Posts by Nikos

Ofcourse there is no "war".

But as @MementoMori already said there are some "psychological barriers" as well for the tube guys as well for the people who deny that the tubes still have at least 1% of mystical power" left for aitrs which is maybe some psychological thing or maybe not.

I use the studio profiles and I am 100% happy with them for live and recording.I will never ever go back to tube amps for these issues.

I admit that I still have my doubts if there is no 1% left if we talk about ampintheroom in favour of the tube amps.Maybe it is only the "psychological thing" maybe it is "the smell" and "klick" you hear from the tubes during the time they get hotter when it is for a tiny fraction of time completely silent in the rehearsal room..I dont know.

I have plans to get me a second (powered) profiler which I would only use for live-gigs so I will try it with my cabs some day.

One last thing..

I remember a thread some months ago which was opened by a guy who stated that allthough he was very happy with the profiler it was "to much" for him and that he would go back to tube amps since he just would feel "better" with them.What should I say..more or less he was trolled.Many negativity and bad words till he "left".I tried to defence him but..no chance..

I remember another thread which was made by a guy who said that allthough he was happy with the KPA he would sell it and go for the Helix because he was convinced by its UI and its floorboard-concept which saved him some space in his cramped bedroom.Everyone acted civil,all wished him best luck and many wishes that he would return soon to the KPA..

Quote from Sharry

I never was a purist and think to have a healthy sense for pragmatism.

....
Chapeau to all sentimentalistic feelings and opinions.

IMO it is "pragmatism" to keep at least one tube amp..

If you have a tool which can do "everything" you will always fail to refuse to "try everything".It is the nature of the musician.Would I ever resist to put a little reverb on my beloved TJ-superleads..guess not.It is there..right to my feet.

For the lead..could I resist to increase the gain and add some delay;No.I could not.It is there..it is just a little move with my expression pedal.

You already know where I want to go right;

Using "just a tube amp" gives me the chance to do more with my fingers and my volume poti trying to rectify all shortcommings of the given "puristic sound" of a (lets say) onechannel tube amp.You HAVE to do more with your ears,fingers and the few buttons on your guitar and amp.

This is not "puristic" neither "sentimental"..it is a school..learning to do as much as possible with what you have which is not much.But it is the most important thing of all:ears,fingers,guitar and just one pure great sound.without any "tricks".You are absolutely "naked" and you will try to "cover" it with all means(which are just your ears and fingers)..thats the "challenge" I believe every electric guitar player should be not afraid to accept.

Quote from DonPetersen

my most immersive sound experience after years and years of gigs and studio time:powered Profiler over a nice cab AND studio monitors at the same time.
Pure fun!

Sorry did not see your post yesterday..

I dont doubt it dear friend..I dont doubt this a second that the profiler can do the aitr with a cab on stage..
No doubt I could use a good direct/merged vox/matchless-profile with a powered profiler with a nice 2x12 and have the same result as with any real matchless-type of combo.

Actually this is where I have the difficulties to communicate with cybermgk..

If I would use the Kemper like this (lets say a 4x12 orange cab) I would myself absolutely bind to profiles which fit to this cab.4xEL-34/6l6-big rock monsters.

If I would use a (lets say) 4x10/1x15 or a 2x12 cab on stage I would bind myself to Vox,matchless,Fender etc style of profiles..

But this is not the reason I bought me the KPA.I want flexibility with the best possible result.Only an FRFR as monitor can give me that flexibility using all kinds of tube-profiles in just one performance.Also If I ever again carry around my bulky orange cab which its "limited" and "specialized" sound characteristics I would also bring in some of my tube amp which fits 100% to it.

@MementoMori

Pragmatism in music industry...yea right..

btw..interesting vid.

Quote from cybermgk

Sorry, I don't follow your post.

