Posts by canadianbob54

  • My kid keeps taking my Kemper!! - Alternatives for him

    I seccond using the Yamaha THX when away from the Kemper. I have the 10C version and absolutely love it. The dynamics are remarkable for such a low price point (you still have to temper your expectations coming from a Kemper). It also works well as a bass amp for noodling around or playing with an acoustic player.

  • Hey Everyone!

    Hi everyone!


    I just bought my Kemper and am flabbergasted at what it does. I'm on cloud nine going through all of the profiles and actually playing for hours on end. I guess, though, that is time for me to introduce myself or moreso what led me to the Kemper.


    I've been playing guitar for about 10 years and have owned various amps and guitars. I currently have an Orange Th30 (Head), Garnet Pro 200 (Head), Garnet Herzog (Pre-amp or low wattage Head), Silvertone 1484 (Cabinet and Head), Yorkville Custom 412 Cabinet with Celestion G12—75's, Mesa Boogie 3/4 back 212 cabinet with Black Shadow speakers, Orange 112 PPC cabinet with a George Lynch Super V speaker, Yorkville TC1510 (bass cabinet with one 15", two 10" speakers, and a 1" horn), Yorkville YX10P powered speaker and a PreSonus Audiobox1818vsl. As for guitars, I have a wine red 2007 Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro, candy apple red 2013 American Standard Stratocaster, circa 1960s Saturn with Jeff Beck and Hotrails pickups (both with coil taps), black 2007 Epiphone Sheraton II with stock pickups, red and black Epiphone G-1275 doubleneck with Classic 57 and Burstbucker pickups, a natural wood Cort 5 string bass, two cheap but nice acoustic guitars, and two cigar box guitars. I am really lucky to have the gear that I have as I have acquired much of it through trades and finding great deals on used equipment.


    My previous experiences playing through modeling equipment (I know the Kemper is a Profiler and not a Modeler) involved having a V-Amp 2 and a Vox Valvetronix 120 Head. Let's just say that these pieces of equipment did not come close to sounding as good as good tube amps. I first heard a Kemper a few years ago at a small live performance and thought it was pretty cool. I looked it up but didn't have much time to properly research it as I was working full-time and completing my Masters Degree on the side.


    Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I came across an ad for a Gordie Johnson Signature SG. Gordie Johnson is the lead singer and guitar player for Big Sugar and Grady and he is a well-respected guitar player in Canada. If you haven't heard of them, do yourself a favor and check them out. Anyway, being a huge Big Sugar fan I immediately called the person to see if he would take my Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster Head (this would have been a great deal for him) but he needed the money so we negotiated a price and were going to meet the next day. When I called him the next day he said someone else was already on the way and had offered him more. Not the thing you want to hear when there were only 50 of these guitars ever made! The experience did, however, make me realize that if I was able to consider trading my Boogie in an instant it may be time for us to move on. So I started looking up different amps and came across a review of the Kemper Profiler. Everything I read was positive and all the audio samples I heard were very impressive. I went to my local music shop (part of a national Canadian chain) to see if I could try any out but they didn't have any in the city and would have to rider one from out of province. I was leery about trading in the Mesa for a product I had never played, so I decided to research it some more. After thinking about it for a few days I decided to take the plunge, but was told that they were sold out across Canada. They were able to find me the head version with the power amp and was at another location in my city. I drove home to pick up my Mesa Boogie, a banjo I hadn't been using (to account for the increased price of the power head), and some cash that my Grandma had left me in her will. I fooled around with it at the store and knew I had to have it. I was so disappointed in missing out on the SG, but it led me to the Kemper and I wouldn't have it any other way.


    I haven't had this much fun just noodling around on my guitar in a long time! I haven't tried modeling my amps yet but will be doing so soon and will share them on the rig exchange. I'm sure that some Canadians would love to add some Garnet tones to their collections. For those who haven't heard of Garnet, they were a Canadian company that operated out of Winnipeg and made amplifiers that were used by The Guess Who and Bachmann Turner Overdrive (among others). Let me know if you want pics of my gear!


    I have been raving at this product to my friends and family and I'm sure they are sick of hearing about it. I have a friend who is on holiday in New Orleans, and I thought sharing the text messages I sent him about the Kemper is the perfect way to sum up how I feel about it. Here they are:


    "Speaking of voodoo, I have something I want to show you. I don't know if you know this about guitarists but we overwhelmingly prefer tube to digital technology with regard to amplifiers. Well yesterday I sold my biggest (75lbs), baddest tube amp, traded in a banjo and put my grandma's money (no drone I guess-for now) toward a 15lbs digital amplifier.


    Never in a million years would I ever have thought I would do this, but this amp pretty much captures the soul of analog amps and let's you store them as a small digital file. The best part is that the digital file doesn't only capture the one single sound that the amplifier which is being captured made, but how the tube responds to the different volumes and gain settings you can tweak. So it captures the experience and feel of playing that amp and then recreates it in an astonishingly accurate fashion.


    I would love to show you this amp when you get back to take a blind test with the new amp and one of my old tube amps. It would also be great to get your perspective, as an artist, on the nature of authenticity".


    Sorry for the long-winded post, I'm just so excited about the Kemper! I'm also excited to be part of this forum and share the tones from my amp collection. Have a great day!