So I finally pulled the trigger on a Kemper... (Clips)

ultimatemetalguitartones

ultimatemetalguitartones

Well-known member
For quite some time I had been thinking of getting a Kemper (non powered) mainly to try it as a preamp through my mesa boogie amps and of course as a recording piece of gear. I found a rack version for a good price and yesterday I received it. So far I love it! It's such a useful tool which can sound both good and bad. The way I see it is that the main problem is that few people know to make good profiles. It goes without saying that it has a long learning curve.
Anyway, I first used it as through my mesa boogie mark IV combo - with the cab simulation off, of course - and I was floored! It sounded so good and the feel was right! Here are 2 clips I recorded yesterday (pay no attention to my playing! )


Today I had some time to play with some profiles / messing with some of my favourite IRs/ cabs + settings and recorded these tracks using different profiles.

PS - Special thanks to @Juggernaut :)
 
SithLordChris said:
I've been strongly considering checking out a Kemper. I went the FM3 and Seymour Duncan Powerstage route for a bit, but it just didn't do it for me. Wondering if the Kemper might. Clips sounded killer!
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Highly recommended. It comes preloaded with profiles but a little time online and a few bucks and you will find the tone you need. I love Cameron modded Marshalls, and a lot of days my Kemper is set to Cameron mod profiles. It's super convenient. I have 6 heads from a Cameron modded 5150 to a Marshall and they just sit now.
 
brett8388 said:
Highly recommended. It comes preloaded with profiles but a little time online and a few bucks and you will find the tone you need. I love Cameron modded Marshalls, and a lot of days my Kemper is set to Cameron mod profiles. It's super convenient. I have 6 heads from a Cameron modded 5150 to a Marshall and they just sit now.
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Brett - did you profile your own Cameron, or go with commercially available profiles?
 
Nigel said:
Kemper’s main value to me would be capturing profiles of amps run so hot the tubes will melt down if left that way. Nothing can replace that sound.
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That said, done to JJ KT77’s, it is positively psychedelic.
 
I gotta profile my Mark IV on my Quad Cortex. I had Sinmix's mark iv profiles with the Kemper and really dug them. The Kemper taught me that I only need a few kinds of tones.

Marshall flavored plexi to 800 to hotrodded.
Mark iv
5150
And something Orange ish (doomy).

Tube power amp just makes everything better. I see post where people say you need a neutral solid state and all I can think is NAH!! I'm ok with some slight coloring to have that warmth and feel.
 
I've done the tube amp thing, the tube preamp/ power amp thing, the Kemper/ tube power amp thing, the Kemper w/ FRFR thing, and now I'm back to a tube amp.

You know what?

They all are great! it's a matter of what works best for you and the context you're playing in. If it inspires you, then play the sh#t out of it!

At the end of the day I like tube amps, but the Kemper was an amazing piece of gear.
 
How loud is your combo? I have a Mark IV combo and I hate the way it sounds unless it's really pushing air. When I bypass the combo and plug it into my old beat up 4x12 it sounds perfect to me. I've been trying HARD to replace my Mark IV....AX8, FM3, HX Stomp, POD Go, latest was an Amp1 Iridium.....frankly the old Mark IV takes a shit on all of them!:p
 
danyeo said:
How loud is your combo? I have a Mark IV combo and I hate the way it sounds unless it's really pushing air. When I bypass the combo and plug it into my old beat up 4x12 it sounds perfect to me. I've been trying HARD to replace my Mark IV....AX8, FM3, HX Stomp, POD Go, latest was an Amp1 Iridium.....frankly the old Mark IV takes a shit on all of them!:p
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Well the combo is really loud , I 've sold the original black shadow speaker it came with and now I have loaded the 1984 EVM my mark 2C+ came with. I dig the tone but when u plug it into a 412 it's another world haha. Yeah man, the mark IV is my favorite amp! Mine is a 2003 RevB and I am now looking to buy a rev A!
 
Wayniac3 said:
Brett - did you profile your own Cameron, or go with commercially available profiles?
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OK if you will go to the Kemper Profiler forum and do a search for Cameron profiles a thread will come up. It was one of the links in that thread that got me the 8-10 Cameron profiles I like. Hope that helps.
 
brett8388 said:
I grabbed one about a year ago and it's been about the best $2K I've spent on my collection in a long time. Super impressed, and I know purists will say it's not like a tube amp but in two clicks I can go from SRV to EVH tone and it's close enough for my room.
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That's all that matters! 8ve wanted a Kemper for a while now. Most likely my next purchase.
How are the stock tones?
 
ElectricVoodoo said:
That's all that matters! 8ve wanted a Kemper for a while now. Most likely my next purchase.
How are the stock tones?
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It doesn't really have any. Unless you mean stock profiles.
Between the unit (think there's 256) and Rig Exchange (10s of thousands of them)
you can find pretty much anything you want.

Biggest problem is a lot of the stock presets sound like crap (as usual with any modeler it seems)
and for every 1 good one on the cloud you'll easily find 100 bad ones.

Let me know when you buy one. I've got some tips I learned using the Toaster for months on end.
 
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