User reviews of the Kemper Remote

    can we pleace stick to the thread. Dont get personaly! I am asking for reviews, and what it can do better than FCB1010 or other stuff on the market. for instance I can se two users on this forum have had problems already with the display. Faster and better switching is a thing i take for granted on this kind of equipment! alltough i never had problems with my Roland/Boss midiboard that i have used in 14 years!


    -how do you use it
    -what is good what is not so good
    -what does it do better than the FCB1010 (exept looper)
    -how does it work live ( the most important thing to me)
    -stability

    Quote from Ingolf

    [quote='Raoul23','http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/index.php/Thread/19127-User-reviews-of-the-Kemper-Remote/?postID=208726#post208726']In my opinon the remote is a 10 out of 10 and suits my needs 100% im a very happy user :)

    In my opinion it goes to 11. ;)[/quote].......great to know guys..

    Used it last night at practice. No issues...except when power was cut to the outlet...apparently I plugged into an outlet that usually has lights and the light tech cut the power.

    It took a long time to reboot and then a bit longer for the remote to connect and be operable.

    Still working on the display. Had the 'lines' in the display issue before practice and fixed it with the contrast but it was a little hard to read on stage..so need to work on that with the remote settings on the kemper itself.

    Quote from lightbox

    I like it and I think it fits nicely between low-cost solutions (FCB1010) and top-end solutions (Liquid Foot+).
    If you plan to control not only the Profiler but also other external gear, then you might be disappointed. It's a great unit combined with the Profiler. But there's no deep editing for complex MIDI setups.
    Build quality is great and it has a comfortably small footprint. There are a few things I would like to see changed (or made configurable). Pretty sure some of it will get solved over time. We're currently looking at the first official firmware for this unit. So there will be improvements for sure. Information shown on the display is ok, in PERFORM mode you have the choice of 2 different display layouts. Do not expect spectacular rocket science. It's a foot controller for the Profiler, not a network home automation system. :D

    Price might seem a bit high but if we're honest ... we simply cant expect good quality and support for half of the price. ;)
    If you like plug'n'play and if you're not into complex MIDI setups with racks full of MIDI controlled gear, then you will be happy.
    In my opinion a MUCH better value for money than the power amp option of the Profiler (which is the same price range).

    Hi. Do you not find the power amp,version of the Kemper agreeable? or is it simply like you said the remote is better value and costs the same difference roughly...?

    Those LF+ controllers look awesome! what's the price difference between them and the Kemper remote - and is it worth the extra?

    Cheers

    CURRENT:
    (FLOOR) Kemper Remote w/ Mission exp + EB VP
    (RACK) Kemper PowerRack

    Quote from nEVH5150

    Hi. Do you not find the power amp,version of the Kemper agreeable? or is it simply like you said the remote is better value and costs the same difference roughly...?


    Let's assume I have a certain amount of money to spend for Kemper products and I have to decide what gives me the most bang for the buck. :) I think the Remote is better value FOR ME than the power amp. I'm not talking about quality. Just for me, personally, the power amp option doesn't make sense cause it's restricted to mono. I prefer to use active monitors and I prefer to have monitoring in stereo. So in my opinion, the Remote is bettter investment than the powered Profiler option.

    Quote from nEVH5150

    Those LF+ controllers look awesome! what's the price difference between them and the Kemper remote - and is it worth the extra?


    Pretty sure you can find the prices of LF+ products on their website. They are quite expensive. And they give you almost endless possibilities to setup a complex MIDI environment. But they are not plug'n'play. You need to spend quite some time to program them (using their free editor software). I think they serve a different purpose than the Profiler Remote. If you're just gigging with the Profiler, without lots of MIDI controllable extra gear, they are overkill.

    Cheers
    Martin

    Quote from lightbox


    Let's assume I have a certain amount of money to spend for Kemper products and I have to decide what gives me the most bang for the buck. :) I think the Remote is better value FOR ME than the power amp. I'm not talking about quality. Just for me, personally, the power amp option doesn't make sense cause it's restricted to mono. I prefer to use active monitors and I prefer to have monitoring in stereo. So in my opinion, the Remote is bettter investment than the powered Profiler option.


    Pretty sure you can find the prices of LF+ products on their website. They are quite expensive. And they give you almost endless possibilities to setup a complex MIDI environment. But they are not plug'n'play. You need to spend quite some time to program them (using their free editor software). I think they serve a different purpose than the Profiler Remote. If you're just gigging with the Profiler, without lots of MIDI controllable extra gear, they are overkill.

    Cheers
    Martin

    Excellent, thanks! Pretty much what I was expecting...

    The mono aspect of the powered version will allow you run straight to a gtr cabinet with just 2 units (KPA and cabinet) so it's good for portability I guess.... Though I've heard people slating the in-built power amp and not much praising it! Still, like I said it will be good for portability...

    also, so, you can bypass the internal poweramp when you wish and then just hook up to a 3rd party poweramp with stereo outs. Which is the route I think I will take!

    cheers

    CURRENT:
    (FLOOR) Kemper Remote w/ Mission exp + EB VP
    (RACK) Kemper PowerRack

    The remote, sure. After a few days with it my thoughts are: It is well built, love the switches. Looper is not great for me. With higher gain stuff there is a bit of smearing or maybe frequency cancelation. I don't recall this with other loopers but unfortunately I sold the one I had prior to getting the remote. Volume of the loop changes when switching rigs while playing, yes it is placed post amp. My last looper would detect when you started playing and then start recording. Wish the Remote did this. In browse mode the up and down buttons don't simply go rig up or down. They change in scenes of 5 rigs and then you select which of the 5 by the bottom row. I haven't been able to find an option to change this. The LCD screen is a bit hard to read standing or farther. Should have my expression pedal today so I will be able to give feedback on that later. Rig changing is pretty fast but I have run into hiccups when changing rigs "too quickly" that resulted in loss of sound and strange sounds. I love the Kemper, I didn't buy the remote because I though it was a good value. I my opinion it is not but I felt I would invest more in the future of the product. The lack of tangible benefits of the Remote had me questioning the purchase upon receipt but I do like the direct integration. I really wish you could assign rig effect switching globally. Prior I used 2 momentary switches to switch rigs up and down. I could achieve all I needed with these plus I had a looper.

