I miss my Kemper

madmarcus1960 said:
IMHO, it's the imperfections of the JBLs as great mix monitors , that make them great for driving modelers. Mine have always been with the tweeters at ear level. Their near field-ness isn't quite as tight as a better monitor.
Genelecs are a killer product, maybe too good for that application.
I have sets of the 1st gen 305s and 308s packed away, I guess I should sell them at some point.
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I could see that.

With the 305's, they were pretty uninspiring for modeler use, I think because the treble is a little more forward and the mids were kind of scooped. So it always sounded like playing guitar through a hi-fi speaker which wasn't at all a good thing.

Here you can see with measurements from ASR, there's a dip in the mids from 200 to 800 Hz (hey that's where all the musical notes are), then a lift in the treble from 1k on up.

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On the flip side, the 306 to me sounded quite warm in comparison, but there is detail. I think it's mostly due to a dip in the upper midrange right at the crossover point, which is a common complaint, and it makes them lose some clarity and detail. But that's also where harshness can be an issue for guitars. Still, they are really flat from like 60 Hz all the way past 10k, flatter than the 305's for sure:

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That really bears out what you found as well, that they are good for modelers because they are pretty flat but laid back in trouble spots. So you just want to turn them up a little more.

I find that the more revealing and forward the monitor (or headphones), the more potential issues you have trying to find the right IR. And that sent me into a spiral for years looking for the right IR or modeler. But I think it's much more an issue with the monitoring, which I should have damn known.

Here's the Genelec 8020's:

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Seems like for very close monitoring they are going to have a little more treble, but with some distance it's better. And there's little low end too, in a perfect room I think they would do fine especially with a subwoofer, but I am definitely finding there's a lack of lows below 120 Hz. Where the 306's even in a crap room are playing fairly low and they sound nice and punchy.

This is super long winded and off topic, but this is another really interesting experiment for me. I always assumed that unless you have a good room and it's properly treated, you may as well just use smaller flatter speakers. But I'm definitely hearing that large speakers are much better at least for playing guitar.
 
Back on topic, I played for a couple hours with the Kemper last night, also flipping between it and the Fractal. There's definitely a higher level of clarity and less compression in the Fractal, but I think part of that is the MBritt profiles. It's not necessarily better or worse, but with the Fractal I try and find ways to warm it up and the Kemper I try and find ways to brighten it.

While doing some back and forth, I dialed in an amazing sound on the Kemper which inspired me to write a very pretty chord progression, and I recorded a few scratch tracks to write a song around it. Nothing special, just a pushed clean Fender profile with a little compression, stereo delay, and reverb.

But the Kemper does this thing where the delay and reverb seems to kind of melt into the sound, where the Fractal is really clear and distinct. I'll try and continue tinkering with the Fractal effects to see if I can get some of that same magic going.
 
In an interview, Kristoph Kemper talked about the definition parameter, in the amp block, as being a variable brightness cap. You may want to play with that.
 
madmarcus1960 said:
In an interview, Kristoph Kemper talked about the definition parameter, in the amp block, as being a variable brightness cap. You may want to play with that.
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Yeah there are some instances in which the profile is kind of dark but the definition is already on 6-7.
 
Jarick said:
Back on topic, I played for a couple hours with the Kemper last night, also flipping between it and the Fractal. There's definitely a higher level of clarity and less compression in the Fractal, but I think part of that is the MBritt profiles. It's not necessarily better or worse, but with the Fractal I try and find ways to warm it up and the Kemper I try and find ways to brighten it.

While doing some back and forth, I dialed in an amazing sound on the Kemper which inspired me to write a very pretty chord progression, and I recorded a few scratch tracks to write a song around it. Nothing special, just a pushed clean Fender profile with a little compression, stereo delay, and reverb.

But the Kemper does this thing where the delay and reverb seems to kind of melt into the sound, where the Fractal is really clear and distinct. I'll try and continue tinkering with the Fractal effects to see if I can get some of that same magic going.
Click to expand...

Everything here has been exactly my experience as well. With Fractal I’m trying to warm it up, with Kemper I’m trying to brighten it up. The Kemper is definitely a bit more polished sounding with less detail.

The Definition, Clarity, and Compressor controls definitely help a lot!
 
My cycle went like this:

  1. Tube amps, which led to…
  2. Digital, which led to…
  3. AxeFX III, which led to…
  4. Kemper, which led back to…
  5. Tube amps, which led to…
  6. AxeFX III…
And I keep finding myself thinking about the Kemper rig I could build with the money I could get selling the AxeFX :bag
 
metropolis_4 said:
My cycle went like this:

  1. Tube amps, which led to…
  2. Digital, which led to…
  3. AxeFX III, which led to…
  4. Kemper, which led back to…
  5. Tube amps, which led to…
  6. AxeFX III…
And I keep finding myself thinking about the Kemper rig I could build with the money I could get selling the AxeFX :bag
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Speaking from experience, any time you sell something to get something else, it's a big risk you'll have FOMO. That's why for me I'm just adding, not swapping, at this point. I'll subtract if/when I don't use something for an extended period.

