NAMM News - Is there anything new from our friends at Kemper?

  • As usual - never saw any of that coming. I even railed against the idea of individual tone stacks and the idea they'd end up providing Android support.

    The ultra cool thing is that none of this is hardware-dependent. You don't *have* to have a Stage or a unit built after a certain date.

    Very, very cool stuff.

  • USB audio is my favourite announcement! I'm excited to do away with the extra cables and SPDIF to optical converter boxes!

    My one question is will we be able to revert to regular Kemper controls and turn OFF liquid profiling should we so wish. Some of us like the existing behaviour. I know you can't please everyone, I'm excited to try LP, but I would also still like to keep the status quo when needed, too.

  • Fantastic news for the whole of the Kemperverse. Not sure i personally am going to use any of it, as i am pretty set for what i use in sounds, but nonetheless it is a huge step forward that i wholeheartedly applaud. And on the same hardware even.

    And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

  • USB audio is my favourite announcement! I'm excited to do away with the extra cables and SPDIF to optical converter boxes!

    My one question is will we be able to revert to regular Kemper controls and turn OFF liquid profiling should we so wish. Some of us like the existing behaviour. I know you can't please everyone, I'm excited to try LP, but I would also still like to keep the status quo when needed, too.

    CK said that you don't have to load a tonestack so everything would be as usual. Also said that the profile is unchanged until the tonestack knobs are changed.

    I am wondering whether existing profiles will benefit from the tonestack since he states that you need to know where the knobs were set when the profile was created.

    Also wondering about a few other things:

    • does it sound any better or is it just that the knobs reflect the real tonestack? I am guessing the second one.
    • it seems the gain knob for the tonestack is mainly targeting the bright cap? Some amps don't have bright caps. CK sounded a bit uncertain on why bright caps are implemented the way they are on some amps
    • how well does the gain knob reflect the volume knob on the real amp?
    • I assume that we still need individual profiles for different gain setting as we do now?

    I am happy to be wrong, but from what I hear in the statements in the interview, the liquid tonestack will make the knobs behave more like the actual amp knobs. This will be good for some, bad for others, and still others will not care. I don't expect any significant improvement in the basic tone of the profiles. Again, I am happy to be wrong. Time will tell...

  • Kemper as a soundcard sounds pretty cool , really looking forward , even if it's for running 3rd party vst on such a luxurious soundcard , hmm hmmm

    market place , I'm really curious as a seller

    Tonestacks , I wonder how it will affect my profiles.

    Anyway , it's super cool to finally have a roadmap.

  • I was hoping that liquid profiling would allow several profile made on different settings merge into a single one, that does not look to be the case if I'm right ?

  • No. It's applying a modeled tone stack to the Profile. No merging that I heard of.

    CK said the gain knob will model the bright cap. He also said the gain knob will behave closer to the gain knob on the actual amp. The actual implementation is not clear based on the CK interview.

  • Pretty sure what he was saying is the Liquid tonestack is optional and added on top of your profile. So if you want it, fine, if not, it's no different than it is now. I can see people making new profiles with the knobs being turned. I'd have to imagine when profiling, you'd have to enter where your knobs are? Maybe do 3 revisions, gain at 0, 5 and 10 or something?

    Doesn't matter to me. But if they can provide one bass guitar tone stack, I'm done. Perfect bass amp platform. I'm handicapped with mine as I have to use the Studio EQ to get any meaningful EQ done. Bass/Mid/Treble/Presence don't even come close to altering bass-guitar appropriate frequencies as it sits now. But adding a Liquid Ampeg tone stack? Perfect.

  • CK said the gain knob will model the bright cap. He also said the gain knob will behave closer to the gain knob on the actual amp. The actual implementation is not clear based on the CK interview.

    He said they’ve modeled 40 some tone stacks. That’s what he said is being applied. There’s no indication of merging multiple profiles anywhere.

  • Wow. How does kemper make money. He is clearly all for the customer and the happiness of his fan base in this day an age its rare. I am pumped for the usb recording. I had this with a cheap mooer unit an it was sooooo nice to just plug into your laptop travelling. No more extra interface. The new tone stack feature keeps past profiliers happy like tone junkie because it means this can rejuvenate profiles of the past an does not make them obsolete in peoples minds because guitarists are fussy like that. But that brings me to my main point, improved profiling. I really really though, especially with the improvements with competitors that this would be the main news. Even if it was a new soundwave in the profiling stage but maybe the tonestack function will blow our minds so much whos gona care. Thats his way of improving things without leaving old profiles in the past dust, brilliant. Hes a legend an definitely wants to make the kemper a classic unit for years to come. I read that the profiles take no power at all and the power in the unit is more than enough for years to come. Good stuff.

  • I've heard that the Kemper Stage boots up quicker than the rack and toaster. It has WiFi, an extra USB (<- internet misinformation) and most importantly a second FX Loop...so my one (post-) NAMM wish is that the toaster/rack gets upgraded hardware to match.

    FWIW, I recently did a side by side boot up race between a FM3 and Stage. The Stage beat the Fractal by a few seconds. :)

  • Absolute genius move from CK.


    New product nah, how about introducing new functionality and creating a paradigm shift instead.


    Combining component modeling and profile tech, no one saw that coming.🛐

    New talent management advice to Laura Cox -


    “Laura want to break the internet? let’s shoot another video of you covering the Nightrain solo in the blue singlet, but this time we’ll crank up the air conditioning”.