Why did you get your first Kemper Profiler?

    The Profiler Model referred to in this thread is ...
    ☑️ Profiler Head/Rack

    Why did you get your first Kemper Profiler?

    I was probably the worst candidate to get a Profiler.

    I wasn't an amp aficionado or a purist. When people asked how I got my sound, I used to joke, “I hit the strings, and if a sound comes out, I'm ready to go.”

    I had been using Bose L1 gear for my personal rig and bands since 2004. I had tried a bunch of things between the guitar and the L1 (Line 6, Boss, Roland VG99, TC Helicon, and so on), but my favourite was the McIntyre Bluesmaker Mk II. That was my holy grail amp. I found it in 1999, gathering dust in a tiny mom-and-pop music store. It was designed as a recording amp, just 3 watts RMS, with a speaker sim line out. Very few were ever made.

    I eventually tracked down the distributor and followed the chain back far enough to find a second McIntyre, also gathering dust in a warehouse. I wanted one for the road and one for the studio. You know, for convenience and backup. I contacted John McIntyre to thank him for making these amps. He offered to tweak them for me, so I shipped them off, and they came back with his special blessing. Because they were irreplaceable, I never wanted to risk gigging with them, but I did.

    In 2015, I came across a Kemper Profiler (white-faced toaster) and bought it. Here's why:

    Profiling
    Profiling meant I could capture the sound and behaviour of my irreplaceable amp and leave the originals safely at home.

    Rig Exchange
    Rig Exchange meant that people could upload their profiles and share them with anyone. Philosophically, this was a perfect fit with my worldview.
    I did not need hundreds of profiles. At the time, I do not think Rig Exchange had even reached a thousand yet. All I needed were the profiles I made of my own amp. But I loved the idea that Kemper had created a platform where people could share their profiles. You can search Rig Exchange for McIntyre to find mine.

    My approach has always been, “It is not what you know, it is what you share.” Rig Exchange really resonated with me.

    That is how I ended up with my first Kemper.

    How about you?

    Profiler Player (III) [2025], PowerRack, Remote & Kab [2021], Stage [2020], Kemper Profiling Amplifier (unpowered) [2014], Remote [2016],
    Twitter | LinkedIn | My Blog | My Kemper Notes

    The band was going to do a song I would've had to buy a delay pedal for. My board was already full . I would have to buy a new board and the pedal. I would have to rebuild my board again. I had never owned an amp I liked and had never been happy with any tone I tried to create . ok mostly re-create. And I really don't like moving a ton of gear I don't like anyway.

    First I looked at multi effect units like the TC Electronics Plethora , but expensive $600, didn't have that many effects and a lot of the effects I already owned. Then I heard about DSP Quad Cortex. But f'n expensive almost $2K. But more like it with every school of effect and amps.

    I had never paid any attention to all this "digital crap". But why was I being loyal to the stuff I had? I didn't like any of the stuff I had. So started shopping a whole new catalog of products I had never paid any attention to. After a lot of shopping realized the flagship platforms were just way out of my price range. So comparing the middle tier of the product lines it looked like Kemper Player was going to win out at $600. Doable.

    But wait what does MK 2 mean? Oh really. So what is the difference between mk1 and mk2 ? Practically nothing until profiling 2.0 comes out. When is that? Nobody knows. Ok

    Well Mk2 everybody has to have one. What about MK1? No longer available. Oh yeah my phone sez there is a brand new one in an unopened box in New York for $900 . That's $900 off. ok . I will never buy another $250 effect pedal. I will never have to buy another amp I hate and will have to get rid of. I will never have to move a 90 pound amplifier again. The technology I was using was 75 years old. The technology I am upgrading to is only 12 years old. That's a 63 year leap. Plus my new manufacturer will keep updating and upgrading my unit for free forever. $900 I'm in. Oh and I'll take a used power KAB $500. You know what I'll take another used power KAB $400. Oh and a lehle expression pedal $250. Wait a minute I thought we were done buying shit!!

