Kemper Profiling Amplifier

[motrock]

Pretty darn good.I wouldnt say that they are the same as the real deal though. Gotta a/b this thing with the actual amps.

Well, what was going through the mixed, I did the a/b... no difference. What you hear on this recording is what the actual amp sounded like through my monitors. With the Kemper you can switch back and forth. I have had a couple of sound engineers hear this thing with the a/bing back and forth. They all tell me the same thing... ITS NOT FAIR! LOL

[fgurdian]

I finally had the chance borrow a toaster style Kemper from a dealer to do some reamping and A/B testing in my studio and the results were outstanding. I made several tracks and in all of them this unit managed to capture the sonic nuances and feel of the amps (68 Plexi moded clone, 66 Dlx Reverb, Elmwood Modena 60 and 63 Tremolux) the cabs, microphones (SM-57, Royer 121, Sennheisser 421) and mic pres (Neve 1073, API 512c, Chandler TG2) all monitored with Genelec 1032s.
I DEFINITELY agree with previous posts that mention the fact that mic positioning is critical. You have to know what you are doing in that respect, if not your results would be mediocre at best. The sound shaping capabilities are remarkable, specially the gain, sag controls and eq section. I hope that the skeptics give it a try and do some blind A/B test and not only rely on youtube demos to form an absolute opinion about it, you will be surprised!
I also believe, that with the right full range powered wedge PAs with a flat frequency response for stage monitoring and sonic impact and sending a direct signal to the board, this thing could be used to take the actual recorded sounds on a live situation, although I regrettably did not have the chance to test it live. One problem however is that the initial start-up time is very long so you better get some sort of UPS in case of a power failure.
On the other hand, the included profiles are terrible, the effects while OK and useful are nothing stellar, the firmware is not fully mature (the performance mode has not being implemented) and I would not be buying the powered version due to the built in class D amp.
I am an amp builder and have a decent amp collection and that is not going to change any time soon. The Kemper makes a faithful "photograph" of an amp and recording setup but with the real thing the tweaking possibilities are endless! In that respect, this unit is not going to be to the amp industry what Napster was to the music business.
Nevertheless he whole concept of this unit is brilliant. It is a real time (money) saver in the studio, specially when mixing. I know that it will depreciate really fast with future versions but considering that this one is still in its infancy there is still plenty of time to make some money with it and recuperate the investment. I am buying the rack version.

[motrock]

I finally had the chance borrow a toaster style Kemper from a dealer to do some reamping and A/B testing in my studio and the results were outstanding. I made several tracks and in all of them this unit managed to capture the sonic nuances and feel of the amps (68 Plexi moded clone, 66 Dlx Reverb, Elmwood Modena 60 and 63 Tremolux) the cabs, microphones (SM-57, Royer 121, Sennheisser 421) and mic pres (Neve 1073, API 512c, Chandler TG2) all monitored with Genelec 1032s.
I DEFINITELY agree with previous posts that mention the fact that mic positioning is critical. You have to know what you are doing in that respect, if not your results would be mediocre at best. The sound shaping capabilities are remarkable, specially the gain, sag controls and eq section. I hope that the skeptics give it a try and do some blind A/B test and not only rely on youtube demos to form an absolute opinion about it, you will be surprised!
I also believe, that with the right full range powered wedge PAs with a flat frequency response for stage monitoring and sonic impact and sending a direct signal to the board, this thing could be used to take the actual recorded sounds on a live situation, although I regrettably did not have the chance to test it live. One problem however is that the initial start-up time is very long so you better get some sort of UPS in case of a power failure.
On the other hand, the included profiles are terrible, the effects while OK and useful are nothing stellar, the firmware is not fully mature (the performance mode has not being implemented) and I would not be buying the powered version due to the built in class D amp.
I am an amp builder and have a decent amp collection and that is not going to change any time soon. The Kemper makes a faithful "photograph" of an amp and recording setup but with the real thing the tweaking possibilities are endless! In that respect, this unit is not going to be to the amp industry what Napster was to the music business.
Nevertheless he whole concept of this unit is brilliant. It is a real time (money) saver in the studio, specially when mixing. I know that it will depreciate really fast with future versions but considering that this one is still in its infancy there is still plenty of time to make some money with it and recuperate the investment. I am buying the rack version.

