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Had the Kemper Amp Profiler in my studio for a day - Recorded a song...


PJH

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Today I had a friend come and visit the studio and he brought the Kemper Profiling amp with him. We decided to record a song using the unit exclusively to hear what this sounds like in an actual mix.

I used a Strat and a Les Paul to try and demo how well this works with single coils and humbuckers.

The track is a bluesy type song and I chose a JCM800 profile for the backing and the solo with the Strat but for the solo I added a Kemper Tube Screamer to give a bit more dirt.

The quiet part of the track I switched to the Les Paul on the same profile without the Tube Screamer and then for the harder section the profile was changed to the Mesa Boogie Roadking.

Guitars were a MIM Fender Strat and a Tokai Loverock LS98F.

I was blown away with this unit. It was really easy to get great tones and I found that you

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Thanks for listening and the comments guys.

@Larry, I didn't create those profiles. They came with the unit. Didn't really have time to create my own profiles as I had to give the unit back. I would have loved to have a go at making my own.

Cheers,

Peter.

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I just got my Kemper

Damn -

This KP is WONDERFUL! I've decided to play with it for a day or two before I update the firmware - just to become familiar with it.

Mine still has the Dec 2011 firmware #6895

Quick take -
This is the first guitar amp modeller where I finally have surgical controls over the amp dynamic range, compression, adjustable clean to
slightly breakup to full crunch, or anything in between.
Other DSP Tube Amp modelers seem like using a hammer, and have no life.

Using the KPA on headphones after three hours, I feel like I'm using $50K worth of boutique tube amps, with the best mics at a session at
Abbey road with Alan Parsons or Geoff Emerick or Hugh Padgham providing me my tracking feed.

There is simply no comparison - After playing my KPA, my Roland, Fender, Vox and Line6 gear all feel like a 1990 Zoom 9002

The KPA is a keeper, and many of my other gear may be going on ebay a lot sooner!

I will sell lots of other gear - EXCEPT my VG-99, GR-55 - Those units excel at doing unique non guitar things.

But for bread and butter Guitar recording with an exceptional Pro sound and micro-precision control of EQ and dynamics, - Wonderful guitar Tones come very easy with the KPA - without the need to compromise.

It helps if you have 40 years experience recording guitars (like I do), so I have a slight regret that tools of such high caliber as the
KPA have arrived so late in life for me.

I might make better use of the big hole in the rear of the KPA power amp to design my own Fender Tube spring Reverb tank clone and install
that in the rear of the KPA.

To really nail those early 1963 Surf tones, I must run Guitar > Spring Reverb > Guitar Amp - in that order.

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Quote Originally Posted by aliensporebomb View Post
My biggest question: everyone seems to think it's just a preamp. Is it actually an amplifier too? Could you use it to drive a cabinet for live gigs or is it more of a studio tool for recording?

Really cool technology I must say.
yeah, it needs a power source, it is, in essence, a "preamp" at this point I believe.
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Does the Kemper make sense as a modeler if you don't have access to many amplifiers? Do the 200 included profiles sound good? I'm comparing it directly to the AxeFX, because while they're slightly different in purpose, they have a similar goal as well as costing similar.

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Quote Originally Posted by Polaris20 View Post
Does the Kemper make sense as a modeler if you don't have access to many amplifiers? Do the 200 included profiles sound good? I'm comparing it directly to the AxeFX, because while they're slightly different in purpose, they have a similar goal as well as costing similar.
The included profiles sound good, but user patches sound better IMO. There are some very recent additions by a user named and44 that blow away the stock ones, for example.

http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/ind...=4723&pageNo=1
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Kemper so far is the only digital unit that has an apparent amp like realism. No other modeler including the Fractal unit can do as good as a job as this profiling does ! Kemper seems to capture the amp/cab, speaker differences, the room, everything.

Many of the ones posted by KPA users are absolutely brilliant!

Some of the most recent ones are amp combinations (more than one amp being profiled simultaneously). Cool stuff!

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