The fact that people still buy the original kemper says a lot about the state of digital gear. We are no longer at a point where digital gear is going to change massively every 2-5 years. For example, a lot of top bands still tour with the axe fx2 or axe fx ultra. I think many of us will always be interested in the latest new guitar toys, but for a lot of people like me, an update to the axe fx3 or getting a new profile for kemper users satisfies the new gear itch. The fact that the quad cortex didn’t take over the world was another hint that there isn’t really anything new that sounds massively better than the older digital gear.
I like your point, we kinda maxed out - the supply overcame the demand. I have Pod Go and I don't need anything more, but even when you check out the top line modellers - what can we want more? We can effectively get ANY tone we would ever chase, the DSP we have is sufficient for 99.99% of usecases. Even checking out the Ideascale for Helix - majority of requests are convenience software features for live play, like a persistent multitrack looper or footswitch improvements. Especially after QC big hype among paid youtubers and then abrupt silence, I don't expect any major tech breakthroughs in next few years.
I couldn't agree more. Its really difficult to see amp modelling getting much better from here. The vast amount of investment that's been put into them being the very best they can probably means they don't get much better from here
You are ALL absolutely correct ! Today's gear is top notch. At this point, its time to focus on making music ! Which is the point of getting the gear in the first place ! Lets all make great music for the world to hear. Cheers !!
Got my first kemper in 2018 (I now have 2 of them) and it has completely killed GAS for me in terms of amps/modelers/pedals. I usually only use a handful of profiles and I only ever tweak effects. Something about the dynamics and feel of the kemper is so enjoyable when you find the right profile. Tone doesn't change. If something sounded good 30 years ago, and if something sounded good 10 years ago, tone doesn't suddenly become outdated.
I had a Kemper and had to sell it. I’m now debating grabbing another. It’s the feel for me. Nothing tops the real deal, but the Kemper comes the closest to the feel and response of a real amp. And you can’t deny the sound. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
Had a Kemper for years now, and thought that buying a Fractal FM3 or an HX Stomp would motivate me to play more since they are arguably both easier to use than the Kemper. Welp, 3 months, 1 FM3 and 1 HX Stomp later, I’m selling those and keeping the Kemper, as I realized the Kemper still sounds the best, at least for what I play. I also realized that I’ve never really taken the time to completely familiarize myself with the physical controls of the Kemper, since I was always only in Rig Manager, so I’m doing that now and realizing how wrong I was. I don’t see how I’d ever sell my Kemper now, unless they come out with a newer model or something. On top of that, you can get a used Kemper in perfect condition on the used market right now and save anywhere from $500-1000 off of retail, which is just nuts. Meanwhile, Fractals, are either impossible to get (FM9), significantly more expensive (Axe-Fx III) or are underpowered (FM3). I’d say, if you can afford at least a used Kemper, go for that, and if you can’t and/or what something much more portable, go for the HX Stomp.
Front of house always gives me compliments for my sound with the Kemper. ......so different from the "your amp is too loud" days. ....but I still use my amps a lot at home. I got mine in 2015 and what an awesome purchase it has been!
Happy Kemper here. I started with the toaster and sold it for the stage and I must say the tones you get out of it is just out of this world! Tone and ease of use are the 2 main factors for me. I agree that it will be a classic because most technological hardware gets outdated really fast, but not this one. Mostly due to the community and Kemper keeping it alive with new profiles and updates. Kudos to Kemper for supporting the product after 12 years and still releasing new features and patches.
Being a modeler user most of the time. I started back playing around 2018. Started with an Helix LT, and HX Stomp. Acquired a Kemper toaster, then FM3, and FM9. On top of several Software packs (Bias FX, THU, Amplitube) In reference to the Kemper…I’ve only had it 2 years. So even though it’s been on the market for much longer than that, I’m daily finding new sounds and inspiration from what it has to offer. Where as someone that jumped on the Kemper train at launch might be a bit bored with it. Maybe thats why it is still holding a market share in that area. Also, it seems lately that every time I power up my Kemper it has a software update of some sort. Might not be a mind-blowing addition to the effects. But, it’s a update to make it even more efficient and stable to use daily. Anywho, that’s my 2 cents. I’m a Kemper user and quite like it! 🤘🏼🤘🏼 Thanks for the video John! Cheers ✌🏻
@@brandonlonemusic I don't have the FM9 anymore, I retained the FM3 to stay in the Fractal ECO system. For what I do, it's plenty. As far as a comparison between the FM9 and the Kemper, I can get great inspiring tones out of both which make me want to pick up the guitar and play. So both serve their perspective purposes for what I need. Just depends on what mood I'm in as to which I use on any given day. Cheers!
Was in the local music store , just mooching around and one of the staff was playing some new line 6 stuff. I got into a conversation with him and I said that I use a Kemper. He then said that people are coming in and swapping over their Kempers to the Line 6 gear. I smiled at him and walked out
Hey John, To make a long story short when something is good it's good! And it stays good :) And with all the updates it's massive goood ) I love your work, and al your kemper profiles! All the best! And I can thank you enough for your guitar lessons to Cheers
Kemper stage increases practice time, minimizes hassle and worry at gigs, travels great! (I go back and forth from AZ to FL 3-4 times a year), provides exceptional tone and feel. I own several tube amps and the full line of Spark but I always turn to my Kemper for convience. Except it can't replace my Spark Mini or Yamaha when it comes to going to the beach.
I’ve had mine for yrs! I use the kemper stage live! I will ever now and then use my Evh rig! I’m just old so it’s easy to carry my kemper stage to gigs!
I bought my Toaster in 2017 to save myself from carrying my valve amps around, but I didn't use it immediately live... I was wary. That was a mistake. I had a Helix LT as a backup amp instead, which I bought because I was also able to use it for its excellent effects (using the 4-cable method). As an amp, I played around with the Line6 for the longest time, changing settings in HX Edit... I struggled, I really did... it was good, just not that good, at least for me, and even after forking out for professional presets, it still felt a little alien to me, as an amp. When my Mesa Boogie once refused to work at a gig, and I used the Helix, I was disappointed. Also, I had to load everything into complex signal chains with snapshots to be able to get latency-free changes between amps. I finally got to grips with the Kemper. I found some stellar profiles and set up Performances around multiple gain stages of a specific amp (Friedman BE100) and am now experimenting with Bogners and Marshalls. The powered Toaster through a standard 2x12 guitar cabinet sounds amazing (I used a Matrix NL212, because it's super-light). I am a guitar-and-amp guy, and it worked for me, 100%. Also, swapping between rigs in a 'performance' (a set of 5 rigs often set up for a song) is pretty much instant. I finally decided to sell my Helix and get a second Kemper, a Stage. Different hardware (newer, boots faster) but the same OS was possible on both units, and to my delight, the tones of my carefully crafted rigs were identical once copied across. Because the Stage is not powered however, I then bought a Kemper Powered Kabinet and have started to use that for monitoring. The Kemper can send speaker 'imprints' to its own Kone speakers - the characteristics of one of 19 speaker selections, but without the microphone, so not like an IR. I didn't want the FRFR sound behind me, only the speaker cabinet sound. The miced sound I wanted through the PA only. Although I still download new profiles for fun, I found the tones I was looking for a couple of years ago and am super happy with them. I now play a lot more and tweak a lot less.
I’ve been using the kemper. Heard a lot of chat that it’s outdated but I’ve also heard a woman screaming next door and I’m not going to do anything about that either.
I used a fractal Fx3 for about two years … and I sold it. I bought a kemper for give another chance to the digital world and man it feels like a real amp and surprisingly i spend more time playing guitar than tweaking parameters. Still have my mesa studio preamp who I adore and my Marshall Jmp 2240 79’. But with kemper I forgot my real amps.
the kemper will still sound just as good in 10 years as it does now. It sounds maybe 95% like a tube amp? like technology that's 70 years old. Certainly in 3 years the Axe Fx 4 will sound 98% like a tube amp. And in 10 years the Ax Fx 5 or Quad Cortex 3 will sound like 99.9999% like a tube amp. And people will buy the latest gear and say, "Finally it sounds and feels like a tube amp, not like it did when we had the first Kemper, the music sounds so much better now“ if you can't get a good sound out of the kemper, you have other problems, but certainly not outdated equipment
I think that the Kemper has remained relevant because it’s a great amp profiler. If amps remain relevant, then as long as the Kemper is a great profiler and not a modeler it will remain useful. Almost all the goodness of an analog amplifier with all the reliability of a digital platform.
What many people don’t realize is that Christoph Kemper invented the Access Virus synth and was already a DSP wizard back then. So when he developed the kemper he already kept all technical options open for further developments, like dsp choice, network port and other interfaces and a rather open user interface so it’s easy to add functionality. That’s what made it possible to be still on top after 12 years without any hardware updates. Having an electronics design background , to me that’s just genius
Gigged my Kemper’s professionally for last 5-6 years & it’s a classic imho… the ease of use & great tones are arguably as good as it gets… the odd 5% improvement you might get with other more modern modellers etc is academic… I’ve stopped buying profiles & stick now to a few favourites just as you would if you physically owned the actual amps… i focus on just playing now rather than fiddling endlessly with it… and that’s how I treat my tube amps too…
Most players with the financial means of chasing the next big thing, will. Despite the fact that nothing is wrong with our current rig. I own both a Kemper Stage and a QC....and yes, I'm contemplating getting the Tonex only because of the low price point....not because I need better captures. The Kemper still sounds amazing, and despite the marginal improvements to DSP and capture accuracy of the QC, I find myself still being the most comfortable with the Kemper Stage. I like the form factor, features, and community. It has never failed me after countless gigs since 2019. Time to practice my craft rather than looking to yet another device to improve my performance.