The cabinet,the type of speakers play a huge role for the ampintheroomsound(can we call this "aitrs" from now;).And it does not make any sense to me to use a real cab as monitor while I use many different amp-profiles of which most just dont fit to my cab.My 60s orange 4x12 with (black)greenbacks does sound unreal with my Rectifier or my JCM800 but will not fit to any twin or vox type of profile.

The whole thing would be against the reason why I use the profiler with all its abilities to sound like any of the many profiles through a FRFR..

I never bought the Kemper for aitrs use..and I wonder how many guys actually did..

;

@cybermgk

You forget the cab-side of things..

@MementoMori

Maybe these "old sticks" are just happy with their sound;I think this is completely okay.Why should they even try something new;Theyare straight happy with what they have and use since many,many years.
And some of theyse "old farts" still kick ass and sound amazingly good just with their one-channel tubecombo and one guitar..

Quote from MementoMori

Yet to this point it's interesting how guitarists romanticize over dated, cumbersome technologies and designs because they feel a purity about it. While nearly every other enterprise and technology tries to advance, the guitar industry tries to jockey new ideas with old ones that most of its players just aren't interested in letting go of.

Think again..

Maybe it is the simple fact that untill now (better said 2012 when the KPA appeared) no modeller was up to the task plays a bigger role why digital tools have such little impact on guitar players;

Actually the KPA has changed a lot.Now you see many,many big names and VIPs actually USING a digital tool on stage and in the studio.

The Kemper sounds as good as the miced amp it takes the proile from.This is a big deal.A game changer.

Sure the KPA can do the ampintheroom with some direct profile and a cab.So you have maybe one-two profiled amps which fit exactly to the 4x12 cab.Fine.But I guess this is not the reason why someone would buy a digital tool with all the capabilities of the Kemper.Using the profiler one wants the best possible sound of his various favourite amps through a frfr or studio monitor.For this nothing is better than the profiler.

It still changes nothing from the fact that a good tube amp with the best fitting cab just standing next to you and your guitar is still a very,very nice thing..and it still sounds different which is logical because there is no mic,no extra cable,no pre and no mixing console.No reason to get upset about this.

@cybermgk

Untill yet I have never used direct/merged-profiles with my 4x12 cabinets.Untill yet I am still on the studio-profiles train so what I hear is the miced tube amp and the cab choosen by the guys who did the profiles...all this through stage-/studio-monitors.

This is ocourse a difference to standing next to the cab..no mics,nothing..just pure ampintheroom and the acoustics of the environment close to it.

I had situations in small coffeehouses sitting on my 4x10 peavey classic getting the most unbelieveable harmonic and sweet as honey feedbacks with my ´77 Stratocaster which held on "forever" just controlling them by my vibrato and the slightest moves of my body..when I open up my legs the feedback was different than with closed legs.. ..actually sounds for which I am "ready to die" for..

You cant do this with a miced amp/cab through monitors on a loud stage with some distance from your rig away.This has nothing to do with the capabilities of the Kemper.It is just physics.

But it is just one example for the being very close to the "naked tube amp"/cab and doing "things" with it..and before you ask..no..I did NOT make sex with my amps.

@SqWark

The reasons for "giving up" the bulky tube amp/cabinet/fx-racks & pedalboards are ofcourse the reason for modelers.Ocourse I agree on this point.These tube-stuff can get very frustrating if you dont find "your sound" consisting of the "right amp" and ofcourse the "right cab".I am glad enough to claim that I found "my rigs" very soon (just after 7-8 years of playing and trying countless amps and cabs) so for me personally my tube-stuff,my rigs is the "source" I can relate on to clear my ears going back to what is really important to sound from time to time.

Nevertheless untill now (with the KPA and maybe the AxeFX) all modelers were obvioulsly to much of a compromise.At least for the guys who play a lot live and earn some $ with making music.Anyway..

All in all dear @SqWark we agree in all issues.Just one last thing..I like the fact that you are "very sensitive" about all issues of music (this says someone who is at least as "sensitive" as you) but you should know that there are some guys here in this blog who are "all the money" and which make this forum this very nice and familiar place.I would not count myself to this group but sure @Michael_dk is one of them.

