Little advise to a Brazilian player?

    Hey guys, first post here.


    For the past three weeks, I have been non-stop on the Internet researching details about Kemper and Axe Fx. These two units really caught my interested as portable and great sounding solutions.First of all, I am not interested in starting a comparison between both of them. My questions regard specifically the Kemper.The thing is, I LOVE playing with my tube amps (Orange Rocker 30, Fargen Mini Plexi Mk II and Reeves Custom 10HG). However, they are very inconvenient in some situations – mainly because of the weight and extremely loud for that late night playing. I would really like to combine some features of all of them and be able to have a portable rig that I could take to rehearsals and occasional gigs, and also play with very low (or silently) with great tones.


    The Kemper seems like a great solution to achieve all of these things.


    However, some concerns come up:


    - How hard is it to profile your own amps? To me, this is what is most appealing about it: profile your own rig, with the ability to combine different amps that you love and have them in a portable box. Are you guys doing it or just using profiles made by other people?

    - Foot controller alternatives... I know there are some great cheap alternatives (like Voodoo Lab Ground Control) that just don´t work optimally with the Kemper. And the proprietary unit is just way too much expensive for me...

    - The recent price reduction... This scared me a little... Of course there may be a lot of reasons for sales, but one of them might actually be that a new product is coming along... And the direct profiling made available at the latest FW might be some indication that a new hardware would be introduced in the near future.... Could not find anything in this regard, however.

    Some other things caught my attention upon reading in other forums, like the fact that it is supposedly limited, since you could only fiddle around so much with a profile, but I honestly don´t think that it is a significant problem (you get the same with a tube amp). The beauty in the unit is to profile rigs that you like and have them with you anytime you want....


    Anyway, would really appreciate if you guys could help me out. Would love to try one out, but I am in Brazil and we don´t have an official dealer down here or somewhere I could test it – at least as far as I am concerned.


    Cheers!

    Hello and welcome to Kemper Land!!! :)


    I was just in the search must like yourself about whether the Kemper is right for me and after biting the bullet I am glad to say it was perfect!!!


    I am like you in the regard that I didn't want to carry around a heavy rig so the less I have to carry is great as long as I didn't have to sacrifice anything. Now saying that.......I really love this thing!!!


    You don't have to just buy the profiles that others have done (or get the free ones from the rig exchange) but it is probably a lot less fuss.


    I spent a considerable ammount of time trying to mic up my amps and get the placement just right and had minimal success doing that. The problem I ran into is that I don't have a studio per se or the space required to complete this micing process exactly. The ideal situation for micing a profile is to have the amp you are wanting to profile in a separate room so that all you hear is the exact sound of that amp through your monitor system so that you can make out what it will sound like due to mic placement (which even a centimeter makes a huge difference). I could still hear the amp over the monitoring so that doesn't lead to an accurate profile...........however......I tried a different approach that worked great for me and that was to get a simple DI box (very cheap) and instead of micing the cab and worrying about all of the other mic placement and having them in separate rooms and all......I had the amp right beside me and the profile turned out great!!! So you have several ways to profile to grab your exact sound should you desire to do so but I can almost guarantee that someone in a nice studio with nice mics and time have already profiled your amp, and it will sound phenomenal and then you can adjust it and add effects to your liking. :)


    I have heard alot of flac about people saying that you can't adjust a profile after it is profiled that you are stuck with that sound and that is it.....I think that is bologna....


    There are alot of great high gain amps that all you have to do is turn the gain knob allthe way down, and without losing volume you get that same sound but totally clean......thats awesome to me!!! You can also adjust the low/mid/high/ and presence to your liking not to mention the ability to add an eq before and after the amp if needed.....so the sounds can be shaped sooooooo many ways.


    I have ordered the Kemper Profiling Remote myself but I am with you on thinking that it is really pricey especially for how limited it seams to be........but thankfully there are many alternatives that will work as well that are not near as expensive. The most popular seams to be from my reading a Behringer FCB1010 with the UNO chip. Kemper worked wit them to make this happen so it should be rather easy to get going and decently priced. Just do a search for it and you will find one no problem. ;)


    There was no dealer near me either so i took the chance and ordered one and now I am sooooo glad that I did. It really has brought the FUN factor back to playing!!! :)


    Hope this helps. :)


    J.

    Kemper Profiler Rack ---- Carvin DCM1000L Power Amp ---- Peavey 5150 4x12 Cab ---- Fender Cyber Twin ---- Peavey Transtube Bandit 1x12 ---- BOSS GT-10 Floor Pedal ---- Carvin Custom CT6 ---- Peavey Wolfgang Standard ---- EVH Frankenstein Replica ---- Taylor 814CE Acoustic


    My YouTube Page: http://www.youtube.com/e51v50h/videos

    Like 1

    I'm with e51v50h, I roll back on high gain amps on the Kemper all the time, always makes me smile. If you love playing with your tube amps you'll love the Kemper (must say the Axe FX sounds great too but it's not quite in Kemper's league when it comes to tone and amp variety IMHO), the Axe is an effects tweaker's dream though.


    As far as foot controllers it depends on what you want to do. If you want expression pedals and less expensive look at Behringer's FCB1010 or the Roland FC300 for a bit more money.


    As for the price drop I don't worry much about what's next, I'm still on my honeymoon with my current Kemper lol.

    Hello DP,
    welcome here :)


    When you profile an amp, the kind of mic you use and its placement will influence how the profile sounds. With certain attentions you can get a profile which sounds exactly like your original amp (by using - among other things - a linear audio subsystem), but the rule of thumb is that you'll be hearing a mic'ed amp.


    Generally speaking, it's easy to profile any amp; harder is to get exactly the sound you have in mind, if you don't have experience about mics and their placement.


    HTH

    Welcome DefinitionPending!! I think you'll be more than satisfied with what you get out of the KPA. I wouldn't worry to much about the future cause how much better can the tone from this thing get. Maybe 2-3% closer to an exact match. Hope your ears could tell the difference in that. It's a great piece of equipment for sure.