The Kemper Profiler

Kemper Profiler

The Kemper Profiler is the leading-edge digital guitar amplifier and all-in-one effects processor.

Hailed as a game-changer by guitarists the world over, the Profiler is the first digital guitar amp to really nail the full and dynamic sound of a guitar or bass amp. This is made possible by a radical, patented technology and concept which we call "Profiling".

For decades, the electric guitarist has been shackled to the tube amplifier as the only means of achieving "that sound". The combination is undoubtedly glorious, but far from ideal - achieving consistent results between practice room, studio and stage presents a significant challenge to guitarists, just as it has since the early 1940s.

Profiling

With the advent of the Kemper Profiler, everything has changed. For the first time in history, guitar players are free to create their most individual tones -tones that reflect the very essence of their playing style- and then capture them exactly into the digital domain with Kemper's unique technology.

Profiling is the key!

Profiling is a unparalleled technique to extract the exact tone and feel from any amp. The entire process takes you only a minute and can be performed on virtually every guitar and bass amp. A profile does not only capture the amp itself but every aspect of the cabinet and microphone configuration as well. The result is as living, vivid and dynamic as the original amps. A mandatory A/B comparison is done after every profiling run ensures the unique authenticity of the profile: So close that you won’t be able to distinguish from the original.
Connections for Profiling a guitar amp

  Click to enlarge

We use proprietary digital technology to analyze the sonic DNA of your amp. As a result, you can go beyond what’s possible with the original amp and tweak everything to your liking. Use the gain control and equalizer in a regular fashion to adapt the sound to your guitar. Add power sagging to the distortion and tweak the power of your pick attack without compression. Or exchange the cabinet later on.

The Profiler gives you more freedom of choice than any other real or virtual amp available.

Profiles you take in session while tracking your next song perfectly work on stage when you tour the songs you've recorded earlier on. It was never easier to have a unique and consistent tone in every situation.

The best amps in the world

Kemper Profiler Factory Content

Feel like you don't have any tube amps worth profiling? No problem!

The Profiler ships with hundreds of amps and Rigs already installed, profiled by professional musicians and engineers that hail from some of the world’s top studios. In addition to that you can access and explore another couple hundreds of Rigs preinstalled in our RigManager software. This premier selection of factory Rigs grants you access to the rarest and finest amps on the planet.
We are constantly refining, updating and extending our free-to-use libraries by fine-tuning the existing catalog and by adding brand new licensed content. Our goal is to allow our users to enjoy the full spectrum of guitar culture and heritage, with a vast range of profiles available even within each genre.

The modeling amps you know are based on predefined algorithms, designed by their respective company to replicate a number of specific reference amps. By nature, such algorithms are limited in number and cannot allow for the subtle variance between tube amps, even within the same product line - this might explain why you rarely see an A/B comparison between a tube amp and its respective digital model.

The Kemper Profiler has no predefined amp models and, therefore, no signature sound. The model is the profile, and each profile has been lovingly created - its maker having meticulously set up the reference amp, selected which microphones to use, and then positioned them accordingly. By design, each profile will have undergone the obligatory A/B comparison and passed the judgement of its maker. Every single profile will sound like you have plugged your guitar into that exact same amp in this specific studio situation. And yes, the Profiler will react to your individual guitar and playing style, just as the original amp would have.

List Amps profiled for factory content

Where do you play?

Recording Studio

Kemper Profiler in Recording Studio

The Profiler revolutionizes the typical workflow of a recording session. Guitarists can now move freely between projects, as taking profiles of any guitar rigs they use allows them do overdubs or alternative takes whenever they like. You could rent a professional studio for a day or two to create the best profiles of your amps, and then record in your project studio later - you'll have the exact sound of the professional studio, but with all the time in the world.
Think reamping … Imagine you're working on the final mix of an album - wouldn't it be great to reamp tracks with the exact same sound and response, without having to rebuild the entire recording setup for each song?

On Stage

Kemper Profiler live on stage

Playing live is where the Profiler really comes into its own - all the time and effort you put into making profiles in the studio means you can now play live with the exact same sound that you used on your blockbuster hit, only without the need for multiple amp setups on stage. You will sound better than ever before through the PA.

