Ahhh What's that? A New Kemper Model? Profiler Player

Quote from rnrgeek

I love the size of this for traveling.

I am a bass player and want to use an SVT cabinet so I would need it powered. Is there a small power amp that I could use to power the cab?

Orange Pedal Baby is an amazing piece of gear. Same power section as the Super Crush 100 I recently got for home (don't ask why). But if my band's live righs can sound 80% like the ones in our powered toasters we've been touring with since 9 years ago (the Pareto law), we might switch to Players and Pedal Babies in our racks. Much easier to tear down for fly-ins. Albeit Orange's 100W might not be enough for bass You could also try some TC poweramps or the small Trace Eliotts.

Quote from crivat

get a midi footswitch and jump through rigs. no need for morph, unless you do a slow or controlled morph. which can also be don with exp pedals sending cc#. say a, tech 21 midi mongoose or a morningstar.

My understanding is that the morph function isn't available via MIDI on the Player, but I hope I'm wrong about that!

Morph as Kemper implements it isn’t available via MIDI. But you can mimic it with MIDI and continuous controller messages.

Quote from patvalley

My understanding is that the morph function isn't available via MIDI on the Player, but I hope I'm wrong about that!

Morphing is an implementation of CC# in the Kemper ecosystem. Instead of the morphing time you set up (either second- or signature-/tempo-based changes), like you'd set up your KPA to perform (mine is almost instantaneous), you can send CC via MIDI with an external pedal hooked up to a programmable MIDI footswitch (such as a Morningstar, Behringer FCB1010, Roland FC300 and so many more.) The Tech21 Midi Mongoose can only send PC messages via Midi Channel 1, but has 2 CC jacks for pedals. And is affordable. That is if you can avoid stepping on two buttons at a time and therefore "jump" either 5 or 10 banks up or down :)))

Wow, I can't believe they finally did it! This had been my number one wish from Kemper, until I finally gave up and got an HX Stomp a few months ago.

I would have definitely waited a little longer had I known.

Even still, my initial reaction was to want to get rid of the HX Stomp and get the Kemper player right away, but after reading through the specs, I'm not so sure.

I see a common sentiment here that this is meant as a unit for people with pedalboards, but is it really? Even Kemper's own teaser shows people carrying "profilers that fit in our gigbags" signs. What's the point of fitting my profiler in my gigbag, while carrying a full size pedalboard ?

A few thoughts:

- No display: I think this is a very bold move by Kemper and I applaud them for doing so! In general, I'm totally against fancy displays that end up just being pathetic imitations of smartphone displays. They did take it one step further that I imagined with no display at all. I wonder whether it would've prudent to put a minimal display just for the rig name. Still, assuming the companion app is seamless, I like it.

- Effect type selection: This is a major disappointment. The reduced selection effectively divides the effects between "Player compatible" or not. It's a shame they spent all these years developing brilliant effects, and I would probably stop using them just to save the hassle of having to adjust them later on for the Player. This is a similar situation to the Helix Native vs the HX stomp. Line6 solved this with a "device compatibility mode" for the Native. Do Kemper want to go that way ? I wouldn't think so.

- Only 4 effects: Another disappointment. Do I use more than 4 ? Rarely. But again, this breaks the premise of creating your sound with no limitations and taking it with you. One redeeming factor here for me is that they kept the "free" rig transpose feature. It's also nice compared to the HX Stomp where introducing a transpose effect to the chain greatly reduces the effect selection.

For the effect situation, I wonder what made them put these limitations. Is it technical (power?) constraints, or is it fear of cannibalizing the flagship products? Whatever the reason may be, I see that the physical interface of the unit doesn't imply only 4 effects, so I really hope they can reverse that decision, or maybe even charge more for a firmware that supports the full set and quantity of effects. I would happily pay for that.

This will attract new customers. And I believe that's the whole idea. Good move.

This drew me into buying into Kemper, and support told me that they can't even tell me when I'll get my Player since they are completely overwhelmed by the demand.

So whatever people are saying, there is obviously a market for this unit.

I've got mine now and it is awesome. The tactile user experience is ideal for me. I can actually see me using this a lot instead of my PowerHead as I'm not a big FX user. Might need to invest in a Powered Kabinet too now.

I've had my KPP for a few days now and have already made a small board with it (see below).



Sure I wish it would be one or two inches more in width to accomodate another XLR out and another jack for a pedal/switch instead of the either/or solution it has got now, sure I'll miss morphing badly and sure the absence of performances requires me to organize patches differently than with the Stage that has been my main rig for years (and for the record before that I've used Kemper heads since 2012).



That said, the KPP ticks A LOT of boxes for me.



I often play gigs where the Stage simply is overkill, and one of my bands (the Ska band) doesn't require elaborate FX chains anyway.



Thinking more about it, I decided I'll use the Pedal/Switch jack for my Profiler switch and not for an expression pedal. Instead of the Kemper wah I'm using my Cry Baby Junior now in front of the KPP (from the layout of my board you can see I'm a leftie, playing guitar right-handedly ) .



The Profiler Switch is set in a way that the left one always switches to the previous rig. The right switch always switches to the next rig. Note that these functions will remain the same throughout all rigs.



The switches on the unit itself can do different things dependent on the rig: Left one (switch 1) = I mainly use it for switching on the Pure Boost in the Kemper Rig (nearly all my rigs have one switchable since I mainly use AC 30 style rigs). The one in the middle (switch 2) also does different things dependent on the rig (e.g. switching a compressor on/off, switching a chorus, or a wet delay). Switch 3 on the right I mainly use for tap tempo/tuner.