    Hummm.. Got my First KPA 'cause I wanted to try the upcoming revolutionary product promising crazy oportunity to grab, capture and menage My Sound.

    It wasn't out already when, during summer holidays, totally relaxing on the beach, I was reading this lil article on a guitar magazine about this New, extraordinary, not yet available, and so, still to be tested by Anybody.

    I already had many marshall at that time and I was planning to move from my parents' to my actual house.

    I Wasn't sure how long it would have take to asset a new "studio" here, and how Loud I could actually Play..so it was a bet, a jump the dark.

    I Guess I was one of the first to have it in Italy and it wasn't very easy to study the manual and start doing my own profiles.. but today, 15 years later, I can say it is probably the most useful instrument I have ever bought.

    Eleven years ago, I sat in with view to depping on a West End (London) show. The guitar sounded great and I had a mental image of a mic'ed up cabinet somewhere else in the building. I asked where the cab was but was told that there wasn't one! I was shown the green box on the floor "That's it!" I enjoyed depping on that show and when I subsequently took over the chair, I had to have one (A Power Head - good advice there) and with the addition of profiles from lonestargtr (not saying they are the best for everyone but, they are the best for me!), I haven't looked back to my days of Marshall Stacks (2x100w heads, 1936 cabs and a freezer full of FX - behind me in my profile pic). Three Kempers later (Head, Rack and Floorboard - still have them all) I have yet to hear anything better.

    Bought my Player two years ago because humping heavy Valve amps/combo's got too much for my aging body, not forgetting their maintenance and the search for "that" sound. I also dumped all my pedals and now have a board with the Player, Strobe HD, Spark boost, Chocolate and Ampero switch. All powered by either an HB GPA100 or Orange Pedal baby into a 2x12 cab, Reasonably compact and flexible for use in a cover band.

    I had tried a few modellers, Headrush, Mooer etc but found them too sterile, but the Kemper works fine for me.

    Edited once, last by Argus1971 (February 19, 2026 at 1:02 PM).

    I was always a fan of digital modeling, getting my start with plug-ins and having an interest in the hardware. I was always a lazy guitarist with amps and typically went for multi-fx boxes over individual pedals just to keep load-in / load-out easy and setup simple. The problem with modeler hardware at the time was that everything was set up for FOH and not a lot of venues were ready for that. Most places I played had a backline set up and they didn't want you messing with their gear. When the powered Kemper came out, it seemed like the perfect solution for me. I could go to a gig and plug into the backline cabs and not need to mess with anything. Plus, having everything (amps and FX) in one box fit my needs too. This actually turned out to be very effective, and I enjoyed using the Kemper as my amp on stage. I always liked that you could save the output EQ as a preset, which I would do for different venues.

    Things got even better when venues started to accommodate modelers and going FOH wasn't such a big deal. In that case, the Kemper had me covered for just about any gig I needed to do. Plug into a cab, check, go FOH, check, run a cab and FOH, that is covered too.

    Yeah suppose economics does play its part too, must have had 20+ amps in last couple of decades, just have one now as backup- Orange Dual Terror.

    Probably if I had invested or banked all the money spent on musical gear over the years I could maybe have bought those $250k worth of amps but missed out on a whole lot of fun;)

    I saw this video in 2012:


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    I had always experimented with various amps. Also tried Line 6 Pod, Pod 2, XT Live but went back to tubes. In 2017 a friend was touting the Kemper he used in his band. Intrigued I did some learning, watching, and reading. After a few weeks I pulled the trigger in the summer of 2017. So happy I did! No more lugging 60+lbs of amp plus cabs around, yay! Playing in a cover band sometimes means needing some different effects and they're all there, yay again!

