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Kinda makes me wish I had a Kemper...but then I've been thinking of it for a while.... :)
 
Don't expect anyone to agree with me but I was surprisingly struck with how lifeless those especially high gain clips were. Very "precise" but lacking something organic. Luckily it quelled my gas for a Kemper, at least for the time being, since one can't argue with the versatility aspect
 
Moost Kemper (or even AxeFX( clips I've heard sound like heavy produced guitar clips intended for recording, which is cool for that purpose right?

My tone deaf ears probably couldn't tell the difference...less so in a mix ;-)
 
Kemper looks to be a good thing for producers and touring bands. I guess they save space and money. Can't comment on how they sound;because, I have never heard one. I love the raw organic sounds of my modules, and am not ready to jump on that bandwagon yet. Call me a sceptic.
 
I was lucky enough to spend a week touring as Guthrie Govans roadie/tech just now and had a good talk to him about the Kempers and Axe FX. His opinion was that they are real good for computer based recording and for him if someone wants him to do a solo on a piece of music he could quickly hook up his Axe Fx or Kemper and hit record without having to mic up speakers and play around with settings and placement of things.
He did seem to find with the Kempers that once he started tweaking knobs the tone seemed to fall apart a bit and that he would never use these units in a live setting. But he did also say that "this is just what works for me and everyone's ears are different"
 
Don't forget that Wagener's mic of choice are the Royers which to my ear, tend to sound softer and more bass heavy than say a 57. Like them combined but less on their own. I would not be able to dial in the bite and clarity i like to hear from his clips. Love what he did in the 80's though!
 
I've played on two Kempers. One was a customer who came to my shop's Pedal Club, (Just a bunch of guitar geeks nerding out over pedals, pickups, amps and whatever else we wanna see. Like a storewide show and tell), and I also got the pleasure of jamming on Jeff Loomis's Kemper at the NAMM show a month ago.

I thought they both felt like lifeless poop. Notice I said felt, and not sound. At this point in my "career", I feel that sound is irrelevant. Most places I gig have an absolutely **** PA system. I see no reason to lug expensive gear around when the crowd really doesn't care. ANYWAY. Both amps sounded okay I guess, but so do Line 6 Spiders. The difference is the feel. I didn't feel the drag and pull of real tubes. I didn't feel the amp speaking to me. It just felt, for lack of a better word, fake. I A/B'd the customer's against a Blackstar ID series 40 watt and while the Blackstar didn't feel right, it felt a hell of a lot better than the Kemper at a 6th of the price.


ON THE FLIPSIDE. I saw Larry Mitchell the same night I was at NAMM and was blown away by his tone. Saw a Vox in the corner and hoped for the best. But alas, no, it was an AxeFX.
 
Doornat, I can't find the Blackstar ID in 40 watts, do you mean 30? although 40 would be perfect for throwing in the car for quick practices
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I've heard a lot of talk about the AXE and Kemper. I know they are supposed to be much better than POD but my 500HD did not satisfy at all. I tried and tried. the shortcomings were just too rooted in the digital format. i can't imagine the more expensive platforms are that much better in feel, dynamics and organic tube type sounds. They do well with emulating the tonestacks but i think that's really it.

Although I never strayed farther away from tubes that the POD experience, i will never go back to digital for anything other than an easy practice amp
 
The modelers just don't do it for me. I've played several and they just seem to lack any real magic.
 
withmittens said:
Doornat, I can't find the Blackstar ID in 40 watts, do you mean 30? although 40 would be perfect for throwing in the car for quick practices
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I've heard a lot of talk about the AXE and Kemper. I know they are supposed to be much better than POD but my 500HD did not satisfy at all. I tried and tried. the shortcomings were just too rooted in the digital format. i can't imagine the more expensive platforms are that much better in feel, dynamics and organic tube type sounds. They do well with emulating the tonestacks but i think that's really it.

Although I never strayed farther away from tubes that the POD experience, i will never go back to digital for anything other than an easy practice amp



Typo, I meant 30.
 
I really feel that the Kemper is great for recording. Especially on high gain stuff where you pull out a lot of the low end. You can just go and grab a profile of a sound you want and you have quick, easy, and very clean tone to record with. Once you double track it they sound big.

But by itself I feel that they have absolutely no feel! You might as well play a practice amp.
This is where the really big difference lies in any modeling.
I feel like the MTS stuff sounds good and feels better than any digital stuff, but even they don't feel anything like a "real" amp.
 
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