. Android user & proud. Yet again, Android users are treated as second-class citizens in the electronics world.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Just hook it up as you would a normal amp for Profiling but instead of a mic or mic pre you'd be using the Yamaha's main output..

You'll have to disable that magic-sauce phaser I'm afraid mate; the Kemper won't Profile time-based effects.

You should be able to come up with something half-decent using the Kemper's onboard FX once the Profile's made.

EDIT:

Damned 1-hour posting restriction'll be the death of me. Sorry if this is now-redundant.

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Darn it. I'm going to try my secret sauce version anyway. It'll either work or not.

The THR10X has four settings for the phaser. If you put the last two on zero and the other two on an extreme setting, it completely changes the character of the amp. It adds this low-mid, mid color to the amp...that takes it from sounding like a 7 to a 10.

Thank you! We shall see. Gotta go dig out my SM57 & cables after work!

This is yours truly, demonstrating that tone:

Quote from Fireloogie

I understand this so much. For me it was a particular sound on the very first Vox ToneLab that I am still seeking. This sound made me change the way I play guitar, changed the way I hear guitar sounds, changed the sound idea I was after.

After years of chasing that particular sound: Get the Yamaha THR10X.

Guitarists would hear my tones from the THR10X and laugh at how realistic you can make that thing sound with a few tweaks & my "Magic Sauce" Phaser setting that changed the sound of the distorted presets from "meh" to "OMG." I'd keep it if the darned Kemper hadn't broken my bank account.

Quote from JEverly

If you still have the amp, profile it. The process is pretty easy. I profiled the amp I have been gigging the the last 6 years and it turned out well.

Seriously? I could Profile the THR10X?? Pardon my ignorance, but how would I do that? I have it for sale & I'd love to Profile it before it sells.

I'd kill to get the Brown 2 setting from the Yamaha THR10X. That was the amp I used for years before buying my Kemper two weeks ago.

I'll give you an example of my experiences from playing drums for two years:

The first thing I did was join Drumeo - that huge online drumming school. Everything was so well laid out, organized, with teachers showing you in real time with drum notation. In two years, thanks to online lessons, I went from horrible to less horrible, at a rapid pace, all due to the eye-to-eye contact with teachers & organized, planned lessons.

Guitar? Been playing just over thirty years and have taken two lessons, back in 1993. I had that bad experience with the teacher that you sometimes hear about, and it totally turned me off to lessons ever again. But you know what? I learned from watching others, asking questions, Tablature, and, later on, the internet. Always with strict dedication & hours & hours of hard work & self-discipline. I've been learning Bebop Jazz online for free since last November. Just Tabs & musical examples...and my playing has REALLY progressed!

Nothing against teachers. One of my very best friends teaches guitar, has for 25 years. But with a ton of structure, self-discipline & hard work, you can really get a lot better all on your own. I find some teachers are passionless & are doing it just for the money. I have zero time for those people. A passionate teacher is essential!

Chris,

What a terrific reply, thank you for that man! Here's a few quick things in response...

I actually bought the Heavy Britt Pack on Tuesday night, simply because in all of the searching I did for tones, pretty much whenever I saw "M. Britt", the tones were wonderful! One of his 5150iii Profiles is now my main heavy rhythm tone, and an old Blues Deluxe is one of my clean tones (I found the Deluxe tone just hours after getting the Kemper).

I know what I'm about to say may come off as snobby, but when it comes to heavy guitar tones, I have over 30 years of studio, stage, recording & writing experience, with multiple releases. I know those tones, man. I LIVE for those tones! But so many guys think cranking the gain, sucking out all of the mids & boosting the bass to Rave Music Festivals is the way to a great heavy sound.

Like the English say, "Horses For Courses." If those types of tones that I hate inspires them to play, jam & record, then I say go for it! But using a headline like "Hetfield Tone" or "Pantera Tone", but delivering a Profile that sounds absolutely nothing like the album...it kind of bugs me. But hey, it's free to try most of 'em, so no harm, no foul, right?

(And most of the gear I've accumulated for 30 years has either been sold, or is up for sale. The Kemper just cannot be beat. Heck, I even dialed in a pretty darn-near exact version of the EVH P90 pedal with the Kemper. Outstanding!!)

Well, I bought my first-ever Kemper Profiler Pack from Mr. Britt, the Heavy Pack. I flipped through them, kind of a bit disappointed if I'm honest, and then one of his 5150iii Profiles came on and it blew me away. I don't know the actual name of that Profile, but Mr. Britt just absolutely nailed not only that EVH Tone, but the ultimate rhythm tone for what I mostly do on the guitar. Thick! Defined! Clear! Aggressive! Mean! Hateful! That makes for a great Metal tone!

