Posts by nightlight

Looks like an interesting unit. I also don't see why they didn't make a full-fledged unit with all the features of the FX3 though.

This is awesome.

Quote from Burkhard

These pots seem to be defective. The spray might not improve the situation. And we don't imagine a way to get the spray to the right spot.

Please open a support ticket to initiate repair.

Thanks, Burkhard . I shall do so.

Hey, my Kemper unit is going on eight years and two of the pots have started behaving erratically.

The problem has been there for a long time, and they are still working, but the values jump from place to place and sometimes they move backwards instead of the direction I am turning the pots in.

Would a spray of deoxit on the pots work to fix this problem? Or do I have to send the unit for a non-warranty repair?

Hoping someone from Kemper, such as Kemper Support #1, Burkhard or DonPetersen can give me some advice on whether I should or shouldn't try deoxit.

I can make a video if that helps to demonstrate the problem. As mentioned, the pots are working, they are just moving erratically.

Quote from Nikos

I dont know..what are the "priorities";

If good sounds and ofcourse new inspiring sounds are not "priority" anymore 8n music...what is priority;

More amps;

More I/Os;

More fx;

I mean,really;

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We can rule out the "more amps" argument with the Kemper, since it basically captures most amps. However, there are a few that can't be captured. I'd also go so far as to say that profiling, while accurate, could definitely be further improved upon, especially when it comes to high gain amps. It always seems that there's some "magic" going on in the low mid area that makes the Kemper's EQ curve virtually indistinguishable from the real amp, but when you actually play the real tube amp, you'll notice that there's more girth or oomph to the low mids that's missing from the Kemper.

When we come down to IOs, I think I'd also like to see more signal chain possibilities as well. It would be great to have the ability to have more parallel path processing, for example, and the ability to route this signal to an independent output.

As far as FX, I think the sky is the limit. After all, which of us could have thought up something like morphing. In that respect, I'd like the ability to automate things like morphing, for example sweeping through fixed, or even random settings in an effect, sort of like a phaser, with the ability to finetune the oscillation as a triangle or a square wave, for example.

It just seems that the more options at our disposal, the more you could head towards an idealised tone or sound in your head. Would you use all of them? Maybe not, but it just takes one or two sounds like that to make your music stand out.

Quote from Nikos

nightlight

I understand what you mean but I guess that today it is very hard to find the slight little differences between modern modelers without to see the whole chain someone uses.

Years ago we could say that this modelers sounds better than the other generally but today it really comes down to personal taste and needs with the real differences of the modelers to be in connectivity,workflow,and easiness to find/create the sounds someone has in his mind.

This is the reason I use the word philosophy..user a likes touchscreens because "we live in 2021 now" and user b loves knobs because he....loves knobs..

What none of all these modelers delivers yet after "all these years" are new ways to create untypical guitar sounds with our six strings..

And this is where I believe is the "future battle field" for guitar modelers with a lots of room for heroes and losers..

I guess @CK has everything available to be the hero of heros again with a revolutionary Kemper2 prospect.I really hope he uses all these gathered abilities & know how.

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We've discussed some of those features before on these forums! For example, in-built synths.

Listen to this example from the Axe FX, for example:

Or this one, go to about 11 minutes:

This stuff should be easy as chips for Mr CK, having experience with the Virus synthesizers.

Just goes to show there is so much to do than play guitar with a... guitar!

Quote from Nikos

The Kemper 2 will be as revolutionary as the 1.

This is all I know.

I like the fact that the kemper guys dont like gimmicks and "fancy stuff" but concentrate 100% on the really "serious stuff" musicians really need.I am still amazed about how easy and "intuitively" the kemper works.

And I did not know how much I really needed the morphing-thing until @CK decided that it is time for this stunt..

I am to deep "into the Kemper philosophy" than to change my mind or to give energy learning an other philosophy.And seeing and hearing from so many lads with other modelers who tell me that "their modelers are at least as good" as the Kemper but having all these huge problems of finding the right chain(FRFR/power amp etc) shows me that I am right not to care about any other "approach".I just "agree" on the way Kemper does it.And I know most other guys I know being open to digital modeling feel the same.

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Amen to that! Still, I'm curious to know when they'll come out with a Kemper 2. We're nearing 10 years now and in that regard, everyone else seems to be making more progress (even if that involves coming out with new hardware). So what will the Kemper do to differentiate itself from the competitors?

With the Quad Cortex, I'm reading a lot of people who also own Kempers say it does a better job at the captures, as well as other people who say it doesn't match up. Haven't tried a unit, and don't feel the need to till they upgrade its features some more.

In the case of the Axe FX, I'm quite impressed by the feature set and the models. In a mix or a live setting, I don't think anyone would be able to distinguish it from the Kemper and they seem to be constantly refining the models further and further so as to obviate the old claim that it's difficult to dial in.

The Helix is the unit I'm least interested in, because I never found the tone to be something revolutionary, but I'm pretty sure Line 6 has a new flagship coming out in the next year or two. If they do, it's likely to be leaps and bounds over what they've previously done.

