2021 - 5 = 2014. Really glad I subbed to this math channel

Honestly for a digital product like this a revisit is necessary as the potential for improvements is huge. That said, most of the time product support is abandoned in favor of a new model. Great to see they improved quality and feature set for their users.

Thanks, for the shout out! I was like you for a looooong time but when I started profiling amps for my pack I realized the possibilities. It is a really powerful tool and for a studio nerd like me, it's an incredible platform to capture permutations of mics, cabs, amps that I otherwise would probably not do.

The Kemper is my favorite piece of guitar gear I've ever owned. It's not for everybody, but I love it. In the studio I will always capture whatever tone we are using for that project "just in case". I can't tell you how many times that has been a life saver! If you get good at capturing profiles, the differences are almost imperceptible.

Love to see this. Kemper has come a long way...The high gain stuff and updates keep getting better. I also like the fact that you still like the Helix. These high gain tones you're playing through have a bit more "edge" to them that your normal tone (..a little smoother on the top end.) all sound great. If it inspires you, buy it, keep it! : )

I bought one in February 2013 and it's still doing its job great. I also paired it with some Fractal items, like the Axe8 and today with an FM3 but still the Kemper has its space in my creativity.

Great video with many fantastic points. I agree on most fronts. I was going to take the Stage out for my Summer Tour but went with Fractal last minute and haven't looked back.

I bought a Kemper back in early 2019, TBH I was very much less than impressed. I was close to selling it because no matter what profiles I installed, free or paid, I couldn't make anything work for me. Before pulling the plug to sell it though, I decided to try making some of my own profiles. Some of them really sucked, in particular my Voodoo Amps modded JMP-1; which sounds phenomenal live in the room and mic'd. The real turning point was when I profiled my Fender '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb (into which I put a Celestion G12-65 from 1979) with a Lovepedal Super Six, set to only a small amount of additional drive, in front, mic'd with a Sennheiser e906. After letting it do it's thing & the refining process, when I would A-B between the profile and the mic'd signal, I literally couldn't hear or even (more importantly) FEEL a difference. As the Deluxe was my main gigging rig (I play for a living, most of the time 4-5 nights a week) at the time, that impressed me. Other profiles I made came out good as well with the true standout being my profile of a Bugera 1960 Infinium Plexi clone, through a Suhr Reactive Load, into Logic with an IR of a Celestion Lynchback-loaded 4x12. Between the great profile and the damn near infinite tweaking capabilities in the Kemper, it quickly became my favorite hard rock sound I've ever used. I've used different variations these profiles on every gig I've played since. I'm now running the powered Kemper direct into FOH and into a Mojotone 4x12 loaded with Kemper Kones & it's by far the best stage sound I've ever had in my 35+ years of gigging. Through the PA it sounds massive. I have a decent collection of tube amps at home (Bogner, Splawn, Modded Marshalls, '65 Bassman, Dual Rec, etc) & those stay at home in my studio, wired up to an amp/cab selector running a Suhr RL IR for recording. If I end up coming up with a sound in recording that I need live, I can simply profile it & more times than not, it's dead on. Bottom line, it's all about the profiles & in my experience, most users' needs/amp settings/micing setup don't work for me. I'd REALLY love to see a video with you profiling some of your favorite amps (and even your Helix) with your mics, preamps, etc to get your reaction on that process. I think you might be surprised!

Love your fair take. Aaaaaannnd, you’re absolutely correct about it getting better!

Love the humbleness of this video

Literally was aiming to get one couple days ago. Nice timing Fluff!

I bought a Kemper a few months back and so far I'm satisfied. I still want an Axe FX 3, but the Kemper reduced the GAS much more, than the Helix I owned before.

You def talked a ton of smack about the Kemper in the past! lol But it's awesome to see you revisit it with an open mind and be pleasantly suprised by how much its progressed since you last checked one out. Mad props for keeping an open mind and being real about it man! One HUGE advantage that the Kemper has over other modelers, is the Kemper Kone or Kemper Kab, which gives you amazing flexibility when monitoring with a real cab that's comparable to using different IR's with different profiles. So with the Kemper Kab or Kemper Kone, you can basically be using a real cab and switch what kind of speaker you're using with each profile. It's pretty sick and super unique to the Kemper and it makes it worth the investment because that's not doable with anything else in the gear world right now

Bought my first one 5 years ago, sold it in 2018 and bought another one last year. It's just a work horse and a tool that accelerates my workflow. Connected to an interface with spdif in/out reamping, and di recording becomes super easy.