    Lightweight, versatile, compact, dependable, solid, excellent support, what's not to like? Not going back... :)

    For many years, I have been going from modeler to modeler and then doing my best to make it sound like my monster rig that was getting too cumbersome to bring to gigs. I starting looking for other options, and have been leaning towards the Kemper. What made me jump on the Kemper train was this video from Andertons. I immediately sold a few pieces of gear and bought the Kemper, and have never looked back.

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    Quote from lespauled

    What made me jump on the Kemper train was this video from Andertons

    I saw that one as well and found it rather good. Not sure if it gave the final push but shortly afterwards I indeed bought my first KPA and am very happy with it ever since 8)

    Quote from dmatthews

    Lightweight, versatile, compact, dependable, solid, excellent support, what's not to like? Not going back... :)

    This! Lots of positive experience and success with it and lots of GAS cured... 8o

    I watched one of the original videos, where Mr K was showing this strange device that looked like something from a nuclear facility. He then proceeded to take a "copy" of a Deluxe Reverb that was indistinguishable from the original. I was in the very first wave of digital amps, purchasing the first Line 6 model as soon as it came out, so I was already well used to the concept.

    Moved through a few tube amps and settled on a Bogner Shiva for years. A string of crappy gigs with poor access caused me to crave a lightweight solution (even the Line 6 amp is about 25kg). Did the rounds looking at the options and ended up with all roads pointing at the Kemper.

    I profiled the Bogner and the result was so close that I eventually stopped needing it and sold it.

    I haven't really had any amp desires since. When they brought out the Kone that took it to the next level for me.

    My Kemper Pilgrimage

    Started with a Laney VC30, then naturally decided a Vox AC15 plus “just a few pedals” would fix my life — which turned into a full-blown pedal circus and gigs that sounded amazing… roughly once every solar eclipse. Fast-forward through a long guitar hibernation, picked the axe back up and told myself, “Right, this time we’re doing it properly.” Sold everything, went modern with the Walrus Audio ACS1, then “simplified” even harder with a Neural DSP Quad Cortex — where I spent about lightyears(months really) tweaking a tone that exists only in my delusional brain. Eventually rage-quit the whole quest, grabbed a Kemper Profiler Player just to “see what the fuss is about,” plugged in… and instantly went OMFG. Now glued to one MBritt Bandmaster profile, using the Kemper Drive for everything and some of the units underrated effects (sorry L6,QC,Ax fanboys).

    For me, music is about having fun — whether that’s chasing the sounds you love or sharing them with other people. It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur playing in your bedroom or doing it professionally on stage. At the end of the day, just do what makes you happy and enjoy the ride. IMO.

    Kemper Profiler Player | Fender Player Plus Telecaster

    Covid hit and i decided to get seriously back to guitars. L6 did a price rise just as I was about to buy a Helix so I thought sod that and Andertons had a Stage in their New Year sale.

    No contest. The Stage felt overkill as I mainly played at home using basically one profile. I sold it and bought a Player Lvl3. Perfection.

    Gigged from late 1980's through to early 2000's with the usual array of amps such as ac30's, Fenders and Marshall's (including a purple plexi like Tone Junkies, though I bet I paid less for mine :)).

    Didn't play much for a few years then got in to home recording - amps too loud, didn't love any modellers.

    Other studio owners I chatted with raved about their Kemper's, so I bought one about 6 years ago.

    Easily the best studio purchase I've made.

    Quote from Sollazzon

    It wasn't out already when, during summer holidays, totally relaxing on the beach, I was reading this lil article on a guitar magazine about this New, extraordinary, not yet available, and so, still to be tested by Anybody.

    Hey! What a Memory I Still Have!!! WOW!!

    I've just Found Out THAT Magazine: Chitarre #306, August 2011, Page 13

    Just a few Lines (in the Red box)


    Note that in March 2012 It was on the FULL Cover with many pages inside about it!

    But at that time It was already in my hands,.. oh and Also Note the INPUT Jack was on the LEFT