Since the sound of the cabinet you mic’ed in the studio is immortalised in the profile, there is no need to mic a speaker cab on stage. In fact, you don't have to carry a cabinet up on stage at all! You can monitor yourself via the common stage-monitor wedge, and save a lot of backache and cargo costs. Not to mention your band mates (and mixing engineer), who might just love you for leaving this very loud sound source at home!

Of course, you might still be drawn to the raw energy that a real speaker cabinet can bring to the rehearsal room and live stage. The Kemper Profiler is well prepared for this as well - you can still drive a speaker cabinet by either a solid-state or tube power-amp, fed by the Profiler’s monitor output. For ultimate convenience, our 'powered' Profiler versions are equipped with a built-in Class D amplifier with up to 600W output. To prevent the amp sound going through two speaker cabinets in a row, the virtual cabinet can be switched off for the monitor output, while remaining active for the main outputs feeding the PA.

Now, as the speaker cabinet is only being used as your personal monitor, you can adjust your volume on stage independently, without affecting the signal volume going to front-of-house.

At Home

Kemper Profiler at home

Let's face it - rocking-out at home is difficult for most of us. Analog tube amps only start to sing at levels where the only neighbors who’ll enjoy your 10min rock’n’roll extravaganza will be the ones who live half-a-mile away! The Profiler, however, sounds great at any level.
Play it through your home stereo or through headphones. Use the dedicated ‘Space’ effect to make headphones a more pleasurable experience, and to reduce ear fatigue. Play along to your favourite music by connecting your MP3 player to the auxilliary in, and then mixing it with the amp signal.

The line-up

Head

Kemper Profiler Head

The Profiler Head comes with classic curves. It makes a perfect silhouette on a 4x12 cabinet. Still, it's so light and compact that it can be taken onto a plane as hand-luggage. The footprint of the Head is tiny - designed to stand on the desk of your project studio, right beside your computer. The Profiler Head is available in black and white colour.

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Rack

Kemper Profiler Rack

The Profiler Rack has a 19" enclosure. It offers the same feature set as the Profiler Head. The only differences are that the LED collars are restricted to the Gain knob only, and the two controls for the MOD module have been omitted - the pay-off being that the entire device is only 3 units high.

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Powered

Kemper Profiler PowerHead

Both the Rack and the Head (black version only) are available with a built-in Class D power amp. It produces 600 Watt @ 8 Ohm or 300 Watt @ 16 Ohm. The power amp was designed in Denmark by the renowned IcePower. It offers pristine sound quality, whether it is driving linear speakers or classic guitar speaker cabinets.
The Class D technique makes for the most energy-efficient power amp solution, emitting only a minimum of heat. This reduces the need for heat-sinks, as well as minimising the overall size and weight. Combining this power amp with the Kemper Profiler turns the PowerHead and the PowerRack into a super smart, compact, all-in solution. The PowerHead weighs in at a little over 6kg.

If required, you can switch off the built-in power amp, converting your powered Profiler into a line-level unit for recording purposes.

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Comparison chart

Profiler Eco System

Profiler Eco System

We offer a growing range of accessories, from custom-tailored transport solutions, to a dedicated and highly integrated foot controller called Profiler Remote.

At the RigExchange provides a free cloud-service for users to share their own creations, where thousands of additional rigs can be downloaded. Lastly, to keep on top of all this content, there is RigManager - a free librarian for Windows and Mac users.

Learn more about our universe

Signal Flow

Kemper Profiler signal chain

The signal-chain comprises 8 effect modules in addition to the amplifier stack. Up to four effects can be placed "pre" the amp stack, and another four "post" the amp. The final modules of the effect chain are ideal for delay and reverb effects. Both delay and reverb offer "spillover", meaning the sonic tail is not cut off when you change to another Rig. Pretty much every effect offers optional "ducking", allowing you to control the effect intensity just by the dynamics of your playing.

All effects - even the whole signal flow - can be accessed by 13 dedicated buttons. Editing a Rig could not be easier! The effects are individually colour-coded by LEDs, allowing you to tell at a glance what type of effect is in use, simply by activating an effect slot. You can lock one or more effects to their slots by pressing the Lock button - any locked effects will stay exactly as they are when you change to another Rig.

