Kemper Amp

Squidgy Black · 25-01-2012 03:26PM

Ravelleman wrote: »

Somehow I get the impression that this is one of those pieces of kit that people who like to fiddle will absolutely love and many others would absolutely hate. Now I know that this probably isn´t a valid comparison, but when I was younger, I bought a Line 6 Pod XT Live, thinking that it would be amazing to have so many possibilities available to me. Then I realised that I really prefer to keep things simple - a clean amp, some reverb, a little delay, maybe some OD when necessary. If I play another amp, I like to think of it as being a separate entity, one that needs to be explored and appreciated more, rather than just being one of the infinite facets of the same amp. I just find it easier to deal with things when they are separate and easier to distinguish - more tangible. Perhaps that makes them more real to me.

I´m sure this is what Walter Benjamin was talking about in the 1930s.

I have to say, I completely agree with this. I've had many multi-channel amps and modellers which hundreds of different presets, but I've always preferred a single channel amp, and a guitar with pickups that clean up nicely with the volume knob. Same thing happened with my pedals, I went from quite a large board (10-12 pedals) to eventually just dropping everything, and only bringing a tuner and maybe a delay/reverb.

Paolo_M · 31-01-2012 12:02PM

Got a chance this morning to put together some clips yawl.

The Kemper is run into a Samson Servo 300 and onto my 2X12 loaded with a G12H and G12M.
To make these clips I've miked up the cab using a SM57 straight into my Fast Track.
The no editing, or post EQ/effects of any description here.

The clip you're about hear is a Strat and the G12M speaker miked.
It starts with a Fender Silverface Deluxe with a touch of slapback delay and reverb from the Kemper. That's my attempt at country.
It then goes to a BlackFace Fender Deluxe Reverb for Yellow Leadbetter.
Then the strat is played through the Diezel Herbert (channel 2) through various pick up positions.
Finally it finishes with my Les Paul played through the Lead channel of the EVH 5153. This one is with the G12H miked.
Ignore the playing, it's all first take, no metronome and the last two examples were just the first thing that came into my head as I hit record. I was trying to demonstrate rhythm and lead sounds.

It's exported from ProTools @ 320bps with the highest quality encoding used.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10813900/Kemper%20First%20Test.mp3

Squidgy Black · 31-01-2012 04:48PM

Very impressed, especially by the cleaner tones. Felt that the high gain tones were a bit fizzy but then again that's probably what the amps themselves sound like.

slavetothegrind · 31-01-2012 05:14PM

loved the sound. Clean tones were really nice, that diezel sounded good too

Thanks for posting the clips, so any regrets?

Paolo_M · 31-01-2012 08:33PM

stetyrrell wrote: »

Very impressed, especially by the cleaner tones. Felt that the high gain tones were a bit fizzy but then again that's probably what the amps themselves sound like.

There's a lot of fizz on the 5153 especially but that's exactly what a raw 5150 sounds like on the red channel and the gain cranked.
I'd be compressing the lows and high shelving the highs if I was using it but I wanted to leave these clips raw.

I'm most impressed by the feel. Notes get that chewyness when you dig in with the pick, ReValver doesn't do that really.

slavetothegrind wrote: »

loved the sound. Clean tones were really nice, that diezel sounded good too

Thanks for posting the clips, so any regrets?

Not about the Kemper, I regret buying a house in 2007 though.

I'll do more clips of the amps in a proper mix and playing something proper in time as that might be a better context to judge.
I'm also gonna have a go at profile my JMP50 and then comparing the two through the same cab/mike position.

Kemper Amp

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