Posts by alerich

    I guess that the mistake was to install the new Rig Manager with the profiler turned on - but that is only a guess

    I had the same problem when I upgraded to Rig Manager 3.2.43 and I did not have my Kemper connected to my computer when I did the upgrade (I only connect it when I need to use Rig Manager). I uninstalled Rig Manager and then reinstalled Rig Manager and that corrected the issue. I also got the "Something unexpected happened" message when I upgraded the OS from the USB stick but that seems to have been an isolated glitch. My Kemper is operating normally after the OS upgrade. It kinda freaks you out a little bit when you first see it. I sent the diagnostics file to support but they found nothing amiss.

    I use it both in the Stomps and Effects sections. Sometimes it ends up where it ends up only because that's my last open position. I have found that the Rotary Speaker doesn't change as much in the before versus after the Amp block positions as something like the Chorus. Chorus before and Chorus after have a much greater sonic change to my ears and I position them based on what I am looking for. Try it in both locations and see what you think. Putting it in the Stomps section would be similar to having a really good Leslie pedal in front of your amp and many of them sound really good.

    FRFR is not for everyone.

    Likewise for the Kone (or speakers, in general). I have always had a love/hate relationship with speakers. I have a few that I love but most I do not. Most of the list of imprints that are currently available for the Kone includes speakers I never cared for in real life. It's a neat idea on paper but I'm sticking with my DXR10 pair.

    I have a Digitech FreqOut in front of my powered toaster. That's it. I have a Mission EP-1 connected to the Kemper for wah. I absolutely love the built in wah sounds. I was a long time devotee of the vintage pre-Dunlop Thomas Organ Cry Baby wah. I have several vintage examples. Once I got the Kemper and dialed in my wah sound those wah pedals went into storage. Same for my vintage BOSS CE-2 and my MXR Phase 90 and flanger. The only Kemper time based effect that I am not wowed by is the rotary speaker. I don't use that effect very often but when I do I really miss my Dunlop Rotovibe. I'm pretty basic when it comes to effects. I haven't scratched the surface of what the Kemper will do regarding effects but likely never will.

    I love the MBritt Crank N Go pack. The SLO 100 profiles are my daily players. It also includes an extensive set of Friedman BE 100 profiles that I dig but not as much as the SLO profiles. If you are patient and check the profile sellers websites frequently they tend to offer discounts on a pretty regular basis. I've bought a bunch of MBritt and Tone Junkie profiles at half off or even $5 a pop. My four favorite packs are all MBritt packs: Crank N Go, 69 Marshall, Jim Kelley and Dumble.

    After playing through the factory Rigs, I wish I'd limited myself to the free Rig Packs and Rig Exchange.


    Would've saved a whole lotta money and probably found many Rigs good enough to see me through. Once you take a bite out of the commercial-Profile cherry, it's hard to stop there... :pinch:

    I am the exact polar opposite. Had I been limited to only the factory rigs and the Rig Exchange my Kemper would have been on Craigslist within a month (I traded for a used powered toaster, foot controller and bag). I'd had my eye on the Kemper for a while and after browsing some of the commercial profile sellers I made a mental note that the first pack I would buy would be Michael Britt's Jim Kelley pack. Indeed, the evening I got my Kemper I purchased and installed the Kelley pack. I thought I'd died and went to heaven. I knew that evening the Kemper was here to stay.


    I get what you are saying about the commercial profile rabbit hole. it happens. I've bought a bunch of them and many (most) were loaded, demoed and deleted never having sounded nearly as good as the demo videos on their website(s). In the end, the only profiles I play are packs I purchased from Michael Britt. There is just something about the way he profiles an amp that is pleasing to my ear. I finally convinced myself I'll never find profiles I like as well as the MB packs and I was able to get that commercial profile monkey off my back.


    I wouldn't have done anything differently except maybe pulling the trigger sooner. I regret that didn't take the leap of faith earlier.

    The Soldano SLO 100 profiles from Michael Britt's "Crank N Go" pack are my daily drivers. The Friedman BE 100 profiles (also in the same pack) are astoundingly good but the Soldano profiles are my favorites. I've bought Soldano SLO 100 profile packs from at least a half dozen other sellers and they all got auditioned and deleted. They didn't even come close for me. I actually own an old Hot Rod 50 half stack and still prefer the Kemper profiles. For that matter I have quite a few of his profile packs and they are all excellent. The Jim Kelley pack is the best ten bucks you will ever spend on a profile pack.

    I like higher gain amps and profiles. I think this phenomenon varies from amp to amp. Some amps don't really change tone all that much when you add gain. They just get gainier. This is particularly true of master volume amps that are deriving their gain mostly from the preamp. I have found that profiles of non master volume amps do not always behave this way. Taking profile #3 and increasing the gain to the level of profile #8 doesn't necessarily sound just like profile #8. Which is a good thing, since it gives you a few more sounds to work with. This behavior may be different with lower and mid gain amps. I do agree that some authors get carried away. I bought a profile pack for the Soldano SLO 100 that had something like 125 profiles in it. A wide variety of channels, gain levels, different cabs, different mics and mic combinations. It was tiring. In the end I ended up deleting the whole set. I found one author I really like. I stopped buying profiles from other sellers unless they are running some uber big discount. Then I'll try a few.


    I actually like it when people add effects to their profiles. More often than not I end up deleting the effect but occasionally I'll find a gem - either a new setting on an effect I already use or an effect I have not yet tried. I rename them and store them for future use.