Quote from Delinquent

I think I can smell a feature request here, I will undoubtably +1, it’s a cool feature.

There is a feature request already!

Quote from Kim_Olesen

Well that’s one thing to be said about using a midi controller instead. I’ve gone wireless with this; https://www.cme-pro.com/widi-master/

That looks interesting, thanks

Quote from JEverly

I still have my Axe FX Ultra that I bought over 10 years ago. I keep it because I have it racked in my desk and can use it with my DAW. It is just another option for recording. I can still get good tones out of it even though Fractal abandoned that unit a long time ago. Kemper has also been doing great things for around a decade as well.

For me it is all about the interface. I tried to use my Axe FX as a gigging unit. I had to have my laptop connected to it all the time because it takes forever to tweak something through the front of the unit. I also had to setup a remote for it. I used and still have a Ground Control Pro with 2 Boss expression pedals that I used with it.

When the Kemper Stage came along, that looked like the perfect unit to me. I was able to profile my amp that I have been gigging with for 6+ years and have my typical sound. I don't need a separate controller for it because it is all one unit. I now don't have to carry an amp. It eliminated one heavy piece of gear from the gig rig. The Kemper is a ton easier to tweak from the face of the unit than the Axe FX. There is frequently something that I feel the need to tweak based on the room or how the rest of the band is playing that night. That is what killed the Axe FX as a gig rig for me.

So far I am super happy with the Kemper Stage. It does everything that I wanted it to do. I know Fractal produced a floor unit similar to the Kemper Stage but for some reason they abandoned that as well. Kemp has continued to support their customer's and their units since the beginning. That was another huge reason I purchased the Stage. I was pretty offended when Fractal phased out my 2k piece of gear rather quickly after it was released. When you spend that kind of money on something you expect to get more life out of it than what they give you. I have amps that I have spent that much on that I am now able to profile and continue to have those tones to use. I would rather spend my money with a company that values it's customers enough to continue to support them for years to come instead of trying to push a new 2k unit on them every 2 or 3 years.

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I agree. Longevity of a device is important. That's one reason I like the Kemper, I've had one for about 8 years, and it is still being developed.

I think the thing to notice is that the original Axe FXII came out in 2011. The Axe FX III came out in 2018. The way I see it, I have about another 5 years before the current hardware is phased out. Sure, they came out with various iterations, but if you look at it, the processing power was never increased, all they did were some improvements to storage and inputs.

In that sense, however, you see that the Kemper has been out for about nine years now, going on ten. In that regard, I honestly think the device has matured beautifully, with more features being added all the time.

But if you look at the video I posted, you'll see that there are things that are unlikely to be achieved with the current hardware. The competition has also been improving its tones and features.

That kind of is what the thread is about, the fact that while Kemper Amps hasn't been standing still, the competitors are no longer as far behind as we all thought they were.

For example, check this out:

I think you can do it with the Kemper, but it's the first time I'm seeing something like it done. That's what I find so refreshing, just the idea that the device is meant for tweaking, as opposed to the set and forget modus operandi for the Kemper.

Here's a concrete example of a company like Fractal taking things up a notch. I couldn't ever have dreamed this kind of stuff was possible. But it is. This is a pitch follower FX.

I'd really like something like this for the Kemper. It ties in to an older feature request for a Boss OC-3 type effect, where we would affect just a few strings.

Here's a concrete example of a company like Fractal taking things up a notch. I couldn't ever have dreamed this kind of stuff was possible. But it is.

Quote from FearAbsolute

So, I guess the questions is: If you hate the Kemper so much, then why are you here, on this forum

Doesn't have to be either/or. He just must like it. Everyone has different tastes. I've had periods when I loved my amps more than my Kemper, and periods where I liked my Kemper more than my amps. Always something new to discover.

Quote from GearJocke

Cut the crap I'm not after proof on every other thread. If you have problem when I do, that's your problem not mine.

Seems like you have "ask for proof" written on a post-it stuck on your monitor, that's all lol

Quote from alligatorlizard

What makes you think there are no in between positions? Apart from the fact that it's audible, I've had it confirmed elsewhere on this forum, and from customer support that there are - the whole basis for this feature request is based on this fact... The knobs do not move discretely between the displayed values, but are effectively continuous (OK, technically nothing in the digital domain is completely continuous, but to all intents and purposes...). If in doubt, take a value like definition which is very noticeable (or one of the stack eq controls - I find these also to be very sensitive, and easy to hear small changes) - turn the knob very slowly from e.g. 7.3 until it just changes to 7.2. Save profile. Duplicate. Then turn the same knob from 7.1 until it just changes to 7.2. A/B the two profiles - there will be an audible difference.

Don't mean to sound combative, but if this is something you didn't realise about the Kemper, you may find it useful! I also thought the knobs were discrete (i.e. move in "steps" as you put it) when I first got my Kemper - and in a way I wish they were!! Less temptation to fiddle around fine tuning the "perfect" sound... But then, as said above, I have found it's worth doing in many cases, so really, this level of precision is very useful. Hence why I'm suggesting it would be good to be able to visually reference another decimal place in order to more quickly choose a more precise setting if desired.

