Took the Kemper Plunge - First Impressions

[TimH]

Picked this thing up on Friday. Like many I wasn't blown away with a lot of the stock profiles. Played a gig on Sunday with a JTM45 profile that was good enough.

Tonight I've spent about 2 hours with the device and realized, as I was sifting through the profiles, that the shop I purchased from had loaded in many of amp44's profiles (The Amp Factory, right?)

OH WOW!!! What an improvement!

First one that caught my ear was the 67 Marshall. I stopped on it because it reminded me of Pete Thorn's SL68 clips.

Then I started flipping through others and really dug the TwoRock Classic profile as well.

I'm starting to be impressed.

I strongly considered going with the Axe II (I've had the standard and Ultra before) and although I'm certain it's a great unit I just didn't want to go back to all that deep editing. The dials on the Kemper make it simple to get a great sound.

While I'm not ready to post an orgasm about the Kemper I am definately thinking that, with time, this will be an excellent purchase.

Peace!

 

[ibanez270]

Hey are you Tim Horton?

Love my KPA

 

[NickZ]

TimH
Where did you purchase from?
Must have been a returned unit given all the added profiles unless the store is just very generous
Which ampfactory profiles did you have the chance to try and how are you running the kemper?
Another eager Canuck ...
Thx

 

[TimH]

Hey Nick - I bought it from L&M on Bloor. I don't think the amp was bought and returned. They told me that they had loaded profiles.

I went through many of the Amp factory presets although briefly. They were all great. If I keep the unit I'll be buying more.

 

[stratotone]

Wait until you start playing with the in between tones... I love taking one of my old Marshall profiles, rolling the volume back so it cleans up, or roll the volume back a little and picking hard with single coils... or set up a tube screamer (on the kemper) in front of a low to medium gain amp like an old marshall. You can play around with one good patch for a long time.

 

[IanH]

I bought it from L&M on Bloor.

Ah HA! So you're the reason L&M on Bloor's inventory for the Kemper went from "In Stock" to "Not Available" when I checked again this past Saturday morning! I normally like to buy from L&M, but I was itching to buy one that day after a couple weeks of research and dithering, and only Steve's had one physically on hand on that day. As much as I hate buying big ticket items from Steve's (their return policy vs. L&M), I just couldn't wait, so I bought it. I blame you!

I'm enjoying it so far, but I haven't had a chance to try out the commercial profiles from the Amp Factory and Armin, and I intend to.

 

[stratzrus]

While I'm not ready to post an orgasm about the Kemper I am definately thinking that, with time, this will be an excellent purchase.

Peace!

I think these things tend to grow on you. There is so much internet hype that when you open the box most of us expect trumpets to sound.

They all require spending some time with them to get the most out of them, but with that said, a state of the art modeler offers something no traditional amp can (and vice versa is true as well).

Congrats on the purchase and enjoy. I'll bet you a nickel that in a week or two you'll be grinning ear to ear.

 

[ejecta]

They all require spending some time with them to get the most out of them, but with that said, a state of the art modeler offers something no traditional amp can (and vice versa is true as well).

 

[TimH]

I think these things tend to grow on you. There is so much internet hype that when you open the box most of us expect trumpets to sound.

They all require spending some time with them to get the most out of them, but with that said, a state of the art modeler offers something no traditional amp can (and vice versa is true as well).

Congrats on the purchase and enjoy. I'll bet you a nickel that in a week or two you'll be grinning ear to ear.

Absolutely, I agree. After my experiences with Line6 Vetta and HD, Axe std. and Ultra this is true. It takes time but its usually worth the investment. I think once ii figure out tue naming process for the AmpFactory presets ill be even happier.

Can anyone help there? Specifically, I can't tell which patches were tuned for strats. The Les Paul ones are obvious as they end with "LP"

 

[Will Chen]

Absolutely, I agree. After my experiences with Line6 Vetta and HD, Axe std. and Ultra this is true. It takes time but its usually worth the investment. I think once ii figure out tue naming process for the AmpFactory presets ill be even happier.

Can anyone help there? Specifically, I can't tell which patches were tuned for strats. The Les Paul ones are obvious as they end with "LP"

He only did that for the 1st round of profiles. The later profiles are not tweaked for specific types of guitars but rather genre of tone (clean, cranked, TS, etc).

 

[TimH]

He only did that for the 1st round of profiles. The later profiles are not tweaked for specific types of guitars but rather genre of tone (clean, cranked, TS, etc).

ok. good to know!

 

[SnowfaLL]

Awesome TimH, I was gonna goto the Bloor L&M also this saturday and try to pick one up, but ended up not going. Next weekend, Hopefully! But now that they are out of stock, thats kinda saddening.

Where abouts do you live? Im in Borden right now, but coming to Toronto probably next saturday for a bit. If you are in Toronto, I'd love to hear it with the Amp Factory profiles!

Were you able to price match with Steves or Moog Audio, at the $1599 price?? (unless their prices changed also)

 

[IanH]

Nick, I went down on Saturday to buy from Steve's. I had noticed in the last couple weeks (as I'm guessing you had) there was a big price discrepancy between L&M on the one hand, and Steve's and Moog, on the other. (I've never had a problem getting L&M to price match, for the record.) But when I re-checked Saturday morning, Steve's and Moog had jacked up their prices to about $1750. L&M was still a bit more expensive, but were out of stock anyway, so it became a moot issue.

 

[TimH]

Thanks for the pricing tip guys. Ill get mine adjusted!

 

[Johnkenn]

If you press the up button on the rig control on the right, it allows you to scan profiles alphabetically. The Amp Factory profiles all seem to start with "A-" or "AF2 or 3". I need to weed a bunch of profiles out too...

 

[TimH]

You can also sort by user and the AF profiles all are made by amp44, right?

 

[TheAmpFactory]

Indeed they are!
although amp44 would of been a better name

 

[TimH]

bloops! Sorry for the typo. In my defence, I was distracted by amazing tone!

 

[Will Chen]

You can also sort by user and the AF profiles all are made by amp44, right?

I've seen 3 different naming conventions. The free stuff starts with =A, the Amp Pack 2 profile I bought is just A, and Amp Pack 3 is AF. But sorting by user would be the easiest option.

And BTW - Pack 3 is fantastic.

 

[Structo]

Hey any of you Kemper guys try to clone any Dumble tones?
Like a Two Rock or other D type amp?

If so, how close do you think it came to capturing that type of sound?