Just bought a Kemper Profiler from Sweetwater

    Hi! I've been in music and music production since the early 80's (grew up with music though since i was little sitting on the piano bench next to my grandfather) I swore I would never use anything that didn't have tubes and weigh a minimum of 70 pounds! And yet here I am! Not exactly a spring chicken ( I remember when Jimi played Woodstock in '69, And Stevie Ray Vaughan(RIP) rides with me on my left shoulder)! Please don't laugh but I'm actually somewhat intimidated by this incredible box of bits. I am totally blown away, and yes humbled. I have been talking to it, and telling it that I love it, and we will be friends. I have NEVER had access to so many amps! I carried my 65 Vibro-King up the stairs, I didn't tell it what I have done! When I get everything figured out in the next five years, I'll put it into the Kemper. Same with Mr. Black Face, and "Mr. B. Junior". I have been playing my Brian May Special into the Kemper and I have never heard it sound so wonderful. I have even more questions than I had when I was first introduced to Pro Tools, eons ago. We used to record to 24 track Studer A-800 2" tape... and then Pro Tools came along - so new fangled. It may be overstating, but I really feel that the Kemper is the next phase in the evolution of the guitar as both a solo and rhythm instrument. NOW if I can just figure out all of the capabilities, bibs, bobs and doo dads of this box of bits and integrate it into my playing style both studio and for performance. If I ask dumb questions please don't laugh LoL ~ Cindy :S

    Thanks! I'm going to have a ton of questions - I love your screen name! If it gives you a hint from where I'm coming from musically, my car license plate is BLUZWMN - I was in San Antone ion 1990 when the news came over the radio that we had lost Stevie in the helicopter crash after the Wisconsin gig. Do you know if anyone has been able to profile Stevies rig? Is that even possible? He played Dumbles and black faces mostly, but his rig was a monster!!. Not many pedals - a Tube screamer and a vox wah was about it. Another rig I would love would be Joe's (Joe Walsh) He has a Dr. Z that he's playing. My style has some Bonnie Raitt in it too when I play slide. I have SO much to learn with the Kemper. Its incredible! Right now its a little intimidating. When I get feeling comfortable with it, I'll take it out on gigs. Soul to Soul, ~Cindy

    Quote from Cindy K

    Do you know if anyone has been able to profile Stevies rig?

    An important concept to keep in mind when looking for profiles is the difference between the Kemper and an amp modeler, e.g. Fractal, Line 6, etc.

    I'm from the 70s and had stacks of Fenders and Voxes and Marshalls (oh, my!). Since I"m a classic rock guy, the first thing I did was go to the rig exchange and download a bunch of Marshalls. During that week I almost sent the Kemper back, because the Marshalls sounded absolutely freakin' horrible.

    Eventually, however, I realized my mistake. I had assumed that, "a Marshall is a Marshall," which means I was thinking about amp modeling. However, a profile isn't an amp model, it's a snapshot of one specific tone from someone's amp / cab stack. You can fire up a Marshall and get great tones for funk, jazz, blues, rock and anything else. What's important is what the tone was created for before it was captured. Being an old guy, it hadn't occured to me that modern rock players dial their Marshalls in for metal. It would be a perilous exercise to try playing a Bad Company gig with a metal tone, and metal players would look very silly trying to do new age post apocalyptical lunar metal with a Bad Company tone.

    And that's when it clicked for me. When you're looking for profiles, the first and most important thing is to find profile makers who are conversant in your desired genre and create appropriate tones. Because I'm a classic rock guy, I found Michael Britt's profiles to be suitable for my taste. You might do the same thing looking for SRV tones - find people who are into that and make profiles for that specific use. Because like a Marshall, a Dumble / Fender is not just a Dumble / Fender. It's all about what you're dialing it in for.

    By the way, the following week after buying the Kemper, I sold every amp I had and whistled a little tune as they walked out the door.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10