Best review I’ve seen, so honest and felt really unbiased! Thank you just what I needed

After several years of yearning for a Kemper, I finally ordered this model today. Top Jimmy Brown Sound is going to melt my brain. 🤘🏻🤘🏻

9:10 "As far as effects go, there's not that many in here" ...then proceeds to spend over a minute scrolling thru effects.

That Van Halen tone is exactly like the album. Wow.

After watching about a dozen or more Kemper reviews on KZfaq, this is by FAR the best one!! Thanks for getting down to brass tacks and just showing how useable this thing is (or not). I have the Fractal FM3 and the Helix Floor. I love the Helix form factor. It's simply the best in that regard. Though, I played a Kemper Stage at NAMM, and it feels and sounds so natural. In spite of the weak display, I think the Kemper may be my one!! It sounds and feels right!

Great review! Especially for folks that want to possibly get this to replace their Helix. Great playing, and I truly appreciate your time with this.

It sounds incredible. Congratulations, I love mine.

Interesting review from a first time Kemper user. I laughed at the "there aren't many effects" and then you scroll through a few dozen variations of wah alone. Kemper has almost any effect you want but it is conceptually different than Helix. Helix thinks more in pedal emulations vs Kemper, which is more like rack effects. For instance helix may have 4 different chorus pedal emulations. Kemper will allow you to adjust a main Chorus algorithm in a ton of different ways. It's just two different approaches, neither is better than the other.

Nice review. Really appreciate it. I’m a helix guy but eventually will get the Kemper.

great video. very informative. i love your honesty. and yeah great guitar playing

Very informative and practical. Thanks for posting.

wow. I should have looked at this a while ago. This thing is impressive and intriguing! First off it sounds incredible AF, and second the way you got a volume swell out of hitting the boost mod instead of an interruption, and then blast of volume...thats everything!

I had a hard time making the transition from Helix to Kemper. Not a lot of tutorials to the Stage yet, but the amps are superior....I am told Kemper is coming out with Kemper Editor....that ought to make the transition a little smoother....

I love this presentation, great job!

Great demo and tasty playing. Thanks for sharing!

dude you nailed eddie's tone on the kemper

Hey Chris! Love that VH preset! Was that in the Kemper or did you purchase or program it?

I found with my Kemper the more I learn about it the better I can make it sound, which is obvious, but often only after someone says it again.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts after you really get into the Kemper. I've gotten frustrated with my Helix sound and feel a bit. My toaster should arrive Wednesday.

Hi Chris. Which profiles are you using for the Van Halen tones? Sounds pretty awesome - of course being able to play as well as you do does help too 👏

Nice review, Chris. Finding amps can be hard (like you trying to find the Dumble), but I found that keeping the amp sorted by gain makes it a lot easier for me... not sure how you have it sorted.

For a modeler it sounds fantastic. What are you using to move air with this thing. Love these things for home recording but the FRFR stuff never jived with me.

Never mind the looks, it sound great. EVH tone sounds awesome.

Hey man great video thanks. Are you sending the audio to your studio monitors? Or to what are sending the audio?

Great demo/review! Really making me consider one. I currently play an AX8 and really like it. I also have a Helix HX stomp as a backup.

I love this review, very honest and to the point.

Another cool feature, I believe is that you can load profiles from external sources, just like any Kemper.

Great video! I'm looking forward to giving one a blast.

Nice playing ! Nice touch. Thanks for the review

Cool vid! Great style, BTW!

EVH tone way on point. You have a patch in the Kemper Library thing? I have a powered toaster

Great video, great playing too. It would be cool if they would put a video line out so a person could connect a video monitor. I have trouble seeing a small video display on some of the floor effects units, and I remember you saying the screen on this one was crap. That might be doable with the usb line and a laptop. Great sounds.

sounds great. the wah and VH tone seem exceptional. but great playing BTW. The thing/interface looks like a mess at first glance but makes sense as you explained it....(but I'll keep the Helix.)

Nice guitar work sounds grate, so as of today how has it been working no problems with yet.?

Great video. Have you tried the Pasadena Proud presets from LIne 6? I've heard lots of comments on those presets. What I have learned about the Kemper is that it all comes down to the initial profile. I learned to never edit a profile, just select until I find one that I like Once you find the profile, you are done. The tones you have in the Kemper sound fantastic. New subscriber and I hit the like buttons.

Good review. Thank you!

congrats bro sounds epic

Sounds like a real amp!

gonna have to wear magnifying glasses to see the screen at a gig, and bring back the old sticker labels to label functions

If it had a bigger colour display and an expression pedal I would buy this but will probably go with boss gt 1000...would love to hear your thoughts in the gt 1000 and if I should go for something else ?

