Posts by domsch1988

Thank you very much! I particularly enjoy the SD-1 Profile. Right up my alley in terms of tone. Really aggressive with lots of clarity. For sure the best JCM High-Gain Profile in my collection!

Let's just say i'm toying with the idea to switch to an afx. My current work is 100% recording and 0% playing live. I love the tones the kemper produces but the current UX means my recording workflow takes around 30% longer. Many people produce similar results with the afx.
If i'd play live more this might be a different conversation, but it isn't. And this also means i won't be buying the remote. Currently this is only based on the fact that the kemper does not integrate into my recording environment in any way... Take from that what you want...

Don't want to beat a dead horse, but some recent products renewed my disbelief.
Especially the Bias Head, New Spiders, New Mustangs and pretty much any other versatile Product released in 2017 comes with Bluetooth, App Support, sometimes WiFi... Having a great UX (Big screen touch interface, App Support) are major selling features. One could argue, that the Helix's biggest feature over the Pods is the interface (Size, color, ease of use).

I understand that, in the eyes of the creators, the kemper fills a different role in the market. None the less, you can't ignore the market. With "modelling" and "Profiling" getting to the level it's at, a great UX will steer buyers one way or another. We all know what the kemper is and does. Yet the average buyer won't really know the difference between the kemper profiling and the Bias "Profiling" (Tone Matching).

The fact a Software is missing means the kemper is taking up precious space on my small desk. I can't put it somewhere convenient, because i can't even enable and disable the delay while recording.

Thanks for the input so far. After diving deeper into the midi grande, it's close but not enough.

I might just as well swallow the extr 100 bucks and get the remote... Just need to decide whether it's remote first or PRS SE Holcomb first

Long story short, i'm putting together a life rig. My Powered toaster will go into some kind of "tube head"-shaped case together with all the other crap one needs (wireless, drawers, lighting...). I want to ad a UPS to the setup. For several Reasons: Clean power through an online UPS, distribute Power to kemper, wireless and lighting with one plug to the stage. And finally to have a backup plan to the locations powersuply. Especially in noisy, light heavy environments, and smaller clubs, power delivery can be inconsistent at times. I just want to make 100% sure that, no matter what comes out of the wall or not, my kemper will have clean power.

For the UPS to work, i need to estimate the amount of power the kemper is drawing from the wall and for how long i want to sustain power in case of a power-loss. So, is there any information on how much wattage the whole powered kemper with enabled power-section is drawing from the wall? I currently have no means of measuring it

Quote from Eltzejupp

Maybe its helpful to read the remote description. The complete functionality
is written down in owners manual, so that you can check out if it fits to your needs. I can tell you

It fits

Oh, i did. I know it does everything i need. It's just 450€ expensive. I felt, that i could maybe get something that does everything i want for cheaper...

I'll try to make it short. Basically, i need some means of controlling my kemper. I don't need anything crazy really. My requirements would be:
- As compact as possible
- All slots from a performance accessible
- Performance up/down
- cheaper is better
- activate tuner is optional but nice to have
- Input for One expression Pedal (Assignable to Volume/Morph per Profile)

I do have a Pod HD500X, but it's just to big for what i need. Also, the FCB1010 is out of the question. It's way to big.
A display is not really needed. LED Indicator for the buttons would be nice. Since it's going on a small board with a expression pedal, i'll use my tc tuner if the controller doesn't offer an option for that. So no big deal if it doesn't. Also, Effect switching is not necessary. I use few effects and the occasional Delay/Reverb for solos can be done with a second performance slot.

Basically, i feel the remote is really nice but overkill for what i need. I have no problem spending that much, but i feel like paying for features i don't really need. But, if the only options other than the remote are only a few bucks cheaper for way less functionality, i'll go for it.
Any input?

Quote from bubu

No, problem I'll shoot some photos But there's nothing special inside. There's a little mess inside because it's a prototype and I tried different options to put it all together. As hogan666 mentioned my controller is based on Arduino, LCD display, MIDI in and out interface and switches. I'm glad to hear that you like it

Any chance to have a look at your code? I tried to get midi to work between the kemper and the arduino and just stopped trying after a long night without sleep. No matter what i tried the kemper wouldn't react to my code o0

So are there specific effects in the kemper to do that, that i just haven't found yet? Or Are we talking more like mixing "normal" effects to create a synthy appearing sound?
I had some mild success using a JCM with multiple stacked fuzzes in front. A bit like a Eric Johnson Lead on steroids. This was going in the right direction but i ran out of effects slots

Ok, i know this is practically possible. I profiled VST's without a problem. I also have a Profile of the Boss Acoustic Simulator that great.
My question is more regarding some "out there" stuff. For example, i love the EHX Pedals. The Organ and Synth ones specifically. I don't own them currently and could just buy them, but i'd have to have a pedal board just for them. Everything else is in the kemper. It would really help to get them into the profiler.

