VH4_BigRig
Active member
So after pondering it for a while, and then waiting even longer to successfully sell it, I decided to sell my Diezel VH4 to join the Kemper bandwagon:
The VH4 simply wasn’t getting the use that it deserved, between my neighbours complaining about mouse-fart volumes for practice, and not being able to jam with it after my last singer left a few years ago and the band going on indefinite hiatus. Also, although I experimented with the amp a few times, I could never record a sound that truly made me happy and that sounded as good as the amp did in the room (between various SM57, 421, and Palmer combinations). Therefore, going for an Axe II or Kemper simply made a lot more sense, both logistically and financially.
In the end, I went with the Kemper simply because it seemed to be more “user friendly” and intuitive from what people around here were saying- I don’t use a ton of effects, and the clips you guys were putting up really impressed me (Pete’s, Audioholic’s, and gibson5413’s primarily), so that made it a bit of an easier decision since I’m not a “tweaker.” I tried to get one from Brad originally, but since he couldn’t ship to Canada, I just got one from Moog Audio instead.
I’ve given it a couple months to get over the honeymoon phase, but honestly, this is probably the best gear related purchase I’ve ever made. I haven’t even scratched the surface of the unit, and I’m super happy with how it sounds for everything from cleans to crunch to high gain sounds.
A lot of the default patches were not that impressive. However, once I found the good ones after some digging and downloaded a few from Pete’s site and the online database, I was much happier. I figured I’d just list some pros and cons for you guys that I’ve found so far, as well as list some of my fav patches!
Pros:
Playing on headphones late at night hammered after being out with the boys is amazing. I just crank it and DGAF!
Being able to integrate FX into patches has helped me cut down on the size of my pedal board, since the built in stuff is good enough for me
Can mix and match multiple amps until I find a sound that I’m completely happy with, since multi-tracking is obviously the key for big sounds- I bet anyone re-amping wets themselves!
It’s pretty awesome building in a boost and post-EQ curve into each profile if you feel like it for high gain sounds- really helps with getting the feel just right, for those of you that like to use Tubscreamers and the like in front of your amp or EQ pedals in your FX loops to tighten things up
Recording direct with no hassle, just plug and play and it sounds great.
Profiles are tiny as hell and easy to manage. I figured before getting it that each profile would be a few MB each- the file sizes are nothing and everything can easily fit on a USB stick! Thanks to this, the new rig manager and the online database, file management is not a problem. Also, editing and saving profiles on the unit is a piece of cake
Cons:
There is a slight delay when using the footswitch between channels. Now I don’t know if this is my footswitch (Roland GFC-50) or the Kemper itself, but it’s something that is noticeable at times. I haven’t used it live yet, but this could be an issue for some folks live if it isn’t actually my controller
The built in delays do not have a control to adjust the number of repeats (if there is, I don’t know about it or haven’t found it). While the delays do sound amazing, I have a particular setting at around 250ms with multiple repeats that I love that I simply cannot do with this unit and have to use a delay pedal for
The built in reverbs, while also amazing, surprisingly do not have a “spring” option. Therefore you can get some terrific cleans out of some profiles, but if you’re looking for that “vintage sweetness,” it’s not going to be 100% there
I was hoping to record direct via USB, but the unit does not have a USB digital audio interface. Instead, I just plug into my R16; not a big deal, but I was kind of hoping for that functionality since it would make a simple interface even simpler. I believe the Axe has this feature, which may make a difference for others
The built in tuner comes in handy- however, I don’t find the tuning lights over the browser knob very useful, only the actual “tuner level” found under the tuner knob setting. Again, not a huge deal because it’s not why I bought the unit and I have my Polytune for that, but as someone who uses a lot of different tunings, there is room to improve the tuner on the unit
Favourite rigs so far:
High Gain
Pete’s HBE Marshall profiles
Pete’s Bogner XTC red profiles
Djemass’ Mesa Mark IIC+ profiles
Kilian Blees’ Pittbull profiles
Keith Merrow’s “Sea Nymph”profile (not sure why the hell it’s called this, but once edited, this Rhodes profile sounds kick ass. No idea if it’s a profile of a Colossus or of a Gemini?)
