I made the jump to Kemper about 2 weeks ago and am very happy so far. I have been a performing guitarist for nearly 40 years. My first road experience came in the early 80's; grew my hair out, donned some leather and eye liner (oh God!) and hit the road with 2 JCM 800's, A Jackson RR1 custom shop and a charvel strat, a TS808, a chorus and delay pedal. What a glorious time that was. When L6 hit the market, I went with it and have owned just about every piece of gear they put out there, (bean, flextone, Vetta, HD500x, etc.). a year ago I picked up a Helix. I didn't keep it very long. I was really disappointed with it. For me , it was not a big jump from the tones I was getting from my HD500x. I also have done the guitar synth thing for a long time. I have a Roland ready strat and a Godin xtsa. Both trigger Roland V synth gear very well. At one point (for a gig I did for 2 years), I used the GR55 to FOH, monitored via in-ear for all my guitar tones and synth, strings pads, keyboard sounds. Actually, if I really thought about it, I could write another paragraph or 2 on all the gear I've owned over my tenure as a guitarist- I am sure many of you could say the same.
For the last 3 years I have primarily been performing with my Mesa Mark 5/35 (a great amp). I also have a 64 deluxe reverb that rarely leaves the studio and also a Bugera V22 (a surprisingly good little amp- probably the best spent $400 on an amp I have ever made). The Bugera has found a home at my church so I don't have to lug it back and forth, the 5/35 goes out with me for $ gigs.
So, all this brings me to the Kemper. I am beginning to understand why many are calling this unit a game changer. I really respect and appreciate the thought that went into engineering this unit. Many of my desires and disappointments with a "rig" seem to be answered- so far. For my use, the morphing feature alone is worth the cost of the unit. The tones I can get are simply astounding to my ears. I bought some MB and Top Jimi profile packs and am very impressed with the recreation/ capturing of the amps. The remote is excellent as well. Bottom line, there is not much I would change (at this point) that could make the unit more valuable to me. Of course that may change lol, we'll see.
I would like to see a dedicated editor that can be run via USB instead of midi. FWIW, Roland did not make an editor for the GR55 either, but I used a 3rd party editor that made crafting rigs/patches less cumbersome. Some have said that the efx need upgrading (reverbs), but what the Kemper currently offers does the job for me.
I plan on working with the unit for another month or so before I take it out to gigs. I plan on in-ear monitoring only and go direct to the FOH after I get comfortable with it. I will post a pic of how I am using it in my rack once I get everything put together. I would welcome any feedback.
I have been lurking around these forums for a while gathering info and convincing myself to pull the trigger on this unit. I am glad I did. There is a lot of experienced people on these boards with mostly good (and respectable) info that is valuable. It has been a good place to start for me and want to thank you for helping me take the leap (oh, my poor mesa, will it ever leave the house again?). Cheers!
). It works flawlessly (for me), just disable the looper for live use, or assign the looper button to control another parameter (i have it set up for delay hold). I don't think it is over sized for what it does, as some midi or analog boards can be huge enough that you almost need to step sideways to get to all the buttons or "tippy-toe" to upper levels hoping not to activate the wrong switch(s). You can set up morphing (sans exp pedals) using the 5 lower switches if you don't have room for additional exp pedals.
