Kemper Profiler MK 2

[LP59]

This is purely anecdotal.

I had one of my Kemper Stages go bad--some DSP circuit card or something. For reference, I've had 2 for about 6 years. It was (semi-recently) beyond warranty but after talking to Kemper support they said they would cover the repair cost.

I've since swapped to Fractal, but I can't really complain with the level of support I've had from Kemper.

There is a sharp difference between Kemper support, which is generally good, and Kemper on their forum, which is generally bad.

 

[Mongillo19]

There is a sharp difference between Kemper support, which is generally good, and Kemper on their forum, which is generally bad.

Same could be said for NDSP

 

[Dimiguitar]

What did he do?

I don't know, man. God knows. Probably derailing? Lately they seem to be super vigilant about what they perceive to be derailing.

Where's @OneEng dropping his golf course/prom/EE knowledge, if he's banned from the Kemper forums?!

I assume it's a temporary ban, so he'll be back there probably, kidding aside.

Personally I like TGF forum a lot more than company-specific forums. It's less cult-like, fun and I find people respectful towards me.

There's only nothing to talk about because they ignore forum posts. Christoph could easily just reply on the forum himself and stop the noise or have one of the moderators provide an update. Their culture is toxic and I can see why people would abandon Kemper altogether.

I can definitely understand leaving Kemper too, if one pays attention to the forum stuff, and that influences them.

 

[Jarick]

Slightly off topic post but hopefully that won’t kill me off here; I’ve just had had a one week ban from the Kemper forum and a post deleted. First time for me in over 12 years of posting there.

My crime? A guy posted in the Mk2 discussion thread over there that he thought Kemper were holding off releasing mk2 to coincide with the stadium release. Which is an interesting theory that imo makes no sense. He also said the Stadium would have profiling technology in December this year and thought that the mk2 profiling would coincide with the L6 clone tech, release wise. I know Kemper is often late but I thought I’d do my bit to correct the record.

I replied and said that, although Stadium is due out before Christmas, the Proxy clone tech is not out until an unspecified date in 2026. With that in mind, if profiling / cloning is important to you then you’ll be waiting for an unspecified date next year if you go that way. That’s from the official stuff that’s out in the wild from Eric who is always forthcoming with the info he’s able to share.

So they deleted a bunch of posts which were ‘off topic’ (I’m unclear how many) plus I was banned for an off topic post where I corrected a mistruth or two from another user that was *in the favour of the company who owns the forum*…….

Well you're welcome here that's for sure.

It's too bad the Kemper forum is so poorly run. There's not much love for Kemper on most forums nowadays and having the one place people can get excited about it constantly deleting posts and banning people is just plain dumb.

 

[Chocol8]

I find people respectful towards me.

That's just an oversight on our part!

 

[GTR37]

Same could be said for NDSP

I would not even call it a forum every 6 months and NDSP rep might pop in

 

[Mongillo19]

I would not even call it a forum every 6 months and NDSP rep might pop in

I view their forum as the discord, unfortunately

 

[Gary_W]

Well you're welcome here that's for sure.

It's too bad the Kemper forum is so poorly run. There's not much love for Kemper on most forums nowadays and having the one place people can get excited about it constantly deleting posts and banning people is just plain dumb.

Thank you - I’ve felt welcome :)

Most of my posts here have been on the Helix Stadium thread purely because I’ve got a deposit down so I should (fingers crossed) get one when they land. The difference it makes being able to post genuine product related questions on a forum and have them answered is huge. That is, questions answered by someone *from the company* and then engaging in discussions around the official response and potentially going off on tangents. I don’t know if the mods here have to get rid of many posts or reign people in but genuinely that thread has lots of relevant information plus some funny stuff and no serious idiot behaviour that I’ve seen. I will take that. I’ve had more questions directly answers by a Line 6 employee here in two months of posting than I’ve ever had in 12 years on the official Kemper forum. Of course, it’s not just the comms sending me to getting a Stadium but being confident that I know what it does from the horse’s mouth is important to me and in stark contrast to what I’ve become used to.

I sell tech products for a living these days, I was originally an engineer and I’ve been involved with aspects of product management / internal product tweaks / customer training / applications support etc. I 100% get that you can’t always tell the customer what they want to know right now and that some customers can be unrealistic in their expectations with this. The majority will accept ‘I’m really sorry, I can’t talk about that right now but you’ll love it’. Ignoring people and going out of your way to appear difficult is not a great idea IMO. Of course, if the mk2 turns out to be world beating in terms of tonal quality there will be lots of happy customers. But the old statement about ‘build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door’ just isn’t true. Sure, some people will find your mousetrap and buy it. Most people will buy the second-best mousetrap from the guy that is shouting ‘come buy my lovely mousetrap’. How you present yourself matters. If it didn’t, there would be no need for websites, marketing or anything else.