    I've done it. I like it. I run a pair of Yamaha DXR10 monitors (mono) out of my Monitor output and sometimes connect a Soldano 4x12 to my power amp out on my powered head. It gives the low end a nice full sound that I don't get with the powered monitors by themselves. They still sound great by themselves but I was just trying other setups one day. I just leave the cab sim on. Honestly, I can't really tell a whole lot of difference between cab sim on and cab sim off when I run the power amp into a guitar cab. It does make a huge difference to the powered monitors, of course.

    Maybe a little off topic , but not much ..... :/

    What do you guys think about bands playing covers

    without paying royalties to the composer / owner

    of the songs ?


    It's been over twenty years since I played cover tunes in a bar band but at that time it was actually the venue's responsibility to maintain a current permit for playing cover tunes that covered their establishment and all the bands that played there.. It was not the individual bands' responsibility. It may be a practice that was followed in larger cities like New York and Los Angeles and Nashville that have a large number of union musicians. In my experience these permits were never purchased in the small road house style bars where I played in the Southeast US. It would have been an arduous task to enforce compliance.


    I agree with the others that I do not believe Kemper ever envisioned there being a secondary market for commercial profiles. That negated a need for any DRM type of protection to be included in the platform. I don't feel that it is incumbent upon Kemper to develop a feature to police this. I really doubt that widespread commercial Kemper profile sharing even occurs.

    I can understand a club owner who really doesn't understand amplifiers well instituting an arbitrary wattage limit but I would expect more out of the folks at NAMM being that it is the premier musical instrument trade show in the world. A local outdoor concert venue here in Atlanta is located in a residential area and has both a curfew and a sound pressure limit. That seems much more logical. Not much difference between a 40 watt amp and a 50 watt amp but 100 decibels is always 100 decibels.

    I am very honest here just wanna verify if this happens to you too?

    In a nutshell... yes. I have purchased profiles from about a dozen different sellers. Most of the popular sellers and a few smaller "mom and pop" types. On a number of occasions I have been left with the same feeling you have - wondering if I am playing the same profile they purported to be using in the demo video. Many never seem to sound as good. A few sound pretty good but don't seem to trip my trigger. There is one seller that I really like (you asked not to name anyone). At least half of the packs I have purchased were bought, demoed and deleted. I just knew after a short test drive that they were not going to work for me. You are not alone. I have pretty much quit buying profiles since it's so hit or miss.

    I rename rigs in Rig Manager all the time. I also dislike the annoying naming conventions of many profile makers and sellers. If you change the name of the rig (and any other fields) in Rig Manager it changes them in the actual profile and does not create a copy. Just click on the rig and then in the right hand pane change whatever fields you wish other than the name of the creator which cannot be changed. Be sure to hit the enter key after each field that you change or Rig Manager will not store it. It can be tedious if you have a big profile pack but you only have to do it once. Be sure to make a complete backup when you are done.

    Hey Alerich.


    what Friedman BE pack were you referring to? What is your sound and style?


    Appreciate your feedback!

    The Friedman BE profiles I was referring to are contained in the MBritt Crank N Go profile pack. he doesn't offer a separate Friedman only pack. It looks like he's running a 30% off Black Friday sale through tomorrow 12/02. The amps in the pack are:


    Friedman BE-50 Deluxe Soldano SLO100 Mesa Stiletto Marshall DSL40C EVH 5150III 50w EVH 5150III 100w

    ’78 Marshall JMP 100w Super Lead Bogner Shiva Carvin Legacy V3


    There are only a few profiles each of many of the amps but a bunch of Friedman profiles in clean, BE and HBE mode. I'm a Marshall/Soldano type of guy and I like to play mostly classic rock or hard rock. I played a BE 100 once and thought it was the best sounding modified Marshall tone I had ever heard. His profiles capture it really well and that amp has a surprisingly good clean channel that he includes. His SLO 100 profiles sound better to me than any of the others I have purchased and I own a old Soldano Hot Rod 50 stack.

    I've purchased profile packs from about ten different commercial profile makers. The only profiles I play are Michael Britt profiles. I haven't found anyone else's that I like as much. The day I received my Kemper I purchased his Jim Kelley pack and I still love it. The '69 Marshall pack is amazing, too. I play mostly overdriven tones. Then I bought his Crank N Go pack. I had been looking for a good Soldano profile pack. I've bought some from a few others but haven't been wowed by them.


    He doesn't have a separate Soldano pack but there are some included in the Crank N Go pack so I pulled the trigger. They are really good but once I tried his Friedman BE profiles in that same pack I was hooked. They've become my daily driver. I purchased a bunch of his one weekend when he was running a 50% off sale (who can pass up profile packs at $5 a pop?) and also a bunch from Tone Junkie during a 50% sale on his site (and the profiles were marked down, too). They are all good profile packs but I always end up back on the Friedman BE profiles. I've pretty much quit buying profile packs. I don't even tweak them. Plug and play or in my case, plug in and hang on.


    One thing that surprises me is all of the people who do YouTube videos on Kemper, Fractal, Helix, et cetera and they still seem to have a room full of amps. I've sold five amps since I got my Kemper in April. I kept my Soldano more for sentimental purposes and a few that I built but the rest are gone. I haven't played through a real tube amp for more than five minutes since I got my Kemper. I can't see ever going back. I have a powered head but don't really care for the sound of the powered Kemper into guitar speakers. I have two Yamaha DXR10's on the floor as wedges. Sounds huge. I love this rig.

    Just a followup on this. I opened a support ticket last night and Kemper responded this morning that they have duplicated the issue on their end and will address it in the next firmware release. Excellent customer service and many thanks to the Folks at Kemper for their quick response.