so, i'm returning the kemper today. it is a killer unit for what it does, but it's simply not for me.
since i'm a metal player, my main tone is obiously high gain. i made some profiles of my VH4, my SLO100 clone and my bandmates 5150, but none of these captures the feel of the original amp. they sound great, dynamics are also not bad, but the gain structure is very alike on all high gain profiles i've heard on the kemper, i'm afraid. it seems to me like there's an internal distortion algorithm that is matched to the source amp, creating a VERY similar sound to the listener, but the attack and feel on the player's side are still lacking. it's a small difference, but enough to notice it immediately.
i'm aware that metal and hi-gain guitar players seem to be a minority. so i don't want to judge the kemper alone by one of it's many capabilities. it's a great unit and a very valuable tool for recording studios. i just can't justify spending 1500€ for something that doesn't feel significantly better than my axefx (which i've grown tired off after 3 years) or other hi-gain amp sims. the best results to capture the 'feel' of an actual amp for direct recording is still a tube preamp + impulses in my experience. i really hope the kemper improves gain and distortion profiling in future firmware upgrades. who knows, i may then be back here sooner than i think
btw: clean and crunch sounds were simply amazing. i've never got so good clean tones with so little tweaking (stock presets and Hoss's ones). unfortunately, these are not among my priorities. for what it's worth, i'll be getting a 1x12 isolation cabinet and a pod HD for cleans and silent recording.
goodbye,
christian