Overview
I'm just as much a fan of amp overdrive as I am using quality pedals, though I tend to favor the latter in low to mid gain scenarios. It gives me more control over what my gain sounds like. This is why I use 3 OD pedals pre-Kemper and basically never use the Kemper's built in DIST stomps. This type of sound cannot currently be achieved with a driven amp or Kemper's built-in stomps.
The Problem
The Kemper (and, for that matter, Fractal, Line 6, Eleven, Atomic, and any other overdrive models I've ever heard on any digital amp or modeler) just don't do overdrives all that well. The focus is on great amps, and the overdrive sections, which is an increasingly growing market with post-rock, ambient, and worship music, is lacking. The models may be just fine, but they're lacking originality and quantity. Most players in these genres don't want a Rat or a DS-1 or a MT-2 in front of their rig, because it's just too much.
Stacking two ODs in the Kemper stomp section just kinda results in "more" of that sound because the only real "overdrive"-style pedal is the Green Scream, which is based off a Maxon OD808. The rest are distortion or fuzz pedals. Stacking two different overdrive-style pedals allows a lot of creative freedom to really model your own personal sound.
The Solution
What we really need are the following additional pedals/types of pedals to really have a complete collection:
- OD based off an Ibanez TS9 or Ibanez TS9 with JHS Tri-Screamer mod
- OD based off a modded Boss SD-1, modded Boss BD-2, or a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 MOSFET (early serial, under 1500). With the Boss pedals modded, you can get a very similar sound to the Fulltone Fulldrive 2, which is one of the most popular overdrive pedals ever, just with different amounts of gain and saturation. A MOSFET-clipping option and built-in pre/post-selectable boost would be ideal for this style OD.
- OD based off a Klon or Klon-style pedal for low gain stage overdrives. The JHS Morning Glory, Klon KTR, or the EHX Soul Food w/ JHS Meat & 3 Mod are all great pedals within this category, and obviously the original Klon Centaur, but I dunno who has the money to drop on one of these.
I would like to see a "Clipping Mod" knob in place on the settings of most of these, allowing different minute changes to the tone of these stomps, which would act like a "clipping" switch on a modded overdrive pedal. This would make, say, a model based off a EHX Soul Food + JHS Meet & 3 Mod, switch clipping diodes, but due to the ability of computers/modern technology, smoothly fade between options instead of "all on or all off." This could also be labeled as "Transparency," as the goal of most pedal mods is to either increase or decrease transparency in the signal.
Additional Suggestions
I would also like to suggest that the following refactoring of stomp types be done, since they are different things, and adding more effects results in more need for organization:
- Move the fuzz-based DIST pedals to their own category - FUZZ. FUZZ can keep the same coloring as DIST stomps, but they aren't "distortions," and should have their own category. This includes the Muffin and Fuzz DS.
- Move the only overdrive-style pedal model, the "Green Scream", to it's own category, OD or OVRD. It's not technically a "distortion" pedal. Again, same colors for the LED can be used here, they are, like the FUZZ, "distorting" the signal, but it is distorting it in a very different way.
- Place the new OD models within the new category.
Unrelated Gripe
I would also like to query CKemper on why a Metal Zone distortion model was ever included?!? This is, perhaps, the most hated distortion pedal of all time.