Also a number of parallel routing options are avaliable.

  • A effects loop (sending and receiving sound to the outside world) can be placed in any of the free effect slots.
  • The Amplifier provides a Direct Mix control, for instance to add the clean guitar to the distorted signal.
  • The Delay and Reverb can be configured in serial and parallel fashion using by continuous crossfader.
  • A parallel signal pass can be established, bypassing the whole signal pass. This is appealing to bass players for mixing the dry bass signal to the processed signal to maintain the bass fundament and original dynamics. This way, parallel compression for instance, is easily possible.
Signal Flow - Serial and Parallel Routing

Stomps and Effects

The Profiler offers a selection of some the finest effects in the world. As a company, Kemper is also responsible for creating the Access Virus, one of the most successful synthesizers of all time - there can be little doubt that the Access Virus owes some of its success to the highly regarded inbuilt effects. Nearly 20 years of experience allows us to find the essence of both classic and new effects, and equip them with well-conceived parameter sets. We won't overwhelm you with dozens of ineffective controls per effect algorithm - everything has a clear, intuitive and musical purpose.

Along with the standard effects, you will find algorithms rarely seen in a guitar processor - these include the Frequency Shifter, the Formant Correction for our Pitch Shifter, an absolutely authentic Rotary Speaker, and even a Beat Scanner that allows you to control the musical delay time, and other effects, just by the rhythm of your your playing.

Delay

Without doubt, the Delay effect types are some of the most advanced and comprehensive effects collections in the Profiler. However, the approach we have taken might be a bit different from what you've seen before. You will not find a dedicated Reverse Delay, Tape Delay or Ducking Delay, as we realized there is no sense in splitting such crucial features into separate delay types. Instead, we have equipped every single delay type with most of these features. Why not have a Dual Reverse Delay? Or a Serial Delay with analog tape character? Or a Melody Delay with ducking? All of these are possible with the delays in the Profiler.

Single Delay  
Dual Delay  
Two Tap Delay  
Serial Two Tap Delay  
Rhythm Delay  
Quad Delay  

Pitch Shifter Delay

The Pitch Shifter Delays are powerful combinations of the Delay Types with one of four different Pitch Shifter types.
Crystal Type: The Crystal is a reverse delay in which the pitched notes are altered by playing back the delayed signal faster or slower. The Crystal is placed in the feedback loop of the delay, causing a pitch helix with every repetition.
Chromatic Type: The chromatic pitch shifter is positioned at the delay input and can be played polyphonically (chords).
Harmonic Type: The harmonic pitch shifter is positioned at the delay input and is intended to be fed with single notes only. The pitch is set in musical intervals and will follow the selected key.
Loop Pitch Type: This pitch shifter works chromatic as well, but is positioned in the feedback loop of the delay, resulting in a pitch helix or spiral with every repetition.

Crystal Delay  
Loop Pitch Delay  
Frequency Shifter Delay  
Melody Chromatic Delay  
Melody Harmonic Delay  
Dual Chromatic Delay  
Dual Harmonic Delay  
Dual Crystal Delay  
Dual Loop Pitch Delay  
Quad Chromatic Delay  
Quad Harmonic Delay  

Reverb

The reverb offers studio-quality algorithms and works closely with the delay effect.
Taken over from the Access Virus synthesizer, our delay and reverb provide an outstanding sound quality. And very unique: they perform a full spillover when you change to a new sound. That means, both delay and reverb will decay by the previous sound and unchanged settings, while you play a new rig with all new settings.

Space  
Hall  
Large Room  
Small Room  
Ambience  
Matchbox  

Distortion

We have faithfully modeled the most prominent vintage distortion pedals. In addition, we have created a number of novel booster and tone shaping effects, that are not realizable in the analog world.

Green Scream Inspired by the Tube Screamer TS808 or OD808
Plus DS Inspired by the MXR Distortion +
One DS Inspired by the Boss DS-1
Muffin Inspired by the Big Muff
Mouse DS Inspired by the ProCo Rat II
Fuzz DS Inspired by the Fuzz Face
Metal DS Inspired by the Boss Metal Zone

Booster

The boosters feature several dedicated filter settings to perfectly shape your guitar for your individual amp distortion tone.