So I'm actually in the market to buy the kemper at the moment! I've been a tube amp purist up until the pandemic hit, and at that point I ended up only being able to use amp sim's on my DAW and also ended up buying a line 6 Pod Go so I could experiment a bit more without annoying the neighbours. Originally I was only going to use it for home use, but progressively my band has moved and my songwriting has moved in a direction that requires so much precision and control (plus the fact we've gone silent stage) that the Kemper has just been the most practical choice for me!
I've used Kemper for 5 years and recorded many tracks with it however I've grown bored and recently picked up a fractal fm9 and I'm blown away. Right out of the gate the presets are phenomenal. the stock ODS100 preset is so much better than any Kemper profile I've been able to find or tweak. With a few adjustments on the fractal it's the best DI tone I've experienced. It will be a learning curve no doubt but Kemper is like a GameBoy DS vs newer gear be like a Nintendo Switch... To each their own. I know I'll always be able to my way around a Kemper but users are subject to how well the profiles are recorded which relieves Kemper of any responsibility. If they came out with a compact profile loader or dual loader I think that would make for a phenomenal hybrid pedal board. Strymon and Walrus audio already have really great amp in a box solutions but I think a Kemper in a pedal size with just amp/cab with maybe 1 block before and after would be a hit.
I may be biased because I've only owned my Kemper for about 6 months now. But in my opinion it's still a very relevant piece of gear. I personally only just discovered the high end of the digital stuff about 6 months before that. When I was learning to play the digital stuff was good and all ..... But wasn't good enough for everyday use. The things accessable to me any way... I bought my kemper, which is a toaster, used loaded with a hodgepodge of profiles in it that was very difficult to navigate. I've since cleaned it out, saving all the profiles it shipped with off the Kemper and loaded back onto it only ones I will use and recent purchases. For monitoring I run a 44 magnum power amp to a 1x12 cab. It's amazing to me that it sounds and feels like playing through an amp in the room with that setup. I mean just like and amp in the room. Currently I run a performance per amp. So like I've got my AC-30. My Marshall. My Lonestar. My vintage fender. Too me I think it sounds too.... Mixed up in a live scenario to use say a fender clean then a stark change to a Marshall distorted sound. So for now 1 amp per performance. Various tones available from that amp and how I would use them are set up in each performance. To me it's a very useable and cool piece of equipment. Before owning it I would never have considered buying any thing like and AC-30 or Lonestar. I would never have shelled out the money. But the number of actual useable and good sounding tones that are available is just incredible to me. Some vintage gear lasts years and years in players minds and hearts. That's ultimately where longevity will come from. Now that I have this I'm not sure I could ever see myself spending the money for something like a mesa boogie roadster. Yet I can have those sounds available to me. And so much more. There is a huge learning curve. But once you get it down and find how you will practically put this thing to use, it's a really really good tool that does it's job really really well. That will make people continue to use it for years to come.
Metallica uses Kemper on the actual Tour…. And questions? I think its still the most Natural easy to use digital amp Solution on the market. We are searching for Vintage Sounds 60 years ago. Kemper Technology is still on Top After 12 years. Great :-)
I owned the Kemper for a number of years but got so frustrated with spending my life constantly listening to UA-cam videos of new profile releases and needing have the latest greatest all the time. Sold it. Bought HX stomp and now I actually play guitar and listen to UA-cam videos on how to play certain things. And of course this channel on how to get the most out of the Stomp
I bought one about a year ago. Absolutely love it. The UI on the toaster rubbish but apart from that it's great. I emailed Kemper before I made the purchase asking if they are bringing out a new Kemper within 18 months that would replace the current toasters. I was concerned about a new version coming that would make my purchase obsolete. They said they were not and so far that's been true. I think a profile loading version like you said would be great for getting more people onboard. Their longterm support of a 10+ year old product should be applauded. It would make much more business sense to bring out a new line with a new profiling format and sell buckets of new ones, but they haven't. They are the anti-apple of the audio industry 😎
I did that. Well actually I swapped mine with a local guy who had listed a Toaster on Reverb. I’d owned one for a year in between my AxeFx2 and FM3 so I knew what I was getting into and had a bunch of profiles ready to go.
@@danc5880 I flip flop. Sometimes I am totally happy with the Kemper. Sometimes I hear an overtone that bothers me. I've never been totally happy without a real amp, but whenever I have a real amp, I can't turn it up to enjoy it. It's always a compromise.
@@zerolight9420 I know what you mean about tube amps, I love then but equally they annoy me sometimes. Can't play them loud, they're susceptible to noise and interference, noisy effects loops etc. The kemper just seems like a good all in one solution where I can still use a proper cab as I don't like using monitors.
If you put heavy fx into all the slots it runs out of dsp. It is audible: there are no more trails when you change slots in a performance. Other than that: perfect amp sound. Does it need a successor. Yes, so hard for those who want that good amp sound, many fx plus a good screen.
The original axefx still sounds good and it hasn't had updates in years, so it's not surprising other "old" top shelf digital gear still sound great. I bought mine in 2012 and just now looking to sell it. It's so much more capable now than it was 10 years ago. Such a great time for getting great sounds out of every price bracket, wish that were the case when I started playing in the 80s.
When I went out trying to get the sounds and feel I wanted from stuff, I eventually ended up getting old tube amp heads. I'm still kind of on the outside, looking in on the world of digital modelling. But one thing I can say is that despite being 12 years old, and there being however many units out there, they hold their value really well. Times when I've thought, you know I'd love to get my hands on one of these kempers and see what all the fuss is about. Then go looking.. you can't just go clicking on eBay and pick an old one up for a few hundred quid. I think that shows that it's still relevant and people are quite literally seeing the value in then still.
Love my Kemper rack …in fact I have it going 4CM into my helix rack in same case …love Kemper amps love helix effects ..especially for thunderous high gain …I have it running into a Mesa boogie tube 2x100 stereo pwr amp into 2 EVH 2x12s …so good
I think Kemper has a great opportunity to introduce a Modeler with an upgraded/modern User Interface in a unit with a smaller footprint. The Modeler market is flooded with a wide variety of models, sizes, and features. Kemper is positioned to draw from those and the huge database of User comments to deliver a Modeler that hits all the right buttons - Great sounds, easy to use/navigate, large touchscreen color display, compact/travel/desktop/floor multi-location design, minimum of 5 stomp buttons, enough knobs to make sounds easy to adjust with them, beautiful/powerful Computer Librarian/Editor, wide range of connectivity options, etc. It's easy to know what people want. And my "personal request," please include a built "EQ Tone Match" feature. Thanks
Hey John, I wouldn't call it a Top of the Tree modeler necessarily, but the BOSS GX-100 has a Bluetooth module option, and you can control / edit from your phone / tablet. At my age, not having to bend down to tweak knobs (or hell being able to SEE the screen on stage without my glasses lol) is not just a luxury feature :-) That is something I didn't consider as I started leaning away from the GX-100 as a short term purchase.. (Thinking of selling some gear / saving up for a year or more and going full out for a Fractal FM9 , if not a Helix when I can finally afford it).
I think I’m selling my kemper stage soon. I spend so much time fixing profiles and double guessing if the sound is actually good. I became a sound designer with this thing. It’s not like a great amp that sounds good just because it’s supposed to. I wanted it to show me what good tone is, and instead I’m spending hours trying to get it somewhere.
Good video, thanks. I'm fairly new to the "new" modeling and I tried a bunch of stuff and still own a Helix, HX Stomp, and use Helix Native. I also own a Fractal FM3 and a Kemper Stage. I have no opinion on the Kemper. I'm heavily in the Helix-sphere so I simply haven't had time to even muck about with the Kemper yet. I'll have to check out the Bluetooth editor, though. I didn't know that it did that.
Can’t see any reason to ditch mine. It’s said that the profiles capture the amps up to 98% accurately (inaudible difference), so I can still have any amp I want by either creating or buying a profile. All said, the HX Stomp is a lot of fun and easier to drag between my studio and lounge 😉
I too have thought of a Kemper that simply loads profiles. Ive wondered if it would lower the retail price of a Kemper unit like that. I do think there is an audience for that, considering how many profiles and profile packs there are out there…to this day people are still releasing them. I think there are enough great profilers out there and eventually more to come that offer the service of creating them and i would think there are maybe more that don’t care to profile and are ok with simply buying them other people. Whether profiling is your thing or not, you can always buy them from someone else, then learn along the way, or never learn and stay happy with what you buy. The crazy thing with these units, is that if something sounds “dated”, or you grow out of a profile, you can just create another one, or look and buy another one! The sounds can always be new. Ive also thought of what John mentioned, about it being somewhat of a staple in studios. Maybe in 30 years, we’ll marvel at these things and talk about them like they do an original pultec or something else in a rack.
I have used a kemper for my live work since 2015, the only thing i have noticed is the wha effects dont seem fast enough on response , but it is a minor criticism, my guitar live sound has never been better. but i do wonder when it is clapped out when it happpens, is there a better device out there. ? !
