Things have changed since Kemper announced their new profiling and the Mk2. Line6 announced an entire new generation of modeler. Kemper might now be regretting their new profiling announcement, and might be hoping people have forgotten about it.
The market has changed, yes. Kemper's strategic position hasn't changed at all. Kemper still has a 13 year old design that the GUI has been made to work faster and a different paint job.
Kemper is the most giggable rig out there IMO and yet they are hanging their hat on accuracy ..... still. Stupid.
That makes no sense, why would Kemper release a new product and hope people forget about it?
We're nowhere close to QC levels of time slip. We're still several weeks inside of the expected time frame for the announced release.
I agree with you. Kemper still wants the highlight of the MK2 to boost sales ..... and they got it ..... and will again when the new profiling is released.
It hasn't been released
. Anyway, the competitive landscape has changed since then and Kemper has walked back the claims from their first announcement, so even Kemper's enthusiasm about the new profiling seems to be waning. My point is they may be having second thoughts about whether this was a good idea.
And I’m not a kemper guy or ever will be, FYI, I don’t give a fuck about this company, but I think a lot of stupid shit is said about companies by armchair experts on this site like they know what’s going on, and honestly I don’t see how it’s valuable at all to the conversation
From an engineering standpoint, the ONLY thing that changed in the hardware is LITTERALLY the same thing as putting a higher clocked processor in your PC. If you didn't change out your sound card, there will be 0% change in the sound quality of the music you play with your PC .... right?
So I hear what you are saying, but based on documented tear down images and videos of MK1 and MK2, the digital processing hasn't changed at all. In fact, it is my guess that they are utilizing the EXACT same main board on MK2 as they are on MK1.
This explains why the new MK2 Rack and MK2 Toaster don't have the included WiFi or true impedance inputs that both the Stage and Player have ..... they simply didn't turn the main board.
Whether the new profiling will be "stunning" remains to be seen, but even Kemper doesn't seem to think so. They have edited the announcement to use increasingly vague terms to describe it. First it was "most accurate". Then it was "most precise". Now it's "most powerful". Next, I expect they will say it's "most adorable".
I think that this, more than anything else, indicates that Kemper are aware that the comparison to the industry leader (NAM) in capture accuracy isn't going to be favorable.
The problem is they have been so successful that they never had a need to overhaul their architecture to accommodate improvements like that.
Agree. I still think that they are very successful for touring or frequently gigging musicians. For live use, they are very well positioned.
What's really astonishing for me is how they completely ignored user demands/wishes.
They EVENTUALLY fulfill user demands. It's pretty slow though.... like years.
Accuracy is a new thing for guitar tone because in analog gear it’s totally irrelevant and not desirable.
As soon as you start replicating other things it can become the no1 issue. BUT Kemper sold because people liked the idea of it and what “it” sounds like.
Guitar amplifiers also add feel and interaction with sound so it gets complicated. Some stuff is nicer to play but doesn’t necessarily sound the best and the trade is one many players can live with.
There is still realistically nothing that can replicate the sound and player experience of plugging directly in to a twin reverb even.
The biggest joke with any digital platform is the in the room frfr experience. It’s totally lacking but Kemper is actually better at this than most and that’s going to sell it.
This is another great example of Kemper not advertising their strength and focusing on their weakness. Stupid.
I think the mk2 is 99% just an update of the hardware because manufacturing and components have moved on since it came out. The new unit doesn’t seem to be hardly any more capable than the original.
It's worse than that. It's just a faster GUI processor. It boots faster.
It really seems it won't. From what we know, the only thing the MKII refreshed is the main microcontroller - which handles programming the DSP, I/O, USB, display, controls, etc. The actual DSP has been the exact same for all Kemper devices going back 13 years now.
That is demonstrably true. It boots faster, and has better USB capabilities than the old one. If you look inside the Kemper, this processor is on its own DIMM board (Dual Inline Memory Module slot specification). It literally plugs in just like a stick of RAM in your PC. That is the ONLY thing (other than the paint) that is different in the hardware.
Everything else is a firmware update ..... 100% of which should be possible to run on an MK1 since there is 0% difference between MK1 and MK2's ability to process sound.
Thus my repeated speculation that Kemper's REAL reason for introducing MK2 is to get revenue from MK1 users for a paid upgrade to get the new fixed efx slots and the new profiling.
I don't even begrudge them for this blatant profit taking. I actually think it is a very good idea. They are still missing the boat strategically IMO. Kemper should be focusing on their live and touring advantages where they are still industry leading.