You got it! I totally agree with what you are saying. I am a big fan of it due to the recording aspect. I would play live with REAL amps anytime. This unit is great for getting an amazing recorded tone. And you can use it over and over again. Once you profile a great amp setup; you get throw some headphones on and get that cranked tone; without disturbing the neighbors! LOL

What I have to do is get another mic pre for the job. I have a Universal Audio SOLO/610. My friend has a Presonus thats apparently ok. So I may use that.

[stef]

What exactly is this computer-thingy for?
Naturally you need a perfect studio set up: great amp, cab, mic'ed to perfection AND then, instead of getting straight to recording with that glorious tone and perfect set up you've just achieved, you choose to mess and waste unknown amount of time (and time is money) with this strange, expensive and unknown machine in order to eventually go back to finally record something but via this stupid sampler/modeler/computer.
If this thing was any good the manufacturer would be selling it with pre-recorded amp sounds (ie fender, marshall, boogie, vox etc..) just like any other amp simulator/ emulator/ modeler/sampler/toster.. I call it a hoax

[fgurdian]

What exactly is this computer-thingy for?
Naturally you need a perfect studio set up: great amp, cab, mic'ed to perfection AND then, instead of getting straight to recording with that glorious tone and perfect set up you've just achieved, you choose to mess and waste unknown amount of time (and time is money) with this strange, expensive and unknown machine in order to eventually go back to finally record something but via this stupid sampler/modeler/computer.
If this thing was any good the manufacturer would be selling it with pre-recorded amp sounds (ie fender, marshall, boogie, vox etc..) just like any other amp simulator/ emulator/ modeler/sampler/toster.. I call it a hoax

WOW!!! I did not wanted to hurt anybody's sensibilities with my posts, but I guess this is a touchy subject to some, specially if you do not get the point of what this unit's intended purpose is. I just wanted to share my findings and hoped that they could be of use for people who are experienced with the recording process in a commercial studio and understand the value of cloning and storage of amp tones for reamping during a mixing session. I even thought that the Kemper could be of use for some of us EVH tone chasers to store the sounds of different tone mods performed to our real amps and recall them as one pleases for instant comparison purposes, among many other useful applications. I just find it "interesting" that someone qualifies a piece of gear as "stupid" just based on preconceived notions and without actually trying it, instead of making an informed judgement (assuming that they have the ears for it in the first place...). My fault indeed, I guess that is to be expected when you post in an open forum such as this! Oh well, live and let die I guess...

[motrock]

What exactly is this computer-thingy for?
Naturally you need a perfect studio set up: great amp, cab, mic'ed to perfection AND then, instead of getting straight to recording with that glorious tone and perfect set up you've just achieved, you choose to mess and waste unknown amount of time (and time is money) with this strange, expensive and unknown machine in order to eventually go back to finally record something but via this stupid sampler/modeler/computer.
If this thing was any good the manufacturer would be selling it with pre-recorded amp sounds (ie fender, marshall, boogie, vox etc..) just like any other amp simulator/ emulator/ modeler/sampler/toster.. I call it a hoax

WOW!!! I did not wanted to hurt anybody's sensibilities with my posts, but I guess this is a touchy subject to some, specially if you do not get the point of what this unit's intended purpose is. I just wanted to share my findings and hoped that they could be of use for people who are experienced with the recording process in a commercial studio and understand the value of cloning and storage of amp tones for reamping during a mixing session. I even thought that the Kemper could be of use for some of us EVH tone chasers to store the sounds of different tone mods performed to our real amps and recall them as one pleases for instant comparison purposes, among many other useful applications. I just find it "interesting" that someone qualifies a piece of gear as "stupid" just based on preconceived notions and without actually trying it, instead of making an informed judgement (assuming that they have the ears for it in the first place...). My fault indeed, I guess that is to be expected when you post in an open forum such as this! Oh well, live and let die I guess...

Einstein had a saying; Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance! Which is true. We all of preconceived notions as to what we think something is; even if we have no experience with it. I guess I live my life through experience and try to not live in judgement on things... until I try it for myself!

You are totally right though. Being able to store the different sounds and mods that we do on here and be able to re-call them for recording purposes is ingenious. Probably one of the best purchases that I have made since I bought my Plexi and original Blackbacks!

[Tone Slinger]

Well, then based on what has been said ( claiming a miced tube amp & this profiler as sounding 'identical'), I'd say you need to work on your mic placement. The sound is too stiff and flat though definately not bad (nice playing too). I think your Variplex clips with the 6402 coned greenbacks sounded much better.