I just sold my FM3 and re-bought a Kemper. Last week. With my Fractal gear I was constantly looking for that perfect IR, constantly tweaking. With the Kemper, I like that the whole rig is captured and works together. Find one you like, add a boost and delay. Done. I can play rather than tweak. There’s also something about the Kemper that sounds and feels a bit more natural. There was always something in my Fractal gear (I’ve owned it all) that sounded a little off. The Helix I just don’t like, I’ve tried, and it has such a great interface, but it’s not for me.
@@johnnathancordy I'm more of an 80s Hard Rock guy, so I have a bunch of Top Jimi profiles - I like his original Lee Jackson modded 50w Marshall that Paul Gilbert used in the RacerX days. I have his new profile of that too, still dabbling with it. I'm also enjoying Tone Junkie's 67 Supery Verb and the JMod with my strat. Would love it if you shared a tutorial vid dialing in some of you delays and reverbs that you use on the lovely slightly pushed tones you play through.
Another note - the Fractal is unusually guitar sensitive. You can't really use other user presets. I've tried downloading Leon Todd's and they always sound crappy with my gear (and fingers). With a real amp, whilst different guitars sound different, as they should, it's all flavours on the amp tone - which isn't often the case with Fractal / Line 6, but seems a bit closer with the Kemper. I'm also keen to try the Kemper Kab as I have a hard time playing through my studio monitors - always sounds off, too bright, thin - maybe hearing the guitar over the top, I dunno, but it's not an issue with headphones - this is all modellers for me. Maybe I just need to play for a few weeks with monitors rather than a few minutes, and my ears will adjust? Recorded tone is fine - I think its the acoustics of the guitar plus the monitors, or maybe my ears still expect an amp in the room, even after all these years with modelers. I do wonder if the Kab would fix that or just be wasted money.
@@johnnathancordy Well, two weeks later, I'm going back to the FM3. I really like how alive the amps feel in the Kemper... some of TopJimis profiles sound like they are about to rip the speakers out the cab, they sound so alive. The FM3 never really gives me that. But, there's an overtone to higher gain Kemper Profiles (like hot rodded Marshalls) that bothers me - it's like a little bit of cocked wah is mixed into the signal. I can't dial it out, and once heard, it can't be unheard. I hear it all over UA-cam now, but not in the real amp or the FM3. So, Kemper sold this morning. FM3 coming back on Monday. The life of a guitarist, eh?
I've owned mine for about 8 years now. Occasionally I've felt GAS for other "latest and greatest" devices like the Quad Cortex, but until something comes along that is an unambiguous improvement in tone and feel, I'll save my money. I do want to buy a Kemper Kabinet before long. As for new products, the weak aspect for me has always been the interface, compared to an actual amp. If Kemper came out with something like the recent UAFX pedals, or an external hardware interface that at a sufficiently granular level captures an actual amp through its range, I'd buy that in an instant.
Hello John Natan Thabk you so much for the beautiful guitar vibes, you are producing and which are touching imediately and so inspiriert.. I think you have a strong gift to make beaitiful Music. Dont waste youre time in discussing
I've had the Kemper for about 5-6 years now, I own a Helix and had the Axe FX2+ for some time before trading it for a nice guitar. The Kemper is hands down the best guitar gear for studio use. If there was a more powerful Kemper floor unit, with built in expression pedals that allowed you to build true stereo rigs like the AxeFX or Helix does (you have totally separate chains for L and R channels and Haas delay easily lets you create a 2 guitar sound) that would probably be my go-to for live use. Until that happens, Helix (despite the dsp limitations) is my go-to live multieffect.
Let's not forget the Kemper Stage was just released 2 years ago and was what everyone always wanted. The obvious trump card would be to make a Powered Kemper Stage - nothing else has that except perhaps the Bluguitar Amp 1 or the future Amp X.
If kemper will be intimidated by line 6 helix floor... well, they have to change.. and your correct if there looking for classic.. they don’t mind for sure
A lot of former Kemper Users I know , now use Computers and Plugins. I personally tried 3 different Kemper Models over the years , all 3 were brought back to the customer. I didn't like the Software , the Screen is a joke in these days. Too much Knobs ( especially the Stage Model ) always reminded me more of a Synthesizer than a Guitar Amp. I always loved the Boss Multieffects. I had the ME 25 for Live Playing and the GT1 ( Yes ) for Homerecording. Then I switched to the Helix Stomp and now I love the GX 100 for both Live and Home . So what about the Future of Kemper ? I think it's a brand that is still very very Famous in the Musicindustry , almost like a Marshall , Vox or Fender. When you are in a Studio or in a live Situation and you say to the Engineer : I have a Kemper everyone in the World knows what to do. If you say i bring a GX 100 nobody will notice what you are speaking about. And that is probably the Chance to see the Kemper in 10 Years in every Studio . A last new product could be a Kemper without the Profiling Section , cheaper , smaller and with the 50 Best Amps and Effects. With a new coloured Touchscreen and less Knobs. Or build in a Guitar with iPhone Editing. And a 5 Way Switch for the 5 Sounds you need . WOW !!
I bought the Boss IR200 for the small form factor. I already had all the other effects I needed, just wanted a quite stage option that was small enough to just bring my board.
I've owned many modellers and I love using them. I feel like I've reached my peak, at least for the foreseeable future, with the Axe-FX III for home and the Stomp for live use. I'm mucking about with the Quad Cortex at the moment, lots of fun to edit, but not quite the revolution many expected and not sure I'll keep it. I did try a Kemper for a little while too and I think it's a great product, really well supported and tons of sounds, albeit a bit redundant for me. I think I'm done with buying new modelling technology for a long time. I'd like to think it'll save me some money but I've just gotten into synths in a big way and I'm now GASing over many of those 😅
John you are getting better and better a player. It’s fun to drop into your Channel from time to time and see you take it to new levels. Really happy this time to see you are developing a pronounced Ted Greene - Tim Lerch head shake. Such a good sign. Love the Kemper - it was a wise purchase for me - I knew I could loose my valve amps and stop thinking about gear and let it be all about the playing from now on.
I only watch your Kemper videos. Read the comments. You gave alot of followers that LOVE their Kemper. I find it funny that you struggle with the unit. It’s like you occasionally do a Kemper post because you while wanting to not like the Kemper, you get so many followers that comment in favor.
Kemper should release a basic version in the 500 range and premium 1000 to 1500 version. bedroom studios and professionals alike they would take the marketplace if done right they could be the top modeler and kick line 6 off their podium.
actually, the kemper is not a modeller. it's a profiler, which means it recreates captured rigs. this will still work the same way in 20 years from now. so thats maybe the reason why its still on sale
@@johnnathancordy actually the kemper does not modell anything, the line 6 and fractual audio stuff ist modelling sound from nothing. thats the difference
Well - it's digital modelling gear. I said in the video that the tone is still going to be good - but since 2010 things have changed quite substantially from an interface point of view.
Im trying to decide myself, I want to model amps and cabs, but I want to model stomp boxes, because live, I want to run into my actual amp, and just want all my stomp boxes. Ill use amp models for FOH and in the DAW but live on stage smaller gigs which is 80% of my gigs I wont be mic’d or out to FOH its just my amp, vocal PA only. So, Im looking more into the Quad Core, for its pedal modeling. So I can use it as just my pedal board through my amp without amp models. But at home in the DAw or big gigs I can use the amp models. I want my hole rig in a box, and leave my boutique gear in the studio safe and sound. Kemper doesnt model pedals like the Quad Core. The screen is also outdated for 2022. But that can be good for knob tweakers I dont know. Very hard decision and expensive.
I bought mine a year ago. Took it to band rehearsal for the first time and straight into the PA , it was the first time it went 100 percent well and didn't have to tweek or think about it. Prefer Kemper to these new UA pedals. Kemper doesn't have USB direct recording but I have a Fractal as well for everything else and it's almost too deep
I returned my Kemper after a week. It sounded horrible through headphones. I couldn't even get a semi-decent sound, despite excessive tweaking, good quality profiles and what not.
Bought a Stage 2 years ago as I was frustrated with an HX FX. It’s great, the updates have been really good. It does seem to have a steep learning curve but maybe that’s true of similar kit? The only hardware thing that is really dated is the screen. Otherwise the design is fantastic. What I like is they don’t dump their customers like Line 6 do (Pod HD PRO X is my interface but they are diabolical on iOS updates).
A small profile loader (the sides and weight of a Boss GT-1) with just the efx the kemper already have and a volume/wha pedal build in. That's what I think would kill every other brand. Now days travelling with equipment is more and more difficult. That's why more and more companies go for a small device . That's my opinion. I am a 2 years old Kemper user and i think is just killing...but too big to bring on the road....and on the road you are not going to create any profile...so a small loader multi efx would be the one to go for. Somebody tell Mr Kemper please 8-)
I think ToneJunkie has been begging him for this for years.... If you look at the guts of the Kemper it's not exactly massive either so it probably should be possible
I have the kemper stage and loved it immediately but the honeymoon was quickly over. these days I plug it in for 10mins then immediately go into my hx stomp. The kemper seems to have this odd compression going on that I find irritating and makes the playing no longer enjoyable. The hx stomp and axe fx stuff knocks it outta the park.
