Display MoreThat is true, I heard some engineer stating that almost 80% of tone is from type of speaker and I believe it.
Modeling the sound is close, but the feel is not something that can be heard specifically when use a DI track.
The biggest, not spoken of as often when talking about the Kemper, is the natural feel. From my experience, the Kemper is much more inspiring to play and in the end of the day, that's 100% of what matters for when you're trying to get inspired from sound.
I can still play my POD HD or Eleven Rack or some plugins, they can be made to sound very good but I'm very aware of how much less inspiring they are to play when compared with Kemper because they feel the least like the real deal.
All of these comparisons don't factor the feel. You can even toss the real amp in the room in the comparison and the sound wouldn't sound that much better, if you start with the amp in the room, you can achieve the best feel, and next is the Kemper. That's why I no longer play these other devices.
The way I see it, life is too short playing uninspiring gear, if I'm not going to play the real amp, I will play the next best thing. When you factor the flexibility and the massive variety of almost every amp under the sound at bedroom level and with Pure Cab to get much closer to "amp in the room" than any other digital device, it's no wonder why most who adopt the Kemper aren't looking back.
All I'm trying to say, is not to underestimate the value of the natural feel and response of the sound not just the sound itself.
In that regard (the feel), I haven't met or heard anyone who played the Kemper that thought any other device came even close to how well the Kemper does that.
totally agree. the gsp used to be my main unit ten years ago, especially when the ability to load your own cab IRs in with the beta 63 firmware became a feature. then along came the kemper which was a massive leap forward. i got the AF as a travel-light device when i have to fit everything in a rucksack, replacing a pod hd500x which never really done it or me (maybe if that accepted cab IRs it might have been kept) The AF was suggested to me (in this forum actually) and, again, its the cab IRs that make it work for me though. So i put the same cab IRs into the gsp and this has given it a fresh lease of life. the gsp has limited storage for IRs and trims the files to fit the units memory so there is some compromise and change of tone as a result but sufficient for a backup unit in my rack. trouble is when i needed a back up the other week following a kpa crash i forgot i had created the backup presets and forgot how to use the gsp! derr!