Posts by endlessnameless

What about the MIDI MOOSE by Tech 21? - Looks like you can save rigs on each footswitch. Not sure if you can use those buttons to change stomps on an off though? Does anyone know?

Quote from Inthrutheout

The price is a bit steep. Essentially you are buying buttons to tell the Kemper, yes, no, on and off. Functionality is already in the Kemper. This is just a glorified switch box with a small display screen, which are a dime a dozen. Granted it works just for the Kemper (proprietary). Thats where the "We can charge what we want" comes in.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Kemper. It is about the best piece of guitar equipment I have ever bought and would not get rid of it for the world unless I lost the wrong fingers where I couldn't play any more.

I have to agree with some about the looper. I cant help but to think it is a bit underhanded. Since it is already in the Kemper, it just needs a couple simple commands from a $2 switch and an led to show state.
I am no engineer but as far as enabling the looper with no pedal at all directly on the Kemper seems a simple deal with software. Hell, there are a hundred LEDs on the Kemper to show state.
They could make a simple switch pedal or use an existing button on the Kemper just for the looper instead of forcing people to buy the KFC for the functionality it already possesses.
The poster that pointed out the secretive stance Kemper had on reporting how the looper would be implemented had a valid point.

It seams that "they" did not want to let on that your Kemper has had this functionality from the day you bought it. They wait until the release statement for the KFC to let us know.
I believe it would have been a bit messy on here for some during the buildup of the Pedalboard threads if we knew the facts.
The reason I am going on about this is because they dont seam to have given owners an option to at least use it directly on the Kemper. You cant tell me it would not be easy to implement.

I believe they needed an extra functionality to push this price range. That being the "existing" looper. What else does it offer really? Change banks and remote viewing. Where is the money?

I insist on quality in just about everything I buy. Yes Germany is known for its great engineering. So you can hope to expect the Kemper products follow that and if they do then you can expect to pay a bit more but....I get that. But how much?
Where are all of the electronics sourced from? Electronic components today are cheap. A heavy duty encasement is easy to do. It is the internals that really matter. I have no idea of the internals quality in my Kemper. I am guessing they are good. I get no unwanted noise. It has a beautiful sound quality, etc.
The only way I will realize the true quality of something in this price range is longevity. We will see.

As far as the build quality of the Kemper from the outside view, I would give it a 7.5 out of 10. I like it and it is good but the knobs feel very cheap to me. They have a very easy lateral movement. (The stem flexes very easy). I never liked that and it has turned me away from buying other electronic devices in the past.
If I looked at the Kemper in person and felt those knobs I would not have bought it. Now if I heard it AND felt the knobs.........well yes I would have bought it anyway.
But if there were competition that does just what the Kemper does, I would have looked deeper into the quality of the build and used that as my deciding factor.
Another thing I notice every time I sit down and play my Kemper is the gap between the face plate and the aluminum "hood". It is eye level and I can look right through it. Simple thing I know but a little odd for something in this price range.

I think when someone opens up the first pedalboard they may be a bit underwhelmed and wonder where the money went.

With all of this said, once again, I love my KPA and I really appreciate what this company has done. It is a beautiful thing indeed. But I will still call it as I see it.

----QUESTIONS-----
How many of you would buy this if it didnt have the looper?
How much would you be willing to pay then?

Now the big question. Will I buy it?

Probably. Why? Because I am a dumbass and I can afford it.
Besides, I am on the list. But if I go to order it when it is time and I cant get it before too long I may just forget it and let it go though.
I only play at home so I don't "need" it.
But I want the looper dammit. I have a much more detailed one but it is a bit of a pain getting it to not mess up my sound in the chain with the Kemper.

Please dont flame me and my opinion. That is all it is.....an opinion.
And if I am wrong or incorrect with anything technical I said, I apologize ahead of time.

