Posts by FearAbsolute

I think a lot guys are just too proud/scared to ditch the tube amps for a piece of gear that is pretty much superior in every regard. They've been their trusted amps for decades, but if you get to know these guys, they talk endlessly about tube inconsistencies, repairs, re-tubing, tones changing from day to day, etc. But they continue with them, year after year.

My best friend is a Mesa Boogie Rectifier guy. Has been forever. He has a Single, Double, Triple & Mini. After playing my Kemper for 4 hours two days ago, he literally started looking up prices of used Mesa's & Kempers to see if he could afford one. He was blown away by the Kemper's tones.

To see him light up like an xmas tree & start the process of getting a K was like seeing a hardcore vegan go grab a medium rare steak & devour it with glee.

Quote from Dynochrome

I find that having HPF/LPF set correctly makes a big difference in consistency. When just playing a live cab, it doesn't make as much difference as when I am using studio monitors or through a big P.A. I have different outputs adjusted for "Live" and "studio".

The way I set the LPF that helps it to sound like an "amp in the room" recording/studio monitors is I listen to my cabinet as I turn down the LPF. As soon as I hear it affecting the high end, I stop there and go up a little higher. (usually around 8K) That keeps frequencies that would normally not be heard with a "real" cab out of the recording/studio monitors for a more "natural" sound. Every speaker setup has a different crossover, EQ etc.

I imagine if you set up your Kemper with a perfectly flat set of monitors then played it through a perfectly flat P.A it would be the same, but most P.A. systems are not flat by any means.

If things sound different between setups, like it has been mentioned, it's not the Kemper's fault, it's the differences in what it's going into.

Was wondering about that scenario today, how you mentioned having outputs setup for live & for studio.

The K has never been taken out of the house yet, so I've not heard it through a PA or at gig/rehearsal volume through a guitar amp. Do you have Profiles tweaked differently for studio & live? For example, when I used to run my Line 6 stuff through PA's at gigs, there were presets that I made that had less bottom end, smoothed-out top end, and a bit of boosted mids to cut through triggered kickdrums. Those things are low frequency black holes, lol.

Just curious!

Thank you, guys. You are lifesavers.

Have to say it's probably been at least 15 years since I've joined or posted on any forum. This place is pretty incredible. ???

Hey guys,

Brought my old trusty Peavey bandit into the studio, so I can have the Kemper going through the studio monitors AND the Peavey's effects return at the se time. I seem to be able to get one of them going, but not both.

After a bunch of Google'ing & going through the manual, I've had no luck, but you guys know what's up & how to get me on track. What settings do I need to have to get this to work? I really am baffled...which doesn't take much!

Thanks in advance! ?

Quote from skoczy

Whatever THR is, I am happy with it. I was never blown away by Kemper's sound, whether on headphones, monitors (had many including 1000Euro Neumans) or Yamaha DXR10. Maybe my is faulty, or I have trash guitars. Now it doesn't matter.

So, I guess the questions is: If you hate the Kemper so much, then why are you here, on this forum

Quote from skoczy

How you compare Kemper vs THR? THR has its own spekaers, how do you amplify and monitor Kemper?

My Kemper is monitored through Presonus monitors, or custom-molded in-ears. I've never taken it out of the house as of yet. I'm not sure if I'll go with a guitar amp/cab or FRFR when I do. We shall see when the time comes.

The THR sounds much larger than it really should, but in the end, it's not really an "amp." It's really a hi-fidelity surround sound system.

Quote from skoczy

Have you updated the firmware, so it had "Open" speaker tuning?

Of course. I'm anal about updates & I go through every possible amp/cab/eq/setting possible.

Look, I'm a huge THR fan. I played my 10X each and every day for five years. Wonderful piece of gear! But the Kemper & the Yamaha are two totally different beasts. The THR is basically a wonderfully simple, transportable thing of beauty. But Yamaha overpriced it, and, imo, ruined the high gain amp models. I mean, c'mon - four of the tones are from the same amp, a supposed 5150iii. There's only so many tones in the thing, yet they put four of the same amp in there? That perplexes me.

*Edit* Look, if the new THR works for you, that is all that matters! Sound is subjective. I can tell you the Brown 2 is the best thing Yamaha Music has ever created. My god that amp model is truly incredible, but that took months to get right. The Kemper? Literally seconds after turning it on, my rock-filled brain went "Ummm. Yeah. Ok. Haha. The THR10X is going up on for sale. Like, now."

