Hi all
I just took the plunge and bought a Kemper Stage. I've been twiddling with it/downloading/reading/YT watching (and A LOT of playing) for four days now and I have to say that I'm a bit scared. Given the price - plus the fact that I've been a home player my whole life - I had assumed that I would've got cold feet by now and convinced myself that it was a rash purchase that I won't be able to justify the cost of to myself once the honeymoon period is over.
However, I just can't see myself letting go of this. Which means that its price is obviously justifiable to me - and that scares me. But only a bit. A nine year-old technology that is still cutting edge (and not only still supported - but also still invested in by the manufacturer) is a comfort in these modern times of inbuilt redundancy, especially when you're thinking of investing heavily in it yourself to feed your hobby - and even more especially, when you're seventeen times bitten, eighteen times shy.
Cristoph is smart in more ways than one!
After years decades (since the mid '80s) of buying inappropriate or rubbish (soon to be redundant) gear to feed my desire, the closest I ever got to 'guitar heaven' was buying a cheap Bugera amphead (my first and only) with a plethora of 'supporting pedals' and a BOSS GP-10, and feeding my headphones with a stereo mix that I could use to play along with to backing tracks. (I fully realise how laughable that will sound to gigging guitarists.)
The thing was that this was the first time I was able to create a sound that 'felt right' in my head. I obviously understood that this was because the root of the tone was coming from a tube amp and not a modeller/processor (the GP-10 ended up purely as a mono to stereo converter for my purposes - so £379 spent for no real gain [excuse the pun] and no real inspiration).
Cut to the chase - I now have a 'profiler' that ticks all of the boxes because it takes away (pointless, unproductive, uninspiring) nob twiddling and feeds you authenticity and overwhelming variety that inspires you, straight out of the box. Only four days in and I'm playing way more than I expected (as opposed to messing with settings and feeling frustrated that nothing sounds 'real enough').
Sometimes, you just need to listen to what your ears are telling your brain and start to believe it. I know I have a lot to learn, but I instictively and intuitively know that I've finally found something that's actually going to make me a better guitarist. After 30+ years, I'm going to embrace that and put my GP-10 (and a few pedals) on ebay. Onwards and upwards.