Good guitarist and demo. Did good job of discussing the tool.

Short question pal, over what can u play this pedal? I mean u need a PA or Monitors or an amp ..But can u play it over a passiv Box?

The Van Halen tone though 😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

For me, sound quality is 100% the most important thing--I don't expect that for everyone else, I guess. But it's hard to rationalize worrying about UI and ins and outs and all of that stuff. I don't think either is really harder to use unless you get locked into the mindset or don't understand how each works from the onset.

I am not a pro but I have played guitar for 45 years. I have both a Helix LT and a Kemper (toaster version, with Remote floor unit). I have to say, the Kemper is the nuts. Yes, it falls down on the display, and they are only just delivering decent editing software, but it is so worth going through the (small) learning curve. This is not a modeller - it's a different concept entirely, it's about real-world amps and cabs. I also have found a superb Van Halen tone! Now the Helix is great for effects, and I have used it as a backup amp when my 'real' amp (Mesa Boogie no less) failed at an outside gig, and it was Ok, but really, the powered Kemper (600W amp inside, not all models have this) with a real guitar cabinet just feels and sounds like a true amp. I can bypass the cab for the real cabinet behind me, and include it when sent to front of house. And I am really not into tweaking, I am into playing guitars with amps and effects. I will be gigging with it when lockdown is over, no question. Also, I have recorded with it into my PC - not with USB - use the S/PDIF output. It is superb. I promise you.

hell ya! VH tone is awesome! I just ordered my kemper stage profile, I've been a helix floor user for 6 years, need that amp feel that everyone is talking about concerning the Kemper stage profile..

Hi Chris! Thanks for this tone demo, great EVH tone and playing. Can you please confirm the profile is CT-MeBo Heartat 44 from ChopTones?

Are u still using the alto ts312 ? One or two at your house? Sounds really good.

Great review! :) Thanks!

the reason the two sound different is the way they model amps, kemper is basically a sample of a real amp that is known to sound good already, while helix models the circuitry of a amplifier for a schematical perspective. so imagine lets say its modeling a plexi, well it would be like a brand new plexi right out of the box and not broken in, out of 10 brand new plexi's it would sound like the average of them, not the one that sounds best. thats why you have to tweak the power/sag and eq effects of the amp in order to properly compare it with a kemper, because the kemper is a sample of a broken in and warmed up amp run at the correct voltage (110/220 etc), and most likely the best amp out of say 10 off the line.... Theres downsides to both. For the Helix it means you have to tweak it. The downside for the kemper is, when you want to tweak it or change the eq, its like manipulating a wav file on a track, so when i add bass or take away treble, it will react like using the eq on a mixer, where as the helix models the circuitry and potentiometers of the original amp and you will get a different sound effect. to better explain that imagine this, if i have a real plexi in the room and i turn up or down the bass knob, you should know that it sounds completely different then if i leave the bass knob in place and just alter the bass with a parametric eq pedal. Also the kemper will have a hard time mimicing the amp when different input gains are applied(ex: turning your guitar volume down to 6 or 7 on a cranked plexi gives you an awesome clean tone). To sum it up, the kemper models an amp at its peak performance at the point in time where it was captured (where the knobs were set) but a helix can model the organicness of an amp

Where do you have it connected? to studio monitors, CLR, FRFR ..... real amp cab ?? It sound amazing

Thanks for the video! I've been on the fence between axefx 3 and the Kemper. From the sound comparisons that I've listened to, I've favored the Kemper for amp tones. I was leaning towards the axefx 3 for the amps and effects because the Axefx 2 and 3 still sound pretty good. However, the Kemper sounded so close to an actual amp that I couldn't tell the difference. This Kemper Stage has effects built in, so now I'm considering this over the others. I could use my personal pedal board with a Kemper, but it would be nice to not need all of my individual pedals anymore. That's why this Kemper Stage is so appealing. Can it do a A+B dual signal, and run line B as Midi? Or can I program Midi into it when it's hooked up to my computer?

I own the Kemper rack for many years and I can tell you that that small screen in enought. Also as a player I know what my presets are...it is very simple. And the tones are killer

Did you record with spdif? Very nice playing dude!

Are your sounds using cab sim or impulse responses?

Did you install the USB driver for it? Also it should most likely be an Asio device

Awesome tone. Are you connected to an Amp? What kind? Also what did you use for video/audio Recording? Thanks.

Chris, Is that Van Halen tone a preset? Thanks

Agree on most of your points and the EVH tone is phenominal - If you could share it are point out settings that would be cool. - great walk through

That was a killer profile...what amp was that?

hey Chris - I love every sound that you have on here.....where can i get them so i can have the exact sounds.....lol....yeah call me lazy...BTW you are an excellent guitarist and have inspired me....lol

Man that thing sounds soooo good!!!