Although it is a great modeler, to my ear the Kemper has a recognisable tone throughout its profiles. Depending on what you do, it can be good or bad: one does not necessarily want to clone a Marshall or a particular amp. If so, the Kemper is not what you are looking for as it will not reproduce exactly the legendary amps you would be trying to clone. If you are adventurous and have a lot of time and patience, you can obtain quite a lot of nice effects. But you can do so with a lot of apps on a iPad...
I would agree that it is not "spot on" -- at least not in all possible testable ways/or ways that matter to me as a player. Even at its most accurate, kemper made profiles that had a distinct "TS" feel to them. How much of that you can hear, just listening back, depends on the playing style, among other things. I believe how hearable the kemper thing is can be overstated at times. But even for feel alone, I am not a fan of this. There are other, modern units that, at least in my experience and tests, do not suffer from the same TS ailment/bananza. That said, if you have an amp you want to copy, and that sound does not utilize multiple distorting stages (which is typically an extra issue for kemper).. there is just the quad cortex out there to give you a workflow similar to kemper. Well, even more automated than kemper, when you consider lack of refining, while loosing post profile parameters of the toaster. In my experience, you can get fairly good results using EQ matching on axe fx 3 or just by deep tweaking parameters/shooting IR. Typically I do not even need to EQ match, using the FM3. But the way of getting there is still different to kemper and the capturing function of quad cortex. And to get as close, especially for EQ, you may run onto issues that require considerable experimentation. More relevant skill on your part comes into play, at least a chunk of the time, depending on what you are trying to emulate. Having said all that, for some people, I do think kemper is still the best way of copying a given source tone. Or maybe quad cortex.
After all these years, is the Kemper the most realistic modeler? That would probably be the most important question. I had at home for the test: Boss Katana: extremely bright, Line6 native: sterile, little headroom despite a good interface (SSL 2) Line6 Catalyst 60: not bad, tuned darker than the Katana, great headroom when playing. If I had the money, I would test Kemper, Line6 and Fractal directly at home. That would be super cool. Cordy, you have the option. Unfortunately, you're a Line6 slave and you would never give your real opinion. Cheers
I have not made many videos with such tests -- but conducted plenty. In my experience, part of the difficulty is determining what the standards should be for "more realistic" or "more accurate. Do we measure that through blind feel tests? ABX audio tests? Some spectrum analyser? What playing exactly would be measured? You can, for example, just play a chord through a kemper profile vs source, have nobody be able to tell the difference consistently... and then you call the results "spot on". But then play a low note... and the natural sag of the real amp starts cutting out. I have even seen cases where I dial an FM3 amp sim to replicate a source, without using any EQ matching, and the result is easier to spot in SOME kind of audio tests... against kemper profile of the source.. But the feel of FM3 sill seems closer to the source. Long story short... I believe there is a lot of talk to be had about such considerations. About Cordy: why is he a line 6 slave? He seems fairly honest in what he tells us imo.
The kemper is great. Probably a little overpriced now though as other companies came out with products on a par with it for much less... Ie helix stomp. Tech naturally gets cheaper. Which is great for us players. Still awesome though
The Kemper is not a modeler! It a profiler. It isn't modeling or trying to sound like a amp. The profile used is the identical DNA of the amp in a sonic version.
There are things Kemper can't do well. For example profiling multiple distorting stages -- pedal, preamp, power amp. Cocked wah bananza is what you often get. Some of my fractal tones I wasn't ever able to get with Kemper, for that reason. One usual response to this (for example from some on Kemper forum) is that "nobody" wow cares about such tones (bollocks, but anyway) .. which apparently means you shouldn't... Be "like the pros" mate and just dial in your amps how I want! Or another response at times is to use tube shape parameter if what you're missing is driving power amp hard as an additional stage. Profile amp with just preamp gain, and then turn tube shape up. I'd most certainly say this wasn't sufficient for me.. for what I had in mind.. tube shape felt like a generic control that hardly did what the real, specific amps did. I've had no such issues with fractal, even if I'm sure their modelling isn't "perfect".
Which btw isn't me saying Kemper = bad. I wouldn't have used the unit at all if I thought so. Are there points to be raised though? Sure. And in so far as people feeling like Kemper is "outdated".. Yeah, in some ways, perhaps it is. But if what you're into is core amp tones, and you had found these before with the unit, they're still there. It's not as if that SLO profile that had you drool before now sounds bad... Unless your own perception of sound changed radically, and that's the point of reference... Which is possible.. but well, the profile still generates the same frequencies, harmonic content, insert term people into digital devices tend to use. Some times as guitar 🎸 players we seem way more excited about new gear than new music or fresh ideas or even recording basic noodles. I think a reasonable point can be raised about the things we value, why, and what makes sense to value instead. This gear affliction can even become a form of escapism for people. Which isn't to say I'm simply "outside" of all that. There's certainly been times where my interest towards gear has had the wrong motivations behind it. We are humans and humans like pedals. But we also have brains. Doctors say.
The capturing of pedal distortion and preamp distortion sometimes has the same effect as trying to capture time based effects,,like chorus. Your signal will be out of phase , so the pedal‘s distortion is „beating“ against the preamp distortion. In a real amp the signal is either in phase or out of phase ( each preamp stage flips the phase) , so the power amp will always be in phase with the preamp. I think that is what you’re experiencing
Your channel actually swayed me from buying a Kemper stage, and instead when I have the funds, I’ll go helix/power cab instead. I love the Kemper sounds/amp packs, but the price just isn’t worth it any more. If Kemper developed another Stage with a better UI and an expression pedal with wifi/bluetooth advantages, I think it would be the true king of the modeling world. Until then, I just don’t see why I would ever need anything more than the helix/power cab.
I love my kemper power toaster but I’ve been getting similar tones from the hx stomp, also the hx stomp is easy to gig because of the form factor, the only thing that keeps me from selling the kemper is the power amp, and that I refuse to sell good gear even if it has little use to me at the moment.
In my opinion, it is not logical for digital device to keep the price for such a long time. Digital technology is very progressive, and Chinese companies could make great phones (for example) and sell it for 3x lower price than product that they are actually copying. I couldn't understand why would situation with Kemper be different? I use real amps and analog Loadbox, but i don't think that i would pay amp modeler and profiler that much. I've heard that Mooer GE300 for example is nice divice for the same purpose, sounds great, and it is much cheaper. OK, i didn't try it, but if Mooer is close to Kemper now, or some other company, in very short time, someone will make something in Kemper's level for lower price. It is digital stuff... Keyboards from 2010. can-t be that expenssive now. Phones from 2010. can't be expensive. I think that Kemper is still overpriced only because of the brand, and that's it. Quad Cortex is also the divice that is very overpriced, but everything is about marketing and how you sell your stuff. I will buy some modeler for my live shows with band, but deffinitely it will not cost over 500 euros!
Kemper interface sucks. Really sucks. Runs out of processor if you stack too much up in the effects and craps out. But. Every time I decide to change my toaster in for something like an iridium, I listen to the overtones and harmonics coming out of some of the the better Tone Junkie (like the Bensons) and I decide it’s a keeper. The new kemper drive stomp boxes they added are also very very good and easy to match to profiles. Recently added an MC8 to control it and a Volante in the stereo loop. This is a significant upgrade. Who knew? Kemper can be modular.
Rig manager sucks. I can't believe they have not updated. I hate it so much that I'm thinking of switching. You can't even do a simple thing like make the font bigger. For me it's hard to read. Line 6 editor with Kemper tone would be amazing.
The fact that people still buy the original kemper says a lot about the state of digital gear. We are no longer at a point where digital gear is going to change massively every 2-5 years. For example, a lot of top bands still tour with the axe fx2 or axe fx ultra. I think many of us will always be interested in the latest new guitar toys, but for a lot of people like me, an update to the axe fx3 or getting a new profile for kemper users satisfies the new gear itch. The fact that the quad cortex didn’t take over the world was another hint that there isn’t really anything new that sounds massively better than the older digital gear.
Well put👍🏽
I like your point, we kinda maxed out - the supply overcame the demand. I have Pod Go and I don't need anything more, but even when you check out the top line modellers - what can we want more? We can effectively get ANY tone we would ever chase, the DSP we have is sufficient for 99.99% of usecases. Even checking out the Ideascale for Helix - majority of requests are convenience software features for live play, like a persistent multitrack looper or footswitch improvements. Especially after QC big hype among paid youtubers and then abrupt silence, I don't expect any major tech breakthroughs in next few years.
I couldn't agree more. Its really difficult to see amp modelling getting much better from here. The vast amount of investment that's been put into them being the very best they can probably means they don't get much better from here
You are ALL absolutely correct !
Today's gear is top notch. At this point, its time to focus on making music ! Which is the point of getting the gear in the first place !
Lets all make great music for the world to hear. Cheers !!
I feel this. I obsessed over new gear before Helix. Now I just watch TPS for entertainment.
Got my first kemper in 2018 (I now have 2 of them) and it has completely killed GAS for me in terms of amps/modelers/pedals. I usually only use a handful of profiles and I only ever tweak effects. Something about the dynamics and feel of the kemper is so enjoyable when you find the right profile. Tone doesn't change. If something sounded good 30 years ago, and if something sounded good 10 years ago, tone doesn't suddenly become outdated.
I had a Kemper and had to sell it. I’m now debating grabbing another. It’s the feel for me. Nothing tops the real deal, but the Kemper comes the closest to the feel and response of a real amp. And you can’t deny the sound. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it!
