Kemper Questions from a Previous Owner

    Hello Kemper peeps.


    Some time back I was a Kemper owner, and since then I have been on a bit of a journey.


    Whilst I loved the Kemper, and I gigged it a lot, I decided to move back to my tube amps due to only really using the JCM800 patches. I have since gone through some bizarre configurations of tube amps and pedals (man you really realise how many cables you need!), then onto the Axe FX 3 which despite its complexities is a pretty awesome piece of kit.


    I have since sold the Axe FX 3 as like the Kemper I only used a very small portion of the amp sims, however it was my audio interface too albeit a very cumbersome to use one.


    Back to today, I am using my JCM800 and Silver Jubilee which I love, but space, needing a new audio interface, reducing my humble home study down, means I need a new solution.


    So why am I here:

    1. I miss the ability to reamp.
      1. Having gone through Radial and Art reamp boxes, all sound pretty poor, mainly the inability to get the same level as plugged into the amp
    2. Noise from the pedal set up, two amps and then adding in reamp via a sound card brings a lot of hiss.
    3. Soundcard is the UR-RT4 which is very underused as I already have a Neve based PreEQ73 Premier which sounds a lot better than the RND gain stage.
    4. Outboard gear is becoming a little cumbersome and I would like to minimise.
    5. Starting a grunge covers band is requiring me to have a larger pedal board.

    My questions regarding the Kemper now is:

    1. How does it fair as an audio interface on a Mac?
      1. I understand it is 44.1khz but I am not too fussed by that as the round trip latency will be mitigated by Direct Monitoring.
    2. Is there a guide on how many I/Os there are per device. For some reason I cannot find this, even in the manual. I have very simple needs outside of guitar and vocals so do not require a lot of I/O capabilities.
    3. One of my frustrations with the Kemper was its integration into Rig Manager and its constant inability to retain a stable connection. Has this been improved as Performance Mode was where I spent my days.
    4. When is the Kemper 2 out, I joke I joke LOL. ||

    Anyway, thank you in advance and have a nice weekend.


    Mike

    1. very stable and straightforward last time I tried a couple of days ago. Mute input track and monitor direct. I use a Mac and Logic


    2. I understand that there are two inland outs on the head and rack and 8 on the stage, but I would stand to be corrected.


    3. RM is stable but occasionally has to be re started in my mac if the mac goes to sleep. It is not an issue for me when I’m recording as the Mac stays on.


    4. Don’t know.


    I was staying at a friends and had my interface Kemper and Max but decided to give the USB recording a shot instead. It worked flawlessly.

    A brace of Suhrs, a Charvel, a toaster, an Apollo twin, a Mac, and a DXR10

    Unless you've been living under a rock, the new OS 10.0 will include Liquid Profiling, and you won't need to buy a Kemper 2.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

    Afternoon all.


    Thank you for the replies.


    It seems for an I/O perspective the Kemper will deliver. Tempted by the Stage for the extra I/O but I was always a fan of my Kemper in the rack.


    I love the idea of reamp via USB. This worked so well on the Axe FX compared to the Kemper pre version 9, I can not wait to try the improvements; still have my old profiles.


    Just to be clear I was obviously joking about a Kemper 2. When I first owned one I was amazed at how many times that was the first question asked by every new member. It always made me laugh :D.


    I have read about Liquid Profiling, and the potential for a functional EQ section. To be fair, I never really struggled with finding my sound as it was always the same amp at different settings.


    Morph, when you used the Kemper as an audio interface, was it with the default Mac drivers (sorry new to Mac) and what was the latency like (thinking more vocals than guitar here). To be honest if it does not provide low enough latency I will just aggregate the Kemper and another interface.


    Cheers guys and thank you


    Mike

    WhippinPost1850 I did not know that, very useful.


    Thank you Christian, that helps with guitars, however vocals I generally use delay\reverb to monitor. Not sure with the Kemper if you can record pre effects but listen post, I seem to remember you can but it has been a few years now.

    It just plugged into the mac and showed up in Logic as profiler 1@2. No latency with direct monitoring. No need for aggregates.

    A brace of Suhrs, a Charvel, a toaster, an Apollo twin, a Mac, and a DXR10

    Quote from Wheresthedug

    Did it let you select inputs and outputs from the Profiler and/or your main interface in the DAW without creating an aggregate device?

    Yup. Just shows up as profiler in Logic. I’d need an aggregate to use it with the Apollo I think but as I had my MacBook with me, I thought I’d give the USB a shot on its own. A piece of unlooked for advice, take the monitoring volume down a bit if you’re using in ears to listen. It’s basically my gig kit with the MacBook.

    A brace of Suhrs, a Charvel, a toaster, an Apollo twin, a Mac, and a DXR10

    Like 1

    Op - Firstly, great to see you on here dude, its been sometime!


    I can't help too much on the recording side but just a general point on your journey. I constantly think " why do I need this, Im only using 5 profiles of a similar amp" and then I remember, its more than that....convenience is a huge factor.


    Cables - at the moment I have 3 - power, speaker and remote. Done. No need for power at the front of the stage to run pedals. No patch cables, no pedals!

    No mic-ing - engineer just chucks me an xlr, boom.

    Sound check is a doddle - hit one chord, done.

    All in one - no pedals, even Wah is an expression pedal, no faffing with true bypass and Wah plates, no tone suck. Also the dedicated cab (Kabinet) which is so light and portable has meant no lugging a 4x12 around.


    I know you know all of this but for me I still love my set up as its so simple - its complex to make it simple!