There is a Premier Guitar channel that has "Rig Rundowns". I noticed they mostly shy away from Kemper users and feature mostly "real" tube amp users. I just don't get the mentality of some artists. One example the recent rig rundown of Lindsay Ell. She's not the only one but there are so many artists that HAVE to use a tube amp but are fine with using a bunch of solid state/transistor pedals to get their overdrive. She has an amp and a bunch of pedals and drive pedals to get a mediocre sound IMO. I'm listening thinking with just my Kemper and a controller I can best her entire rig full of noisy pedals and the problems that go with. I just don't understand why someone like that refuses to use a Kemper (Has to have a "real" amp?) but is OK with transistor pedal distortion. I see a lot of artists with these giant pedalboards and there's nothing they are doing I couldn't get with my Kemper alone, FX and all. It has to be cork sniffery.
Why not just a Kemper?
- Dynochrome
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The reason is that the analog gear market is a huge business ! And all the guitar business is built around…
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Is this clickbait? Well played I clicked on it.
I love their channel and they did something about Kemper one day ago.
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One point might be latency, which is an inherent issue of digital gear.
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Is this clickbait? Well played I clicked on it.
I love their channel and they did something about Kemper one day ago.
Not intended as "clickbait" Just a title. Not enough room there for the whole article. I love their channel also. My real point was how so many of the non Kemper users have all these pedals cables and tube amps that a Kemper alone would do a better job at. Thus "Why not just a Kemper"? I haven't heard a single Rig rundown with amp and pedals that a Kemper wouldn't outdo in every way in my opinion.
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One point might be latency, which is an inherent issue of digital gear.
Many artists demanding tube amps and pedals use IEM with more latency than a Kemper has. Not only that but I would challenge you to notice the latency in the Kemper compared to the tube amp profiled. Standing 5' from your tube amp has more latency.
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I love my real amps and I also love the Kemper that's why I bought it. So I'm ok with it either way but I do get your point.
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My real point was how so many of the non Kemper users have all these pedals cables and tube amps that a Kemper alone would do a better job at. Thus "Why not just a Kemper"? I haven't heard a single Rig rundown with amp and pedals that a Kemper wouldn't outdo in every way in my opinion.
I am not very smart. But in writing my VST, I have some insight.
My personal Kemper does not sing like a tube amp. My old POD HD has a singing tone on one profile. That is why I constantly feel there is something wrong with MY Kemper.
My VST is centered around a generic distortion pedal. I have the signal go into a bandpass filter centered between 600 and 1400 Hz (700 Hz is typical). You can control the Q of the filter. This little "transistor" amp pedal model "sings". If I hit an A note (10th fret B string) it will slowly change the pitch up an octave as the string decays. I do not get this type of thing from the Kemper on any profile. Even ones I have made from the VST that sing. And the singing is the main reason why I bought the Kemper. Seeing Herman Li get great tone on his Twitch stream.
I think you need to do this filtering before the distortion stage. Which would require a stomp/EQ in the Kemper. Which I have tried but have not had success yet. Still working on it because Herman does it, so it must be possible. Assuming he is not using some other pedals external, which he may be doing.
MY POINT
For most people, they can grab a pedal and a tube amp and they are done. It works great and gets them over that 2% improvement hump with no work or knowledge required. Since they may not understand what they need to do to get the right tone, they have to fall back to rumor and legend buying whatever the magic bullet is.
Those of us who have the knowledge or just like tinkering prefer the day to day repeatability and ease of use of the Kemper.
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IMO - it's not sexy to do a rig rundown and say "So and so is using a Kemper Rack for everything." Done.
The video would be about 30 seconds long.
People want to see all the pieces-parts. Manufacturers and their dealers *cough* advertisers *hack* want the gear to be seen.
Saying "I use a Kemper" gets you no closer to achieving a certain sound. Heck.....detailing the rig's chain doesn't really do that. "Compressor into the Kemper Drive or Fuzz.....A Plexi profile from X profile maker (which specific profile?) Studio EQ, Micro Pitch, Dual Delay into Natural Reverb.
That gets you closer.....but outside owning a Kemper.....its also completely useless information.
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IMO - it's not sexy to do a rig rundown and say "So and so is using a Kemper Rack for everything." Done.
My point exactly, it's not about the tone they get but that they're doing it the "sexy" way. They're not going to use some "digital box" even though in a blind test they'd likely choose the Kemper.
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My point exactly, it's not about the tone they get but that they're doing it the "sexy" way. They're not going to use some "digital box" even though in a blind test they'd likely choose the Kemper.
Yep. I mean....it's about the tone....but no one wants to know "my guitar gets plugged into this black-box called a Kemper Profiler/Helix/Fractal etc."
In a very real sense, digital devices are the ultimate way to 'hide' your ToAn SeCrits. Or - be as unique as Eric Johnson or EVH and then it won't matter what people see.
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And the singing is the main reason why I bought the Kemper.
Me too. I judge a good tube amp by it's ability to sing and morph easily into controlled harmonic feedback. IMO "good" amps will do this, bad ones won't. I recall playing through this one Jubilee that sang into harmonic beautiful feedback at just over speaking volumes even when set cleanish. We were all freaking out over how sweet this particular amp was. My ENGL would do it too. If an amp didn't, I would pass on it. It's the standard I use to judge well designed & wired amps. When I first used my Kemper, I noticed it sang VERY well and my playing induced the effect very easily like that Jubilee did. That is one of the main reasons I am so in love with mine. It does that sweet controllable harmonic feedback just like or better than the best amps I've ever played that did.