I like this idea of going over old sounds you enjoyed and how that has changed, better or worse, as one's ear changes. Also, for those using a Kemper, cannot recommend the Josh Middleton packs and the Driftwood pack from G1 Productions. Damn fine packs

I ended up waiting to get a Kemper until Nov 2021 and I'm so glad I did.. Paired it with a Kemper Power Cab and it's just amazing. If anyone is on the fence now is a great time to get one. I have the Kemper stage using (Big Hairy Profile packs)< So important to have good profiles... and Jens Bogren Signature IR pack - Rhythm Downtuned IR's... I own a fractal axe-II as well...the fractal PC software is still superior in some ways but it's a different Idea entirely so not a 1 to 1.. Rig manager is a Liberian & Editor and as of 3-18-22 it's really fantastic ... Once your over the learning curve it's way more of a plug and play setup. AND most profile packs are between $10-$30.... I love my Kemper!!!

Dude that Mark Lewis Pack is killer, I bought it when it released and still love it now.

I recently pick up a Kemper Stage and have been very happy with the unit. The deal-maker for me was the ability to edit patches in Rig Manager. Once that happened, I was all in.

I pulled the trigger on the Kemper a few years back. What finally convinced me was the Big Hairy profiles pack of Megadeth's Classic tones.

Love my KPA. I have never looked back and even buying the Powered Rack I think I've used my Cab 2-3x. My other guitarist uses a Stage and we just decided since we run IEMs that going direct would be easier. Seriously it sounds so damn good direct. Best money I've ever spent on music gear.

Bought mine 2 or 3 years ago. Took me a while to understand how to use it right and almost sold it. Didn't give up, bought some profiles and made some of my own - mostly based on my real world favorites and experience and then it clicked. As long as you're not looking for a "amp in the room" sound and look at it more as "large stage or studio, polished production" then you're getting there. Haven't looked back since and rarely use my real amps now. Software updates have vastly improved the effects and I rarely use anything beyond the onboard effects (except for my wah and a tuner really). Of all the digital "modelers" I still think I made the right choice with regards to formfactor (powered head) and layout (5 presets per bank on the remote which is the same what I use on my analog rigs with midi switching). AxeFx and Kemper both sound very good for the amps, Fractal may have a slight advantage with regard to routing and effects - but the switching layout wouldn't work for me. Helix just doesn't quite sound as good in my opinion; same issues with layout of presets and banks.

Hahahaha! I love it and love my Amp Guru Kemper Metal pack!!!! It's sick!

It would be awesome to see you demo some kemper direct profiles through a real guitar cab. This is what I use live and it would be nice to see what kind of direct profiles you like.

Anyone ever notice he never talks about beards?

I was wondering about a video like this since the bogren vid.

I don’t think you need to “eat crow” when it comes to the Kemper at all. I, personally, thought the original Helix sounded like trash, and now I’m pretty hard pressed to tell the different if anyone uses that versus a hardware amp on a recording (I.E. Mr. Kensrue). I’ve been using a lot of those same packs you showed on the STLTONES software, and I absolutely love them. It great to have the option to use real amps when recording, but it’s also great to use that extra DI box to have the option to add *real* sounding different flavors later that might work better in a mix. I’ll always love hardware amps much more (nostalgia, maybe?), but my 35 year old back whispers “amp modeling” every time I want to play live… great video, sir!

I owned a Kemper for two years and it made live and recording settings stress free. The convenience of setting it up for those situations was a big reason I kept it for that long. Of course I thought it sounded pretty good on its own too. I had a lot of sick profiles like the Meshuggah profile pack. However my biggest issue was no matter what profiles I used, paid or free I could never get a tone that could cut through my band’s mixes. I was never able to balance it with the other roaring tube amps and analog effects we had running on stage. As soon as I switched back to a tube amp I was able to hear myself again and decided the Kemper was not for me anymore. I also never liked the effects in it. To my ears they made the profiles sound muddy. I ended up purchasing a Line 6 HX Effects and the sound and feel of those effects are way better IMO. All that said I still think it’s a very useful tool and I can still recommend at least demoing it at a store despite the negatives.

