I have Native Instruments 'Maschine'. It's a great tool for making music. 90% of the folks using it are into Rap / Techno / House etc.
On the forum for that piece of equipment, I kept seeing people saying
'Yea, if they'd only put sidechain on that'd be dope'.
Being dope is apparently when something is rather good. I had no idea.
Thanks for the replies everyone - this is a very enthusiastic forum which also helps a great deal, especially with a product with this kind of depth. I've a busy day today so it won't get much of a look-in till this evening and then it'll be headphones again. The 'amp in a room' thing isn't that important to me at home simply because I can rarely use an amp that way. By the time the children are in bed, it's mid to late evening before I ever get to play guitar and at that point even my 1watt mode on the home-made amp is enough to get me a death stare if I crank it 
Having a decent headphone output will definitely get me brownie points with my wife.
I need to get my expression pedal plugged in and try the wah pedals. I have a decent actual wah so I'll try that too. And I have some SPDIF cables on order so will play with that also. I will give the Strymons a work out in the loop - I've only ever used them in mono so I'm expecting to be suitably impressed. The Mobius is going to HAVE to be good TBH - I bought it for the fact that I played in a covers band and having presets was a big step forward vs regular stomp boxes. It does a lot more than the Kemper does in that direction but I need to establish if it's a 'more' that I 'need' for anything. I'm not saying the phasers and flangers in the Kemper are better than the Mobius or vice versa. Just that they sounded good on an initial listen and, being built in, they are a lot less hassle than having to play with an external pedal as well.
The rig exchange needs your Matamp C7.
I'll have a go. I have a Sennheisser e906 and, on the rare occasions I gig, I just drape that over the cabinet. Bare with me! It'll be the weekend before I get the chance to do this at the earliest and experience (lack of) may mean its a while before I capture anything post-worthy. But I will try
Welcome to kemperland! Great Post! Did you find the Black Toaster also Bit warmer and bluesier soundwise?
Burnt toast? 
I'll have you know that I'm British and we take our toast very seriously. If you add beans, it is almost the national dish 
Sore fingers. Big grin.
I've basically been going through loads of rigs (factory content plus I got a load of Amp Factory rigs). There are an awful lot of sounds to like in this box. I've hit the 'favourite' button more than I should have already. How can you have 80 favourites when you haven't been through half of the rigs yet??
I love the free Morgan 20 profile - that one is amazing. Loads of the Amp Factory ones are great (loving the Tone Kings, Vox, some of the Fenders, some of the Marshalls. Everything really :)) Loving the dynamics - just playing any of the clean+ profiles is great fun.
Still getting used to the noise gate - I've not used one in years and, whilst it is very good indeed, it's taking me some getting used to.
I've found it pretty intuitive to use - the things you want to adjust most all have a knob or button. Other things, so far, have been easy enough to find in the menus. I daresay there is a lot more weeks of learning to be done and I won't know what I'm missing until I read the manual more carefully or stumble across a great tip on here.
I like the chorus, phaser and flanger - all are really good IMO. Also love the reverbs..... Like most other folks, a spring and a plate would be nice additions. I have a Strymon Timeline, Flint and Mobius and I had planned on putting them in the loop but so far I've been enjoying the Kemper versions so they can wait! I like the trem on the Mobius / Flint moreso than the one on here BUT there are a lot of parameters to tweak here that may get me close...... There is a really nice harmonic trem on the Strymon kit that almost sounds like a phaser crossed with a trem. So I may try doing a phaser and a trem here and keeping both subtle to see how that works. The delays are good but on the Timeline, the 'labelling' makes more sense than here..... I'm sure you could make a tape-style delay here with tweaking. On the Strymon, you just select dTape and you're there.
I've used it via my stereo monitor speakers and also was pleasantly surprised at the fact that it sounded good through headphones. Didn't see that coming.