The problem with the Kemper is very much that it is really hard to improve on perfection
Had a Kemper for years now, and thought that buying a Fractal FM3 or an HX Stomp would motivate me to play more since they are arguably both easier to use than the Kemper. Welp, 3 months, 1 FM3 and 1 HX Stomp later, I’m selling those and keeping the Kemper, as I realized the Kemper still sounds the best, at least for what I play. I also realized that I’ve never really taken the time to completely familiarize myself with the physical controls of the Kemper, since I was always only in Rig Manager, so I’m doing that now and realizing how wrong I was. I don’t see how I’d ever sell my Kemper now, unless they come out with a newer model or something. On top of that, you can get a used Kemper in perfect condition on the used market right now and save anywhere from $500-1000 off of retail, which is just nuts. Meanwhile, Fractals, are either impossible to get (FM9), significantly more expensive (Axe-Fx III) or are underpowered (FM3). I’d say, if you can afford at least a used Kemper, go for that, and if you can’t and/or what something much more portable, go for the HX Stomp.
Front of house always gives me compliments for my sound with the Kemper. ......so different from the "your amp is too loud" days. ....but I still use my amps a lot at home. I got mine in 2015 and what an awesome purchase it has been!
Happy Kemper here. I started with the toaster and sold it for the stage and I must say the tones you get out of it is just out of this world! Tone and ease of use are the 2 main factors for me. I agree that it will be a classic because most technological hardware gets outdated really fast, but not this one. Mostly due to the community and Kemper keeping it alive with new profiles and updates. Kudos to Kemper for supporting the product after 12 years and still releasing new features and patches.
Still very happy with my kemper. I do have a lot of tone chasing guitar friends who have moved on to other things but I still love it.
Being a modeler user most of the time. I started back playing around 2018. Started with an Helix LT, and HX Stomp. Acquired a Kemper toaster, then FM3, and FM9.
On top of several Software packs (Bias FX, THU, Amplitube)
In reference to the Kemper…I’ve only had it 2 years. So even though it’s been on the market for much longer than that, I’m daily finding new sounds and inspiration from what it has to offer. Where as someone that jumped on the Kemper train at launch might be a bit bored with it.
Maybe thats why it is still holding a market share in that area. Also, it seems lately that every time I power up my Kemper it has a software update of some sort. Might not be a mind-blowing addition to the effects. But, it’s a update to make it even more efficient and stable to use daily.
Anywho, that’s my 2 cents. I’m a Kemper user and quite like it! 🤘🏼🤘🏼 Thanks for the video John! Cheers ✌🏻
In total agreement with you Jason. Had mine for about 5 years now, and still learning.
How do you feel it compares to the fm9
@@brandonlonemusic I don't have the FM9 anymore, I retained the FM3 to stay in the Fractal ECO system. For what I do, it's plenty. As far as a comparison between the FM9 and the Kemper, I can get great inspiring tones out of both which make me want to pick up the guitar and play. So both serve their perspective purposes for what I need. Just depends on what mood I'm in as to which I use on any given day. Cheers!
Was in the local music store , just mooching around and one of the staff was playing some new line 6 stuff. I got into a conversation with him and I said that I use a Kemper. He then said that people are coming in and swapping over their Kempers to the Line 6 gear. I smiled at him and walked out
Hey John, To make a long story short when something is good it's good! And it stays good :) And with all the updates it's massive goood )
I love your work, and al your kemper profiles! All the best! And I can thank you enough for your guitar lessons to
Cheers
Kemper stage increases practice time, minimizes hassle and worry at gigs, travels great! (I go back and forth from AZ to FL 3-4 times a year), provides exceptional tone and feel. I own several tube amps and the full line of Spark but I always turn to my Kemper for convience. Except it can't replace my Spark Mini or Yamaha when it comes to going to the beach.
I just bought a Kemper stage this weekend 🫡
I’ve had mine for yrs! I use the kemper stage live! I will ever now and then use my Evh rig! I’m just old so it’s easy to carry my kemper stage to gigs!
In the last year I've seen more Kempers on stages in my city than ever before. It's become quite popular locally.
I bought my Toaster in 2017 to save myself from carrying my valve amps around, but I didn't use it immediately live... I was wary. That was a mistake. I had a Helix LT as a backup amp instead, which I bought because I was also able to use it for its excellent effects (using the 4-cable method). As an amp, I played around with the Line6 for the longest time, changing settings in HX Edit... I struggled, I really did... it was good, just not that good, at least for me, and even after forking out for professional presets, it still felt a little alien to me, as an amp. When my Mesa Boogie once refused to work at a gig, and I used the Helix, I was disappointed. Also, I had to load everything into complex signal chains with snapshots to be able to get latency-free changes between amps.
I finally got to grips with the Kemper. I found some stellar profiles and set up Performances around multiple gain stages of a specific amp (Friedman BE100) and am now experimenting with Bogners and Marshalls. The powered Toaster through a standard 2x12 guitar cabinet sounds amazing (I used a Matrix NL212, because it's super-light). I am a guitar-and-amp guy, and it worked for me, 100%. Also, swapping between rigs in a 'performance' (a set of 5 rigs often set up for a song) is pretty much instant.
I finally decided to sell my Helix and get a second Kemper, a Stage. Different hardware (newer, boots faster) but the same OS was possible on both units, and to my delight, the tones of my carefully crafted rigs were identical once copied across. Because the Stage is not powered however, I then bought a Kemper Powered Kabinet and have started to use that for monitoring. The Kemper can send speaker 'imprints' to its own Kone speakers - the characteristics of one of 19 speaker selections, but without the microphone, so not like an IR. I didn't want the FRFR sound behind me, only the speaker cabinet sound. The miced sound I wanted through the PA only.
Although I still download new profiles for fun, I found the tones I was looking for a couple of years ago and am super happy with them. I now play a lot more and tweak a lot less.
I’ve been using the kemper. Heard a lot of chat that it’s outdated but I’ve also heard a woman screaming next door and I’m not going to do anything about that either.
Maybe go check she's ok?
Nowadays guitarists suffer from..option paralysis....
@@gravyblue no
@@Deep_Jimpact fair enough
@@gravyblue it’s john’s house, it would be awkward
interesting thoughts . I'm looking at buying a used stage.... Thanks
I'm seeing so many professional player from UA-cam or from Jam Track Central still using Kemper. Some functions and settings unique on Kemper.
I used a fractal Fx3 for about two years … and I sold it. I bought a kemper for give another chance to the digital world and man it feels like a real amp and surprisingly i spend more time playing guitar than tweaking parameters. Still have my mesa studio preamp who I adore and my Marshall Jmp 2240 79’. But with kemper I forgot my real amps.
the kemper will still sound just as good in 10 years as it does now. It sounds maybe 95% like a tube amp? like technology that's 70 years old. Certainly in 3 years the Axe Fx 4 will sound 98% like a tube amp. And in 10 years the Ax Fx 5 or Quad Cortex 3 will sound like 99.9999% like a tube amp. And people will buy the latest gear and say, "Finally it sounds and feels like a tube amp, not like it did when we had the first Kemper, the music sounds so much better now“
if you can't get a good sound out of the kemper, you have other problems, but certainly not outdated equipment
The opening riff is rad!! thanks for the content
I think that the Kemper has remained relevant because it’s a great amp profiler. If amps remain relevant, then as long as the Kemper is a great profiler and not a modeler it will remain useful. Almost all the goodness of an analog amplifier with all the reliability of a digital platform.
What many people don’t realize is that Christoph Kemper invented the Access Virus synth and was already a DSP wizard back then. So when he developed the kemper he already kept all technical options open for further developments, like dsp choice, network port and other interfaces and a rather open user interface so it’s easy to add functionality. That’s what made it possible to be still on top after 12 years without any hardware updates. Having an electronics design background , to me that’s just genius
Is a good quality Fender Deluxe Reverb amp outdated? Not for most. Kemper gets so very , very close with all the digital control of such a thing.
Gigged my Kemper’s professionally for last 5-6 years & it’s a classic imho… the ease of use & great tones are arguably as good as it gets… the odd 5% improvement you might get with other more modern modellers etc is academic… I’ve stopped buying profiles & stick now to a few favourites just as you would if you physically owned the actual amps… i focus on just playing now rather than fiddling endlessly with it… and that’s how I treat my tube amps too…
Still very happy with my kemper. I do have a lot of guitar friends who have move on to other things but I still love it
Most players with the financial means of chasing the next big thing, will. Despite the fact that nothing is wrong with our current rig. I own both a Kemper Stage and a QC....and yes, I'm contemplating getting the Tonex only because of the low price point....not because I need better captures. The Kemper still sounds amazing, and despite the marginal improvements to DSP and capture accuracy of the QC, I find myself still being the most comfortable with the Kemper Stage. I like the form factor, features, and community. It has never failed me after countless gigs since 2019. Time to practice my craft rather than looking to yet another device to improve my performance.
Be cool to be able to load music/background track playlists via the rig manager. So you can play along to them.
So I'm actually in the market to buy the kemper at the moment! I've been a tube amp purist up until the pandemic hit, and at that point I ended up only being able to use amp sim's on my DAW and also ended up buying a line 6 Pod Go so I could experiment a bit more without annoying the neighbours. Originally I was only going to use it for home use, but progressively my band has moved and my songwriting has moved in a direction that requires so much precision and control (plus the fact we've gone silent stage) that the Kemper has just been the most practical choice for me!