[stef]

What exactly is this computer-thingy for?
Naturally you need a perfect studio set up: great amp, cab, mic'ed to perfection AND then, instead of getting straight to recording with that glorious tone and perfect set up you've just achieved, you choose to mess and waste unknown amount of time (and time is money) with this strange, expensive and unknown machine in order to eventually go back to finally record something but via this stupid sampler/modeler/computer.
If this thing was any good the manufacturer would be selling it with pre-recorded amp sounds (ie fender, marshall, boogie, vox etc..) just like any other amp simulator/ emulator/ modeler/sampler/toster.. I call it a hoax

WOW!!! I did not wanted to hurt anybody's sensibilities with my posts, but I guess this is a touchy subject to some, specially if you do not get the point of what this unit's intended purpose is. I just wanted to share my findings and hoped that they could be of use for people who are experienced with the recording process in a commercial studio and understand the value of cloning and storage of amp tones for reamping during a mixing session. I even thought that the Kemper could be of use for some of us EVH tone chasers to store the sounds of different tone mods performed to our real amps and recall them as one pleases for instant comparison purposes, among many other useful applications. I just find it "interesting" that someone qualifies a piece of gear as "stupid" just based on preconceived notions and without actually trying it, instead of making an informed judgement (assuming that they have the ears for it in the first place...). My fault indeed, I guess that is to be expected when you post in an open forum such as this! Oh well, live and let die I guess...

I call it stupid because it takes much more time (and money) to record with it than without it.
Maybe you should spend more time listening to abundance of great guitar clips posted here and ask the manufacturer to contact Metropoulos and pay like all other honest advertisers here

[fgurdian]

I call it stupid because it takes much more time (and money) to record with it than without it.
Maybe you should spend more time listening to abundance of great guitar clips posted here and ask the manufacturer to contact Metropoulos and pay like all other honest advertisers here

LOL...

[motrock]

Well, then based on what has been said ( claiming a miced tube amp & this profiler as sounding 'identical'), I'd say you need to work on your mic placement. The sound is too stiff and flat though definately not bad (nice playing too). I think your Variplex clips with the 6402 coned greenbacks sounded much better.

Well the stiffness is due to user issue's! LOL That was the Friedman Brown eye. I think it would of been better through regular blackbacks. I was using an Audix i5. Not sure I really like that mic! Might try the SM57 next time. Those older VariPlex Clips were done with the UA SOLO/610 Mic pre. I may connect it to the Kemper next time. I am curious to hear how that turns out!

This is a work in progress for me!

[motrock]

Here is another one that I got from a guy. This is with multiple mics and mic pres in to a board. This guy put some thought in to it. The amp is a Splawn Quick Rod in to Blackbacks. This is supposed to be more of the 80s shreddy tone

http://soundcloud.com/motrock/kemper-ratt-test" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Much clearer then mine!

[Tone Slinger]

I dont know man, that clip wasnt 'real' sounding either imo. Add to that,its a Splawn to begin with . Your clips are better. I think there is obviously a common thread being sewn here.

[67Mopar]

As much as I loved the Kemper Profiling Amplifier, I have since sold mine. I've been through just about every digital based rig since the Johnson Amplification era, and it's always the same result... Once my ears become acclimated, it ends-up sounding artificial. My tube rigs have a warmth and presence that the Kemper just can't capture. I haven't played the Axe FX II, but the clips I have heard sound more 'alive' compared to the Kemper. I guess those of us who don't care for digital tone will just have to suffer through life playing those pesky old vacuum-tube amplifiers.

[MrBeasty]

I had a AxeFX-II on loan at the house a little while ago and have owned a few Line6 products (POD Pro and M13).
While these products are all supposed to be "transparent" and give only the sound of the simulated products, after a little while I start hearing the "sound of the unit", over the sound of the simulations. Ultimately it becomes a turn-off for me.

In real life when you stack-up different "sound" items (amps, pedals, speakers, fx, etc.) they all contribute to the overall end-result in different harmonic ways. It is a sort of push-pull thing between the components, and you are often looking for a certain "magic sweet spot" among all the pieces ... I find that in the digital realm, the sweet spots are eliminated because the interaction between the various virtual-pieces is normalized.

Look at how many attempts have been made to make pedal versions of Echoplexes. Some sound better than others, some are real close ... yet none actually behave like an original, and interact with an amp the way an original did.

Now, I am not crapping on the technology as there are a lot of great stuff. In fact, I wouldn't mind having an Axe-FX.
That being said, I would be delighted if we could stop with the whole "simulate this or simulate that" and go on breaking new grounds!!

[fgurdian]

What do you guys think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZVTqWQfOFk