As far as I am aware there was no change to the I/O or audio signal path. The difference is in the way it can handle SPDIF. Pre 2018 had to be master but the later ones were updated to be able to run as slaves to the audio interface. It shouldn’t make any difference to sound as far as I am aware.
The Stage had a 2nd stereo loop that might be useful, but I never read anything about upgraded converters.
I think they just have a vivid imagination ?
Thanks. On the other forum, they said that they tried KPA years ago and hated the feeling and played a new unit and this time liked the feeling. They guessed it could came from the hardware change (they looked sure of this change).
You can take the Profiler of the very first buyer and compare it to what ships right now, both units will sound identical when you use the same software version and rigs. I have a friend who said something similar recently. The reason why he sees a difference is the newer content. Content providers became more experienced in making their own Profiles. And our factory rigs changed as well.
Kemper Stage is also capable of WIFI connectivity, what makes use of Rig Manager for iPAD and wireless Rigs management.
this brings me back to the old days when fractal audio team sweared the front input in axe fx sounded exactly as rear input.so it was the truth.
joke appart , don't know if it's hardware or software but my ears are still ok (you can find old discuss when i had kemper years ago in this forum where i found artfifacts in single notes playing in dist section , had a discuss about this with c kemper himself) and i hated the feeling of playing it few years ago, really .
i recently tried a kemper stage and imho there is more difference than go from axe fx II to III, the interaction is radically different than the kemper i tried few years ago.so much that a few friends and myself (who had the exactly same experience with the kemper few years ago) thought that it was combination of software and hardware update (as a hardware update was announced in 2018/2019) , as you can find some video (see below) with recent and old gear that have a -few - difference in sound (so why not in the feeling department ?)
the difference - in the feeling/interaction department - is night and day imho and i directly bought one ...so if it's only software, congrat kemper team !
Thanks. On the other forum, they said that they tried KPA years ago and hated the feeling and played a new unit and this time liked the feeling. They guessed it could came from the hardware change (they looked sure of this change).
Perception most likely. If internet reviews say the purple ones sound better than the green ones, it gets in people's heads. Or old vs new etc.
I'm always impressed to read when someone is able to ear the difference between the colour of two cables.
I'm already happy when I can ear myself on stage and at least someone in the audience is listening rather playing on his smartphone.
I'm already happy when I can ear myself on stage and at least someone in the audience is listening rather playing on his smartphone.
Is there ever a time anyone under 30 is NOT playing on their smartphone? Sometimes I think their necks are going to stay that way!
Sometimes I have a day when my Kemper doesn't sound glorious. Kinda flat, or not as smooth. It's just my ear that day, maybe I started off too loud, maybe not loud enough, the guitar I grabbed, my mood etc. I can go watch a couple shredder or toneful guitar videos and realize the Kemper was actually sounding pretty good in comparison. I go back and turn it on and it's wonderful. I'm 99% sure the Kemper didn't change, it was ME.
That being said, I've been on a high with mine the last week trying some different profiles with my Charvel /w/ JB/59. In the past I have despised and yanked those pickups from guitars (pre Kemper) because they were too pushed and the 59 too twangy and strident. For some reason, the Kemper LOVES these pickups and I'm getting some of the best tones of my life. Of course a LOT has to do with profile choice.
I'm always impressed to read when someone is able to ear the difference between the colour of two cables.
where did you read that in this conversation ? i'm always impressed to read when someone say thing that wern't written..even if it isn't hardware (are you SURE the hardware upgrade didn't change anything in perception ? are the conponant in the stage and toaster EXACTLY the same during all these years ? we don't know.) so.even if it's not hardware , maybe it's profiling upgrade ? who knows ? so a guy who tried a kemper profiler 9 years ago and has a totally different feeling 9 years of development after must be strong , it's in his head ? this is really curious.
where did you read that in this conversation ? i'm always impressed to read when someone say thing that wern't written..even if it isn't hardware (are you SURE the hardware upgrade didn't change anything in perception ? are the conponant in the stage and toaster EXACTLY the same during all these years ? we don't know.) so.even if it's not hardware , maybe it's profiling upgrade ? who knows ? so a guy who tried a kemper profiler 9 years ago and has a totally different feeling 9 years of development after must be strong , it's in his head ? this is really curious.
Kemper have responded that there is no difference. G String represents Kemper.
If you think they are lying, buy two Kempers, a magnifying glass and a multimeter and get to work. Post your findings. In the meantime, the official answer has been given. It is "no".
