... or it could be that some of the components in the 15 year old mk1-design have become obsolete and they had to rush a face-lift to be able to continue production. With more powerful hardware engineers will pick up on that and utilise it to improve algorithms and data-points.
I reckon you are probably spot on
The best part of a performance is that you can do all that without switching modes, like on the helix, QC, or TMP. These other units give you good versatility within presets, but when you do need to switch presets, force you to hit a mode switch, switch presets, then hit the mode switch again to get back to stomps/scenes; a total pain between songs if you use multiple presets live. With Kemper, even if you need a performance for each song, a simple bank up or down gets you there. Even one rig within a performance, gives you a robust amount of versatility with morph and four toggles. But a performance beats the competitions single presets, which is the true relevant comparison, since changing presets mid song song is impractical and even impossible for the units with a big audio gap. Besides, you can get to another performance on a Kemper easier than changing presets on the QC or helix and without a gap (if you’re not already in preset mode)
The TMP is the exception here since you can switch presets without gaps, but again you’d have to switch back and forth between modes to get as much versatility as a single Kemper performance. And all three competitor’s grid layout leave you with no ability to lock things.
A workaround for your point 2 would be to get an external switch and set it to globally a control a couple modules. Set the display type on your stage to show the active status of the 8 modules and you won’t miss the leds on the external switch.
The biggest improvement the Kemper could make for rig and performance versatility would be to add an second locking option, locking just the effect and its parameters in a module, but not its active status. Then you could tweak effects you want to be in every live rig once, while having them only active by default in some rigs (the same way people utilize real pedals in audio loops)
Performance mode is still well ahead of its time. Advertising a unit as having enormous processing power completely misses the point when a great deal of that power is taken up by having to use most of it to add options. Preset switching time on most of them is poor which means scenes are needed on a per preset basis. 5 different amps and 40 different effects are possible on performance mode. That just isn’t going to happen in a single preset on anything else available.
if that is a major concern, my tonex pedal boots in like 5 seconds.
all the UAFX on my board take longer.
I think the boot time on a kemper can be significantly reduced by ceaning up the number of rigs. just favour all the ones you really use and there is a handy function to delete the non favourite ones.
I think you might have understood. I think the boot up time of the Kemper mk2 is very good. I was comparing how poor the boot up times on other devices are and why I think is a good reason for Kemper to advertise it as one of its noted improvements.
Definitely a faster response with less tone suck. It’s the best transpose effect on anything else I have tried (and that’s a lot!). Better than the drop too, which seems to be the reference most used. There is always going to be a lag, but I think there is a noticeable difference on the mk2. If it’s a big issue, why not try one on mail order (returns policy) or from the kemper store?
I owned an axefx, an axefx ultra, an axefx2 and an axefx 8 at various times. I even tried the axefx3. They all had a boot up time longer than the kemper mk2. The boot up time on the kemper is relevant compared to that of all the other modellers. I had a quad cortex reboot needed on stage recently. It was one of the reasons I went back to the kemper. It takes approx 1minute 40 seconds, an eternity in front of a paying audience. The fender Tonemaster pro takes about 50 seconds, again an eternity.
As I understand it (I am definitely not an expert in this). A cabinet reacts and sounds different depending on the signal sent to it. An IR is a snapshot of a cabinet. A Kemper profile isn’t, as it captures the response of the cabinet at every point in the profiling process. I often find it ironic how people using modellers scoff at the ‘snapshot’ method of profiling (even with its dynamic cab response) while doing exactly the same with their cabs.
My wife has the unfortunate affliction of crashing just about every electronic device she uses except her iPad. It has become a family joke.
I may be wrong but touch screens are often color LCD screens and they are dark on stage. I think KPA philosophy is to get stage guys the most practical tools like bright readable display.
The touchscreens on the TMP, the Quad and the Ampero are honestly pretty lame. If you are looking for the easiest on the fly iOS it’s on either the helix (with its capacitive switches) or the kemper toaster (or less so the rack) with off the floor real time buttons and switches. You do have to spend a bit of time learning the ui, but once you do, the touchscreens become nothing more than a pretty looking add-on. A small example. On any of the above touchscreens editing anything on it takes 2 moves on an often unresponsive screen before getting to the controls. On a helix, touch a foot switch and you’re there On a Kemper, program the unit and the knobs are right in front of you. If you need a touchscreen, a mobile device is much better anyway.
Profile accuracy seems to be missing the point to me. Surely all that matters is what sounds the best. Personally I don’t care whether it sounds identical to an old plexi or whatever. On another note I have a helix too and mostly prefer their own original amps, created digitally with a focus to different sounds as opposed to original amps.
Thanks guys. That’s good enough for me 😀
Mids, mids, mids. Definitely the easiest way to thicken the sound.
Hi. Kemper user for many years I’m considering using a player as a backup and for small gigs. As there is no performance mode, how fast is switching rigs without delay/reverb spillover covering for the change? Thanks in advance folks.
One thing I’m really pleased about is retaining the form factor. Who knows, it might just be a matter of returning to their service department for upgrading the dsp chip. It’s been done before.
If it’s not backwards compatable, then at the very least I anticipate it would be forwards compatable so you could profile on your old units and use them on the new. It may well be that new profiles can be used on the old ones with lower ‘resolution’. We can only hope.
Hi Folks
Does the Player transmit midi from its foot switches and controller or is it Midi Thru only ?
On the bigger units the name of the note is to the left of the stream display so you would just tune to the next note down. I’m not sure if this is on the players screen though, but I would expect so.
We have to wait until May for round 3. Not bad for such a ‘disappointing’ product. The target market wanted it and bought it. In droves. Not bad for such old technology
They’ve obviously got it right. All of the stores in the UK sold their stocks within a couple of days….Twice!
JCM 800 I would think. Standard Marshall 'after preamp' eq. Im pretty sure from reading on the JVM forum that the The power amp is the same as a JCM 800 (stated by the designer ).
OK. Just a thought. Thanks again for the prompt response
