Is the Kemper Profiling amp a game changer?

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Been watching videos and listening to sound clips of this Kemper Profiling amp and if it measures up in real life to what I've seen and heard I think it may be a game changer. I don't think it is "modeling" amps as much as it is actually "cloning" the sound. Well, check it out and tell me what you think...



Find their website here

Here is a profile of a Bad Cat (sounds good to me!) 8)

Btw, price tag is $1800 :-o

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Some more vids:


Pick dynamics:





JCM800 & Mesa/Boogie Roadking:


http://soundcloud.com/temper59/kemper-p ... p-foxglove



Bogner XTC:




and the Bogner XTC in complete song:


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That's some serious woodoo man.

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Smart move to just copy ONE setting instead of every possible parameter configuration. However, it would mean it aims more for those who already got the amp, mics, cab and just want to copy that exact sound they use (well, you can ofc copy as many variations and different sounds as you want).
How will it work for those who buy it and hope to get great sounds from other players though? What if you use a different guitar?

Im just wondering who the intended targeting group is :)
:hug:

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Crackbaby wrote:Smart move to just copy ONE setting instead of every possible parameter configuration. However, it would mean it aims more for those who already got the amp, mics, cab and just want to copy that exact sound they use (well, you can ofc copy as many variations and different sounds as you want).
How will it work for those who buy it and hope to get great sounds from other players though? What if you use a different guitar?

Im just wondering who the intended targeting group is :)

Exchange presets via kempers website or email or.... The profiles are just a few KB in size.

You can store about 1000 in the kemper and on your pc about a several billions. :)

If you use a different guitar it will alter the sound (like a real amp guitar combination)

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I can think of several uses for it. If you do a long term project spanning months with other clients in between you will have easy access to the exact same guitar sound between sessions. You can easily audition different mic/mic pre combos with the flick of a switch.

You do have a point with them just sampling one setting however nothing stops you from sampling several and how much of a difference do the different settings actually make ? Say you have your pre amp gain sampled at 10 setting,can't you get the inbetween ones by simply using a gain pedal or similar ? How much of a difference do the amps eq make compared to an external one ?

And if preset sharing takes off you get access to models you couldn't afford.

Best case scenario you could even get a model sampled by someone who has great experience and gear,it's not unthinkable the model could even be better even if you had the same amp,if your room, mic/mic pre and your skills isn't quite up to the task.

That is assuming it does what it claims,haven't tried one so i don't know. The videos certainly was impressive by they only tell parts of the story.

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Even with the relatively bad quality youtube video, the first one, you CAN clearly hear a difference between the Kemper amp and the soldano. The real deal is quite a lot smoother sounding in my opinion. Doesn't sound as forced. The kemper amp actually sounds a bit compressed, like it's been driven a bit harder. This is based on listening on my laptop speakers.. I'll take a new listen through quality headphones when I get to work but I suspect the differences will be even more obvious then. :(

I'm not saying it sounds bad, far from it, but perfect? No. Not even close to "indistinguishable".

Personally I don't see how something that does "automatic" analysis can ever be better than several people working with complex circuit modeling and fine tuning algorithms. I still think this is the way to go, not some fancy automatic system that costs an arm and a leg and probably drop in value over the next decade.

For 1800$ one would be mad not to get a the real deal instead, unless you want some crazy boutique system that costs way more.

The kemper might be useful for touring musicians though. Would be interesting to know the exact latency of the unit and how it handles amp feedback (shouldn't be possible, at least not the way analogue feedback goes).

Anyhow, it's an interesting concept but I have a sneaking suspicion it will go out of favor relatively quickly (a few years?) after release. :shrug:

Who knows, perhaps people will start abusing it and end up with all kinds of awesome tones never heard before! That'll probably be the true charm of this system.

Cheers!
bManic
"Wisdom is wisdom, regardless of the idiot who said it." -an idiot

"They don't ban hate speech; they ban speech they hate." -an oracle

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There is always a sonic difference in all those videos, but the last part of the XTC-video. The guitarist only then played "exactly the same" ;) Difference due different playing.

Close your eyes and and ABX the soundfiles. Impossible to tell the copy from the amp in ABX :)


Watch the picking dynamics video! :) It works. :)




It'll keep its value. As it is flexible and doesn't depend on the developer adding new models! :)


Rack mount please :)

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bmanic wrote: Personally I don't see how something that does "automatic" analysis can ever be better than several people working with complex circuit modeling and fine tuning algorithms.
It could be a new approach that hasn't been used before. Compare it to samplers ,they have sounded closer to a Minimoog for the last 20-30 years or so than any digital synthesizer has. Not saying that is the case but it could be.
bmanic wrote: The kemper might be useful for touring musicians though.
That is another use for it. It is not unthinkable that you could actually get a better tone thru the Kemper than a "real" amp since you can sample the amp under perfect circumstances and don't have to make any compromises.

This is all speculation obviously but i can see many potentioal uses for it if it works as advertised.

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You think they could easily make a vst plugin that loads the kempler profiles and allows basic manipulation like the amp does.

That would sell like hotcakes IMO. Yeah, I went there. HOTCAKES!

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cactuseskimo wrote:You think they could easily make a vst plugin that loads the kempler profiles and allows basic manipulation like the amp does.

That would sell like hotcakes IMO. Yeah, I went there. HOTCAKES!

It would, but they said they are not going to make any plugins. (Apart from the virus TI and old virus powercore stuff). Because of several reasons...


Fractal audio said the are not going to release the long ago finished VST version of the Axe FX, because of the same several reasons.... :roll:



It is upto third party people to make a software profiler/profile player. :!:

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Damn.

That's pretty impressive there. Does it do any effects or just the modeling?

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Sokar wrote:Damn.

That's pretty impressive there. Does it do any effects or just the modeling?

Effects are included, too.


They announced that the kemper amp comes with several years of free software updates. (Like their Virus synth line including bugfixes and alot new toys for 15 years :) )

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I just watched the Shred Ville video on this page:
http://kemper-amps.com/page/render/lang ... fined.html
the guitarist wasn't much to write home about (though i've been listening to Malmsteen the whole week) but there's plenty of scope for customization so you're not stuck with a single setting. I was afraid that might be the case but i'm glad to see it isn't.

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So it's a Nebula rackmount unit? :D
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