I've used it with one of my home-made pedals up front already. I recently made a clone (well, as best I could with the germaniums I could get) of an Analogman Sunlion. Which is a 2 in one pedal with a tweaked fuzz face on one side and a tweaked Rangemaster on the other. I'm pleased to report that the Kemper behaved exactly as I would hope..... And hitting a hot AC30 with a Rangemaster was a lovely thing to do - seemed to work better than using the in-built treble booster.
I haven't even thought about profiling yet..... I only have 2 valve amps but, at some point, I will have a go and (if they come out OK) I'll pop them on the exchange. One is a Matamp C7 (which is a lovely little 7 watt valve amp) and the other is a kit-build super-clean thing based loosely on a Fender Champ circuit.
Things I struggle with - rig management already. I can see why people want the librarian so badly. Also, why a USB stick? Why isn't it possible to just plug a USB cable into your PC for transfer of rigs / software updates etc?
So overall a success so far
Hello all,
Just to say that my Kemper Blackface Toaster arrived today
Overwhelming - but in a good way. So far I absolutely love it
I've only had a couple of hours on in but have managed to find how to save favourites (lots in there already!!) and I've also updated to the latest software / put on the new factory rigs / put in a few of Andy's free ones from the ampmaker site / put on a few from the rig exchange.
Noise gate works well and it's all sounding good through my little home studio speakers. Lots of 'big grin' sounds in the first couple of hours. Putting on Andy's A-AC30 Clean+ profile and having a really good impression of Thom Yorke's sound on this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYlR7ycoodc was great.
I'm liking the fact that the presets (if you'll indulge me calling them that) are focussed 99% on 'regular' sounds. Not super-weird stuff. Don't get me wrong, weird can be good but most units out there which are pretending to be an amp plus pedal board tend to have settings out of the box whereby you have no clue what the amp could be as there is so much other stuff chucked on it!
I can see why folks are so keen to get a librarian. There's over 500 profiles on here already and I got a bundle deal for some of Andy's stuff as well so, later on, it's going to have a bunch more. Heaven help me!
Thanks folks,
I've written to them today so hope to hear soon.
First off, sorry to post this here but I don't have my Kemper quite yet so cannot post in the relevant place.
How can I change the email address assigned to my user account? I cannot find how to do this from the control panel.
The one assigned to the address isn't working (I typed in one letter incorrectly when I registered, senior moment!!). I need to change it.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Gary
Hi all,
My Kemper hasn't even arrived yet but I am (of course) excitedly looking through the rig exchange.
I would suggest a metascore system. If you ask it to sort by rating, you get quite a few profiles at the top with 1 vote of 5 stars. Not trying to insult anyone but it's entirely possible that it's the profile poster's mum giving him 5 stars
Was just looking for the 'Magic Morgan' profile - I take it that's the one which scores 'only' 4.54? But this is a fair score as it's a composite of 24 votes.
Any desire to do this / any way of doing this / is it a good idea in the opinion of the more experienced folks here?
Also, a column for 'artist or genre' would be nice - I know that any amp can be used for any style but if you have created a Hendrix Univibe thing which nails a couple of his songs if partnered with a strat, it'd be nice to claim it for what it does rather than having to cryptically name it. It'd make searching that little bit easier IMO.
Gary
Thanks for clarifying on this
If you have an old wah that you don't want, you can actually convert it to an expression pedal if you're OK with a soldering iron:-
http://www.strymon.net/tag/expression-pedal/
It's a good link anyway (IMO) as it tells you all you need to know about expression pedals
For my Strymon stuff (Timeline and Mobius) I ended up buying one of these http://www.sourceaudio.net/pro…dual_expression_pedal.php which is pricey but feels good and has the benefit of 2 separate outputs.
This means I can connect it to both Strymon units or, when my Kemper arrives, I can connect it to the Kemper plus one of the Strmons.....
Yes, I know you don't typically want to adjust delay mix at the same time as chorus depth (or whatever) but because you can assign per patch what it does then it becomes very useful whilst minimising floor space.
Could then a White Toaster be healthier for the user?
Not really - if you're seeing one of those machines it's because you're NOT healthy 
I'm waiting for my Black toaster to arrive at the store - I've never seen one in person so the readability I can't comment on.