Five years with an amp & the K comes along and just TKO's the THR. *ding ding*

Quote from GearJocke

Give us proof and profile it.

I bought a THR30iii to replace my THR10X & returned it a few days later. In my opinion, Yamaha went backwords with the tones. Was the amp bigger, louder & with more features? Yup! Did it sound any better than the Green Box of Doom? Not even close.

Frankly, the Kemper through in-ears or studio monitors wipes the floor with the Yamaha stuff...and that coming from a massive fan of those amps!

I like the OP's idea about just making music.

So far, my strategy has been somewhat similar to how I've always approached any digital amp: Create & tweak 4 or 5 main presets that are for what I play on guitar, but leave time to browse, trying out new sounds that inspire.

The great thing - among many - with the K is all of the room you can store a Profile. You're not limited to 5 on the internal hard drive of a Yamaha THR10X, for example. Those 5 slots were for the main tones I used, but if you wanted to go off the map, you had to either delete a main tone, make a tone & lose it when you power off, or be stuck using their software to continually upload & download sounds.

With the K, I just "Favorite" my main half dozen tones, but have loads of other Profiles in different stages of editing. When I need the main tones, I just hit favorite. When it's time to go hunting/editing, it's "All Rigs."

That amp coming into my world has been a life-changing event. The Kemper guys seem to have thought of everything! Every day it's like I'm 5 & Santa just left all the goodies under the tree.

+1. Android user & proud. Yet again, Android users are treated as second-class citizens in the electronics world.

Quote from Monkey_Man

Just hook it up as you would a normal amp for Profiling but instead of a mic or mic pre you'd be using the Yamaha's main output..

You'll have to disable that magic-sauce phaser I'm afraid mate; the Kemper won't Profile time-based effects.

You should be able to come up with something half-decent using the Kemper's onboard FX once the Profile's made.

EDIT:

Damned 1-hour posting restriction'll be the death of me. Sorry if this is now-redundant.

Darn it. I'm going to try my secret sauce version anyway. It'll either work or not.

The THR10X has four settings for the phaser. If you put the last two on zero and the other two on an extreme setting, it completely changes the character of the amp. It adds this low-mid, mid color to the amp...that takes it from sounding like a 7 to a 10.

Thank you! We shall see. Gotta go dig out my SM57 & cables after work!

This is yours truly, demonstrating that tone:

Quote from Fireloogie

I understand this so much. For me it was a particular sound on the very first Vox ToneLab that I am still seeking. This sound made me change the way I play guitar, changed the way I hear guitar sounds, changed the sound idea I was after.

After years of chasing that particular sound: Get the Yamaha THR10X.

Guitarists would hear my tones from the THR10X and laugh at how realistic you can make that thing sound with a few tweaks & my "Magic Sauce" Phaser setting that changed the sound of the distorted presets from "meh" to "OMG." I'd keep it if the darned Kemper hadn't broken my bank account.

Quote from JEverly

If you still have the amp, profile it. The process is pretty easy. I profiled the amp I have been gigging the the last 6 years and it turned out well.

Seriously? I could Profile the THR10X?? Pardon my ignorance, but how would I do that? I have it for sale & I'd love to Profile it before it sells.

I'd kill to get the Brown 2 setting from the Yamaha THR10X. That was the amp I used for years before buying my Kemper two weeks ago.

I'll give you an example of my experiences from playing drums for two years:

The first thing I did was join Drumeo - that huge online drumming school. Everything was so well laid out, organized, with teachers showing you in real time with drum notation. In two years, thanks to online lessons, I went from horrible to less horrible, at a rapid pace, all due to the eye-to-eye contact with teachers & organized, planned lessons.

Guitar? Been playing just over thirty years and have taken two lessons, back in 1993. I had that bad experience with the teacher that you sometimes hear about, and it totally turned me off to lessons ever again. But you know what? I learned from watching others, asking questions, Tablature, and, later on, the internet. Always with strict dedication & hours & hours of hard work & self-discipline. I've been learning Bebop Jazz online for free since last November. Just Tabs & musical examples...and my playing has REALLY progressed!

Nothing against teachers. One of my very best friends teaches guitar, has for 25 years. But with a ton of structure, self-discipline & hard work, you can really get a lot better all on your own. I find some teachers are passionless & are doing it just for the money. I have zero time for those people. A passionate teacher is essential!