So has anyone tried to profile a "guitar synth" pedal with the kemper (or has one at hand to maybe give it a try)?

Quote from SonicExporer

This is where we disagree. For some applications (professional recording for one) there are issues somewhere between the KPA and the profiles for certain types of tones. There are a number of users who have encountered and demonstrated this, and thus far we aren't getting much in the way of answers. Every time we try to start working at it on the forum, others chime in and derail the conversations. And there is too often a similar theme when people try to propose very sensible features. Rather than being taken constructively they too often seem to be received or twisted into a negative critique.

Well, the fact is, that you have stated again and again that you don't like the results that you are getting. This does not imply the tones that are in there aren't good or authentic. Plenty of professional producers have put out albums they are happy with that where recorded with the kemper.
Let me put it another way: I can't get good results with a triple rectifier. No matter what knobs i turn, the sound i produce don't please me. That does not mean the product is bad, it's just not for me. Plenty of high profile guitar players make this amp work wonderfully. I don't. I don't go onto a mesa boogie forum and try to tell mesa what they need to change in their rectifier circuit so i like it. I just buy another amp.
If all the threads you created are truly your opinions and problems you face, it might be time to search another solution. Although i can understand the points you're making, you have to understand, that you posting here will change nothing in how the kemper works. The current state of firmware is where the devs want it to be in terms of amp sounds and 99.9% of Users agree its great. So, it won't change. That might be bad for you, but there are plenty of high quality solutions out there.

Quote from ColdFrixion

Right, you'd undoubtedly need two KPA's if you're already using one in the signal chain to produce the tone, but the issue is how to include the VST's as part of that chain since you're not just profiling the KPA, but also the plugins that are being used in conjunction with it.

Rather Easy:
Since you have a Interface anyways i assume, hook everything up as you would for Recording. Enable the Monitoring in your DAW. After that you hook the second Kemper up through the Guitar input on the one kemper and the Output on your Interface. Like a real amp. But with your Interface out instead of the Microphone in front of the cab.

Quote from ColdFrixion

I suspect it can be done. Don't ask me how.

If your core tone is in the kemper, it can only be done with two kempers. I profiled some VST Plugins which worked decent. But yeah, you need something to produce the tone thats not the kemper you're using to profile. Either an amp, Plugin or a second kemper.

Quote from Dimi84

"EVH would sound like himself through the crate combo". Of course in the sense of vibrato, techniques, touch, you could hear Van Halen is playing, or at least someone who can emulate him close enough.
This does show how big of a variable one's playing is in the final perceived product. But it doesn't mean that the kemper is the same to a Harley Benton emulation pedal. Van Halen himself would go to great lengths for tiny amp mods -- even a minute difference in feel, he'd care about.

Now I highly doubt that when it comes to this particular issue at hand this tone the OP is after, as heard in the recordings, is a matter of "hands". It's not that difficult to emulate playing these riffs very close and then record them. The causal factor of "hands" seems relatively small to me, especially for someone experienced in this type of playing.

Then when it comes to pickups, guitars, other variables.. OP is already very close to the tools originally used for these recordings. If a difference in room temperature could be a reason he's failing to get the tones... I don't know. I would be very, very, very surprised.

The differences he perceives between kemper profiles and the tones he is after are quite big it seems to me. You may never be able to reproduce a tone 100% but he should be able to get much closer than now, and by that I mean in regards to the tonal contribution of the kemper itself.

Without profiling real amps I can only say that tone match using Axe fx/bias fx and then profiling either would be the best bet. It doesn't really matter that much what post-production trickery has been used, even, if going this way.

If anyone has an axe fx at hand, and some isolated guitar tracks with such tones... Try tone matching them. You will get damn close with a humbucking guitar.

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I get where you're coming from. Since i have not listened to the reference on my studio setup, i'll give that a go later today. Until now i'm failing to hear what OP is missing or not able to get. Maybe, on a better setup i'm able to get the Problem.
But, in the end, my point stands. He bought a profiler. He is able to produce the sounds with "real" gear. I'm failing to understand his Problem to do a Profile himself. In the end, that's what the kemper is for. Maybe the Kemper is capable of producing what he wants, but no other Person did it in their Profiles. Maybe he has specific "Taste" or hears things others can't or don't want to.