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I must say, I also have concerns about the engineering of the foot controller based on the kemper. I can look past the engineering issues with the kemper to an extent due to the amazing sound, however, with a foot controller the engineering is what you are paying for, not the sound. I agree The kemper has plastic knobs that feel cheap for a unit of this price, some where you can see where the moulded knobs have been snapped off a larger piece of plastic. THey do not seem sturdy and there is excess play. The LED light hoods also suffer from inconsistent finishing with bits of excess plastic or imperfections on some where presumably the moulding process has not come out quite right. Some of the push switches are also looser than others. I returned one unit and got another which was a littler better. The main switch dial also feels quite weak. Like i say, I can forgive these to an extent but the foot controller will have to be flawless considering the price.

Regarding the faster switching - is is a remote only feature or something that will form part of a new firmware upgrade for users of the kemper generally?

Welcome - Kemper is in a different league to POD HD - you will be very happy with it - you will only be limited by your playing rather than the plastic sound of Line 6 or similar. Kemper is better than any VST I have tried. You can buy a Kemper with a power amp inside but that is not a default - that is an option.

Yes I really do think that you have hit the nail on the head - creative constipation!!

I really do think back to my prolific song writing days when I had nothing but a cheap amp and a few pedals. I really just got on with it.

The fact is the Kemper and similar gear is great - and can actually make you more productive if you limit yourself . However, it suffers from a multitude of choice - which for musicians who want to be productive - is a bad thing.

Then there is a layer on top of that which I think you touched on. That is regretting the gear choices you made and wanting to buy something else that appears to be better.

I find grass is greener syndrome with audio gear is prolific. People who say 'well I sold my DD20 delay pedal for a memory man, then I sold the memory man and bought a DD20 again, then I sold it for a strymon, but then I sold the strymon and got the eventide and ended up selling them both and getting the DD20 again'.

I find myself on ebay and youtube and forums looking at endless delay or reverb pedal demos even though I have a t rex replica and an RV5 and DD20. All brilliant pedals. But now I am like - hmmm, Strymon Timeline!! But think of the presets and options on that thing!

Most of us can only afford to buy one or two amazing tube amps. Now the Kemper has thousands inside it. It is like opening Pandora's box. This is not a dig at the Kemper. But a serious question that musicians should be asking themselves.

I really think this is an interesting topic. I certainly think that Kemper minimalism is something which I will be trying my best to practice. Someone mentioned having 18 profiles they use. Personally that is way too much for me. I think 5 guitar amps and one Bass amp will be my setup. And I will try and stick to it.

Quote from thebrushwithin

http://www.ted.com/talks/barry…oice?language=en#t-897543

What a great link - just watching now - I had no idea about this honestly - someone got there before me!

Thanks for the responses - all useful and good points. I really think this sort of thing is important as ultimately most of us are musicians and songwriters - in the modern era sometimes we can forget that (and I sound very old saying that but I am not!).

So, something to bring in the new year for you - I read a lot of threads about people wanting to 'give up' the Kemper and being overwhelmed by choice. This sort of thing is not exclusive to Kemper. It is something which is the paradox of choice we have with modern gear. Too many options.

I don't know about you all but I find these things about myself:

- I like some choice but I find too many options spoil my workflow
- I am a visual person and find abstract patches and saved data to muddle my mind

I realised that I was most productive when I had very little money to spend on gear and I would make the best use of the tools I had. I wrote lots of songs during this time. Using a cheap amp and a couple of pedals. My band got a record deal with those songs. Many years later I got more and more gear and then I had lots of options and patching and re patching stompboxes became the creativity killer. So I wanted something with convenience.

Before I got the Kemper I always wanted the sound of my gear with the added convenience of no patch cables and easy switching between sounds. Line 6 never gave me that, Digitech never gave me that, Eleven rack didn't give me that. You see I could go on. It was always about the sound.

With the Kemper I have the sound and convenience now. But I also have the other thing which comes with rack or multi effects units - options. Oh dear. The options.I hear many people complain that there are too many options.

So convenience and options can kind of cancel themselves out productivity wise.

But....with that in mind I have chosen to limit myself to a handful of actual amps rather than flick through thousands of profiles. I thought I would look at this as an actual amp collection.

Since I have had the Kemper I have started writing several songs in a short space of time because of the convenience and sound quality combined. But I have also done so because I have chosen to limit myself within the Kemper.