Regards,Nikos

@SqWark

Reading my post above again it may be sure appear as you put it.Sorry for that.

But what I actually meant was more like "everyone out there needs a little bit of luxury".And nothing else.
People spend so much money for idiotic things (which I respect as long as it makes them happy) but for some reason spending money for making music,going to the theatre or the museum has become "nonsense" for most people who cant afford it anymore.I understand this but nevertheless I just have another opinion.

For a musician (and this is just my opinion) this "little bit of luxury" could be something which gives us joy as musicians.But not only.Having today something like a modeler will help for most things we need in our daily acting as muscians but having an tube amp could be at least as important to understand what the "basics" are.

So..IMO what I described in another post here in this thread is the way I learned music.A one-channel tube amp with a few knobs I sparely use(actually I have to "tweak" these knobs for 2 decades) and a electric guitar.All the nuances of dynamics,volume,overdrive I "tweaked" with just the volume poti and my fingers.Trying to learn all about to have a good vibrato,bending,dynamics,phrasing.To learn all these basics we need to be absolutely "naked and honest".No trick,no fx will give us a beautiful vibrato.Or will teach us how to express our feelings with a simple,amazing bending for which we love the old classic rock albums of Gilmour,Knopfler & co..which are still "the teachers" of all things.

Just a tube amp and the guitar is the most "naked thing" you can have as a guitar player.This is the "source"..as I old as I will get I will always return to my tube amp,plug in my guitar and just practice again,again and again my vibrato,my bendings and my dynamics keeping it all as naked and honest as possible to make me a better player.I will not use anything else.No fx,no pedal,no "trick" which could deviate me from the "basic thing".The pure tube amp sound is "the trick" everyone is looking for to become a great player with a distinctive tone but only a few guys get this.

Actually this is all what I wanted to say,greetings.

@SqWark

I dont understand your sarcasm.With all due respect,but I know a lot of people all around the world who literally have nothing to eat but own a smartphone for a 1000$..and not only this..they will get the "next new one" which will come around soon after the "ex-new one"..how many guys do we know who have no money but spend all they have for a fancy car;Or an expensive vacation;

While I agree that modern tools like the Kemper are just fine for making music all day long on stage and studio I am definitly one of those who would use use a modern bmw (I have a toyota)for driving around all day long and travelling but at sunday afternoon I would love to take out my "vintage Benz with the oldtimer-numberplate" for a ride with my lady..it just "feels good"..

As I said..I have no 1000$ smartphone nor a expensive BMW nor a vintage Benz..but I have tube amps..

ps

It is not 3000$.Just take a look at ebay or all these second hand sites.You may find incredible stuff includung "boutique" for below 1000$.

There are a lot of arguments against the use of tube amps in todays live and studio-situations when you can use a tool like the Kemper.I am already sold on the KPA for all my gigs and studio work.No problem to admit this.

But I guess this is not the issue here.

There are a thousand reasons to own a tube amp and a good cab which have nothing to do with what to use for live or studio work but only with sentimental stuff.Looking at my old tube amps and my old cab just makes me feel good.Not even playing them.I just come into the studio,see them and I am happy.And this very basic feel you have standing next to your tube amp/cab playing loud and proud with no further thoughts in mind.Then comes in the drummer playing some groove,screwing around on his kit from time to time,next come the bass player and f&%$ everything you just started to create with the drummer while you scream at him which key-notes to play and nobody hears anything because it is just to f&%$ing loud....classic..just plain wonderfull.Rocknroll.

It has nothing to do with being ratonial/reasonable,thinking about micing,transport of this heavy stuff,adding fx to it etc..it is just this:Playing your tube amp/cab with your electric guitar.Tubes,metal,five knobs,wood,strings..Very simple.I do this now for some 30 years.Graang..it still takes my breath..