I've used Kemper for 5 years and recorded many tracks with it however I've grown bored and recently picked up a fractal fm9 and I'm blown away. Right out of the gate the presets are phenomenal. the stock ODS100 preset is so much better than any Kemper profile I've been able to find or tweak. With a few adjustments on the fractal it's the best DI tone I've experienced. It will be a learning curve no doubt but Kemper is like a GameBoy DS vs newer gear be like a Nintendo Switch... To each their own. I know I'll always be able to my way around a Kemper but users are subject to how well the profiles are recorded which relieves Kemper of any responsibility. If they came out with a compact profile loader or dual loader I think that would make for a phenomenal hybrid pedal board. Strymon and Walrus audio already have really great amp in a box solutions but I think a Kemper in a pedal size with just amp/cab with maybe 1 block before and after would be a hit.
I may be biased because I've only owned my Kemper for about 6 months now. But in my opinion it's still a very relevant piece of gear. I personally only just discovered the high end of the digital stuff about 6 months before that. When I was learning to play the digital stuff was good and all ..... But wasn't good enough for everyday use. The things accessable to me any way...
I bought my kemper, which is a toaster, used loaded with a hodgepodge of profiles in it that was very difficult to navigate. I've since cleaned it out, saving all the profiles it shipped with off the Kemper and loaded back onto it only ones I will use and recent purchases.
For monitoring I run a 44 magnum power amp to a 1x12 cab. It's amazing to me that it sounds and feels like playing through an amp in the room with that setup. I mean just like and amp in the room.
Currently I run a performance per amp. So like I've got my AC-30. My Marshall. My Lonestar. My vintage fender. Too me I think it sounds too.... Mixed up in a live scenario to use say a fender clean then a stark change to a Marshall distorted sound. So for now 1 amp per performance. Various tones available from that amp and how I would use them are set up in each performance.
To me it's a very useable and cool piece of equipment. Before owning it I would never have considered buying any thing like and AC-30 or Lonestar. I would never have shelled out the money. But the number of actual useable and good sounding tones that are available is just incredible to me.
Some vintage gear lasts years and years in players minds and hearts. That's ultimately where longevity will come from.
Now that I have this I'm not sure I could ever see myself spending the money for something like a mesa boogie roadster. Yet I can have those sounds available to me. And so much more.
There is a huge learning curve. But once you get it down and find how you will practically put this thing to use, it's a really really good tool that does it's job really really well. That will make people continue to use it for years to come.
Just bought a Stage two days ago and awaiting delivery. Have the Helix LT, GT1K Core and Ampero.
Metallica uses Kemper on the actual Tour…. And questions? I think its still the most Natural easy to use digital amp Solution on the market. We are searching for Vintage Sounds 60 years ago. Kemper Technology is still on Top After 12 years. Great :-)
happy with my Kemper Stage
Kemper profilers are just remarkable and unbeatable in my opinion.
Think Kemper will never get old. It will only get better.
I owned the Kemper for a number of years but got so frustrated with spending my life constantly listening to UA-cam videos of new profile releases and needing have the latest greatest all the time. Sold it. Bought HX stomp and now I actually play guitar and listen to UA-cam videos on how to play certain things. And of course this channel on how to get the most out of the Stomp
I bought one about a year ago. Absolutely love it. The UI on the toaster rubbish but apart from that it's great.
I emailed Kemper before I made the purchase asking if they are bringing out a new Kemper within 18 months that would replace the current toasters. I was concerned about a new version coming that would make my purchase obsolete. They said they were not and so far that's been true. I think a profile loading version like you said would be great for getting more people onboard.
Their longterm support of a 10+ year old product should be applauded. It would make much more business sense to bring out a new line with a new profiling format and sell buckets of new ones, but they haven't. They are the anti-apple of the audio industry 😎
I was actually considering selling my fm3 to help fund a Kemper stage just to do something different for fun.
I did that. Well actually I swapped mine with a local guy who had listed a Toaster on Reverb. I’d owned one for a year in between my AxeFx2 and FM3 so I knew what I was getting into and had a bunch of profiles ready to go.
@@zerolight9420 do you regret it? I've just sold my FM3 and I'm looking at a powered toaster or maybe a Friedman Dirty Shirly Mini.
@@danc5880 I flip flop. Sometimes I am totally happy with the Kemper. Sometimes I hear an overtone that bothers me. I've never been totally happy without a real amp, but whenever I have a real amp, I can't turn it up to enjoy it. It's always a compromise.
@@zerolight9420 I know what you mean about tube amps, I love then but equally they annoy me sometimes. Can't play them loud, they're susceptible to noise and interference, noisy effects loops etc. The kemper just seems like a good all in one solution where I can still use a proper cab as I don't like using monitors.
If you put heavy fx into all the slots it runs out of dsp. It is audible: there are no more trails when you change slots in a performance. Other than that: perfect amp sound. Does it need a successor. Yes, so hard for those who want that good amp sound, many fx plus a good screen.
The original axefx still sounds good and it hasn't had updates in years, so it's not surprising other "old" top shelf digital gear still sound great. I bought mine in 2012 and just now looking to sell it. It's so much more capable now than it was 10 years ago. Such a great time for getting great sounds out of every price bracket, wish that were the case when I started playing in the 80s.
When I went out trying to get the sounds and feel I wanted from stuff, I eventually ended up getting old tube amp heads. I'm still kind of on the outside, looking in on the world of digital modelling. But one thing I can say is that despite being 12 years old, and there being however many units out there, they hold their value really well. Times when I've thought, you know I'd love to get my hands on one of these kempers and see what all the fuss is about. Then go looking.. you can't just go clicking on eBay and pick an old one up for a few hundred quid. I think that shows that it's still relevant and people are quite literally seeing the value in then still.
Love my Kemper rack …in fact I have it going 4CM into my helix rack in same case …love Kemper amps love helix effects ..especially for thunderous high gain …I have it running into a Mesa boogie tube 2x100 stereo pwr amp into 2 EVH 2x12s …so good
I think Kemper has a great opportunity to introduce a Modeler with an upgraded/modern User Interface in a unit with a smaller footprint. The Modeler market is flooded with a wide variety of models, sizes, and features. Kemper is positioned to draw from those and the huge database of User comments to deliver a Modeler that hits all the right buttons - Great sounds, easy to use/navigate, large touchscreen color display, compact/travel/desktop/floor multi-location design, minimum of 5 stomp buttons, enough knobs to make sounds easy to adjust with them, beautiful/powerful Computer Librarian/Editor, wide range of connectivity options, etc. It's easy to know what people want. And my "personal request," please include a built "EQ Tone Match" feature. Thanks
Let's just say, until this day, when loaded with good profiles, Kemper is hard to beat.
And good profiles are so easy to find.
Hey John,
I wouldn't call it a Top of the Tree modeler necessarily, but the BOSS GX-100 has a Bluetooth module option, and you can control / edit from your phone / tablet.
At my age, not having to bend down to tweak knobs (or hell being able to SEE the screen on stage without my glasses lol) is not just a luxury feature :-)
That is something I didn't consider as I started leaning away from the GX-100 as a short term purchase.. (Thinking of selling some gear / saving up for a year or more and going full out for a Fractal FM9 , if not a Helix when I can finally afford it).
Sorry for the mistakes it is autocorrection....
But did you publish any music??????
I think I’m selling my kemper stage soon. I spend so much time fixing profiles and double guessing if the sound is actually good. I became a sound designer with this thing. It’s not like a great amp that sounds good just because it’s supposed to. I wanted it to show me what good tone is, and instead I’m spending hours trying to get it somewhere.
Good video, thanks. I'm fairly new to the "new" modeling and I tried a bunch of stuff and still own a Helix, HX Stomp, and use Helix Native. I also own a Fractal FM3 and a Kemper Stage. I have no opinion on the Kemper. I'm heavily in the Helix-sphere so I simply haven't had time to even muck about with the Kemper yet. I'll have to check out the Bluetooth editor, though. I didn't know that it did that.
I agree with this.
Oops, meant to reply below. I need more coffee.
Can’t see any reason to ditch mine. It’s said that the profiles capture the amps up to 98% accurately (inaudible difference), so I can still have any amp I want by either creating or buying a profile. All said, the HX Stomp is a lot of fun and easier to drag between my studio and lounge 😉
Where is pod go bro... Clean tone and clean chours.... As a subscriber i need...🙏
I too have thought of a Kemper that simply loads profiles. Ive wondered if it would lower the retail price of a Kemper unit like that.
I do think there is an audience for that, considering how many profiles and profile packs there are out there…to this day people are still releasing them.
I think there are enough great profilers out there and eventually more to come that offer the service of creating them and i would think there are maybe more that don’t care to profile and are ok with simply buying them other people.
Whether profiling is your thing or not, you can always buy them from someone else, then learn along the way, or never learn and stay happy with what you buy. The crazy thing with these units, is that if something sounds “dated”, or you grow out of a profile, you can just create another one, or look and buy another one! The sounds can always be new.
Ive also thought of what John mentioned, about it being somewhat of a staple in studios. Maybe in 30 years, we’ll marvel at these things and talk about them like they do an original pultec or something else in a rack.