All in all this is a VERY powerful and versatile rig despite morphing and more switches missing.

With the Stage I'm often morphing between different wetness of delay. With the KPP I find I get excellent results using the ducking parameter more (which I totally neglected with the Stage).



As others already have stated: The KPP is a great addition to the Kemper family.

Quote from Ingolf

With the KPP I find I get excellent results using the ducking parameter more (which I totally neglected with the Stage).

As others already have stated: The KPP is a great addition to the Kemper family.

Glad you're pleased.

The ducking parameter is really, really useful for me. Kind of like using mix with modulation effects.....you don't need much!!

Quote from Sollazzon

Do You (you all) think that the morph function, as far as the lack of some fx type (as Kemper Fuzz or Drive), could be simply added in a future OS update ?

(Or, Maybe, there are some physical limitations and it will never happened)

Frankly, I think only ckemper and his devs know.

Dear Players,

Thanks for your overwhelming interest in the Player!

For those that didn't have the chance yet to put their hands and feets on the product, I am happy to shine a light on our thoughts and the approach to the Profiler Player concept.

CK

There is a display …

Our approach to the Profiler Player was to boil down the Profiler to a very portable size, and give it a no-nerd user interface for those that appreciate a simple and „analog“ approach. These users usually don‘t rise their voices on internet forums such as this.

We have decided very early against a graphic display. All endless encoders show their value on a LED by pushing or turning them, so the bargraph is our display. You will see this when you play with the unit for the first time. For a live performance you will arrange a typical handful of Rigs, that you can access quickly with the three assignable foot switches. As these are your precious Rigs, you will probably memorize them faster than you can switch them by foot (think of the old days when devices displays only had numbers for presets). Therefore we found a display showing the Rig names to be dispensable. Alternatively, our remote apps offer the view and access to all 50 Rigs by the touch on the screen.

A purchase recommendation: A Kindle Fire tablet is available at a very low price, 2 digits in some countries. Plus, many of us already have a tablet and most all of us have a smart phone. You probably already have the “display”.

For a display UI on the device to comfortably access the large number of parameters, we would have had to scrap nearly all controls on the surface, leaving merely the Gain and Master Volume and something. This was not what we wanted, knowing that many users prefer to edit sounds using a comfortable remote app anyway.

It plays full Rigs …

We are aware that the Profiler Player has the potential to serve the needs of very different users. On the one side there is the connaisseurs of pure amp tones, without the need for sprawling effect arrangements. On the other side there is the wish to play complex Rigs taken 1:1 from the big brother Profiler units. The Profiler Player has the theoretical potential to play full-blown Rigs. But I think it is understandable that we have not drawn a Profiler at half the price of a Profiler Stage but 85%-ish of it‘s featues.

Thus we consider since quit a while to offer one or two software upgrade (with costs), that will boost the Players features towards the Head, Rack and Stage.

The ability to create Profiles on the Player is also a story discussed by our team. There is a few issues to be solved, such as how to use the sole input of the Player for the return path and provide an A/B comparison.

It connects to a PA …

The Profiler Player features a mono XLR output and a stereo TS output. And there are other digital guitar amps out there that only offer unbalanced TS outputs.

It might be new to many users, that It is no problem to use the TS outputs as a stereo feed, anywhere. In the rehearsal room you go straight to your PA with two TS cables. On stage going the long way to the PA/FOH, the backliner will serve you two (or one stereo-) DI boxes that will convert your feed to a balanced XLR signal. It is a smart idea, however, to have such DI boxes owned by you and mounted on your pedal board. So the backliner does not get stressed out, when your keyboarder requires four DI boxes (which keyboarders sometimes do).

We have FX loops …

The Profiler Stage features two independent FX loops to connect external effect pedals. The Profiler Player has none. The purpose of these FX loops is bypassing and activating those effects by switching whole Rigs, by acting like a programmable patchbay. However, there is also the drawback of having those external pedals undergoing an additional analog-to-digital conversion just for the switching purpose.

While distortion stomps and wah pedals are usually cabled in front of a guitar amplifier, stereo studio effects should usually be located after the amp and cabinet. It might be new to many users that on digital guitar amps this is a simple and straight-forward task. Simply connect the outputs of your mono stomps to the input of the Player and your stomps will hit the front of the amp and benefit from a real amp sound and response, then connect the TS outputs of the Player to the input of your delay, reverb, or multi-effect pedal by two cables. Connect the output of this effect to the input of the next effect pedal by two more TS cables. The TS output of the last effect in the chain then is the output of your pedal board. To connect to a PA/FOH this might require a DI box. From here, the story is equal to the story described above. No FX loop is needed to add external studio effects to your digital amp. Just daisy-chain it in stereo. No level or impedance problems are to be expected.

And anyway, the Player was also designed to be a self-contained digital guitar amp and effects processor, so I am sure you will enjoy our build-in state-oft-the-art studio effects, and have your daisy-chain shortened significantly

Thanks for the background ckemper .

I can confirm that the knobs and bargraph LEDs work brilliantly in real life. I have been playing with is all day and it is super intuitive to use.

I much appreciate having the extra physical controls rather than a display with only one or two knobs.

I would definitely like to see the KemperDrive and KemperFuzz available rather than four different overdrive FX though. And Morphing would be super useful too.

Quote from Wheresthedug

I've got mine now and it is awesome. The tactile user experience is ideal for me. I can actually see me using this a lot instead of my PowerHead as I'm not a big FX user. Might need to invest in a Powered Kabinet too now.

fuuuuuu...., i got orders 5 and 6, and still no word! and i am in europe!