People have such a difficult time appreciating the fact that in professional use, for many of us the Kemper has delivered as advertised since day one. It’s not about money or being a fanboy, it’s about using the device successfully, not thinking about it much, enjoying when ancillary (to profiling) features are added or improved, and hoping that it continues to be supported, since it works.
First couple of years there were software glitches, for instance one that imparted scratchy noises during some rig transitions, but even then, when the rig was set, the tone was astonishing.
Was the Kemper ever intended as a device meant to answer every single desire for hypothetical experimentation? It seems many people want a profiling amp that’s more like a modeler—if that’s even possible. I can appreciate that. But I’m not convinced that that’s a device CK would be interested in programming. In fact, in some ways that’s a new operating system that would have to be built from the ground up.
If CK was so inclined, and a Kemper 2 arrived, with zero tone compromise and similar front panel stack/stomp access, but one that also featured macro fine-tuning parameters similar to an Axe III, sure I could see myself buying that.
But the whole point of the Kemper is that its magic algorithm takes the programming out of the users’ hands. Based on the other devices that I’ve owned and/or auditioned, if in fact the technical capabilities really are built-in, in general humans with a plethora of options aren’t creating tones that satisfy my sensibilities.
Regarding the floorboard version, I hope for everyone that truly wants one that ultimately they get one. For many of us, the liberation of no more $3000 pedalboard on the floor was an incredible development. I like things that I need to step on night after night to be as cheap and replaceable as possible. And I hate bending the knee in order to make on the fly adjustments.
But anyway, a super computer at my fingertips—to my mind that would be less not more amp-like. Yes, incorporating various amps in to my performances is part of the beautiful digital renaissance, but I still want a pure (as possible), simple and elegant approach to the electric guitar. The presence of endless parameters invites the temptation to resolve issues meant to be addressed in the profiling process, or even with hands and ears, instead with inevitably ever more knob twists.
Yeah, I’d go along. But would that make me any happier?
I’m not convinced.