Quote from Dimi84

There's some merit to that.. but taken in an absolute sense, then why buy a kemper at all? Should sound the same through a cheap little crate combo..
Meaning: I also do not think the issue with Sonic is his playing not matching the DIO guitarist.

I think most people buy the kemper for convenience. If given the chance, space and budget i think most of us would choose to own all the Tube heads the kemper emulates. For 99% of people though, that's not practical. The Kemper is the closest aproximation to having them in person.
And from my experience EVH would still sound like himself through a crate combo. There are Videos and Clinics of Paul Gilbert and Eric Johnson playing through "cheap" loaner amps. You could still very well recognize their core tone.

Gain Structure specifically (and in the fine nuances we are talking about here) has so many variables. Pickups, pickup height, setup, pick attack, strings, even the picks i use vary the sound quiet drastically. All those factors are out of the kempers controll. When i recorded my last EP, we made a Profile of a VHT Pitbull. We recorded the whole day with it. Next day, same guitar, same studio, everything was left from the day before, There where differences in the newly recorded parts from the ones from the day before. Fresh strings and and new pick helped a bit. After two hours the Tone was back to where it was. Turned out the heater failed. The room cooled down from 23 Celsius to 18 degrees. After two hours the room was back to 23 degrees and this seemed to change something about how my guitar sounded.
The point is, I doubt you'd ever be able to 100% recreate a tone you had on another day. There are always slight variations. Let alone a sound from 2 decades ago played on completely different gear by a different person.

Why are we still discussing this? SonicExporer is not willing to use the kemper as it was designed to be used. It's a profiler not a modeler. If you want to use it to it's full potential to get YOUR sound out of it, start profiling YOUR amps. Searching something you want in other peoples profiles is bound to fail.
The kemper's capability to change the core tone of a profile is limited. And it's designed to be. No matter what you do on the device, it won't change the core tone of a profile. If you can't find what you want in other profiles, do your own. If you don't want to do that, you should have bought something else. If making your own profiles is to much work, it's not the device for you.

Quote from Grumpter

So the 600 watts rating is a peak rating? Was that confirmed by Kemper? I tried this forum to get an answer on whether the 600w rating is Continuous/RMS or a peak rating but received no response.
The recommendations I see say to use a power amp that has a RMS rating 2 times (or more) of the Continuous/Program Rating of the cabinet.

No, that doesn't have anything to do with Peak or RMS. This means that the Kemper has 600W as an Amp. By default it uses 300W max for driving the cab and the rest is headroom. You basically never ever want a digital poweramp to distort. It sounds nasty. That's why they are so high power. With the internal power increase setting you can lower your headroom for added volume.
While i'm not sure wether its RMS rating, i'd think it is. Every single serious audio Product is rated RMS. The only times i've seen peak mentioned is on cheap Stereos you can buy at walmart that produce "150W" of power.

None the less. From personal experience i can tell you, that 300W turned into volume by a half way efficient speaker is well past the point where your ears seriously hurt. It's not only really loud. You basically feel like someone is pushing a knife straight into your ear. I think you will give up from pain before your speaker gives up. Only case where it could be a problem is the poweramp accidentally putting out full power. But i wouldn't know why it should.

Quote from Sheppard93

I can get a super great deal on a set of these. I've read great reviews. anyone use these with their Kemper? I'm sure they are light years ahead of the $12 best buy brand ones I'm currently using. haha

Depends what a "super great deal" is. Most people do really like them. I personally find the earcups a tad small and the pleather makes my ears sweat. Also, they feel overly bassy to me. Resolution in the mids and highend is top notch at the pricepoint. They are just "Consumer" shaped in sound (V-EQ).
From my selection of Headphones there are only two i'd replace today if they broke regardless of price. Either the Beyer DT770 Pro or the Sennheiser HD600. Both are more expensive but well worth the added price in my opinion.

If you're used to 12$ headphones, i bet the ATH's will work great for you!

Quote from SonicExporer

Then, maybe, the kemper isn't for you. I get that you're hearing a difference. I do too. More in some profiles, less to none in others. But the fact is, it isn't enough to bother me. The added convenience the kemper offers is worth the 2% it sometimes looses. Especially live, but in recording too, the differences are negligable to me and mostly a matter of taste, not make or break sound. If you're after that 1% it might be the kemper is not the right gear for the job you're asking it to do.

Quote from Michael_dk

Ooh, that sounds interesting! Do you have the link?

Sure:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dc6PQpGFUOk

Joel has a rather scooped sound while adams is much more mid focused. Played alone adams sound is a bit thin and joels would classify as "getting lost" in the mix. Together they work really well. There are other examples on youtube from different sessions with them too.