Any Kemper users on here?

[Embenny]

I got the KPA last year and it's been a revelation for me. I use a Mission Engineering Gemini I powered FRFR cab at home and in rehearsal/for on-stage monitoring. Was a die-hard tube guy for many many years, kept checking in on the state of modeling devices for the past 15 years, but was never impressed until now. The touch dynamics of my favourite profiles on the Kemper (some Amp Factory stuff, some M Britt stuff) is just unparalleled by anything other than my vintage tube amps. Only, I can record easily, jam at night, and get great tone at any volume without worrying about how I'm mic'ed and how loud I can turn up the amp on stage. This is the first time I've heard not just a passable recorded tone, but an amazing, interactive, touch-responsive experience in the digital realm.

Anyone else here using a Kemper with their offsets? I'd be glad to chat about favourite profiles, etc...

[eggwheat]

I'm quite interested in these. Would definitely like to try one out in the studio. Seems a very useful studio tool if it's as good as it proclaims.

Find it weird how the power amp version is only a mono amplifier though.

[Kent]

I use a Fractal Audio Axe-FX. I've kept one traditional 'choooob' amplifucker and have to say that I'm tired of that paradigm. Guitarists tend to be Luddites and adopt technology slowly. Not I. The Axe-FX is the jammy.

[tade]

I've been using an axe fx for a few years and couldn't be happier. The Kemper looks like lots of fun also.

[eggwheat]

I had a AxeFX(terrible name) around 2008...and then went to Eventide H8000.. anyway, looks like we have no Kemper users(apart from OP) on OSG at this point.

[Nickertronix]

I really want one, but too expensive at the moment.
I can't justify selling my hand-wired AC30 and still having to put about 800 UK pounds into it.
If it was a straight swap I would probably do it, the Kemper sounds really good. The clincher as the OP says is the response/interactivity/touch sense.
A very persuasive argument for the Kemper is it's green footprint, it's not a large toaster with 9 hot valves

[Axolotl]

My 2 cents, I very recently got an Atomic Amplifire and I'm blown away. The clean/ish sounds are amazing and very responsive (don't care much for high gain stuff). I have to rely on plugins and emulators for some of my recordings and I've never heard anything of this quality in the digital realm.

[theconsultant]

I've just started using a Kemper at home for recording. So far, it's amazing. I've got a lot of amazing high and mid gain profiles, and will be profiling my own amps specifically for their clean sounds this week. I've found it a little different when dialling in fuzz pedals - Muffs specifically - but it can be done. Not used it live yet, but i could certainly be persuaded if i can get it talking to my pedals correctly (i'm a total technophobe so programming patches etc is pretty alien to me).

Recommended!

[Embenny]

I've just started using a Kemper at home for recording. So far, it's amazing. I've got a lot of amazing high and mid gain profiles, and will be profiling my own amps specifically for their clean sounds this week. I've found it a little different when dialling in fuzz pedals - Muffs specifically - but it can be done. Not used it live yet, but i could certainly be persuaded if i can get it talking to my pedals correctly (i'm a total technophobe so programming patches etc is pretty alien to me).

Recommended!

Have you checked out The Amp Factory's "Finale" bundle? Some of the clean tones in there are to DIE for. The Super Reverb in particular, for the Blackface tone.

Have you tried the fabled (free on the exchange) Morgan AC20? That's a super flexible one - sounds great at multiple gain levels.

Lately I've been finding myself using a lot more Marshall clean tones. Together with my Fenders, it just gets me to that John Frusciante happy place.

I don't use a lot of outboard effects with it so I can't help there. Do you have a foot controller for it? The Uno4Kemper FCB1010 route is working for me, but I really want the Remote, as stypidly expensive as it is. Programming "performances" is stupidly simple with it.

I'm not surprised to see that there are more AxeFX guys than Kemper on here, actually. The AxeFX definitely has the upper hand as far as effects go, and offset players tend to use more effects than strat or tele guys in my experience.

[theconsultant]

Thanks for the tips, i'll check em out!

Am pretty loathe to pay for any more TAF stuff cos i bought one years ago and it didn't work. Zero customer service.