Ofcourse every guitar player should own a tube amp.

I honestly cant catch the "distance" between a miced tube amp through any kind of studio/live-monitors and the KPA.

But as @Armin said..there is nothing better for the Amp-in-the-Room-sound than a great sounding real tube amp and its fitting cab.

This simple act of standing next to your beloved tube amp/cab with no mics,no IEMs,no headphones and even no FX just (as Armin said) "smelling" and "tasting" the whole thing is all about fun (and even more) and you can compare this to food and sex.As good and easy as "virtual" things and the tomato from the greenhouse may be in modern life just dont forget the forget the basics..or the basics will forget you..

Other than this I would like to suggest one bitter truth:

The "less" you have the more you will need to find a way to make things work.One tube amp,one channel,one guitar,one volume poti..and just your fingers..cant get more "rocknroll" than this.Just listen to all the albums which are the reason we play electric guitar.

But for everything (and I mean everything) else..I use the Kemper.

Quote from nightlight

Audiences can't make out 90% of what goes into a guitar tone. That's why guys like Lil' Wayne are the guitar heroes nowadays.

But that 10% of the audience that does know what's going on... I think it makes sense to give them the best just so that they look forward to your performance.

Heck, maybe even some of the "general" audience will get something out of it too.

It really depends..all on the venue,the acoustics,the audience.If it is some "MTV-unplugged" kind of thing playing a nice venue with "carpet on stage including barfoot singer" with some 100-200 sitting audience and mics everywhere sure you could use the most complex fx algorithms and the audience would enjoy every single loop and tap of your delay you create..

Having played myself enough 500-1000 audience sized-venues in ex-industrial/harbor-buildings type of venues with "very difficult" acoustics (pipelines across the roof,steel,glass,huge concrete pillars everywhere etc) there is no chance you will even hear the difference between what kind of fx you are using.Most of the times I turned down even the reverb on the combos leaving it all to the sound guys.Which again left my guitar dry as possible giving all fx possible to the singer which again was not much.

Seeing enough 80s guitar heroes(Vai/Satriani/Malmsteen etc) in 1000-5000 size venues(again mostly ex-industrial locations) it was not only me who was kind of "dissapointed" about how loud but bad sounding all their gigs were..to much fx,no "definition",most of the times the engineers needed 30-40 minutes to get it somehow right.But again I left most of these concerts "almost deaf" and not much else.

It is without a doubt a very difficult issue.And from what I have experienced during the last months live with the KPA made me confident to use fx again as part of my rig while the sound-guys I worked during this period just sit there doing a little bit of "ghost-tweaking" of my guitar during my leads with one hand while smiling at me giving me a thumbs up with the other.

The profiler just works fine.

Is it because venues,FOH,monitors,engineers and last but not least we as guitar players got more experienced and just better in handling our rigs;Or is it the new modelers;

I guess a little bit of all.But the Kemper is sure one of the main reasons as far as I can say this for my own.

I guess the whole development during the last few decades had most of the time just a little to do with what guitar players really needed.It was all about GAS,megalomania,big show and circus.Specially when it comes how to use fx on all sizes of live stages.I guess most players back then could have used just a single Quadraverb and none in the audience would have taken notice that the delays and reverbs did not came from TCs or Lexicons.Instead of this we had all these wall-size racks full of 19"..filling dozens of trucks.

There are so many "stories" and "anecdotes" from famous 80s guitar heroes who asked the "what happened"-question when their guitar tech just made a mistake and the whole fx-racks were"accidentally" not in the signal chain and the pure guitar-/cab-sound went through their monitors blowing them away..

Many years of experiments,big money,bad and thin sounding "guitar heroes" who put all their faith into Bob Bradshaw and some other tech-gurus who filled the trucks of all major-rock bands and gave a lot of work to many,many roadies and road crews..