Crunch
The Amp Factory’s Ceriatone Trainwreck profiles (one of my absolute favs- playing SRV style stuff on this is a blast!!)
Pete’s Bogner XTC blue profiles
Uwe Bossert‘s JTM 45 profile
Kemper‘s “Little Prince” profile
Clean
e‘s “Hiwatt Clean” profile
The Amp Factory’s “Big Twin” profile
M. Franzkowiak‘s "Voice 15" profile
Disclaimers:
As my controller does not have a built in expression pedal, I can’t comment on the built in FX like wah/pitch shifting compared to other units
I have not profiled an amp myself yet, so I can’t comment on how easy or hard the process is
If you have severe GAS and the money to go after what you want, you may want to stay away from this unit, as it might make you want to buy the actual amp a profile is made from! Since I “downsized” from an actual kick ass amp it’s not an issue for me, but if I won the lottery I sure know what I would be buying- Ceriatone Trainwreck and Bogner XTC for starters! Lol
I haven't explored clean/crunch sounds as much as high gain ones, but they always seem to sound pretty awesome- as mentioned I really dig the Trainwreck and Hiwatt sounds so haven't really looked for much more!
I sadly have not found a VH4 profile yet that I totally dig. I’m not sure if this is because I haven’t actually played most of these other amps so I like their profiles more because I don’t have a reference point to know what they’re missing, or because it actually might be difficult to capture the VH4’s “room sound” in both profiles and recordings and it’s not just me, but either way it’s not a huge deal given the huge variety of sounds I now have available! So far the best Diezel ones I've found are by r.u.sirius, does anybody have any other good profiles or recommendations?
I know the board was flooded with Kemper posts for a while there, but just wanted to throw in my two cents. If I can’t get some good sounding clips put together in the next couple of months, I’m going to want to throw myself off a bridge, because there is honestly no excuse for me (or anyone else) not getting a good sound out of this thing!
Cheers,
BigRig
The VH4 simply wasn’t getting the use that it deserved, between my neighbours complaining about mouse-fart volumes for practice, and not being able to jam with it after my last singer left a few years ago and the band going on indefinite hiatus. Also, although I experimented with the amp a few times, I could never record a sound that truly made me happy and that sounded as good as the amp did in the room (between various SM57, 421, and Palmer combinations). Therefore, going for an Axe II or Kemper simply made a lot more sense, both logistically and financially.
In the end, I went with the Kemper simply because it seemed to be more “user friendly” and intuitive from what people around here were saying- I don’t use a ton of effects, and the clips you guys were putting up really impressed me (Pete’s, Audioholic’s, and gibson5413’s primarily), so that made it a bit of an easier decision since I’m not a “tweaker.” I tried to get one from Brad originally, but since he couldn’t ship to Canada, I just got one from Moog Audio instead.
I’ve given it a couple months to get over the honeymoon phase, but honestly, this is probably the best gear related purchase I’ve ever made. I haven’t even scratched the surface of the unit, and I’m super happy with how it sounds for everything from cleans to crunch to high gain sounds.
A lot of the default patches were not that impressive. However, once I found the good ones after some digging and downloaded a few from Pete’s site and the online database, I was much happier. I figured I’d just list some pros and cons for you guys that I’ve found so far, as well as list some of my fav patches!
Pros:
Playing on headphones late at night hammered after being out with the boys is amazing. I just crank it and DGAF!
Being able to integrate FX into patches has helped me cut down on the size of my pedal board, since the built in stuff is good enough for me
Can mix and match multiple amps until I find a sound that I’m completely happy with, since multi-tracking is obviously the key for big sounds- I bet anyone re-amping wets themselves!
It’s pretty awesome building in a boost and post-EQ curve into each profile if you feel like it for high gain sounds- really helps with getting the feel just right, for those of you that like to use Tubscreamers and the like in front of your amp or EQ pedals in your FX loops to tighten things up
Recording direct with no hassle, just plug and play and it sounds great.