Ever since Kemper, Helix, and Fractal hit the scene, the bottom line is modeling tech is there, it'll fool anyone on a recording/live. Even the cheap knock offs are solid. The only thing they can do now is make it so you don't have to tweak to get a good sound.

he is totally right about kemper taking forever to release the editor. It was driving me nuts not being able to edit my profiles in the PC. Having said that, I love the machine. I'd consider switching to quad cortex in the future though, aparently it's capture algorythm is better.

I agree, gear is just tools that exist only to let musician achieve their ideal results. Real amp, kemper, magic mushrooms, use whatever means to create you vision.

I just can’t wait for that Baguley baritone video

Cool. Combining your Helix and Kemper gives you pretty much every amp and every FX.

I love using the kemper. Very versatile unit and most of my guitar playing buds all have one or will be getting one. I think my next digital unit will probably be the axe fx fm9; cause why not try something new?

I enjoyed my Kemper for a awhile but I spent more time chasing tones and profiles. A rabbit hole that led me to feel unsatisfied at finding my tones than playing. I even profiles some great amps that left me still unsatisfied. I switched to my current rig and I am very Happy. I won't name names. But one day, I would like to revisit the Kemper. But I am in no hurry. I still have my hundreds of Profiles I got back then.

Love the video, have to ask. Is that a magsafe charger for your MacBook? Guessing you have the new one, what spec did you go for?

What you think of the Kemper Drive? And the Josh Middleton tones are sublime.

The greatest invention this century I am most grateful for is IR RL units like the Suhr IR RL, and St. Rock. Made 100 watt amps practical! Saved the amp industry!

Love my Kemper Stage :)

One of the pieces of gear I’ve always wanted.

You should try to get a hold of the profiles from Titan Audio (Zach from, Whitechapel). I've been really enjoying them.

Idk. Sounds like a metal zone through a peavey bandit.

As a previous Kemper owner, I still hear all the excessive top end fizz in this demo that made me sell it in the first place.

The Kemper is a great unit, but I bought and sold 2 of them in the past 6 years. The features are nice, but there was just an upper harshness as you described that I could never dial out. I even tried plugging it into a Two Notes Torpedo Live for the cab emulations, but it still can't beat the real thing. I don't judge anyone who uses one, however, and I doubt anyone would even know if you were playing live somewhere.

I really wonder how you like the prs archon profiles, tbh that top end fizz is exactly why I prefered the fractal stuff! Funny enough, after like 3+ years of never touching a kemper again we get the stage in our local shop and it is indeed a night n day difference to what Iast heared years ago

Kemper needs to make a combo amp for $1000 100w full range speaker system.

I love mine

I have the kemper but I wonder why he didn’t buy the quad cortex which considered better as far as the capturing mode ? Bruce May you answer this ?

What is the guitar in the first demo, the wmass metal pack, black sort of almost jazzmaster shape with a hole in the headstock?

so i just bought a kemper. the packs you show in the video, is that something you download from a cloud for free? or do you have to pay extra for packs?

People keep complaining about the high fizz, is that not something that could be taken care of with some EQ (within the Kemper is post) or different IR's? It seems like something that could be easily notched down.

In all seriousness Fluff, did you record with the cab off? Extremely bright and harsh sounding here and not what I’m used to hearing from mine.

That AMP GURU Rev F profile sounded fucking insanely good

Dude that's the thing about high gain. Were the little forgotten stepchild in the guitar biz. As big as metal (and the like) is in our world, its all about rock at the top.

If I was going to get a modeler it would be the Quad Cortex. The Kemper does sound good though.

For what it's worth, anytime I hear someone using a Kemper live, they seem to sound just a little better to my ears than guys using a Helix or Axe FX in the same manner. There's many, many other factors that go into that of course, but overall for whatever reason that's the impression the Kemper made on me. Might just be that the kind of guys who go for Kemper are more finicky with their tone and spend more time on it? Who knows. For me it's still Peavey ReValver for recording and regular amps/pedals/mic'd cabs live. Don't trust local sound guy monitor mixes to not have any stage volume......