    ***One thing that would make the remote a benefit for me would be to be able to use the expression pedal jack on the Remote as effect loops. Though I doubt it is built with this functionality in mind.

    In the end the Remote is a controller for the Kemper. The switches feel amazingly well built. It controls the Kemper, as intended.

    Quote from Chruschdy

    That would make it so damn powerful! But i highly doubt that this possible.


    Yeah it won't be - at least with this incarnation of the Remote as there looks to be no audio path - it is only signal (as the Kemper attaches to the remote via an ethernet cable if memory serves...)

    CURRENT:
    (FLOOR) Kemper Remote w/ Mission exp + EB VP
    (RACK) Kemper PowerRack

    Quote from deadpan

    The remote, sure. After a few days with it my thoughts are: It is well built, love the switches. Looper is not great for me. With higher gain stuff there is a bit of smearing or maybe frequency cancelation. I don't recall this with other loopers but unfortunately I sold the one I had prior to getting the remote. Volume of the loop changes when switching rigs while playing, yes it is placed post amp. My last looper would detect when you started playing and then start recording. Wish the Remote did this. In browse mode the up and down buttons don't simply go rig up or down. They change in scenes of 5 rigs and then you select which of the 5 by the bottom row. I haven't been able to find an option to change this. The LCD screen is a bit hard to read standing or farther. Should have my expression pedal today so I will be able to give feedback on that later. Rig changing is pretty fast but I have run into hiccups when changing rigs "too quickly" that resulted in loss of sound and strange sounds. I love the Kemper, I didn't buy the remote because I though it was a good value. I my opinion it is not but I felt I would invest more in the future of the product. The lack of tangible benefits of the Remote had me questioning the purchase upon receipt but I do like the direct integration. I really wish you could assign rig effect switching globally. Prior I used 2 momentary switches to switch rigs up and down. I could achieve all I needed with these plus I had a looper.

    ***One thing that would make the remote a benefit for me would be to be able to use the expression pedal jack on the Remote as effect loops. Though I doubt it is built with this functionality in mind.

    In the end the Remote is a controller for the Kemper. The switches feel amazingly well built. It controls the Kemper, as intended.

    Hopefully they will add such options you have mentioned as Kemper seem to be on the ball with updates and continually investing in their product (unlike TC electronics with their G System...!)

    Firmware updates may bring this functionality as options - it's always good to have the option to configure hardware the way it suits your needs - hopefully they will provide it as just that; options (and not a complete Remote system overhaul...)

    CURRENT:
    (FLOOR) Kemper Remote w/ Mission exp + EB VP
    (RACK) Kemper PowerRack

    The first impression is always the most important as it is said. (And that was a good one ;) )

    After some fiddling around with the looper and the remotes features there are 2 things i don´t like that much:

    • The contrast pot on the back -> you have to keep an eye on how you transport the remote. I don´t think it will break that easy, but you never know. But the real question is - why is it there? You can adjust the contrast in the menu of the KPA... I don´t get why you also have to build one into the remote. Only explanation that is some kind of logical to me is that if you are using multiple remotes, the contrast differs from one to another, so you can finetune the value for each remote separately. But then it´s still the question why this thing has to be this big? (small trimpot with a hole in the case or something would be ok...)
    • The switches don´t give feedback. Especially for the looper (i did never use another one before, so maybe it´s the same on others) i didn´t manage to get my loops in-time. Maybe thats just a thing of practice and it will get better the next few weeks when i get used to it... No big problem at all, but wanted to mention my personal experience here.


    On the other side there is a really solid built device that seems to last for ages.
    The display is nicely arranged and both display modes are good and visible.
    The looper is a nice feature, but not an argument to buy the remote. I don´t think that i will use it that much after the first few weeks when its new and you´re excited ^^
    If somebody uses a looper in his setup he will already own a more advanced device.
    The "one cable" thing is of course a really good argument for everybody that doesn´t want (or simply can´t) change something on other floorboards.

    The price is another point that makes the decision hard somehow... For somebody who uses the KPA and also the remote regularly it makes sense. Its a well built and perfect integrated solution.
    For the Hobbyist, like me, its a hard decision. The KPA itself was much easier to justify to myself :rolleyes:

    After all i´m content with my decision to get the remote and i will use it together with my DIY solution to see what works better for me.

    I've taken it to a couple of rehearsals now and I love it. It's perfectly suited for performance mode, which is what I use in a band setting. The assignable buttons are genius -- I often have gate stomps in slots A and D, and with fixed function buttons these would just be useless since I would never need to switch them -- now I can set the controls up just the way I like, independently for each rig. Really looking forward to seeing more assign/freeze functions too.

    It simplifies my setup significantly: my FCB1010 required two midi cables and one power chord, plus, since it used the midi IN port, a midi merger and an extra midi cable to simultaneously connect the external midi device I'm using to automate my KPA. All of this has been eliminated with only the single network cable to plug in.

    And in case you're wondering: despite automating everything, I do use it extensively during rehearsals, for unfinished songs, and of course as a backup should anything go wrong live. :D

    Additional bonus: during a live set, the name of each performance appears on my Remote, and since these changes are automated I don't even need to have a set list in front of me anymore. :) My Remote announces the next song!