Chris,

What a terrific reply, thank you for that man! Here's a few quick things in response...

I actually bought the Heavy Britt Pack on Tuesday night, simply because in all of the searching I did for tones, pretty much whenever I saw "M. Britt", the tones were wonderful! One of his 5150iii Profiles is now my main heavy rhythm tone, and an old Blues Deluxe is one of my clean tones (I found the Deluxe tone just hours after getting the Kemper).

I know what I'm about to say may come off as snobby, but when it comes to heavy guitar tones, I have over 30 years of studio, stage, recording & writing experience, with multiple releases. I know those tones, man. I LIVE for those tones! But so many guys think cranking the gain, sucking out all of the mids & boosting the bass to Rave Music Festivals is the way to a great heavy sound.

Like the English say, "Horses For Courses." If those types of tones that I hate inspires them to play, jam & record, then I say go for it! But using a headline like "Hetfield Tone" or "Pantera Tone", but delivering a Profile that sounds absolutely nothing like the album...it kind of bugs me. But hey, it's free to try most of 'em, so no harm, no foul, right?

(And most of the gear I've accumulated for 30 years has either been sold, or is up for sale. The Kemper just cannot be beat. Heck, I even dialed in a pretty darn-near exact version of the EVH P90 pedal with the Kemper. Outstanding!!)

Well, I bought my first-ever Kemper Profiler Pack from Mr. Britt, the Heavy Pack. I flipped through them, kind of a bit disappointed if I'm honest, and then one of his 5150iii Profiles came on and it blew me away. I don't know the actual name of that Profile, but Mr. Britt just absolutely nailed not only that EVH Tone, but the ultimate rhythm tone for what I mostly do on the guitar. Thick! Defined! Clear! Aggressive! Mean! Hateful! That makes for a great Metal tone!

I'm going to run through them again tonight & listen with a fresh ear. The ol' brain can get a bit worn out when you hear dozens & dozens of Profiles, day after day. A well-spent $17CAD!???

BayouTexan,

Honestly, you make a great point. There are "home" tones and there are "studio" tones. I don't do any sort of home recording at the moment, so going for the "home" tone has been a lot of fun. Lotsa gain, loud as heck!

Like I said, when the Rig Manager actually works, it's terrific! Much faster than doing all of the tweaking on the Kemper itself. But everytime that I use RM, within 10-15, the thing crashes my Kemper, giving it the Green Error Screen. It's happened like 10 times, so I try not to use RM a whole lot until the problem is fixed on Kemper's end.

Hello!

Today is one week since I bought a used Kemper head. I'd like to share a few thoughts. ?

Pros:

- I simply cannot stop playing guitar. I actually get a bit mad when I have to leave the house to go to work or run errands. I am so inspired! This coming from a pretty serious player of over 30 years.

- Never have I played any type of digital amp (I've played & owned quite a few over the last 20 years) that sounded just like the tones you hear on your favorite albums. The sounds are real, dynamic, harmonically dense & beyond inspiring.

- The multiple outputs, each with volume & EQ control is what truly makes this the perfect rehearsing & gigging amp. And live? I can't wait to hear that through a PA.

- Free, downloadable software updates, tones, effects, etc. You don't need to spend a dime more after you buy it!

- It sounds perfect, no matter the speaker/monitor/in-ears. It made my 20 year old Peavey Bandit sound like a 5150iii, right before my ears!

- It's like a vacuum cleaner, sucking up all of my old gear into uselessness, so I've been selling stuff like crazy online. My pedalboard went from fairly large to a Wah, EVH P90 & a Boss NS-2 gate.

Cons:

- The Rig Manager is a buggy, glitchy, awful program that continually freezes or causes the Kemper unit to freeze. It's possibly the most unreliable program I have ever used. Ever. Good thing the RM is not essential to the unit's use. When the program actually works, it's great! ?

- Man, there are so many terrible Profiles out there. It's like the creators of them are listening to completely different recordings than I. Some of them aren't even close! There are some hidden gems if you love to tweak, which I do.

I can safely say that this the best piece of gear I've ever bought.

????

I did try the Kemper into the effects return of my old Peavey Bandit today. It was shocking to hear that amp turn into a 5150iii, AC-30, Marshall Plexi, etc., right before my ears. I can't wait to try that in conjunction with a PA and a drummer!!