Reason I'm replying is because I've worked in the healthcare environment for 23 years now. there days, I sell medical equipment for a living (specifically ultrasound machines). The White toaster does remind me of a piece of slightly retro medical equipment:). My company doesn't stick to the traditional colours but the sheer number of medical devices that are a kind of cream / white / buff colour is astonishing so I see things this colour with a bunch of buttons every single day.
This is the reason I'm waiting for a black one..... I play purely for pleasure and need it to not remind me of my day job. Don't get me wrong, I love what I do for a living but I don't want to be ripping out a great riff and then look over to a thing that reminds me of work
I've got one on order and will stick with waiting for that but to help you sell, perhaps if you say 'where' in the UK and also how old the unit is? That way, a buyer will know how much warranty is left
Not got anything to add other than 'feeling your pain'
I'm on my second Focusrite product, the Saffire Pro 24. Previously had another of their products.
I love them for the sound, the hardware and the support. I wouldn't gladly go elsewhere for an interface (I foolishly bought an NI USB interface 18 months back and had nothing but issues. It taught me the value of decent tech support which Focusrite has and IMO NI does not).
However, their software mixers just plain make my head hurt!!! I use Reaper with this interface. To get it going as I wanted took a lot of head scratching - I like to think I'm fairly good with technology but their software mixers don't sit right with my brain! As I'll be going SPDIF when I get my Kemper I expect my head to be scratched a whole lot more in the next week or two
Good luck in getting yours working as you want it to.
Thanks again folks.
Well, I've ordered one
The shop here is not due to get it in for another 10 days which is probably just as well..... I've got too much to do and wouldn't have the will power not to play it lots if it got here any sooner!
I've gone for the deal whereby I get a 1/2 price discount on Rig Pack 1 from TAF. I know I should just have waited and got used to the factory presets but everyone keeps saying how TAF are fabulous so it'd be a shame not to partake of a bargain. Oh, and I've ordered a bag too....
As well as everything else, I'm looking forward to seeing how it copes with pedals (see picture here).
http://i1287.photobucket.com/a…rdnight_1_zps16ea56ab.jpg
It's changing again as I've built a clone of an Analogman Sunlion (which is basically a tweaked fuzz face and a tweaked rangemaster in one box) and I'm also going to be building a Muff soon based around the Skreddy values (seems to be well thought of). Also, the Pearl Octaver clone will go..... I don't use it live and, with the harmony stuff in the Kemper anyway, there seems little point. It was a fun build though so I'll keep it around to play with in the future
I suspect that the Mobius, Flint and Timeline will move up onto my desk and go into the Kemper loop. Easier to tweak there!
Thanks for all your replies
Sounds like the clean sense and noise gate combination should get me great results with all my guitars. The noise / potential stripping of detail were big concerns after my previous experiences.
Thanks also for the list of amp profiles - I can see I'm going to be kept very busy! Looking at the TAF profiles, it seems like most amps are covered BUT it'll only be one or two profiles vs many in the actual pack? I'll have to look once more at TAF website and see what is a 'must have' for my tastes.
As to 'where am I?' - I'm in the UK. I am familiar with Tampa though - my wife has family there and we've visited a couple of times. Like it very much
The good news is I've been given the go-ahead to get one. The bad news is my chosen shop is out of stock of black lunch boxes. No matter - it'll only be a couple of weeks and TBH life is busy at the moment so it's probably for the best that there will be a short delay! At least it will give me time to read the manual so I can hit the ground running when I finally get it.
One more quick question - spring reverb. Am I right in thinking there isn't one at the moment but one of the settings does a reasonable impression? I've a Strymon Flint that will go in the loop so it's not a huge concern.
Hello everyone,
I've been browsing here for a while and am hoping to get a KPA very soon. So I thought I'd introduce myself, say why the KPA is looking good and ask a couple of questions.