Profiles are tiny as hell and easy to manage. I figured before getting it that each profile would be a few MB each- the file sizes are nothing and everything can easily fit on a USB stick! Thanks to this, the new rig manager and the online database, file management is not a problem. Also, editing and saving profiles on the unit is a piece of cake
Cons:
There is a slight delay when using the footswitch between channels. Now I don’t know if this is my footswitch (Roland GFC-50) or the Kemper itself, but it’s something that is noticeable at times. I haven’t used it live yet, but this could be an issue for some folks live if it isn’t actually my controller
The built in delays do not have a control to adjust the number of repeats (if there is, I don’t know about it or haven’t found it). While the delays do sound amazing, I have a particular setting at around 250ms with multiple repeats that I love that I simply cannot do with this unit and have to use a delay pedal for
The built in reverbs, while also amazing, surprisingly do not have a “spring” option. Therefore you can get some terrific cleans out of some profiles, but if you’re looking for that “vintage sweetness,” it’s not going to be 100% there
I was hoping to record direct via USB, but the unit does not have a USB digital audio interface. Instead, I just plug into my R16; not a big deal, but I was kind of hoping for that functionality since it would make a simple interface even simpler. I believe the Axe has this feature, which may make a difference for others
The built in tuner comes in handy- however, I don’t find the tuning lights over the browser knob very useful, only the actual “tuner level” found under the tuner knob setting. Again, not a huge deal because it’s not why I bought the unit and I have my Polytune for that, but as someone who uses a lot of different tunings, there is room to improve the tuner on the unit
Favourite rigs so far:
High Gain
Pete’s HBE Marshall profiles
Pete’s Bogner XTC red profiles
Djemass’ Mesa Mark IIC+ profiles
Kilian Blees’ Pittbull profiles
Keith Merrow’s “Sea Nymph”profile (not sure why the hell it’s called this, but once edited, this Rhodes profile sounds kick ass. No idea if it’s a profile of a Colossus or of a Gemini?)
Crunch
The Amp Factory’s Ceriatone Trainwreck profiles (one of my absolute favs- playing SRV style stuff on this is a blast!!)
Pete’s Bogner XTC blue profiles
Uwe Bossert‘s JTM 45 profile
Kemper‘s “Little Prince” profile
Clean
e‘s “Hiwatt Clean” profile
The Amp Factory’s “Big Twin” profile
M. Franzkowiak‘s "Voice 15" profile
Disclaimers:
As my controller does not have a built in expression pedal, I can’t comment on the built in FX like wah/pitch shifting compared to other units
I have not profiled an amp myself yet, so I can’t comment on how easy or hard the process is
If you have severe GAS and the money to go after what you want, you may want to stay away from this unit, as it might make you want to buy the actual amp a profile is made from! Since I “downsized” from an actual kick ass amp it’s not an issue for me, but if I won the lottery I sure know what I would be buying- Ceriatone Trainwreck and Bogner XTC for starters! Lol
I haven't explored clean/crunch sounds as much as high gain ones, but they always seem to sound pretty awesome- as mentioned I really dig the Trainwreck and Hiwatt sounds so haven't really looked for much more!
I sadly have not found a VH4 profile yet that I totally dig. I’m not sure if this is because I haven’t actually played most of these other amps so I like their profiles more because I don’t have a reference point to know what they’re missing, or because it actually might be difficult to capture the VH4’s “room sound” in both profiles and recordings and it’s not just me, but either way it’s not a huge deal given the huge variety of sounds I now have available! So far the best Diezel ones I've found are by r.u.sirius, does anybody have any other good profiles or recommendations?
I know the board was flooded with Kemper posts for a while there, but just wanted to throw in my two cents. If I can’t get some good sounding clips put together in the next couple of months, I’m going to want to throw myself off a bridge, because there is honestly no excuse for me (or anyone else) not getting a good sound out of this thing!
Cheers,
BigRig
