Kemper?

[elambo]

Michael - I was hoping you'd chime in with an opinion about the Kemper but I wasn't sure if you'd used one or not. You've given quite an endorsement. I'll be on the lookout for a local dealer.

[GMR]

Can't ask for a better endorsement than that espescially coming from MW. the master at getting some of the best guitar tones on album.... I personally love it also, espescially when you profile your own amps/set up. The place where it might lack is when you distance mic with a lot of room ambiance, that room ambience will not sound the same, but when close miking it's a great tool and pretty spot on IMO. Nothing compares to it including any AXE FX version all !!!!

Originally Posted by mwagener

I have been doing guitar based records for almost 40 years and I have worked with a ton of excellent guitar players (Zakk, Steve Stevens, George Lynch, Nuno, Vito Bratta, Wolf Hoffmann, Mick Mars, James Hetfield, Kane Roberts, Scottie and Snake from Skid Row, Chris Impelliteri, Dimebag, Ty Tabor etc.) and just as many great amps. The Kemper is a game changer and is hands down THE best piece of gear that walked though my studio door in the last 20 years.

I am a stickler for guitar tone and I don't take guitar tone lightly. I've tried all the simulators more than once with a bunch of different players and I didn't like ANY of them (still don't). They don't do your right hand justice, so they make you play different. The Kemper is different, it is not a simulator it is a profiler, to me that makes a big difference.

I have about 50 different guitar amps, guitar pre-amps, and lots of cabinets, microphones and mic pres. They all sound great for something, all great in their own way. Rarely do I just use one single amp/cab/mic, most of the time I use combinations.

I re-amped a DI guitar track through my Splawn together with a Bogner module, via two 4x12 cabs with 3 different speakers and 4 different mics via the Chandler TG-2 mic pre and the Trident A-range mic pre, mixed together to one track by the CraneSong Spider, and the sound was killer. Recorded the live amp track into Nuendo, I then profiled that exact setup, straight out of the Spider and re-amped the same DI track through the Kemper profile of that setup and punched it in and out of the original amp track: I could not hear a difference, I could not tell where the amp track ended and the Kemper track started and vice versa. That is close enough for me. If I can not tell a difference with the track in solo, nobody will be able to hear a difference when I'm done with the mix!

The secret is in getting a great profile and there are a bunch of things to be paid attention to, like the actual return level, the level going into the Kemper, refining the profile the correct way etc. If done right, I can not tell the profile from the original, if NOT done right, there will be a noticeable difference.

Am I going to sell all my amps? Of course not, there are a million combinations that sound good and are special to a particular track or song. Will I profile that combination used on that particular track? Yes, of course. Do I like other peoples profiles, yes, some of them are very good and are very inspiring, some others don't fit my style, so I won't use them.

I love being able to give the guys the exact sound they got in the studio on their album to take on the road.

I think the Kemper KPA is an amazing piece of gear and it does make my job easier.

my 2 cents - now back to making music...

[Markus Stock]

I am owning the Kemper for over a year now. Honeymoon Phase still not over - I am amazed at how great this thing sounds and how accurately it profiled my amps and other peoples amps every time I switch it on - be it at home for composing new tracks, in the studio producing albums or on the road playing live...I agree with Michael - the best piece of guitar recording gear since....well...forever?

[jrhager84]

Why do you think there are certain people that have nothing but bad things to say about it? In all honesty, the lack of a 'demo' here locally, plus the 'hater' reviews dissuaded me from pursuing it before. Now I see all these glowing reviews. Makes me want it again. I can't have a million amps at my place. This would be PERFECT if it works as advertised.

[GMR]

Profit? Ego? Maybe wasn't used properly. If you just play with the presets it ain't that better until you really dig into it with great sound profiles or you make your own and there are great profiles out there also.

Might be some Axe FX owners are pissed that they spent all that dough and wait time for the Axe and this thing is just in another league and way better ... IMO

and BTW Kemper should be kissing MW ass for that endorsement !!!!

[jrhager84]

Alright. I think this was the push I needed. Come Jan, I'm gonna order a black one. :D

[jrhager84]

Do you guys do a fair amount of re-amping? I'm thinking I'll end up getting a second for re-among in the control room (it's a separate space). Promising. Thanks for the thorough review!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk

[Markus Stock]

Why would you neeed a second one for that?

[jrhager84]

I'm thinking I'll end up getting a second for re-amping in the control room **(it's a separate space)**.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk

[Markus Stock]

The KPA is portable and easy and fast to setup. It's not heavy. I am constantly carrying the KPA between my home for composing new songs, my studio to produce and record with other bands and even playing live with my bands. it never accured to me buying three...but if you have enough $ for that...go ahead!