I have used a kemper for my live work since 2015, the only thing i have noticed is the wha effects dont seem fast enough on response , but it is a minor criticism, my guitar live sound has never been better. but i do wonder when it is clapped out when it happpens, is there a better device out there. ? !
I am thinking of getting one.
I just sold my FM3 and re-bought a Kemper. Last week. With my Fractal gear I was constantly looking for that perfect IR, constantly tweaking. With the Kemper, I like that the whole rig is captured and works together. Find one you like, add a boost and delay. Done. I can play rather than tweak. There’s also something about the Kemper that sounds and feels a bit more natural. There was always something in my Fractal gear (I’ve owned it all) that sounded a little off. The Helix I just don’t like, I’ve tried, and it has such a great interface, but it’s not for me.
Interesting! Which profiles are you gravitating towards?
@@johnnathancordy I'm more of an 80s Hard Rock guy, so I have a bunch of Top Jimi profiles - I like his original Lee Jackson modded 50w Marshall that Paul Gilbert used in the RacerX days. I have his new profile of that too, still dabbling with it. I'm also enjoying Tone Junkie's 67 Supery Verb and the JMod with my strat. Would love it if you shared a tutorial vid dialing in some of you delays and reverbs that you use on the lovely slightly pushed tones you play through.
Another note - the Fractal is unusually guitar sensitive. You can't really use other user presets. I've tried downloading Leon Todd's and they always sound crappy with my gear (and fingers). With a real amp, whilst different guitars sound different, as they should, it's all flavours on the amp tone - which isn't often the case with Fractal / Line 6, but seems a bit closer with the Kemper. I'm also keen to try the Kemper Kab as I have a hard time playing through my studio monitors - always sounds off, too bright, thin - maybe hearing the guitar over the top, I dunno, but it's not an issue with headphones - this is all modellers for me. Maybe I just need to play for a few weeks with monitors rather than a few minutes, and my ears will adjust? Recorded tone is fine - I think its the acoustics of the guitar plus the monitors, or maybe my ears still expect an amp in the room, even after all these years with modelers. I do wonder if the Kab would fix that or just be wasted money.
ooh - thanks for the Redplate tip - that's quite a nice sound. It's a free profile on TAF too,
@@johnnathancordy Well, two weeks later, I'm going back to the FM3. I really like how alive the amps feel in the Kemper... some of TopJimis profiles sound like they are about to rip the speakers out the cab, they sound so alive. The FM3 never really gives me that. But, there's an overtone to higher gain Kemper Profiles (like hot rodded Marshalls) that bothers me - it's like a little bit of cocked wah is mixed into the signal. I can't dial it out, and once heard, it can't be unheard. I hear it all over UA-cam now, but not in the real amp or the FM3. So, Kemper sold this morning. FM3 coming back on Monday. The life of a guitarist, eh?
I've owned mine for about 8 years now. Occasionally I've felt GAS for other "latest and greatest" devices like the Quad Cortex, but until something comes along that is an unambiguous improvement in tone and feel, I'll save my money. I do want to buy a Kemper Kabinet before long.
As for new products, the weak aspect for me has always been the interface, compared to an actual amp. If Kemper came out with something like the recent UAFX pedals, or an external hardware interface that at a sufficiently granular level captures an actual amp through its range, I'd buy that in an instant.
Hello John Natan
Thabk you so much for the beautiful guitar vibes, you are producing and which are touching imediately and so inspiriert..
I think you have a strong gift to make beaitiful Music.
Dont waste youre time in discussing
In discussing worthless theories
I've had the Kemper for about 5-6 years now, I own a Helix and had the Axe FX2+ for some time before trading it for a nice guitar. The Kemper is hands down the best guitar gear for studio use.
If there was a more powerful Kemper floor unit, with built in expression pedals that allowed you to build true stereo rigs like the AxeFX or Helix does (you have totally separate chains for L and R channels and Haas delay easily lets you create a 2 guitar sound) that would probably be my go-to for live use.
Until that happens, Helix (despite the dsp limitations) is my go-to live multieffect.
Why do you prefer Kemper in studio over helix though?
Let's not forget the Kemper Stage was just released 2 years ago and was what everyone always wanted. The obvious trump card would be to make a Powered Kemper Stage - nothing else has that except perhaps the Bluguitar Amp 1 or the future Amp X.
If kemper will be intimidated by line 6 helix floor... well, they have to change.. and your correct if there looking for classic.. they don’t mind for sure
A lot of former Kemper Users I know , now use Computers and Plugins. I personally tried 3 different Kemper Models over the years , all 3 were brought back to the customer. I didn't like the Software , the Screen is a joke in these days. Too much Knobs ( especially the Stage Model ) always reminded me more of a Synthesizer than a Guitar Amp. I always loved the Boss Multieffects. I had the ME 25 for Live Playing and the GT1 ( Yes ) for Homerecording. Then I switched to the Helix Stomp and now I love the GX 100 for both Live and Home . So what about the Future of Kemper ? I think it's a brand that is still very very Famous in the Musicindustry , almost like a Marshall , Vox or Fender. When you are in a Studio or in a live Situation and you say to the Engineer : I have a Kemper everyone in the World knows what to do. If you say i bring a GX 100 nobody will notice what you are speaking about. And that is probably the Chance to see the Kemper in 10 Years in every Studio . A last new product could be a Kemper without the Profiling Section , cheaper , smaller and with the 50 Best Amps and Effects. With a new coloured Touchscreen and less Knobs. Or build in a Guitar with iPhone Editing. And a 5 Way Switch for the 5 Sounds you need . WOW !!
I bought the Boss IR200 for the small form factor. I already had all the other effects I needed, just wanted a quite stage option that was small enough to just bring my board.
I've owned many modellers and I love using them. I feel like I've reached my peak, at least for the foreseeable future, with the Axe-FX III for home and the Stomp for live use. I'm mucking about with the Quad Cortex at the moment, lots of fun to edit, but not quite the revolution many expected and not sure I'll keep it. I did try a Kemper for a little while too and I think it's a great product, really well supported and tons of sounds, albeit a bit redundant for me. I think I'm done with buying new modelling technology for a long time. I'd like to think it'll save me some money but I've just gotten into synths in a big way and I'm now GASing over many of those 😅
To me these are all computers in a box.......... Bluecat in France make Axiom . Give it a shot and see how deep you can go :)
There a currently more than 100000 commercial profiles available, next to all the free ones. Crazy
I liked the kemper better than helix and axe iii, despite it being the oldest. I wish they would put it in a small pedal format… great piece of gear.
John you are getting better and better a player. It’s fun to drop into your Channel from time to time and see you take it to new levels. Really happy this time to see you are developing a pronounced Ted Greene - Tim Lerch head shake. Such a good sign. Love the Kemper - it was a wise purchase for me - I knew I could loose my valve amps and stop thinking about gear and let it be all about the playing from now on.
Gawd that k line makes me want to go into debt.
I need scotty to beam me up the tones
Great playing
I only watch your Kemper videos. Read the comments. You gave alot of followers that LOVE their Kemper. I find it funny that you struggle with the unit. It’s like you occasionally do a Kemper post because you while wanting to not like the Kemper, you get so many followers that comment in favor.
Kemper should release a basic version in the 500 range and premium 1000 to 1500 version. bedroom studios and professionals alike they would take the marketplace if done right they could be the top modeler and kick line 6 off their podium.
actually, the kemper is not a modeller. it's a profiler, which means it recreates captured rigs. this will still work the same way in 20 years from now. so thats maybe the reason why its still on sale
I'm not sure there's much of a difference. Plenty of modellers recreate captured rigs too.
@@johnnathancordy actually the kemper does not modell anything, the line 6 and fractual audio stuff ist modelling sound from nothing. thats the difference
Uh? How is it outdated? I have a 1990 JCM 900, is that outdated too?
People should stop blabbing shit about their equipment and just use it.
Yeah, people still need to get used to the thought of "if it still sounds good, it's not outdated" when it comes to digital gear.
Agree with the premise, but a bizarre example.
Well - it's digital modelling gear. I said in the video that the tone is still going to be good - but since 2010 things have changed quite substantially from an interface point of view.
Im trying to decide myself, I want to model amps and cabs, but I want to model stomp boxes, because live, I want to run into my actual amp, and just want all my stomp boxes. Ill use amp models for FOH and in the DAW but live on stage smaller gigs which is 80% of my gigs I wont be mic’d or out to FOH its just my amp, vocal PA only. So, Im looking more into the Quad Core, for its pedal modeling. So I can use it as just my pedal board through my amp without amp models. But at home in the DAw or big gigs I can use the amp models. I want my hole rig in a box, and leave my boutique gear in the studio safe and sound. Kemper doesnt model pedals like the Quad Core. The screen is also outdated for 2022. But that can be good for knob tweakers I dont know. Very hard decision and expensive.
I bought mine a year ago. Took it to band rehearsal for the first time and straight into the PA , it was the first time it went 100 percent well and didn't have to tweek or think about it. Prefer Kemper to these new UA pedals. Kemper doesn't have USB direct recording but I have a Fractal as well for everything else and it's almost too deep
I returned my Kemper after a week. It sounded horrible through headphones. I couldn't even get a semi-decent sound, despite excessive tweaking, good quality profiles and what not.
Honestly, you must have had a faulty unit.
@@fredstgelais It's possible.