Treble Booster  
Lead Booster Tunable peak filter, emphasizes specific frequencies
Pure Booster Boosting or attenuating without coloring the sound
Wah Pedal Booster  

Pitch Shifter

One of the most advanced pitch shifter algorithm in the industry. It shifts single notes as well as complex chords by an unsurpassed quality. The Vinyl Stop effect drives the pitch of your guitar continuously down to zero and silence by an expression pedal. The Profiler introduces a new technique to the guitar world. The Formant Freeze maintains the natural sound of pitched notes, even at large pitch intervals.

Transpose “Digital capo” for your instrument
Pedal Pitch Inspired by the Whammy pedal
Pedal Vinyl Stop Turns the pitch down to zero
Chromatic Pitch Dual-voice pitch shifter
Harmonic Pitch Dual-voice pitch shifter, creates intelligent harmony voices
Analog Octaver  

Modulation

The Chorus effects span from the faithful recreation of the bucket-brigade chorus sound of the 70's to the crystal clear 80's multi chorus and the characteristic Micro Pitch effect, based on our Pitch Shifter algorithm. The Rotary Speaker effect, in combination with a profile of a real rotary speaker, is actually not to tell apart from the original.

Vintage Chorus Inspired by the Chorus Ensemble
Hyper Chorus Complex six-voice chorus
Air Chorus Inspired by the Jazz Chorus
Micro Pitch Detune effect, based on pitch shifter technology
Vibrato  
Rotary Speaker Inspired by the Leslie speaker
Tremolo  

Phaser and Flanger

While the Flanger is based on warm sounding emulation of a feedbacked bucked-brigade circuit, the Phaser allows very complex modulations by using up to 12 phaser stages. The distance between the Phaser peaks and notches can be controlled by the unique "Spread" parameter.
The modulation rate of the Phaser and Flanger can be linked to the song tempo.

Phaser Up to 12 filter stages for each stereo side
Phaser Vibe inspired by the Univibe
Phaser Oneway  
Flanger  
Flanger Oneway  

Wah

The Wah effects are a collection of different filter and lo-fi effects, have in common that they are automatically linked to your Wah expression pedal without further hassle. Control the various colours with your pedal or alternatively by the dynamics of your guitar using the Touch Wah function. There is an auto-off function available for each Wah effects, when you stop moving the Wah pedal. You will find a number of preset Wah effects that simulate your favorite Wah pedals.

Wah Wah The classic
Wah Lowpass DJ-like Wah effects
Wah Highpass
Wah Phaser The Phaser and Flanger controllable by your wah pedal
Wah Flanger
Wah RateReducer Lo-Fi Sample Rate Reduction by pedal
Wah RingModulator Two outstanding Sci-fi effects
Wah FrequencyShifter
Wah FormantShift Shifts the formants and character of your instrument

Compressor and Noise Gate

The compressor features the full compression bandwidth of well known compressor pedals, but without further colouring the signal. Our unique "Squash" parameter controls the sponginess of the compression.
The noise gates are not an alternative to the main noise gate, but a completition, especially for excellently shaped metal palm-mutes.

Compressor  
Noise Gate 2:1 Soft expander, expansion ratio of 2:1
Noise Gate 4:1 More aggressive expander, expansion ratio of 4:1

Equalizers

A set of parametric equalizers as well as a graphic EQ helps to shape your signature sound. As most effects, they can be placed before or after the amplifier section.

Graphic Equalizer 8-band, octave equalizer, with fixed frequency bands
Studio Equalizer 4-band parametric equalizer, adjustable frequency/ bandwidth/ Q-factor
Metal Equalizer inspired by the equalizer of the Boss Metal-Zone
Stereo Widener Creates a subtle stereo effect by using equalisation

Loop

To connect external gear, the Profiler offers a hardware effects loop on the back side of the amp. You can apply the hardware effect loop in any of the Stomp Modules or in X or MOD in the Effects Section.

Loop Mono  
Loop Stereo  
Loop Distortion  

Retain Control

The Live Insurance

The Live Insurance

The Profiler has been designed with live performances in mind. Performance Mode provides dedicated memory with which to create and organize complete musical scenes that correspond to your repertoire. Any tweaks you make here will stay exclusive to the Performance. There is plenty of space, allowing you to store up to 125 songs with five musical scenes each. During a concert, you can simply step from song to song according to your set-list.