[drumdrum]

I've had my KPA for a few months now, and all it does is make me a better musician! I seriously can't stop getting inspired by this thing. Its quite incredible...

Hands down, it is my best musical purchase I ever made, except perhaps for my drum kit... But I'm a bit biased there!

Its worth every penny...

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by Tok22

Actually, 6 years ago the Axe-FX clan claimed the Axe-FX Standard, Version 1, sounded better than a tube amp...now suddenly today 6 years later it has to be the Axe-FX11 with firmware 9 or "you haven't heard it"...

I didn't hear it 6 years ago. But Cliff is in constant development. It sounds better than it did last year, by a considerable margin.

There's remarkable tweak ability which drives some novice users crazy. Me too sometimes. But now it'll sound good out of the box, which wasn't necessarily true before. You HAD to tweak it.

[GMR]

But the Kemper still sounds better, more real, no tweaking necessary, if you got your tone right from the start ! and if you wanna tweak some more, there are those options also! That's what I love with the Kemper, it's not gonna get an upgrade that your tone will sound better in 6 months or 3 years, your tone is there the way it was if you profiled it properly !!! If it was a shitty tone that was profiled it will be a shitty tone !!! but if it's a great tone profiled , you will have that great tone !!!! just a great machine!!

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

But now it'll sound good out of the box, which wasn't necessarily true before. You HAD to tweak it.

[elambo]

Originally Posted by jrhager84

Why do you think there are certain people that have nothing but bad things to say about it?

Owners of competing products?

[emitsweet]

Originally Posted by Tok22

Actually, 6 years ago the Axe-FX clan claimed the Axe-FX Standard, Version 1, sounded better than a tube amp...now suddenly today 6 years later it has to be the Axe-FX11 with firmware 9 or "you haven't heard it"...

lol so true. I had an AXE-FX. It had some nice fx but the digital distortion just hurt my ears.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by GMR

But the Kemper still sounds better, more real, no tweaking necessary, if you got your tone right from the start ! and if you wanna tweak some more, there are those options also! That's what I love with the Kemper, it's not gonna get an upgrade that your tone will sound better in 6 months or 3 years, your tone is there the way it was if you profiled it properly !!! If it was a shitty tone that was profiled it will be a shitty tone !!! but if it's a great tone profiled , you will have that great tone !!!! just a great machine!!

Well I'm not arguing Axe vs Kemper. Don't you think it depends on whether you are trying to duplicate your amp sound or not? For myself I'm not. I'm interested in finding new sounds and a wide variety of useable real tones. I suppose if I had that KILLER tone and I wanted to have THAT EXACT TONE, and wanted to simplify my lugging around rig, that might be something else.

Hey I think the Kemper sounds great. I'm not denigrating it. I just don't feel the need or desire to have one. I'm very happy with the Axe Fx II.

[Johnkenn]

The biggest plus for me - being a mediocre player (at best) - and using this to build tracks at home...is that I can get a realistic, professional sound pretty much straight out of the box. I'm a songwriter - not a trained tracking engineer - so mic'ing amps isn't something I've done for twenty years. I also dont have an amp closet or a great room to crank these up to eleven in. So - i have been able to get better sounds out of the Kemper than actually putting a mic to an amp. That whole pita has been eliminated. Now I can focus all my energy and frustration into playing a decent part. I think that's what good gear does: gets you to the tones in your head faster and easier.

[GMR]

...and that is why it's a great time to be a guitar player with all these tools. we can get access to all these good useable sounds !!! Even with my Pod HD I was getting some very useable sounds and quite enjoyed the ride with it but the Kemper is just another notch above ...

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Well I'm not arguing Axe vs Kemper. Don't you think it depends on whether you are trying to duplicate your amp sound or not? For myself I'm not. I'm interested in finding new sounds and a wide variety of useable real tones. I suppose if I had that KILLER tone and I wanted to have THAT EXACT TONE, and wanted to simplify my lugging around rig, that might be something else.

Hey I think the Kemper sounds great. I'm not denigrating it. I just don't feel the need or desire to have one. I'm very happy with the Axe Fx II.

[polifemo]

Dear Mr Wagener,

I really hope that you go into the "amp profiling business" offering well created profiles of your amazing amp collection.
I´d love to be able to buy, not only single amp profiles, but also profiles of "killer combos" like the Splawn/Bogner one you told about in your post!