As a matter of fact, i did my first round of profiling last week. Mostly successful, but it sure cannot profile fuzz pedals, namely Big Muffs or RATS. It essentially makes them sound really generic, sucking any character out of the pedal. Still a useable sound though, just not what i'm looking for.

I don't have any kind of controller for it just now.

I'm pretty happy with the sound, it's certainly very close. I look forward to recording with 'my' sounds, see if it hangs together in a track.

[eggwheat]

the guy whose record I'm working on at the moment has taken delivery of one today.. so I'm going to find out myself very soon.. he just text me 'I'm selling all my amps' hah

[Embenny]

the guy whose record I'm working on at the moment has taken delivery of one today.. so I'm going to find out myself very soon.. he just text me 'I'm selling all my amps' hah

Once you get it tweaked with your favourite tones, you really don't need any other amps. I know of "1-amp" guys who still sold that one amp once the Kemper had the tone down - because of the convenience of going direct for recording and skipping the mic job at gigs.

I've got a trio of go-to amps really dialed in (a Bassman, a Super Reverb and a JCM800) and I can already cover 99% of my tonal ground with amazing touch sensitivity and dynamics.

It's interesting but I find it a very all-or-nothing experience dialing in profiles. I'll go through 20 that just sound terrible, but with some tweaking, I'll find that one that jums out of the speaker and comes alive. I was very nervous that I had made a mistake buying it for a couple of days when all I could get were POD-like tones. Then I had my first "A-HAH!" Moment with the '67 Bassman from TAF and instantly it was already worth it.

[gnoleb]

Yeah, it really is that good. I like a lot of different sounds from a good number of amps, and the kemper really is amazing at getting the tone of all of them. I've only had it about four months, and it does take some tweaking, but I'm approaching amp-selling mode pretty quick.

One of the cheapest "professional" quality amp you can buy ($1800?), almost, and it is almost like being all amps.

[OffYourFace]

I recently let a friend make profiles of my modified vintage Marshall heads, a 50w and a 100w.
He also made a few impulse responses of my '76 Marshall 4x12 that has two versions of the G12H inside, 55hz on the bottom and 75hz on top.

I have to say that I was VERY impressed with the outcome. I'd like to hear my '76 Deluxe Reverb in this format. I'm a bit skeptical about the clean tones so we'll see.

[Embenny]

Yeah, it really is that good. I like a lot of different sounds from a good number of amps, and the kemper really is amazing at getting the tone of all of them. I've only had it about four months, and it does take some tweaking, but I'm approaching amp-selling mode pretty quick.

One of the cheapest "professional" quality amp you can buy ($1800?), almost, and it is almost like being all amps.

It's hard to express how much joy this amp brings me. Gushing online gets you dismissed as a fanbvoy pretty quickly. I sit down every guitarist friend of mine in front of this thing and have them play it. They all grin like idiots. I've never experienced anything like it. It's now my only amp, except my only amp is my favourite 15 amps.

Every modeler since the original POD has been touted as having "50 classic amps in one box!" but this is the first time I not only hear it, but feel it, too.

I recently let a friend make profiles of my modified vintage Marshall heads, a 50w and a 100w.
He also made a few impulse responses of my '76 Marshall 4x12 that has two versions of the G12H inside, 55hz on the bottom and 75hz on top.

I have to say that I was VERY impressed with the outcome. I'd like to hear my '76 Deluxe Reverb in this format. I'm a bit skeptical about the clean tones so we'll see.

Making good profiles is an art, and clean ones are the most challenging. The Amp Factory's "Finale" pack 10 has the most lush, alive-feeling, vibrant cleans I have found yet. Tricky to get them right on the Kemper, but when you get them right, they're just as good as the gainier ones. Just don't be afraid to tweak the Compression attribute in the Amp block - this is completely different from running one of the compressor effects in front of or in the effects loop of the amp. It's part of the "DNA" of the profile itself and is usually the key to getting a clean profile to respond to dynamics the same as the amp that was profiled. It can be extremely subtle, but it adds the bounce and fullness that tube amps produce by virtue of their natural compression. Some people underdo it because they're afraid of the 80's squash, but getting that setting right is the final step in perfecting a clean profile IMO.