Posts by skydog

Completely agree with Ingolf. I use Powered Main Out to best guitar cab for the stage, and direct out to FOH. I gave up on FRFR after a few months. Tried several high end boxes, and it just doesn’t measure up. I’ll try the Kobe, when it’s available, but it will be a critical test. I love my cabs.

When the Axe FX III FC was late, I used my Kemper. After the FC was available, the Kemper gradually migrated to the amp closet. When the editor is released and the software is finished, I’ll pull it back out, and see how it goes. No interest in a Stage as the Kemper Remote works great for me.

I love both platforms.

Quote from BjornNilsson

Is there a realistic chance we’ll see it this year?

My hope is fading..

I think the introduction will be announced at the 2020 Winter NAMM Show. It’s synergy. Two stones with the same bird.

Speaking of plagiarism, all songs are based on others. Beware if useless relatives of Charlie Parker, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson, etc. get woke.

Oh, sorry. Did I accidentally wander into the Goldberg-Editor wedding? Pardon me, my mistake.

Always have a back-up.

I used the KPA or an amp, as Fractal struggled through the FC12.
Now using the Axe FX III or an amp, as Kemper has their struggles.

Quote from FarleyUK

Kemper are nothing like the owners of Fractal (thankfully!).

I cannot agree. I own both. I’m just like me, lol.

Dawner Prince Boonar

I won’t be buying one, and (as previously stated by somebody above) I don’t think it’s aimed at me. I have the KPA, and the foot controller is excellent.

However, I do want the announced new OS7 and the v3 editor.

How could Freidman license his sound, when he copied Marshall? Everybody copies somebody. It's how evolution works. He's not making a "better" product than Kemper. He's making a different product. At least Kemper came up with a radically new method. Friedman Amps copied circuits. and cabinet design. Geesh.

Indeed. He clones Marshalls with tweaks. And the original Marshall circuit was a clone of a Fender. And Leo started his company straight out of the RCA tube manual. I think tube amplification was invented by De Forest (he was great as Dr McCoy in the original Star Trek series, lol).

I don't understand the attitude. I was telling a close friend about this thread, and he reminded me of Dr Z's better approach. Z profiled his own stuff and made the profiles commercially available.

Time marches on. My only lament, is that I cannot work under the hood anymore.

I’m going to chime, in agreement with others. It’s disingenuous for Friedman to accuse Kemper or Fractal of piracy. They actually invented something new. I build a lot of my own stuff. If anyone thinks they aren’t standing on another’s shoulders, then they’re full of themselves. There are only a handful of guitar amp circuits. All the rest are only modifications. There are only a handful of pedal fuzz, distortion, and OD designs. All of the rest are only modifications. Friedman makes nice amps. They are not original. They are modifications of originals. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these guys are really good. But they shouldn’t be calling people pirates. Take away the (mostly) Marshall circuits in Friedman’s amps, and your left with silent cabinets. Speaking cabinets, look at his cabinets. Remind you of anything, lol? On the other hand, I’ll give credit where credit is due. I just went to his website. Good news! He has just invented the wah-wah pedal! (Heads-up Mr Plunkett!)

That’s exactly how Fractal got into the mess they are in right now.

Go with the KPA. No obsolescence and no waiting. For added dimension and great effects and routing, you can always buy an Axe FX and interface both with each other.

I own both. Kemper KPA Power and an Fractal Axe FX III. This doesn’t make me an expert. It just means that I have some experiences. I bought the two, to back-up each other, and to provide variability. I love both.

The two companies, their products, and their forums, have very different personalities.

Bottom line:

Both sound great.

The KPA requires very little tweaking. It can sound and feel almost like any amp ever made. Profiling is awesome. All of my amps now live inside my Kemper. The effects are great. My pedal board was immediately retired. The Fractal has virtually limitless ability to tweak and modify. It can sound and feel almost like any amp ever made. Some of the time-based FX are stunning. The models are great.

Note: I don’t ever get too excited about overdrive modeling, because both systems allow me to model amps at full tilt, if called upon. So OD doesn’t matter. Unless we’re doing something that requires processing, then effects are not important.

Neither devices can do a convincing Echorec. Without a real guitar cab on-stage, neither make that amp-to-guitar- to amp feedback magic.

I’ve tried FOH and monitoring. I’ve tried FRFR speakers. To my ears (and based upon unknowing crowd comments in my case) the best combination is one output to FOH using great IRs and another output powered to my favourite guitar speakers in a cabinet for stage volume. I have a great IEM system. Thank god I don’t have to use it.

Only the KPA can currently be used live without a third-party foot-control solution.

If service is required, KPA has friendly and knowledgeable humans in Germany, who will answer a phone call. Fractal communicates by email and a user forum. It works, but be careful about what you say or ask. Their hair gets up in a blink.

I am compelled to say this last bit. Despite great advancement, these devices come very close to the real thing. On recordings, they are indistinguishable from the real thing. But live and in-person, to me, there’s something about a real tube amp that is qualitatively discernible and yet difficult to describe. I can feel it when I play, and I can hear it if I’m in the audience. (You know when you call a company on the phone, and you get an automated system or the real thing? Unless you’re drunk, you hear the difference straight-away.) My tweed Fenders, old Marshalls, or the old HiWatt or Traynor cannot sound like a KPA or an AFIII. That’s for certain. But there’s something about these amps live, that win my ears (which in fairness are becoming more and more useless, lol).

You’re absolutely right about not needing adjustments. The only bias on the Kemper can be found on the Fractal site.

My amps are 50-60 years old. A fair comparison can be made in 2066.

Maybe others have said it, but here is my simple solution. First, a few givens:
I’m a very long term amp player;
I’ve tried lots of FRFR solutions;
I have a powered Kemper

My personal solution:

1. If performing at a live venue, send the main out with a great IR to FOH.

2. At rehearsals and on-stage, send the powered output, without IR, to a great guitar speaker cabinet.

This works perfectly.

FRFR cabinets are awful to a guitarist’s ear - at least that’s my opinion.

I only wrote, to get clarification, to help. You must be frustrated, because your response was a bit offsides. I am genuinely sorry you’re having this problem.

Have you tried calling customer support? You didn’t mention that point.

I listened to your clips. Yes, something is definitely wrong. My KPA profiles do not have those characteristics.

I just read through this entire thread. It was difficult to follow. I have a ton of amps, some homemade, and they have all profiled correctly. All of the third-party profiles sound fine. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t able to determine reading the thread, if you are using a proper IR or a cabinet with your DI profiles. Do you mind answering with a simple yes or no? DI profiles sound relatively awful by themselves, as they should. When I first tried profiling my amps, I used third party DI boxes, but they had poor results. They were not suited to the task. Reading the thread, I see that you’re now using a Kemper DI. But I cannot follow, if you have been able to make an acceptable profile yet. To repeat, I have never encountered an amp that could not be profiled. I realize this doesn’t help, but there honestly has to be something odd going on here. One more point: every time I’ve had an issue, I’ve called tech support directly in Germany (M-Th). A real person answers, they speak better English than I do! Have you gone that route, because email and forums are like throwing messages into a bottle.

Nice work!

Btw, I just used my Kemper, instead of a vintage Marshall 50w, at a great venue. We re-anacted At Fillmore East. Great sound guy. The Kemper sounded fantastic. Kemper powered head, monitor out to two JBL D120 speakers, and Ownhammer JBL D120 Mains out to FOH.