How should this not end up with some "nostalgia" 20 years later;

If we like it or not.Todays fx in the Kemper are more than anyone of todays players needs.For live more than just 100%..I would discuss this issue if it is about recording but then again this is a completely different issue.

@nightlight

Almost everything in music ("classic rock" or "vintage tubeamps & guitars") is nostalgia.Why do classical musicians still concentrate mostly on mozart & beethoven and nobody cares for new artists who also make great classical music today;

"Nostalgia" is not the problem

.It is more the "feel" you remember when you were 19 years old and you played for the first time in life some more expensive 19"-delay in the late 80s/early 90s.This "experience" is what defines today how the fx for guitar should sound.Even the kids today hear the old albums and want "this delay" from a Lexicon or a TC or the pitch from an eventide (just take a look on all the "ballerina"-covers on youtube).Does the Kemper deliver this quality now with the new delays;For me personally this is completely out of question.From what I have heard from the H9..the new delays of 5.0 are at least as good.

Anyway..

Now with the profiler we have to understand that the whole thing (and most of all the fx) is not "one-dimensional" as we have learned all through these last two-three decades when we had our tube-amp and all was about its fx-loop..and then the question how the whole thing sounded through 12"-speakers in the rehearsal room or on stage was the biggest of all questions.For me this whole matter ended up selling all my 19"-fx by the mid-90s.I just played the "naked" tube amp,my 4x12 & 4x10 cabs and learned to "love it".This was the case for some 20 years till today.

Once again the Kemper shows its revolutionary potential.At least for me personally:

First I stopped to think about my tube amps and cabinets and all the "noise" they make on small stages.
Next I stopped to worry about how the whole thing would sound through different FOHs.
Then I stopped to worry about using a digital tool with all its software.
At last I also stopped to worry about how I will sound in any studio without my tubeamp-rigs.
Finally I am using fx again as part of my rig on jams,rehearsals and live on stage..after two decades...great fun..

Thanks CK

Quote from db9091

If it's a newer one, easy peasy, sell it.

If it's an 80's one, and not modded, sell it. You can find them around easily.

Yes.You can find them easily.But still it depends on how good they sound.I played "millions" of JCM800s..2203s,2204s,2205s,2206s etc..many sounded like &%$§,most sounded "good" and a few sounded so great (mostly 2204s) that you might try to find a way how to steal them because the owner will never sell it..ask Slash for this matter..

If it is a "special" marshall I would not sell it.

@sercho

Since you come from the JCM-800 I would honestly sugget to get yourself the DXR.The EV has definitly a mid-scooped kind of thing and has sure its advantages if you want a more "detailed" sound when playing also at low volumes.The DXR can easily handle "rock"-profiles like any JCM800/marshall type of things.Actually it is very good doing these..

Quote from skoczy

[Blocked Image: https://media.giphy.com/media/1md276hwNrBAY/giphy.gif]

Man...where do you find all these gifs;Is there a special "shove it up to the troll".net anyhwere;

Do you have a link;

Quote from Klappy

I can't think of a worse UI than a smart phone. Tiny screen, and guaranteed short-term obsolescence. How would a little touch screen be a step up from the existing KPA interface? A PC editor I understand for deep editing and patch management at home or in the studio. For live, I want simplicity, which is what the KPA already has (knobs and buttons).

I am also not a big fan of doing it all with editors or apps..to much software to much risk for failing..

Actually the KPA is the first digital tool I really trust.

But..in the case with floorboards it is all about the fact that we kick these stuff all the time with our boots and when we dont abuse it ourself than sure some drunken idiot in the audience will do..this has been mentioned enough here..

The only solution is to build the floorboard like a tank with as few buttons as possible.For live-gigs the app will then be the only possible solution.If we like this or not.

Btw..some days ago I just remembered a blues-guy(his band was playing every weekend) next to our rehearsal room back in the mid 80s who "tested" his pedals while dousing them with beer...hmm...only his vintage tube-screamer survived this if I remember correctly.