As the Kemper community is constantly growing, I believe that there´s a market for this, and with you reputation regarding guitar tones, I guess that this would take off immediately.

Keep up the good work :-)

Back to music...

Originally Posted by mwagener

I have been doing guitar based records for almost 40 years

I am a stickler for guitar tone and I don't take guitar tone lightly.

I have about 50 different guitar amps, guitar pre-amps, and lots of cabinets, microphones and mic pres. They all sound great for something, all great in their own way. Rarely do I just use one single amp/cab/mic, most of the time I use combinations.

I re-amped a DI guitar track through my Splawn together with a Bogner module, via two 4x12 cabs with 3 different speakers and 4 different mics via the Chandler TG-2 mic pre and the Trident A-range mic pre, mixed together to one track by the CraneSong Spider, and the sound was killer. Recorded the live amp track into Nuendo, I then profiled that exact setup, straight out of the Spider and re-amped the same DI track through the Kemper profile of that setup and punched it in and out of the original amp track: I could not hear a difference

The secret is in getting a great profile and there are a bunch of things to be paid attention to, like the actual return level, the level going into the Kemper, refining the profile the correct way etc. If done right, I can not tell the profile from the original, if NOT done right, there will be a noticeable difference.

Am I going to sell all my amps? Of course not, there are a million combinations that sound good and are special to a particular track or song. Will I profile that combination used on that particular track? Yes, of course. Do I like other peoples profiles, yes, some of them are very good and are very inspiring, some others don't fit my style, so I won't use them.


I think the Kemper KPA is an amazing piece of gear and it does make my job easier.

my 2 cents - now back to making music...

[tekis]

Originally Posted by Bassmec

Suit yourself mate, but this is gear sluts hi end and I thought we were all interested in seeing all sides of the coin from the oldest to the newest technology.

I am interested in modelling amps but am also worried about the future when people can just make an acceptable sounding record at a push of a button based on other people's talent, life's work, best decisions and massive investment in gear and premises.

Every step in this direction is a step away from what I love most, which is Rock and Roll excess without any of the fashionable current downsizing.
Please don't downsize my Rock and Roll anymore than it is now, just let us old gits die happy thinking ridiculous things like the minimum size for a decent live bass speaker might be an 8 X 10.

Your set up looks great. If I had my "druthers" I'd surely like to operate as you do--that's how I learned and came up nearly 27 years ago. And I've done a lot of records where the guitars are featured and have earned accolades among musicians for my "dogged pursuit" of great guitars sounds.

Nowadays, I live in a one-room apartment in mid-town Manhattan. I now do quite a bit of recording here--mostly vocals. A client recently bought one of these Kemper re-amps over. I was impressed with the sound; ergonomically I thought it was lacking, though. Way too complicated and unintuitive in the layout of ins and outs. It did, however, cancel any reservations about doing electric guitar overdubs here on this particular project. Given the situation, I'm always game to throw up several mics and amps and go for it! Peace.

Happy Holidays from NYC!

[GSF]

Owner of both the Kemper and AxeFx Ultra. Both very good emulators, but sounding very different. Axefx seems to have a thicker color to it..Both seem to track well on their own, though in a mix it feels like the Kemper does a better job finding it's place, it's full frequency but doesn't sit on top of everything else.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like the two blend well together, it's either one or the other. However, the Kemper works fine when layered with live tones. There are profiles of varying quality, so getting the right library in order is key, but in making my own patches I've been very pleased.

My biggest gripe about the Kemper is the UI; organizing and scrolling through presets is PIA. But it's a great sounding box.

[gt_jumper]

I use mine live now In place of my trusty old classic 50 1/2 stack. I have actually profilled the classic 50 and used that profile on stage. It sounds better then anything out there in the live scene.

As for those that can hear a *vast* difference between the profile and the reference amp, i think they are either crazy OCD types that can see decipher codes for the ARMY intelligence, or they are lying. I totally understand the hate though, spent thousands and thousands of dollars on collecting the gear to have that sound, now made worthless by a small toaster looking box that can do it all for the mere mortals (the ones paying you). Same with photography, digital SLR prices are crazy low and have made everyone a professional photographer (with a facebook page sporting the word *studios* to boot). Or the tattoo industry is now fighting the pandemic of backyarders with their $200 tattoo gun set off ebay..... We payed over $10,000 for our guns and power supplies alone.....

Either roll with the times, or get left behind.

[Ben Logan]

How well does the Kemper do "in between tones:" Keith Richards wide open twin sound e.g. Clean going on dirty always seems to be a place where sims show their weakness.

Also, does Kemper plan on releasing a "consumer product?" I'm priced out, big time!