Also, piece of advice, don't trust your perception. If you look into psychological studies you will find this is not curious at all. It is very common for perception to be highly inaccurate and subjective. Study after study confirms this. People insist on looking for and finding what is not there.
People insist on looking for and finding what is not there.
A great example is tubes. People change them all the time because their "worn out" or swear tube A sounds better than B. (I have tubes from the 50's that still work great) In most cases, most people would fail a blind taste test. I've rolled Vintage Blackburn NOS Mullards vs RCA, vs Sino vs Russian, Amprex, JJ, Sylvania, Tung-sol, Marconi, Raytheon etc. etc. and am pretty sure most of the differences I hear are my perception and what is put into my head from other people. I got a pretty large vintage tube collection and I'd bet money nobody could tell me what tubes they were playing through without looking. A real pure tube circuit will expose some differences but most modern amps you can stick anything in there and nobody would know what unless you told them.
Ever notice people like to claim something sounds better when you can't easily get one or try one? (like their "custom" this or that or their rare this or that.) I'd like to say nothing sounds like the tubes in my rare vintage Mullard collection but it wouldn't be true. I don't even use them anymore and planning on selling the lot because they're just wilting on the vine.
Like the old ADA preamps. When they went out of favor, I had to beg to get $75.00 for mine and now that they are "vintage" and not everywhere people want a fortune for them and they are the greatest thing ever but sound the same as they did when rack gear went out of mainstream.
I got a Toaster of 2015 and a stage of 2020.
The rigs, the performances, every software are totally identical on both devices because I did a backup on stage und restored it on the Toaster.
But:
The update to a new firmware took a long time on the toaster while it was extremly fast on the stage.
Without being an expert, I think that the hardware of the stage is a lot newer and faster than the hardware of my 2015-Toaster.
Kemper have responded that there is no difference. G String represents Kemper.
If you think they are lying, buy two Kempers, a magnifying glass and a multimeter and get to work. Post your findings. In the meantime, the official answer has been given. It is "no".
Also, piece of advice, don't trust your perception. If you look into psychological studies you will find this is not curious at all. It is very common for perception to be highly inaccurate and subjective. Study after study confirms this. People insist on looking for and finding what is not there.
ok :maybe i thought it was hardware (because they changed some hardware in 2018) because my feeling when playing the thing was RADICALLY different than the first time i played it.i mean the first time i radically hated the interaction it was just not possible,like playing a sample sound. whatever the profile.what is curious is that we are a few other that had the exact same experience (not like it few years ago and like it now) but it's maybe software then ? opimization of code or anything like that, so if difference is in my head, are you saying that coding/profiling is EXACTLY the same as ten years ago ? real question.
BTW i'm not golden ear at all, but in this comparaison of old kemper/stage i hear a - small - but definitly there difference in the clean sound.
You can take the Profiler of the very first buyer and compare it to what ships right now, both units will sound identical when you use the same software version and rigs. I have a friend who said something similar recently. The reason why he sees a difference is the newer content. Content providers became more experienced in making their own Profiles. And our factory rigs changed as well.
but i mean between 2012 and now, was the code "upgraded/optimized", the "profiling process" upgraded or is it exactly the same technique/algorythm ?
...
That being said, I've been on a high with mine the last week trying some different profiles with my Charvel /w/ JB/59. .. For some reason, the Kemper LOVES these pickups and I'm getting some of the best tones of my life. Of course a LOT has to do with profile choice.
This ^^^ 59/JB and Charvel is 
This ^^^ 59/JB and Charvel is
You can make(almost) any guitar sound decent with a great amp more than the other way around. (Enter Kemper) I was having a blast tonight recording one overdriven profile and going from my tele to my Pro mod starting off tele with volume rolled off then on full to Pro mod with 59 split to 80's metal.
The range I was able to get with one unchanged profile and 2 guitars was amazing. Normally I am not a volume knob clean guy and I would change rigs rather than old school volume knob but this was a real testimony to how much the kemper responds like a tube amp when you clean it up. Often when people use different profiles for clean as they are less compressed, can bee too loud and make distorted sounds seem wimpy in comparison. When using just one preset and the volume knob I was able to go from a very nice chunky clean sound to a ripping lead tone and it was perfectly mixed level wise. That to me is the test of how amazing the tube amp like response is with the KPA. In many ways BETTER than a tube amp.