Bought a Stage 2 years ago as I was frustrated with an HX FX. It’s great, the updates have been really good. It does seem to have a steep learning curve but maybe that’s true of similar kit? The only hardware thing that is really dated is the screen. Otherwise the design is fantastic. What I like is they don’t dump their customers like Line 6 do (Pod HD PRO X is my interface but they are diabolical on iOS updates).
A small profile loader (the sides and weight of a Boss GT-1) with just the efx the kemper already have and a volume/wha pedal build in. That's what I think would kill every other brand. Now days travelling with equipment is more and more difficult. That's why more and more companies go for a small device . That's my opinion. I am a 2 years old Kemper user and i think is just killing...but too big to bring on the road....and on the road you are not going to create any profile...so a small loader multi efx would be the one to go for. Somebody tell Mr Kemper please 8-)
I think ToneJunkie has been begging him for this for years....
If you look at the guts of the Kemper it's not exactly massive either so it probably should be possible
I have the kemper stage and loved it immediately but the honeymoon was quickly over. these days I plug it in for 10mins then immediately go into my hx stomp. The kemper seems to have this odd compression going on that I find irritating and makes the playing no longer enjoyable. The hx stomp and axe fx stuff knocks it outta the park.
Funny thing is OLD tube amps sound better
A pedal profiler included.
Although it is a great modeler, to my ear the Kemper has a recognisable tone throughout its profiles. Depending on what you do, it can be good or bad: one does not necessarily want to clone a Marshall or a particular amp. If so, the Kemper is not what you are looking for as it will not reproduce exactly the legendary amps you would be trying to clone. If you are adventurous and have a lot of time and patience, you can obtain quite a lot of nice effects. But you can do so with a lot of apps on a iPad...
I would agree that it is not "spot on" -- at least not in all possible testable ways/or ways that matter to me as a player.
Even at its most accurate, kemper made profiles that had a distinct "TS" feel to them. How much of that you can hear, just listening back, depends on the playing style, among other things. I believe how hearable the kemper thing is can be overstated at times. But even for feel alone, I am not a fan of this. There are other, modern units that, at least in my experience and tests, do not suffer from the same TS ailment/bananza.
That said, if you have an amp you want to copy, and that sound does not utilize multiple distorting stages (which is typically an extra issue for kemper).. there is just the quad cortex out there to give you a workflow similar to kemper. Well, even more automated than kemper, when you consider lack of refining, while loosing post profile parameters of the toaster.
In my experience, you can get fairly good results using EQ matching on axe fx 3 or just by deep tweaking parameters/shooting IR. Typically I do not even need to EQ match, using the FM3. But the way of getting there is still different to kemper and the capturing function of quad cortex. And to get as close, especially for EQ, you may run onto issues that require considerable experimentation. More relevant skill on your part comes into play, at least a chunk of the time, depending on what you are trying to emulate.
Having said all that, for some people, I do think kemper is still the best way of copying a given source tone. Or maybe quad cortex.
is the Dumble still worth it in 2022?!
🙄 what a question🙄
I bought the toaster a couple years ago and it’s so thin and fizzy am I doing something wrong or what I can’t take it. Tones are unusable to me
What are you listening through?
After all these years, is the Kemper the most realistic modeler? That would probably be the most important question. I had at home for the test: Boss Katana: extremely bright, Line6 native: sterile, little headroom despite a good interface (SSL 2) Line6 Catalyst 60: not bad, tuned darker than the Katana, great headroom when playing. If I had the money, I would test Kemper, Line6 and Fractal directly at home. That would be super cool. Cordy, you have the option. Unfortunately, you're a Line6 slave and you would never give your real opinion. Cheers
I have not made many videos with such tests -- but conducted plenty.
In my experience, part of the difficulty is determining what the standards should be for "more realistic" or "more accurate. Do we measure that through blind feel tests? ABX audio tests? Some spectrum analyser? What playing exactly would be measured?
You can, for example, just play a chord through a kemper profile vs source, have nobody be able to tell the difference consistently... and then you call the results "spot on". But then play a low note... and the natural sag of the real amp starts cutting out. I have even seen cases where I dial an FM3 amp sim to replicate a source, without using any EQ matching, and the result is easier to spot in SOME kind of audio tests... against kemper profile of the source.. But the feel of FM3 sill seems closer to the source.
Long story short... I believe there is a lot of talk to be had about such considerations.
About Cordy: why is he a line 6 slave? He seems fairly honest in what he tells us imo.
The kemper is great. Probably a little overpriced now though as other companies came out with products on a par with it for much less... Ie helix stomp. Tech naturally gets cheaper. Which is great for us players. Still awesome though
The hardware in the Kemper has only ONE job, to be a platform for the really important stuff, the software!
The Kemper is not a modeler! It a profiler. It isn't modeling or trying to sound like a amp. The profile used is the identical DNA of the amp in a sonic version.
I Just want a more powerful kemper with more space and parallel processing
There are things Kemper can't do well. For example profiling multiple distorting stages -- pedal, preamp, power amp. Cocked wah bananza is what you often get. Some of my fractal tones I wasn't ever able to get with Kemper, for that reason.
One usual response to this (for example from some on Kemper forum) is that "nobody" wow cares about such tones (bollocks, but anyway) .. which apparently means you shouldn't... Be "like the pros" mate and just dial in your amps how I want!
Or another response at times is to use tube shape parameter if what you're missing is driving power amp hard as an additional stage. Profile amp with just preamp gain, and then turn tube shape up.
I'd most certainly say this wasn't sufficient for me.. for what I had in mind.. tube shape felt like a generic control that hardly did what the real, specific amps did. I've had no such issues with fractal, even if I'm sure their modelling isn't "perfect".
Which btw isn't me saying Kemper = bad. I wouldn't have used the unit at all if I thought so. Are there points to be raised though? Sure.
And in so far as people feeling like Kemper is "outdated".. Yeah, in some ways, perhaps it is.
But if what you're into is core amp tones, and you had found these before with the unit, they're still there. It's not as if that SLO profile that had you drool before now sounds bad... Unless your own perception of sound changed radically, and that's the point of reference...
Which is possible.. but well, the profile still generates the same frequencies, harmonic content, insert term people into digital devices tend to use.
Some times as guitar 🎸 players we seem way more excited about new gear than new music or fresh ideas or even recording basic noodles.
I think a reasonable point can be raised about the things we value, why, and what makes sense to value instead. This gear affliction can even become a form of escapism for people.
Which isn't to say I'm simply "outside" of all that. There's certainly been times where my interest towards gear has had the wrong motivations behind it. We are humans and humans like pedals.
But we also have brains. Doctors say.
The capturing of pedal distortion and preamp distortion sometimes has the same effect as trying to capture time based effects,,like chorus. Your signal will be out of phase , so the pedal‘s distortion is „beating“ against the preamp distortion. In a real amp the signal is either in phase or out of phase ( each preamp stage flips the phase) , so the power amp will always be in phase with the preamp. I think that is what you’re experiencing
Your channel actually swayed me from buying a Kemper stage, and instead when I have the funds, I’ll go helix/power cab instead. I love the Kemper sounds/amp packs, but the price just isn’t worth it any more. If Kemper developed another Stage with a better UI and an expression pedal with wifi/bluetooth advantages, I think it would be the true king of the modeling world. Until then, I just don’t see why I would ever need anything more than the helix/power cab.
I love my kemper power toaster but I’ve been getting similar tones from the hx stomp, also the hx stomp is easy to gig because of the form factor, the only thing that keeps me from selling the kemper is the power amp, and that I refuse to sell good gear even if it has little use to me at the moment.
In my opinion, it is not logical for digital device to keep the price for such a long time. Digital technology is very progressive, and Chinese companies could make great phones (for example) and sell it for 3x lower price than product that they are actually copying. I couldn't understand why would situation with Kemper be different? I use real amps and analog Loadbox, but i don't think that i would pay amp modeler and profiler that much. I've heard that Mooer GE300 for example is nice divice for the same purpose, sounds great, and it is much cheaper. OK, i didn't try it, but if Mooer is close to Kemper now, or some other company, in very short time, someone will make something in Kemper's level for lower price. It is digital stuff... Keyboards from 2010. can-t be that expenssive now. Phones from 2010. can't be expensive. I think that Kemper is still overpriced only because of the brand, and that's it. Quad Cortex is also the divice that is very overpriced, but everything is about marketing and how you sell your stuff. I will buy some modeler for my live shows with band, but deffinitely it will not cost over 500 euros!
Kemper interface sucks. Really sucks. Runs out of processor if you stack too much up in the effects and craps out.
But.
Every time I decide to change my toaster in for something like an iridium, I listen to the overtones and harmonics coming out of some of the the better Tone Junkie (like the Bensons) and I decide it’s a keeper.
The new kemper drive stomp boxes they added are also very very good and easy to match to profiles.
Recently added an MC8 to control it and a Volante in the stereo loop. This is a significant upgrade.
Who knew? Kemper can be modular.
I’d love a Kemper but this one is so old now and they are still so expensive.
Short answer...Yes!
I never understood how a profiler is not intellectual property theft
Got a valve powered kemper an love it. But your own di profiles is the only way to go. Dislike most paid profiles
Rig manager sucks. I can't believe they have not updated. I hate it so much that I'm thinking of switching. You can't even do a simple thing like make the font bigger. For me it's hard to read. Line 6 editor with Kemper tone would be amazing.