winterfire666 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 (edited) Ok, where to start? i have only had the unit a week so this is a 1st impression really. when i was considering buying a kemper i had some questions that still seem elusive to find the answers to. Can it be used for bass? YES, i found that existing bass profiles were nice enough but just sounded like standard di sounds. so i set up my tc-rh750 into a barefaced super 12t and using a shure sm7b attempted to profile. my rig when running past about 3 on the master volume becomes a massive aggressive wall of sound so i wanted to see if i could capture this on recordings. it worked perfectly! the resulting profile is epic with tight lows and mids that cut through the mix beautifully. im still tweaking my sounds at the moment but i will post sound samples and the profiles when i get chance. how good are the profiles? Mixed, the problem with this technology is that people have different tastes, im quite picky about guitar tones and very few of the user created profiles float my boat, there are some amazing clean and crunchy tones available but the best seem to come from kemper. there are a lot high gain profiles available but only a few seem useable after tweaking. i have done some of my own high gain profiles which im extremly happy with so im sure its just a matter of having a great source to profile and it will only be a matter of time before anything you could want will be aviailable as a free profile download. at the moment there arent that many bass profiles available (mainly mark bass and ampeg) so if you want to use this for bass be prepared to make your own. how easy is it to use? at first look it seems awefully complex for a mere bass player but after an hour of playing becomes easy to navigate, probably due to german logic. there are still some things that i want to do but cant really see how (a favorites list for my evergrowing profiles library) but there is good user support on the kemper forums and the unit is bieng regularly updated with new firmware. for those who like numbers Build quiality - 9 sound quality - 9.5 ease of use - 8 overall performance - 9.5 ive only had this for a week or so but i dont think i could live without it now. Winterfire666 Edited May 9, 2012 by winterfire666 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderjazz Posted May 11, 2012 Share Posted May 11, 2012 Nice review. I haven't had a chance to try one myself yet, but all the reviews for it are very good. Are you running it through studio monitors/frfr setup, or are you running the patches back into a cab? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted May 12, 2012 Author Share Posted May 12, 2012 cheers, at the moment i run into my studio monitor setup and a small pa system so i can a/b the sounds for mixing purposes the sound through the pa cabs(logic system)is stunning but i have not tried running into a guitar or bass cab yet for a live stage style setup. when i do ill post my findings here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiderjazz Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I haven't read much about how the Kemper differentiates the amp and cab parts of the tone, when you profile the signal have you a seperate amp and cab block? Looking forward to hearing your clips of it, haven't heard any bass clips of it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted May 12, 2012 Share Posted May 12, 2012 I'm also really interested in this bit of kit, especially after watching the Monkeylord's review. Seems pretty nifty, but the price tag is quite hefty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 Very interested in these, definitely on my "to try" list Thanks for a great review Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 PS. You should get along to bass bashes so you can make new profiles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 (edited) [quote name='charic' timestamp='1337005233' post='1653823'] PS. You should get along to bass bashes so you can make new profiles [/quote] That is of course, if you want your profiled amp to sound like a cross between a whale mating and staple gun factory. Edited May 14, 2012 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted May 14, 2012 Share Posted May 14, 2012 [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1337006176' post='1653837'] That is of course, if you want your profiled amp to sound like a cross between a whale mating and staple gun factory. [/quote] ^ Exactly the sound I'm after Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted May 14, 2012 Author Share Posted May 14, 2012 [quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1337006176' post='1653837'] That is of course, if you want your profiled amp to sound like a cross between a whale mating and staple gun factory. [/quote] sounds like fun, although seriously if anyone has a nice rig that they might wanna try profiling and not too far away, get in touch i would love to try it on an all valve rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooks79 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Just to bump this, how is the Kemper suiting you after a longer time with it? Wanna profile a Matamp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 [quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1374158875' post='2145938'] Just to bump this, how is the Kemper suiting you after a longer time with it? Wanna profile a Matamp? [/quote] I would love to profile a matamp!! i love my kemper even more, it really is an epic piece of kit and i honestly couldnt imagine life without it, if money was tight i would get rid of my barefaced/tc rig before parting with it, and probably anything else that i own (except my incoming Xylem bass of course). it keeps on getting better too, the new