I have no doubt that the people working there are lovely folks and I want them to succeed. Competition and choice is good for us all as paying customers as all the products get better……. Kemper being alive and well will keep Line 6 wanting to beat them - it’s how it goes. So the fact that I told Kemper on their own forum a couple of weeks ago that *their own website* still said ‘expected Summer’ for the mk2 profiling despite it no longer being Summer wasn’t a great look. The fact that it’s 10th October and that’s what it still says on the product page for Mk2 is off the charts communication stupidity of the highest order. This is not helping them. You could argue that most people don’t care and you’d probably be right but if this turns just one person off and it’s avoidable? Don’t do it when it’s so easy to fix. That’s what frustrates me - it’s a decent product still for many people - please, for the love of all that is holy, realise that how you present yourself makes a difference to a lot of people and sort out the simple things like updating a website and not being grumpy on your own forum

 

[Dimiguitar]

The fact that it’s 10th October and that’s what it still says on the product page for Mk2 is off the charts communication stupidity of the highest order.

Just checked. They surely aren't doing themselves any favors. Would it be too much to update the site?

 

[Gary_W]

Just checked. They surely aren't doing themselves any favors. Would it be too much to update the site?

Hard to believe isn’t it? They 100% know about this as I told them on their own forum. I know the official guys there are reading my posts else how would they know when to ban me or correct the thread title?

 

[Enchilada Jones]

The pessimist in me is suggesting there is only one guy doing all ‘computer stuff’?

Hey Hans! I need help with my email!
Hey Hans I got another idea for MkII!
Hey Hans! how do I erase my history?
Hey Hans! Can we block Tone Junkie the guy is wearing me out!!
Hey Hans! Do we even have a web site?

Hans voice mail says ‘ sorry, out of office for a week, going to a party at Nakatomi Tower’

Hey! Has anyone seen Hans?!?

 

[Chocol8]

Hans should find a new job.

 

[Gary_W]

The pessimist in me is suggesting there is only one guy doing all ‘computer stuff’?

Hey Hans! I need help with my email!
Hey Hans I got another idea for MkII!
Hey Hans! how do I erase my history?
Hey Hans! Can we block Tone Junkie the guy is wearing me out!!
Hey Hans! Do we even have a web site?

Hans voice mail says ‘ sorry, out of office for a week, going to a party at Nakatomi Tower’

Hey! Has anyone seen Hans?!?

 

[Jarick]

I sell tech products for a living these days, I was originally an engineer and I’ve been involved with aspects of product management / internal product tweaks / customer training / applications support etc. I 100% get that you can’t always tell the customer what they want to know right now and that some customers can be unrealistic in their expectations with this. The majority will accept ‘I’m really sorry, I can’t talk about that right now but you’ll love it’. Ignoring people and going out of your way to appear difficult is not a great idea IMO. Of course, if the mk2 turns out to be world beating in terms of tonal quality there will be lots of happy customers. But the old statement about ‘build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door’ just isn’t true. Sure, some people will find your mousetrap and buy it. Most people will buy the second-best mousetrap from the guy that is shouting ‘come buy my lovely mousetrap’. How you present yourself matters. If it didn’t, there would be no need for websites, marketing or anything else.

I have no doubt that the people working there are lovely folks and I want them to succeed. Competition and choice is good for us all as paying customers as all the products get better……. Kemper being alive and well will keep Line 6 wanting to beat them - it’s how it goes. So the fact that I told Kemper on their own forum a couple of weeks ago that *their own website* still said ‘expected Summer’ for the mk2 profiling despite it no longer being Summer wasn’t a great look. The fact that it’s 10th October and that’s what it still says on the product page for Mk2 is off the charts communication stupidity of the highest order. This is not helping them. You could argue that most people don’t care and you’d probably be right but if this turns just one person off and it’s avoidable? Don’t do it when it’s so easy to fix. That’s what frustrates me - it’s a decent product still for many people - please, for the love of all that is holy, realise that how you present yourself makes a difference to a lot of people and sort out the simple things like updating a website and not being grumpy on your own forum

Totally agree. I've also worked on some big technology projects and communication is critical. Like you said, you can't always be fully transparent, but your communications need to be very thoughtful.

We had a very expensive change management consultant who drilled the "say/do ratio" into my head. Communication is critical when you're trying to win people over. But you have to consistently follow through with what you say, otherwise you lose all credibility and interest.

Look at NDSP...they have completed failed in a truly spectacular fashion in terms of following through and their promises. I don't think they have much credibility at least from the Quad Cortex standpoint. And then when they tried to be more transparent in communications, they still failed to follow through. Now they just stopped communicating completely. How can you trust that company at this point?

Kemper IMO is nowhere near that point, so I think they deserve a lot more grace than most people are offering. They have a history of under promising and over delivering. I don't think they ever promised to overhaul and expand all their effects, or add wifi editing, or randomly implementing a USB audio driver a decade after launch. So I'm not going to join in and rip the company for missing the summer deadline. I don't think we're going to be waiting for Mk2 profiling five years from now like people are still waiting for plugin compatibility on the QC.

