Posts by Netheravon

Hey all,

I'm from Salisbury, Wiltshire and I literally got my new Kemper Powerhead yesterday and have had no more than 2 hours with it, fitting it around kids etc. I can thank people on this forum for convincing me to take the plunge!

I got the powerhead and mixed it with an Atomic Reactor passive wedge, playing with a PRS 20th anniversary standard 24 and a Les Paul Classic 60. I play in a funk band and also a rock band, in which I use mainly mid-gain settings, nothing too thrashy.

So far I am very impressed and was actually very surprised that my favourite sounds so far are the clean amps. I've only been through the presets after updating to the latest OS and factory pack and not tried any commercial rigs. The VAB clean 2 sounds beautiful on this set up and there were a few useable metal tones. However, I couldn't really find any nice slightly overdriven sounds - they tended to sound very 'grainy' when diggin in to get breakup, quite unnatural sounding and some of the high gain tones sound quite hissy/harsh. The best are either clean or lots of gain. Remember when saying this I know I need more time with it and need to be able to experiment with settings and even guitar volume pots etc to roll back on some of the higher gain rigs to achieve different sounds. Can anyone suggest any rigs they like for a good overdriven blues tone please and feel free to suggest any others too:)

In general, I am very impressed and know that with more tweaking, research, finding rigs and help from this community I will become even more impressed with this piece of kit!

Thanks a lot Burningyen, hadn't seen those ones, appreciate your time:)

Quote from burningyen

Quoted from "Netheravon" Where do people put their KPAs when gigging then seeing as I'll no longer have a cab to put it on as I would my tube heads?
http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.p…&threadID=13677

Yeah I saw this post and it was one of the reasons for asking as there aren't many replies and popping it on a stool isn't a very safe solution for me. Ingolf, I like the idea of the amp stand though and the case looks good:)

I will definitely be using it to gig with, probably with gigging and rehearsing it'll be out of the house at least 7 or 8 times a month. I am leaning towards the toaster just cos I think it looks nicer really;) Where do people put their KPAs when gigging then seeing as I'll no longer have a cab to put it on as I would my tube heads?:) If safety outways appearance I'll have to change my mind and go for the rack....... You lot don't make this easy;) 1/2 saying the head, 1/2 recommending the rack! hehe

Thanks for all the replies everyone! Should be about 1 month now before I can get all the gear and am really excited;)

Thanks again all for the replies and sorry for not checking in for a little to look at them;) I am definitely in the market for a Kemper having read everything I can about them and all your comments are really helpful!

Can anyone give me any advice about whether to get the head or rack? I know they are basically the same bar a soft button or two and leds. I'll be using it mainly for rehearsing and gigging with some recording use at home too. Planning on most likely getting a Yamaha dxr10 based on Ingolf's and other great reviews, so will probably be getting the head without a built in amp. Seems to make sense to me to get the rack as if I put it in a 3u rack case (I believe the size requires a 3u) I know it'd be nice and safe, but I prefer the look of the head unit and read that it's just slightly easier to navigate.

When you play live, which do you use and how do you / where do you place the KPA so it's safe and accessible?

Thanks all for taking the time to reply to these posts, I have googled and looked on the forum but was hoping for some more replies from people actually using these rather than just opinions

Again, thanks a lot for the replies. I am pretty sure I'll go for a kemper as it really seems to fit the bill. Any recomendations between going for an active monitor like yamaha dxr10 or the power head and something like the Matrix q12?

Thanks everyone for the replies, it's great to see that Kemper also has a very active and helpful community!

One of my concerns is about the profiles, as if I get one I won't be profiling my own amps. I know there are many available online, but if you want good ones, do you have to pay? I wouldn't want to get the Kemper and feel disappointed in its sound due to bad profiles rather than it being down to the head itself.

I also only use few effects: compression, wah, overdrives, maybe a little pitch shift or octavia stuff. Have people found the best way to control the Kemper is with the FB1010 and uno chip? I'd be needing a floor unit that can simply change patch and then act like a stomp box for 3, maybe 4 effects too. I have a decent wah pedal and could just get an expression pedal too so was thinking about a relatively simple midi switching unit like a midi moose.

Fantastic comments from both of you, particularly appreciate the real world example of PBG as it sounds like a very similar situation to mine. Thanks for taking the time out to reply to my questions! PBG, do you still use it with a 2x12 cab rather than a PA frfr style solution? Any other opinions out there?:)

Hi all

I've been looking at the Kemper probably combined with a Yamaha dxr10 having read through lots of info on these forums and internet, but like many people I am not close to anywhere where these are sold, so I can't just go out and try them. I love the concept but am just concerned, being a tube amp user, whether these kemper heads and going through PA speakers really does provide as good a sound as a similar priced tube head and cab, eg Suhr, Mesa, or even hand wired Vox and Fender models. I understand in theory the Kemper can do all those and more, but : How good is the Kemper really? And having taken a long time to save up the kind of money involved, would I be disappointed in anyway if I took the plunge on the Kemper. My one other concern is simply financial, if I buy a used good tube head I could probably make my money back on it in a few years, I'm not sure a digital head of any type would maintain its value as well.

I also understand that the Kemper forum is likely to be biased, but any opinions from actual users of Kemper and some high end tube head/cab combos would be greatly appreciated. I mainly play blues, rock and funk, no real metal and play in two gigging bands. One covers mainly funk / soul songs at functions etc, one is more just for fun and plays original rock material.

Thanks for any objective input

All the best