[Peter Weihe]

Originally Posted by Ben Logan

How well does the Kemper do "in between tones:" Keith Richards wide open twin sound e.g. Clean going on dirty always seems to be a place where sims show their weakness.

Also, does Kemper plan on releasing a "consumer product?" I'm priced out, big time!

I quickly recorded some files with a '68 marshall and a 70s Vox AC30 and their profiles through the Kemper Amp for comparison when i did a test for the German magazine Xound last June.

I often found that heavily distorted sounds are the least critical for amp emulation. So I chose straight vintage signal chains: '62 Strat or '53 Tele-cable-amps on half volume - mics- preamps (Marshall through V72s; Vox through API) -Console- Lavry Gold ADC.

Here's the link to the soundfiles:

Soundfiles Kemper Profiling Amp

Best Peter

[emitsweet]

Originally Posted by Peter Weihe

I quickly recorded some files with a '68 marshall and a 70s Vox AC30 and their profiles through the Kemper Amp for comparison when i did a test for the German magazine Xound last June.

I often found that heavily distorted sounds are the least critical for amp emulation. So I chose straight vintage signal chains: '62 Strat or '53 Tele-cable-amps on half volume - mics- preamps (Marshall through V72s; Vox through API) -Console- Lavry Gold ADC.

Here's the link to the soundfiles:

Soundfiles Kemper Profiling Amp

Best Peter

sounds good, a little veiled not very open sounding. Very very slight hint of podsih type digital compression. Overall good though

[Ben Logan]

Originally Posted by Peter Weihe

I quickly recorded some files with a '68 marshall and a 70s Vox AC30 and their profiles through the Kemper Amp for comparison when i did a test for the German magazine Xound last June.

I often found that heavily distorted sounds are the least critical for amp emulation. So I chose straight vintage signal chains: '62 Strat or '53 Tele-cable-amps on half volume - mics- preamps (Marshall through V72s; Vox through API) -Console- Lavry Gold ADC.

Here's the link to the soundfiles:

Soundfiles Kemper Profiling Amp

Best Peter

Best semi-broken up tone I've heard from a non real tube amp. Thanks for the link and your recording time, Peter. Merry Christmas.

[cc14basketball]

In my opinion (though I am a live guy) the audience will never know your signal chain. (Unless you release it of course). Most of the battle is mental, once you know its a sim, your vintage whatever will immediately sound "better".

Is it the real thing, no, but it gives you a pretty realistic guitar sound, and the end listener won't know or care as long as it sounds pleasing.

Sims have more going for them than just sound, they have the portability, ease of use, and multiple options going for it.

I love mic'ing a live cab as much as the next guy with my Royer and 421 (yes I do this live) but in the end it is how it sounds, not the way we got there.

[mwagener]

Originally Posted by Peter Weihe

I quickly recorded some files with a '68 marshall and a 70s Vox AC30 and their profiles through the Kemper Amp for comparison when i did a test for the German magazine Xound last June.

I often found that heavily distorted sounds are the least critical for amp emulation. So I chose straight vintage signal chains: '62 Strat or '53 Tele-cable-amps on half volume - mics- preamps (Marshall through V72s; Vox through API) -Console- Lavry Gold ADC.

Here's the link to the soundfiles:

Soundfiles Kemper Profiling Amp

Best Peter

Hallo Peter

Schön Dich hier zu sehen.

Hello Peter

Nice to see you here.

Michael

[heyman]

Not an owner but from what I have heard it can get you very close to the original. So much so that in the context of a mix, I would be fooled.

I echo JohnKenn's sentiments...

For musicians who play the role of engineers or small studio owners that don"t have the space, acoustics or hardware to capture a great amp sound- having great downloaded profiles are going to kick the quality of their recording up a few notches.

For the guys who have the big studios and access to all the top stuff, this is great as a reamp tool for retakes and overdubs or renting an desert island amp and profiling it for later use.

I think it is a win/win right now and this thing has not even seen any type of firmware upgrade. The next one will be even better..

my 2 cents..

[Peter Weihe]

Originally Posted by mwagener

Hallo Peter

Schön Dich hier zu sehen.

Hello Peter

Nice to see you here.

Michael

Lieber Michael,

vielen Dank für den Willkommens-Gruß!
Ich wünsche Dir einen schönen zweiten Weihnachtstag
und ein gesundes, inspirierendes, spaßiges und erfolgreiches Jahr 2013

Dear Michael,

Happy Boxing Day to You and everyone
and a healthy, inspiring, happy und successful New Year

Peter