performance mode is excellent and new effects/features are added regularly (at no extra cost) im particularly liking the formanant shift (and intelligent harmoniser) which they recently added which lets me add a guitar sound over my bass part for those sections where both guitarists are harmonising a lead part and the rhythm part drops out. if anyone has any specific questions about what it can or cant do, just give me a shout. im gonna have to get to a bass bash for a play as soon as my new bass arrives too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizznit Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I'm working with a guitar player that has a Kemper rig and it blows me away. I own a Fender Deluxe 60 and the profile he has on the Kemper is spot on...even the spring reverb is exactly the same. We cloned a very expensive and rare 40w Black Cat combo that a mutual friend kindly let us use for a couple of days and we nailed that amp too. The technology in the Kemper is astonishing. He wants to make a clone of my EBS TD650 amp and Proline 410 cab so that I can just come over with a bass to his studio and not bring an amp, but we haven't got around to it yet. I'm really interested to see how that will turn out when we get the time to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooks79 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I'm very interested in these things, and how on earth they work. I can bring my Matamp, and any other gear through anytime you like, I'm over Manchester a lot, so it's not too far. I'll be very interested to watch how you profile something, is it an in depth process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 (edited) [quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1374164549' post='2146022'] I'll be very interested to watch how you profile something, is it an in depth process? [/quote] its surprisingly easy, you tend to get best results in a proper studio with a seperate live and control room (just because of easier monitoring)but i have had great results im my loft. once you are set up it can take from 10mins to as long as you want to tweak, guitar profiles are a little easier than bass ones but the recorded results can be indestinguishable from the amp source. i would be happy to have a play sometime, im a bit busy for the next couple of weeks as we are goin away, but it would be cool to set somethin up after that :^) to see the process just check out youtube, there are loads of videos out there. Edited July 18, 2013 by winterfire666 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooks79 Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Cool, I'll have a look. Whenever you get some time, pm me and we can arrange something to suit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Can it profile without a mic, say off a DI? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1374168523' post='2146092'] Can it profile without a mic, say off a DI? [/quote] yup, thats the easiest way really :^) you can also add other processing into the signal chain for example if you have a session in a well kitted out studio you can create a profile of the complete signal chain, amp-cab-mic-desk-outboard all at once :^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 OK, removing the influence of any speaker cabinets would help ensure the amp could be used live. Interesting. I've been aware of these amazing pieces of kit for a while but haven't had a chance to play with one. It seems like the only piece of kit that someone could own, especially if someone is well connected to other owners of choice pieces of kit. I'm a bit skeptical about any modelling kit's ability to capture subtle compression effects of tube amps though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 [quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1374169264' post='2146104'] I'm a bit skeptical about any modelling kit's ability to capture subtle compression effects of tube amps though. [/quote] strangely that is what the kemper excells at, i dont like moddelers and the kpa is not a modeller. remember it cant capture an amp in its entirity but it can capture a snapshot of a particular sound or selection of settings and you can then further adjust the captured sound or snapshot in ways the original amp couldnt, which is pretty cool. i havent tried it yet on a all valve bass amp (as i dont have one) but it does really work for all tube guitar amps and bass amps with a valve pre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Hmmm, I'm visualising how I might use it live within a Class D based rig. Its not going to compensate subtractively for the mid emphasis of Class D amps...in other words make a Class D rig sound like a Mesa Boogie 400+, is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooks79 Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Looking at the kemper power rack, it puts out 600 watts @8 ohms, or 300 watts @16 ohms... How do I use it with a 4 ohm cab? Could I? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooks79 Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Also, how do you use it lie for guitar ino a 4x12 if they are the watts it's putting out? Won't it just blow most cabs to pieces? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterfire666 Posted July 20, 2013 Author Share Posted July 20, 2013 i honestly dont really know about the powered section in that version, i got mine before it was available so i have not researched it at all, i would recommend check out out the kemper forum, there is a lot of info on there about all things kemper related http://www.kemper-amps.com/forum/ there is a great questions section which covers most stuff too :^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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