However while they may not be at risk of losing credibility, they are at risk of losing the small amount of market share they current have. Kemper is no longer a sexy product and high definition profiling is not a killer feature (Tonex already has this). I'm rooting for them (and still have a Kemper Player) but I don't see them growing out of the niche market any time soon.

And voting with dollars, I picked up a Fender Tone Master Pro and am really enjoying it. Most people are waiting for the Stadium release which will probably be the biggest modeler launch since QC. Kemper can't really afford to be running their customers off IMO.

 

[Dimiguitar]

Aaaaand they still haven't changed the MKII profiling release estimate on the website. Someone volunteer to do "computer stuff" for them pls.

 

[laxu]

Kemper IMO is nowhere near that point, so I think they deserve a lot more grace than most people are offering. They have a history of under promising and over delivering. I don't think they ever promised to overhaul and expand all their effects, or add wifi editing, or randomly implementing a USB audio driver a decade after launch. So I'm not going to join in and rip the company for missing the summer deadline. I don't think we're going to be waiting for Mk2 profiling five years from now like people are still waiting for plugin compatibility on the QC.

That's really just a different kind of failure in communication. Everyone thought the USB audio driver wasn't even possible because there wasn't even the option to use some standard device driver. I'd say it's underdelivering when they knew well that USB audio interface capabilities were becoming the norm, and that their hardware was capable of it.

Kemper has more of this "No need to improve" hubris...until they do find that they need to do it to keep up with the competition. Every new feature is unexpected rather than eagerly awaited.

However while they may not be at risk of losing credibility, they are at risk of losing the small amount of market share they current have. Kemper is no longer a sexy product and high definition profiling is not a killer feature (Tonex already has this). I'm rooting for them (and still have a Kemper Player) but I don't see them growing out of the niche market any time soon.

And voting with dollars, I picked up a Fender Tone Master Pro and am really enjoying it. Most people are waiting for the Stadium release which will probably be the biggest modeler launch since QC. Kemper can't really afford to be running their customers off IMO.

Totally agree. The whole capture thing has been pushed to bottom of the barrel pricing with gear like the Valeton GP-5. It doesn't even matter if they are less accurate at that cost, people are going to buy them. The $200 Tonex One is the cheapest accurate capture box on the market, and the Tonex V2 captures probably already do what the upcoming Kemper profiling is trying to achieve.

I'm sure they will deliver with the upgraded profiling, but will it be enough? If HX Stadium will provide (presumably) NAM/Tonex level capturing in 2026, what advantage is there left for Kemper?

 

[hunter]

That's really just a different kind of failure in communication. Everyone thought the USB audio driver wasn't even possible because there wasn't even the option to use some standard device driver. I'd say it's underdelivering when they knew well that USB audio interface capabilities were becoming the norm, and that their hardware was capable of it.

Kemper has more of this "No need to improve" hubris...until they do find that they need to do it to keep up with the competition. Every new feature is unexpected rather than eagerly awaited.


Totally agree. The whole capture thing has been pushed to bottom of the barrel pricing with gear like the Valeton GP-5. It doesn't even matter if they are less accurate at that cost, people are going to buy them. The $200 Tonex One is the cheapest accurate capture box on the market, and the Tonex V2 captures probably already do what the upcoming Kemper profiling is trying to achieve.

I'm sure they will deliver with the upgraded profiling, but will it be enough? If HX Stadium will provide (presumably) NAM/Tonex level capturing in 2026, what advantage is there left for Kemper?

Don't forget the effects in the Kemper which are (to me anyways) as good as Strymon or the likes. Strymon are smart enough to pack each of theirs into a 400€ box.

Don't know about the fx quality on Valeton or the others, but I sure know that they aren't really usable (for me) in the Tonex. So having all in one package, great delays, verbs, mod fx and a few great speacial ones, plus the buttons and many I/O and Exp ins etc - I'm happy to be using the Kemper Stage. It'd be worth it to me even without any profiling. I'd prefer it to be Mk2 ready but well ... my fault I bought it a year too early.

 

[Jarick]

Honestly I'd be really intrigued by a Kemper effects unit! It's a shame the Player doesn't have an effects loop.

 

[crispsandwich]

Don't forget the effects in the Kemper which are (to me anyways) as good as Strymon or the likes. Strymon are smart enough to pack each of theirs into a 400€ box.

Don't know about the fx quality on Valeton or the others, but I sure know that they aren't really usable (for me) in the Tonex. So having all in one package, great delays, verbs, mod fx and a few great speacial ones, plus the buttons and many I/O and Exp ins etc - I'm happy to be using the Kemper Stage. It'd be worth it to me even without any profiling. I'd prefer it to be Mk2 ready but well ... my fault I bought it a year too early.

Agreed, 100%. Kemper's effects are top-notch. They have character as well, which is difficult to achieve with some modellers. I use my Kemper all the time, and I have an Axe III, Helix and Tonex as well. The Kemper records better, no idea why. It just sounds beefier and sits better with other instruments without loads of tweaking.

 

[Dimiguitar]

I prefer the Kemper effects to fractal's. But then again I know little about effects.