What are you playing this through? A guitar cab?

This review is great but I want to talk about how awesome you are at guitar for a second!

Awesome review

Which speakers do people use with this in a room or on stage, sth like a headrush?

I have one of these on the way! Nice Extreme at the end.

What speaker/speakers are you playing through in the video? Sounds great! Thanks

kemper should make a small stomp like helix did that way could run it with a helix hx effects for best of both worlds)

What are you playing through? Amp or direct?

Great sound.

Sounds perfect for 80’s hair metal!

Love the content, great review! Does it feel more like a tube amp than the Helix w/IRs? I’m very happy with the Helix but I wouldn’t say no to Stage if it offers something in the amp department that the Helix doesn’t.

You absolutely need to share where you got that EVH profile. It's dead on.

So around 8:45 minutes in you play your VH tone. Is this a stock preset?

Great video thanks

I am afraid to use this on stage. People having a lot of problems with switches. Any long term experience about that?

Appreciate the review. The Kemper is on my shopping list. Maybe, a Helix later.

I run my Kemper Stage into a HX Stomp, the Stomp acts as my audio interface into Reaper, works great :-)

Great review

How can you have this hanging half (the pedal even more) over the abyss??? Boy, my OCD kicked in really hard!!! ;-) The live tuner is the one thing i miss with the Helix - and don't understand why it's missing. Even much older/cheaper units have that.

Is your Van Halen tone from TopJimi?

great tones man thanks

I own both the kemper and the helix they both are awesome gear, however I just got suhr pt 15 ,no Comparison I sold my Kemper.,I'm running A-line 6HX with the pt15 my amp. My modeling day are over.

how do you set up the tuner for half step down?

Correction: Kemper has a global noise gate. You only need to add a gate to a specific profile if the gain of that profile exceeds your global gate setting and creates noise.

what is the actual amp emulated in your prized VH tone?

I wish the kemper had a built in pedal like the helix

What speaker are you using?

Good Video!!

I've held off from getting the Helix. I was thinking about getting the Kemper, but I think I will not like the same things you mentioned. I want the large screen, and routing options. But the Kemper seems like it will have better sounding amps. Almost want both and put the Kemper in a effects loop in the Helix. Just used as an amp. Kind of seems a waste.

Is it sounds better than helix onstage?

Seems to me as far as usability, especially in a live setting, the Helix’s screen read outs showing the pedal, etc that is set for each foot switch is significant. This is exemplified by your statements during the course of the video expressing uncertainty as to what was saved in each foot switch. With a standard individual pedal set up you know what your stomping by the recognizable markings on the pedal itself. I wish you would have shown more about how it would be used in a live gig set up, such as can you assign a different footswitch to activate different effects and amp models programmed for each song in your set?

WHat is the loud white noise through the whole video. Is that from the unit?

Thank you for a very honest assessment. I know the Kemper sounds amazing. When I initially got my Helix I was torn.. I had also just got an AX8 and thought about a Kemper instead. But I jumped at the Helix because I didn't want to buy an extra board to play live at the time. The AX8 was great but very complicated. There are almost too many parameters and like the Kemper, had an original Gameboy screen that sucked. I could not seem to make my own patches. They always sounded like crap. But thanks to a couple of great makers I had usable ones. As a first batch Helix guy, I actually used the AX8 live for awhile and even though the Helix was a ton easier it was lacking models of amps and effects initially and sounded nice but not great. After a couple updates I realized Helix was going to keep getting better so I sold the AX8. A good friend has recorded numerous albums with his, Kemper and I have heard it in oersin many times. I agree it is a bit more amp like and sounds fantastic. The interface scares me in the floor unit. My vision is bad and I seem to tweak often in church and I am not sure how practical it would be. I still may get one down the road. Maybe trade a guitar or wait til used units, start to hit the street.

What are you connecting to for this video, a regular Guitar Cab or a FRFR?

No it doesn't run audio through USB. You can however just use an XLR from the main output to the interface or board.

Kemper It wasn't that hard for me. I pretty much had it down in a couple of days. Helix same thing. It just depends on the person using it. the tone of the amps are way better then Helix. There is no comparison Period. They're both different IO have the rack & the floor love them both!

Can you connect this device to a tube amb (for example a Fender Deluxe Reverb)? I don’t like the heavy gain sounds either. Good demo.

You know you can use both at the same time.. The helix can be used as an FX unit.. Just use the sends/returns on the Kemper..Best of all worlds..