If that's the case, I'd want a second decimal position too. Can any of the Kemper team confirm this? Mr ckemper ? DonPetersen ?

I'll have to retract my earlier statement. Feature request gets a thumbs up from me.

Quote from JEverly

I just realized that I also bought the Fryette PS-100 earlier this year... Wow, I have spent a lot of money this year. Last year I bought two high end Telecasters...

Haha, yeah, that is a tonne of money. I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the year probably. Really going to enjoy this new setup I've got. Make some profiles as well to practice my micing technique and work on my mixing.

Quote from alligatorlizard

Not sure what precisely you mean by Kemper architecture, but I don't see why the Rig Manager software couldn't display an extra decimal place - presumably at the moment it is coded to display only one, but it's certainly "aware" of more than this (if you hold down shift key and drag on screen knobs with mouse, or slowly turn the Kemper's physical knobs, you are selecting values inbetween the displayed ones, e.g. in between 7.1 and 7.2 etc) - I'd imagine it would just a matter of changing the code to allow an extra decimal place to be shown, and as I suggested, could just be the value that's displayed in the lower left corner on RM that has the extra decimal place - just so you have a reference somewhere in case you do find it beneficial to fine tune beyond the one decimal place increments currently shown (and not have to fish around "blindly" in order to do so!)

As for "You might actually get better resultstweaking another parameter when you find you have come to an optimum setting for one" - I think you've misunderstood something here, as I'm definitely not suggesting fine tuning just one parameter to the nth degree, while ignoring the others! On a profile I intend to use a lot, I'll try adjusting every single parameter available in amp/cab/eq sections - some may end up being left at zero, but most end up moved somewhere from default, even if only a little - all the parameters IMO are very well chosen/implemented, and work very well together improve the tone/feel of a profile. I'd also say the order in which they're set is quite important too, but that's a whole other discussion!

By architecture, I mean you should think of a knob on the Kemper as having steps, rather than being able to set it in between positions. I don't think you are doing what you think you are when you move your Kemper knobs just a bit. There are no in between positions, i.e. you are just on 7.1 or 7.2, there is no in between those values.

As far as tweaking, wasn't insinuating that you don't do that. What I meant was what I said above, i.e. there are no in between positions, so adjust elsewhere instead.

Quote from Chris Duncan

No new gear for me since the last guitar.

I find myself strangely contented with what I have. Enough guitars to cover all the bases, a Kemper that covers all the amps, all the studio hardware / software that I want and a keyboard that can do far more than I can. Every time I look at a magazine's gear reviews, all that goes through my head is, "Got that. Don't need that. Oh, mine's way better than that. Yep, got that, too..."

It's a life without GAS. Honestly, I just don't know what to do with myself.

I know the feeling, that's how I felt when I got my first Kemper. I only got my first tube amp three years after that though, and I honestly prefer the sound of playing an amp versus playing my Kemper through monitors. I later got a powered Kemper and then an unpowered Kemper and a power amp, and things were much better then.

Still, one of the best parts of having your own tube amps is profiling your own sounds. When I started, I barely knew what I was doing, but as time went by, I started getting better sounds than what I was getting with some of the commercial profiles I own.

Better is subjective, of course. I just like crafting my own tones as opposed to going with something that somebody created based on their own rig.

Quote from ST

I was an early adopter of the Bose L1 seventeen years ago. Although you can use them as conventional PA speakers (FOH for small-medium venues), I loved the concept of a personal PA/backline where each player has their own and takes responsibility for their sound. I was tired of being the guitar player/sound guy (for everybody). Anyway, that's a long story. So how do I like it? Well enough to have bought the latest model and be happy with it. Unless you're doing sound for a band (FOH) or running stereo, you only need one.

I run the Bose L1 behind me (as intended), so I don't need monitors. Getting the in-ears was a huge departure for me. I got interested in the idea because of things I read here, in the Kemper community. People were talking about headphones and wireless headphones and tracking/recording. I have consumer headphones that are great for recreational listening - consuming music. They aren't for creating music. So I thought I'd get some good in-ears to have the experience.

I don't like wearing headphones when I'm playing guitar. I feel hemmed in, isolated. But I'm fine playing while using the in-ears, although I'm still getting used to singing with them. I hear things with the IE 400 Pro and IE 500 Pro I've never heard in headphones.

I've only been able to monitor my Kemper with regular headphones, a real cab or studio monitors. The L1 seemed really promising, in that it has excellent sound projection. Still, doesn't fit my requirement at the moment. How is the reproduction of profiles versus studio monitors?

As far as the IEMs, no idea what you mean by heading things that you've never heard before! Do you mean a more coherent mix?

Great doom metal band, Candlemass.

Quote from GearJocke

Give us proof and profile it.

LOL, why are you always after proof on every other thread? There is other gear than the Kemper, you know?