If I were you, I'd try and get to the point where you have an FM9, a Kemper Stage, and a compact tube amp rig. It's redundant, but there's a lot less churn. And I'm assuming you have a similar brain to mine where there's a giant "WHAT IF" sign flashing in your head.

Full honesty, I could easily see selling the Kemper again as it's not like a magic bullet. The Axe 3 has more than enough power, existing models, and flexibility to cover anything Kemper could for my uses. But I'm going to use the Kemper as a comparison point to get closer to that sound.

Right now I'm playing around with using the preamp in the cab block to experiment with adding in some analog warmth. There's also some compression and a mid boost EQ I could likely figure out to copy some of that MBritt sound into the Fractal. Then the Kemper is likely redundant again.
 
Yay: Kemper released a new beta version which addresses USB connection stability with Macs

Nay: Installation errored out halfway through and the Kemper locked up requiring a hard reboot :facepalm
 
metropolis_4 said:
My cycle went like this:

  1. Tube amps, which led to…
  2. Digital, which led to…
  3. AxeFX III, which led to…
  4. Kemper, which led back to…
  5. Tube amps, which led to…
  6. AxeFX III…
And I keep finding myself thinking about the Kemper rig I could build with the money I could get selling the AxeFX :bag
Click to expand...

C'mon man.... you know better. Look at that cycle again and ask yourself if you really
want to repeat steps 3 through 6 again. :hmm


:LOL:


Reading this thread has made me realize that everything that led me away from the Kemper is
intrinsic to that platform and no place I am keen to return to. Adding another tube amp, though.
Different story. :beer
 
la szum said:
C'mon man.... you know better. Look at that cycle again and ask yourself if you really
want to repeat steps 3 through 6 again. :hmm


:LOL:


Reading this thread has made me realize that everything that led me away from the Kemper is
intrinsic to that platform and no place I am keen to return to. Adding another tube amp, though.
Different story. :beer
Click to expand...


Do I know better? I’m on AxeFX III #3 now

I’m having some serious doubts about my gear intelligence quotient :rofl
 
metropolis_4 said:
My cycle went like this:

  1. Tube amps, which led to…
  2. Digital, which led to…
  3. AxeFX III, which led to…
  4. Kemper, which led back to…
  5. Tube amps, which led to…
  6. AxeFX III…
And I keep finding myself thinking about the Kemper rig I could build with the money I could get selling the AxeFX :bag
Click to expand...
I've transmogrified to the next level.

1. Sell all my music equipment because the music industry is dogshit and offers zero rewards.
 
metropolis_4 said:
My cycle went like this:

  1. Tube amps, which led to…
  2. Digital, which led to…
  3. AxeFX III, which led to…
  4. Kemper, which led back to…
  5. Tube amps, which led to…
  6. AxeFX III…
And I keep finding myself thinking about the Kemper rig I could build with the money I could get selling the AxeFX :bag
Click to expand...
1 amps
2 modeler
3 preamps
4 hybrid…modeler & preamp loaded board into a combo, return or 4cm

done ;)
 
A few weeks in with this experience.

Interesting thing with the Kemper at least for clean tones with MBritt. It sits really nicely in the midrange. Almost everything I try from the fractal sounds scooped slightly in comparison. Some magic there.

Another interesting thing, the effects are pretty vanilla but sound good. Kind of generic but blend nicely in with the profile.

Less enthused by the heavier stuff which can sound either muddy or too mid focused.

I think the ideal here is, considering how similar most of the profiles sound, just get a clean, crunch, and higher gain tone with a few effects saved as presets. Mostly as a direct alternative to an amp.

Probably just need to worry less about comparisons and more about what works for playing. But the Fractal tends to sound really clear and almost scooped in comparison with big swirly effects, and Helix somewhere between the two, more midrange and effects a little more organic.
 
Jarick said:
But the Fractal tends to sound really clear and almost scooped in comparison with big swirly effects
Click to expand...
I realised recently that for reverbs, I quite often like setting the quality level to economy on the Axe FX III. It brings the reverbs closer to the "stompbox" thing, rather than the "rack" thing.

The main thing I find with Axe III and amps is, you can't dial in the BMT like you would on a real amp - you often need to push them further. This might be where your impression of scooped comes from. Try cranking the mids, don't be afraid to go into the 8.00+ territory!
 
I've been very happy with my Kemper since starting this thread. It has really been a great addition to my latest recordings and studio overall.
 
Kemper Stage with 2 gigs and a couple of rehearsals under the belt has been fantastic! Looking forward to the new liquid profiling update whenever it comes by. The fact that I could make some really quick and simple adjustments based on the room via my phone during the gig was awesome.

I have a new Quad Cortex to use as well. Going to keep that as my backup for now but this time, I'll give it more time to develop.
 
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