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Yep. I mean....it's about the tone....but no one wants to know "my guitar gets plugged into this black-box called a Kemper Profiler/Helix/Fractal etc."
Yes and so they spite themselves by having a giant noisy, tone sucking pedalboard to be "cool" and "sexy" instead of having a superior sounding and performing rig. It's tube amp cork sniffing and I was one of the sniffers for years. Every time I hear Paul Gilbert play on YouTube I think he has a horrible tone with his pedals and amp (playing is amazing) and would love him to compare his rig to a Kemper in a blind test telling him the Kemper is some fancy tube amp. Same with EVH , Hendrix and Clapton. (going back in time)
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That is why I constantly feel there is something wrong with MY Kemper.
I doubt it. I'd guess it's the profiles you choose, the power you use for the speakers or your monitoring setup. There are so many "top" profilers that have profiles that aren't that great IMO. Some people use questionable profiles and then don't like the Kemper. I rarely tweek any profile very much. If it's not what I want I move on. I feel like the ones included in the Kemper are great and If I had to I could easily do anything I wanted without buying any by tweeking them a bit if needed.
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I doubt it. I'd guess it's the profiles you choose, the power you use for the speakers or your monitoring setup.
I purchased the profiles I heard people play and they dont sound similar to me at all. Now that I have written the VST stuff, I am very tempted to sell the Kemper. But I love making profiles. So I still mess with it all the time. I also want to try some other monitoring situations, just been too busy to try it out yet.
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I purchased the profiles I heard people play and they dont sound similar to me at all. Now that I have written the VST stuff, I am very tempted to sell the Kemper. But I love making profiles. So I still mess with it all the time. I also want to try some other monitoring situations, just been too busy to try it out yet.
They don't always to me either but there is a lot more to what you hear in YouTube or Profiler's videos going on after the Kemper even though profilers claim they are "direct". I believe they are likely telling the truth, it's just that other factors weigh in after the direct part. I have a powered Kemper, and IMO it's crucial to play through the correct speaker to align with the Kemper main outs. I have a bunch of top end speakers and was not really happy with any of them. I took a hint from M Britt and bought a CL80 that I owed previously and liked,then sold for whatever reason. I use it in an open back oversized cabinet and to me it makes all the difference this way and outshines every other cab/speaker combo I have tried. It seems very transparent and uncolored but not sterile. My point is you have to try listening to the amp different ways to get it the way you want it. If I just tried it through Greenbacks or V30s I would likely never be really happy with the tone. A live P.A will be another beast as well. I've heard top pros using Kempers that were some of the most perfect and awesome tones I've ever hears so I know it's possible to "get there", If it's not right, It's not the Kemper most likely but the way you're hearing it which is a huge factor.
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I've seen a lot of videos of Mark Knopfler's recent world tour and it was his sound even though it was 100% Kemper. None of my friends heard a difference, at least not if I didn't point out beforehand that only Kemper was at the start. Knopfler without a "singing" sound would also be inconceivable.
Perception is often subjective, just by knowing details. This is exactly why effects like placebo work.
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Many artists demanding tube amps and pedals use IEM with more latency than a Kemper has. Not only that but I would challenge you to notice the latency in the Kemper compared to the tube amp profiled. Standing 5' from your tube amp has more latency.
of course the Kemper on its own is negligible. But it simply adds up with every A/D/A conversion (desk, wireless (if its not analog), speaker management…) I always wondered why a digital standard interface was never established. Would save latency and costs for good converters.
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I am not very smart. But in writing my VST, I have some insight.
My personal Kemper does not sing like a tube amp. My old POD HD has a singing tone on one profile. That is why I constantly feel there is something wrong with MY Kemper.
My VST is centered around a generic distortion pedal. I have the signal go into a bandpass filter centered between 600 and 1400 Hz (700 Hz is typical). You can control the Q of the filter. This little "transistor" amp pedal model "sings". If I hit an A note (10th fret B string) it will slowly change the pitch up an octave as the string decays. I do not get this type of thing from the Kemper on any profile. Even ones I have made from the VST that sing. And the singing is the main reason why I bought the Kemper. Seeing Herman Li get great tone on his Twitch stream.
It could be a monitoring problem. Have you tried a Kabinet? or DI/Merged profiles with cab off through a real cab? Flat range sound will never quite sound like a tube amp.
Anyway, hats off to writing a VST, that's above most people's pay grade.
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Also concerning the topic at hand, some artists just don't overthink their rigs - simple as that. Premier Guitar try to switch the narrative to gear because that's what they sell and they cater to an audience of gear nerds but performing artists are primarily into making music and performing it. Many of these artists may just find that odd to obsess over these things; when they go home, they don't geek over true-bypass pedals and latency, they write songs and organize rehearsals and plan the flight details of the next gig. I work with a lot of artists that could benefit from a more sophisticated rig, but how significantly would it matter if they did? That's just not where their head is at and unless they purposely ask advice/opinion or voice a gear-related problem, I try not to bring the gear business/nerdiness on a gig.