So I thought. I would like particular amps in my collection to write songs with. But no more than about 5 guitar amps. And one bass amp. If I had a physical collection of amps I would never have over this many anyway. So why should I have more? Because I can? Is that a good reason?

Really it is great that there are potentially thousands of profiles - but that is only so you can get your collection of amps. Not a reason to flick through and try more and try more and try more etc. Think about it - if you went and bought an amp from a store you wouldn't go and return it and get another one a few days later when you got 'bored' with it. The paradox of choice stifles your creativity. At least it does mine.

So I went and I found the best profile of each of those amps for my small self enforced 'collection' and saved those to my favourites. When I say the 'best' did I try hundreds of each amp? No - I tested a handful then picked a keeper. Then I created a locked stompbox chain. In reality I would not change my stompboxes every time I plug in to a new amp. So why would I do this on the Kemper?

Now bear in mind. I am not talking about covers bands here. I can understand you would need totally different chains for different styles and songs. I am talking about all you songwriters and original bands out there. Sticking to your rig - your sound.By all means you can use the Kemper to go on a history lesson and a fun covers session now and again - but when you want to write songs you don't need that distraction of so many amps.

So I got my handful of amps and my locked stomp box chain. So I also thought that I am a visual person - how do I deal with that - I want to be able to see those amps and stomps so I can at a glance know what my options are. So I created this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_La-Dzy2mQAZlJnSjRBY2wwM28/view?usp=sharing

It may seem silly to some but I like to see what I have at my disposal. I am a visual person - a preset name or lights do not do it for me - I want an at a glance guide. As if I had a room of gear ready to use. I may update the picture with preset numbers for the pre amps.

Now I don't feel as overwhelmed by the number of profiles etc. You may think this is silly but I am a strong believer in making the best use of the tools you have and not going too far down a rabbit hole of tweaking and options.

This is not to say I will not try other amps in future, or not switch stomps in and out now and again - but I will try and keep to my core 'collection' in the main - at least for now while I attempt to get this EP finished!!

So if any of you are struggling with your writing and recording - try and look at the Kemper a bit differently. Try and limit yourself. It certainly helps me and I hope it will help you.

Now if I can keep the guitar GAS in check I will really be making progress....

I hope this shared experience has been useful for at least one of you. Once the KFC comes out my setup will be complete!

I get confused with the Bassman - a lot of guitar players seem to use it too.

Sorry I meant actually moving rooms to a new house!

Interesting stuff - I will be getting some of those speaker mounts I think.

Its pretty frustrating when you have a home studio with a good room sound then you move and the room is totally different!!

Thanks guys the monitors are on my desk - I and are ESI EAR 05s - I have had them years. I think it could be the room as we moved recently and the room is quite reflective - wooden floor and no carpet and the desk is quite reflective. I actually had to get one of those foam shields for the vocal mic due to reflections. So perhaps that is making the bass go boomy.

Headphones I do not notice it so much. Someone mentioned foam pads for the speakers to de-couple them - any recommendations? Also other ways I can treat the room to make it less reflective in an affordable way? I hang a blanket behind the singer to reduce reflections.

I have a suspicion it could be the room - easy ways of telling?

Thanks guys it seems to be on certain notes that resonate more - I will play around with EQ and picking technique - I am not a bassist by trade!

Not using my Sansamp products and a lot of my pedals are gathering dust too - the convenience of everything in one box is great

I never understand the naming process with a lot of products, not just audio but most brands never make it very clear and use confusing combinations of letters and numbers that are similar to each other.

Hi all, been using one of the TAF factory profiles for bass - its an SVT450 with a bit of direct blended in.

I find when recording bass it gets pretty boomy on some notes - any suggestions for pre or post processing ideas to deal with this? I use compression VST to even out the tone.

SIlly question but is the spdif cable ok? Have you tried testing the Kemper through the analog outs?

A great unit which I have used in an acoustic duo is the Harmony G XT - it is very compact, reasonably priced and features reverb, compression and harmony fx (which go along with the key of the guitar input). I would recommend it. The handheld mic comes to life with it.

sounds good to me - do you guys think the looper will record to the USB slot?