Home › Forums › Discuss Your Gear › Bought a Kemper, help!!
Tagged: Kemper
- This topic has 16 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 1 month ago by Vincent K.
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February 3, 2021 at 3:40 pm #233875
I was completely fed up with the humming and buzzing noise and loudness of my tube AMP. After lesson EP365 Jimi Hendrix Blues I decided to buy the Kemper Profiler.
The Kemper came with about 1700 free available rigs/ profiles.
I don’t want to try them all because I rather play Guitar than spending time for looking into nice tones.
Anyone suggestions for nice (Brian’s) blues tones?
I have No idea where to start.
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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February 3, 2021 at 4:41 pm #233889
I bought a (used) Fractal processor instead of the Kemper and it took me weeks to just get it working properly and after several yrs I’m still learning, so there’s no short cuts.
But if there’s a tone you like (Jimi, Gilmour, Santana, whatever) then see what amps/pedals they use and approximate them in your Kemper. Then tweak to taste.At first it does take time away from guitar playing, but so does learning to record videos, etc; it’s all part of the new world of home music production.
My Fractal has a million options but I’ve got it down to 3 or 4 favourites (combinations of Fender &/or Marshall amps with a little reverb &/or delay). You can probably find a couple of profiles in your Kemper to get you up and running. Then it’s just a tweak-athon forever after.
Have fun.
ps. You could ask Brian for some suggestions on his sweet settings; you never know. -
February 3, 2021 at 6:02 pm #233895
I do not own a Kemper but have run across some good youtube demos.
Mike
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February 3, 2021 at 6:05 pm #233896
There is a Kemper sharing site, where people upload their profiles. You can do a search for the type of profile you are interested in there, and then audition the ones that have gotten high star ratings from users. That should get you in the ballpark.
If you want to spend some money, people speak highly of M.Britt and The Tone King’s profiles. I don’t have a Kemper so I can’t help you beyond that. It should not take you too long to find stuff that’s good. And if sharing is easy enough, then you might simply try sending Brian an email. I’m not volunteering for him, of course, but he has been very generous with other things.
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February 4, 2021 at 5:32 am #233915
Vincent,
Some great suggestions above. Checking the Kemper site and scouring YouTube sound like good options. Did you buy the powered version or the regular Kemper? I’d love to hear some updates of how you’re getting along with it. Would make a great discussion point on the forum.
John -
February 4, 2021 at 12:58 pm #233944
Thank you for all the suggestions. John I did not buy the powered version, because I only play at home. I did already find a very good tone for my first participation in the monthly challenge!
To be more specific: There are in the Rig exchange 17055 Rigs (Kemper sharing site) and factory installed another 1343. Simply too much to try them all out.
On YouTube you mainly see the commercially available rig-packs. They just want to sell rigs (understandably). With so many free rigs, I do not understand why I should buy some more. If really needed I will do that of course.
Looking at the crowd rating would have been a fantastic tool. However, there are hundreds of 5 star ratings. The second issue is that per 5 star rig there are only a couple of people rating this Rig. Maybe I should look for lower ratings and taking the number of people into account. I will give that a try thank you!
I will also just focus on my favorite AMPs and artist sounds. I just found a site called equipboard.com where you can find all gear used by a specific artist. So thank you for that suggestion.
The AM forum did get me into the right direction. I will get back with results later on! In the mean time any further suggestions are more than welcome.
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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February 4, 2021 at 1:29 pm #233946
Hey congrats on your new purchase. Have fun!
John H.
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February 4, 2021 at 6:27 pm #233971
You can search by other parameters. I just did a search on Princeton, then had it sort the results by star ratings. That left me with 12 five star rigs. I might not have to listen to all of those – just until I found one that suited my needs. A search on AC30 brings up about 40 five stars. And so forth.
It’s true that both Kemper and the modelers have their own rabbit holes to get lost in. Depends on whether you like to browse or tweak. But if you have an idea of the sound you want, and where it comes from, it shouldn’t be hard to locate things that are close.
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February 5, 2021 at 11:40 am #234014
I know nothing about Kempers, but that looks like a Grolsch in that mug on your pic!! lol
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February 5, 2021 at 3:27 pm #234042
Thanks Duffy and John
And @Sal : Grolsch is an excellent dutch beer , but the pic was taken on las Ramblas in Barcelona, where I stayed with one of my Sons for the Formula 1 grand prix
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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February 6, 2021 at 10:19 am #234111
Thanks Duffy and John
And @Sal : Grolsch is an excellent dutch beer , but the pic was taken on las Ramblas in Barcelona, where I stayed with one of my Sons for the Formula 1 grand prix
Ah,I see! Been to Barcelona a few times myself,and what a great place to visit!! Really enjoyed the fine restaurants there!!……….Sal
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February 15, 2021 at 8:51 am #235076
Thank you al for your suggestions.I digged around and came up with he first 20 AMPS that will be a great starting point. I will let you listen to the result at the February challenge 😉
I attached a screenshot from the rig manager.
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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March 23, 2021 at 7:23 am #242441
After one month I just want you all to know that commercially available rigs on the Kemper are absolutely worth it. These rigs are so much better and even free rigs from commercial parties are great.
I now understand that even after one month I’m still at the very beginning of the learning curve, there is no short-cut, it is time consuming, but I am very glad that I took the decision to buy this Kemper.
Gegroet,
Vincent
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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March 24, 2021 at 5:49 am #242558
Vincent,
Could I ask a few questions? Are you playing through your monitor speakers? What are your options for hearing the audio output? I assume each rig you download comes with a certain amount of built in EQ, gain, reverb, delay etc. Are the quantities of each effect displayed and what parameters are tweakable? Would you think there is value in the powered version that could power a speaker cabinet directly?
John-
March 24, 2021 at 6:43 am #242564
John,
Yes, I’m playing through KRK monitors. I’m still not sure if that is the best option for me at home, I might consider a FRFR monitor. The issue is that we are still in a Corona lockdown and I’m not able to go out to a shop to listen to the differences
I think a powered version would only be the right choice if you go live on stage and the cabinet of your choice will color the sound.For a home studio the non powered is loud enough. I’m not sure about sound differences between the options, because I have not listened to a powered version before. This is however my opinion and I am just an amateur with hearing aids, so I am simply not capable of hearing all frequencies.
You are right, there are built in EQ, gain, reverb, delay etc. in the rigs you can tweak, but on top of that there is a huge amount of profiled pedals and standard effects, so basically you are able to produce any sound you want.
I am not completely sure how to describe the most important feature in a rig, but when the AMP is not profiled in high quality conditions you can tweak whatever you want.
I know I am not capable to built a sound from the ground up (which you can do with a Kemper) but I like to use the proven and easy to use “building blocks” to get a good sound.
Cheers
Vincent
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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March 24, 2021 at 4:58 pm #242626
Apparently, if you run your tube amp through an attenuator, it takes out all of the hum. Here is a You tube clip about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblzFn5bWYs&list=PLnWUjmH5ZikFiGfthi2J2XDyWdorthYLD&index=38. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, Eric demonstrates it about the 5 minute mark.
To run an attenuator, your tube amp needs to have an FX loop as the attenuator needs to be in the circuit between the amp and the speaker. A Vox AC 15 head has one but the combo doesn’t. You can rewire the AC 15 combo to fit one though. The Fender Blues Junior combo apparently already has an FX loop as standard. An attenuator also allows you crank your tube amp and enjoy those beautiful tones that only a tube amp can produce, but at a bedroom volume. -
March 25, 2021 at 1:52 pm #242683
Also a good option Al
🎸 Vincent 🎶 🇳🇱
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