Profiler Remote and MIDI floor board support

The Live Insurance

The Profiler Remote is the perfectly integrated solution to control the Kemper Profiler. It connects via a single cable, no additional power cable is required.

Learn more about Remote

Traditional MIDI based foot controllers are also supported, and pretty much every parameter can be controlled.

Free Feature Update

Free Feature Update

Wouldn’t it be great to beam a couple of new tubes from the 50s straight into your amp? Or for a couple of new stomps to magically appear in your gig bag? In software, you can already do this and we make extended use of it. Providing Free feature additions via firmware updates is a proud tradition at Kemper. This way, your purchase becomes even more valuable over time.

Did you know?

The Hi-Z input makes sure every nuance of your playing comes through, and that your volume and tone pot settings work just as you would expect. This is also why your trusty old stompboxes work so well in front of the Kemper Profiler.
The Kemper Profiler has a built-in analog splitter that mirrors your DI signal to the direct out. Record this dry signal to a separate track, and you can re-amp it later, should you desire to do so. No additional 're-amping' hardware is required, as the Profiler is capable to connect to your recording gear by analog studio level or digital SPDIF.
The monitor output supplies a cab sim free signal for your (build-in) power-amp and cabinet on stage, while the FOH receives your signal with the cab sim intact.
Accurate models of classic, retro modulation effects and famous overdrive/distortion pedals. Wah, tremolo, delay, reverb and much more. Add up to eight effects at the same time.
Use the effects loop to integrate stompboxes or rack effects in your rig, at any point in the signal chain.
Delay and reverb can be adjusted from serial to parallel configuration - and to anywhere in between.
Lock any number of modules to keep their exact settings when you change rigs. This is ideal if you're curious to hear what your favorite Screamer setting sounds like in front of other amp profiles, for example.
Our frequent firmware updates will always be free of charge and a new OS version will never alter the sound of your existing rigs.
Right from the start the Kemper Profiler comes equipped with more than 300 profiles, featuring vintage classics, modern high-gain amps and rare boutique items. These profiles were made by top engineers and producers in premiere studios around the world.
Developed by the designers of the Access Virus synthesizer - 15 years of innovations in audio.
Yes. The profiles don't crush your tone, like so many other digital processors do, but bring out the sound of your fingers, pickups etc.
Yes. As a matter of fact, the Kemper Profiler comes with four factory profiles taken from one of the best-sounding solid state amps in history: the Roland JC-120.
14 endless analogue potentiometers combine the accuracy of classic potentiometers with the ease of encoders. They allow quick and easy control over the sound, without the irritating 'gear ratio' feeling.
In case you're encountering nerve-wracking hum due to ground loops, use one of the four ground-lift switches to eliminate the problem. This is helpful should in studio or live situations, where multiple devices are connected to your Profiler.
80dBs of available gain for the amp simulation lets you clean up a distorted profile or push a clean profile into overdrive.
The smart & transparent noise gate is easily adjustable via the front panel. Additional expander noise gates dedicated to metal sounds are available in the list of stomp effects.
Automatic spillover lets delay and reverb decay naturally when you change rigs. No need for special arrangements or parameter matching of the effects, the spillover is everpresent.
Every Stomp and Effect can be individually stored and called by a Module Preset.
Dedicated Copy and Paste buttons let you easily move effects to a different location, or even to a different rig.
Since the unit is cooled passively, there is absolutely no fan noise to disturb you, even in the quietest of studio environments.
The Kemper Profiler user community has already created and shared thousands of profiles, all of which are easily accessible via the Kemper homepage.
No. It ships with over 300 profiles, created in studios around the world, featuring vintage classics, modern high-gain amps, and rare boutique items.
Yes - and even better, you can have it both ways at the same time: use the stereo XLR outs to send your signal to the front of house (FOH), and use the dedicated monitor out to feed your power amp and cabinet with a signal that bypasses the cabinet simulation.
Yes. A profile consists, basically, of an amplifier portion and a cabinet portion.
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