I'm going to run through them again tonight & listen with a fresh ear. The ol' brain can get a bit worn out when you hear dozens & dozens of Profiles, day after day. A well-spent $17CAD!???

BayouTexan,

Honestly, you make a great point. There are "home" tones and there are "studio" tones. I don't do any sort of home recording at the moment, so going for the "home" tone has been a lot of fun. Lotsa gain, loud as heck!

Like I said, when the Rig Manager actually works, it's terrific! Much faster than doing all of the tweaking on the Kemper itself. But everytime that I use RM, within 10-15, the thing crashes my Kemper, giving it the Green Error Screen. It's happened like 10 times, so I try not to use RM a whole lot until the problem is fixed on Kemper's end.

Hello!

Today is one week since I bought a used Kemper head. I'd like to share a few thoughts. ?

Pros:

- I simply cannot stop playing guitar. I actually get a bit mad when I have to leave the house to go to work or run errands. I am so inspired! This coming from a pretty serious player of over 30 years.

- Never have I played any type of digital amp (I've played & owned quite a few over the last 20 years) that sounded just like the tones you hear on your favorite albums. The sounds are real, dynamic, harmonically dense & beyond inspiring.

- The multiple outputs, each with volume & EQ control is what truly makes this the perfect rehearsing & gigging amp. And live? I can't wait to hear that through a PA.

- Free, downloadable software updates, tones, effects, etc. You don't need to spend a dime more after you buy it!

- It sounds perfect, no matter the speaker/monitor/in-ears. It made my 20 year old Peavey Bandit sound like a 5150iii, right before my ears!

- It's like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up all of my old gear into uselessness, so I've been selling stuff like crazy online. My pedalboard went from fairly large to a Wah, EVH P90 & a Boss NS-2 gate.

Cons:

- The Rig Manager is a buggy, glitchy, awful program that continually freezes or causes the Kemper unit to freeze. It's possibly the most unreliable program I have ever used. Ever. Good thing the RM is not essential to the unit's use. When the program actually works, it's great! ?

- Man, there are so many terrible Profiles out there. It's like the creators of them are listening to completely different recordings than I. Some of them aren't even close! There are some hidden gems if you love to tweak, which I do.

I can safely say that this the best piece of gear I've ever bought.

????

I did try the Kemper into the effects return of my old Peavey Bandit today. It was shocking to hear that amp turn into a 5150iii, AC-30, Marshall Plexi, etc., right before my ears. I can't wait to try that in conjunction with a PA and a drummer!!

Quote from paults

Look in the third-party rigs forum.

Commercial rigs cannot be mentioned by name in this forum.

Just following the rules that are clearly laid out. ?

Quote from JEverly

I remember reading that recently and listening to sound samples that were posted. He pretty much nailed it.

Just so the moderators don't kick me out a week after joining, lol, I won't go in to specifics, but......

I bought my first commercial pack a few nights ago and the guy's 5150iii Profile is STUNNING. It is now my main heavy rhythm tone. There are soooooooo many 'meh' 5150iii Profiles online. I must have tried 100 of them. And then that one came along.

Quote from JEverly

I would try the effects return to remove the preamp part of the amp from the equation.

Agreed. That is how I used to run my old Line 6 stuff: Poweramp in only.

Thanks, JEverly!

Question:

When you use a Direct Profile into a - let's say - a combo amp like a s/s Peavey Bandit 1x12, do you plug the Kemper into the Guitar Input in front? Or into the Effects Return? Or Power Amp In?

I want to try this tomorrow, but I've no idea which way to plug in.....

I'm definitely more of a home guitarist these days, so the Kemper is just ideal. If I do take it out to a jam or gig down the road, I'll go direct to the PA & rent a powered FRFR speaker as my own monitor (that I have full control over) at gigs. After 30+ years of playing, I'm so sick of lugging around 4x12 cabinets & all of that stuff. Kemper is German for "HOLY CRAP, THAT SOUNDS GREAT!"

Hi ST! No, I didn't get the remote. Just buying the amp itself has not been terrific on my wallet, lol.

I played the Kemper for 3 hours after work tonight, while also watching tutorial videos & reading the manual. The extreme detail that went in to creating this amplifier is stunning! And it's ever-evolving. I love how profiles don't take huge volume jumps, unlike every other digital amp I've played or owned.

So far, really liking Friedman & EVH for high gain, tight Metal rhythm playing. But, there's another million GREAT tones, so it's like a kid-in-a-candy-store kind of deal. Found a great clean sound, not sure of the amp at the moment, but it's terrific.

*Fun Fact: One of my best friends works full-time in a professional recording studio, and he has a Kemper. I love how he emailed me a Mesa Single Rec profile that HE created. That is just too darn cool!