I've 44 and have been playing since I was 26 (late starter by many people's standards). I enjoy all kinds of music - favourites include Radiohead, Elbow, PJ Harvey, Muse, Placebo, Wolf People and Elliott Smith. But I'll enjoy pretty much anything that involves a well-written song.
When I first started, I was badly advised on which amp to get and ended up with an early Marshall Valvestate. It was really bad and so was I so the noise made wasn't great! I moved onto digital stuff (Boss GT series, Pods, Digitech, Guitar Rig etc). Then about 3 years ago I bought a small valve amp - a Matamp C7. This thing made me realise finally what I'd been missing in my sound for all of those years - it 'does what it does', but in the range it has it's wonderful. I've since built my own kit-build 12w amp which has power scaling. It's voiced pretty clean and, again, it it's zone it's great. I also build my own effects pedals, though they're all just clones. And I've got 3 of the Strymon pedals (Flint, Timeline and Mobius).
Guitar-wise, most of my collection is low-end stuff. But I do have a G&L Legacy, a Fender Deluxe Tele and a Godin LGX-SA. Two of these have been fitted with scatterwound pickups from this guy http://www.ekmpowershop6.com/e…/bulldogpickups/index.asp and the Tele set are on order. They really bring the best out of a plank of wood IMO.
I am now looking at modelling again - I love playing at home. I occasionally record. I play live about 3 times a year in an 8 piece covers band (I'm the only guitarist apart from a couple where we get joined by a 9th member ). We do anything 'dancable' and mainstream so set includes 'Shake a Tailfeather', 'Lady Marmalade', 'Love Shack', 'Hanging on the Telephone' etc.
I'd like something that gives me a lot of different voices BUT still makes my nice guitars with decent pickups sound their best. Might use it live, might not..... I just mic up the 12w home-brew amp and use my pedalboard ATM and it works well.
I recently bought and returned a Blackstar ID amp. The good thing was the versatility, the volume and the price. The high gain stuff was good but, as you can see from my favourite artists above and from our live set, I need great cleans and here was the problem. I'm unclear if it was faulty one or if they are all like it, but the digital hissssssssssss that came through was appalling! If you played a note and let it die away naturally, the hiss would be louder than the note by the time the note amplitude had died by half. This was on top of regular hum from pickups (which is minimal, I screen everything!). I a/b'd it with my home-made valve amp and not only was the valve amp 50 times quieter but it accurately let all of the lovely ringing harmonics come through. You know the interesting stuff that is there in the background? Warbly, chiming loveliness? Well, on the ID that was nearly all gone. It let some through but the benefit of a G&L Legacy with scatter wounds was suddenly lost as a lot of the character went. And what was there was hidden by the hiss!!
So it's looking like the higher end is the way to go for me - either the Kemper or the obvious competitor. Research seems to indicate that the Axe is better if you love tweaking and love effects. The Kemper is better at the actual guitar tones and is easier to get great sounds out of. This, coupled with the fact that it's a European company with EU support and it is considerably cheaper over here mean that the Kemper will be the system of choice if I can swing it with my wife
Soooo. If I buy a Kemper, it'll be from a place that is 3 hours drive each way. I will go and try one but can you good folks here please answer the following:-
1. When on a clean rig, does the clean sense / noise gate(s) work to preserve as much of the subtle detail of your guitar as the original valve amp? In other words, if you just gently play a C Major chord / Am chord and let it die away, do you hear all of the lovely upper harmonics same as with a decent valve amp? And does the noise gate work well (so it gets rid of the hiss / hum without getting in the way)? It sounds dead quiet on all the clips out there but everyone is too busy playing impressive stuff that I can't tell if the 'interesting stuff' from the guitar comes through. I don't want to go down the modelling route if it is still the case that some of the information is thrown away and my good guitars sound the same as my cheap ones!
2. I'm a little confused by the recent rig packs at 2.0. The shop in question has a deal whereby you can get Amp Factory packs at a discount at the point of purchase. But am I right in thinking that the Amp Factory packs 1 and 2 are now included anyway?
Many thanks for reading if you made it this far
Gary
