I borrowed a Kemper from the local music store, and right from the start I liked how easy the thing was to use, I was browsing through profiles in a couple of minutes trying things out.
Just like expected (and read on the net) most stock profiles wasn't the best but then again, this is HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE. I found three profiles I kinda liked, which were all based on 5150 amps... Hahaha!
Anyway, I also tried the profiler. I COULDN'T GET THE SOUND THE SAME AS THE REAL AMP.
I was profiling an Engl e430 Tube Toner (e530 floorboard version) and I did profile it like 5 times, and did refining at least 5 times EVERY time, but it wasn't there. And yes, I was following the included books instructions from start to end.
Notice; the difference wasn't huge, or even small, the difference was MINOR.
But that's also a difference. I was expecting 100% the same.
Then I started going out on Soundcload and searching for "5150 kemper" and found a lot of comparisons of peoples real amp and profile; GUESS WHAT;
I heard the same subtle differences in OTHER peoples profiles... And not just one or two, but just about EVERY profile had the same "different sound"
I have VERY sensitive ears, even tho I don't like "clinical sounding recordings", I like a little dirt and stuff, but I still have a good ear for differences.
I even invited my girlfriend (who also has music recording as hobby, mostly electronic tho) to listen to the tracks I recorded and she pointed out the exact same differences as I could hear
Can most people not hear these differences?
Now... I can live with "different" because it does NOT sound worse. That's for sure. It does not sound bad at all. I'm really impressed with Kempers sound quality, and I despise most digital amp sim and whatever, all of those have a unpleasant high frequency fizz that most people know of, and I couldn't hear that with the Kemper, so that's good.
Is close enough? Because if this is what the Kemper offers and I'm not doing something wrong, then I might go ahead and buy one.
Oh... And the Kemper has an awesome tuner too