I thought I was the only one hearing that upper mid thing a few years ago. I thought I was going mad 😆

Wait, is this 2019?! Is covid not yet upon us? Hold my beer, I gotta make some phone calls. How old is this video? 🤔

Its just a business move Fluff. You don't have to try and justify it to me. You got to make that money and I'm fine with it. 🤣

Rabea has some pretty wicked profiles

Need your Opinion, on a Mesa Triple Head into a Mojo 4x12 loaded with Zakk Wilde Black Label EVM12L's for my 2017 Les Paul Traditional, What would the Beard Do?

Hopefully you go try out some of the double tracking effects and stuff. I played that live this last weekend I got so many compliments of the sound. It was huge to have double tracked guitars live.

Top end fizz is all about the IR, not the amp profile. You can use whatever IRs you want in the cab section and I generally do, a lot of people shooting profiles are not very good at micing a cab.

Midori from the awesome band LOVEBITES is endorsed by Kemper. She has excellent tones!

Did they change the hardware? Or is it just new software

Pleased do a review of the kemper power kabinet, there are no reviews or demos with it doing high gain stuff, thanks..

For home use honestly plugins are just better in every way. Live obv Kemper still has it's place. I have to agree with that high end fizz thing is on every profile.

When you said profiling algorithm has improved after 2017 or so, it means it's better to buy new kemper pack than old/before that year? I also noticed high gain free profile is also sounds better in recent years. Compared to low gain, there are many good free low gain profiles. Hardware & performance wise, did you notice any improvement From Kemper released post 2018, compared to 2014-2015? It's interesting that company keep their product being scalable for future update in the same product hardware

I have both the Kemper power head and a Helix LT. I used the Kemper with a real cabinet (cabs off) and the Helix powered by a tube amp (return loop) or SD 170 Solid State power amp into a real cabinet. I do not like either of these units with powered FRFR speakers.

I own one for almost 10 years and I'll never sell it... it's an amazing tool!

Im not a metal guy in the slightest but wow the riff at 2:56. WOW

I'm sorry man but I still hear that fizziness, and it is all over the place, to MY ears it sounds like horse sh... I've sold it for that reason and got an AX8, AxeIII, and FM3, which are not profilers, I know. But that's what sounds great then I bought a 5150 III Stealth, a JVM410h, a 3 ch dual rec, and a Rev G rack to because, real amps are always real amps! cheers dude!

would be really interested to see you try the titan audio packs one of the guys from whitechapel made

Do you think mom and dad will ever revisit their marriage? 🥺

Ever thought of releasing some helix tone packs?

How much is a fair price for a used kemper nowadays? The prices i'm seeing are usually not far from the new prices.

You said it was great/amazing many years ago at the time

Mike Britt and Top Jimmy offer the best profile packs by far imo.

The biggest thing the kemper got over the time is D.I. profiles without a cab that is the game changer in my eyes

Can anyone comment on value/benefit of a new Kemper vs an old model? (Other than yeah its older).

J Frankhouser's yes!!!

Should tour with Synergy ;)

Hey Fluff, did you buy it “powered”?

Finally. I can stop hating you now.

Kemper needs to make a “stomp” version. Who’s with me

Can you lend it to me in Canada for like 90 days? 100% you get it back! Not really serious but I almost bought one when it would've been very bad so it was good not to have. Been dying to deep dive into one!

Line 6 is amazing

Two questions: 1. Do you get a lot of dumb questions? 2. Is this one of them?

What’s next, you loving Blackstar!

I know exactly what you're talking about the upper top end thing you mentioned going on with the older kempers. I always described it as sitting above the mix. Whenever I heard profilers years ago they always sounded like they weren't fitting in the mix well enough they always seemed to glide right above it. The quad cortex completely changed that for me though. It's got that "oomph" that makes it feel real. My old spider 3 head still sounds really nice feels weird to be able to mention line 6 now without fear of getting the look.

Sweet video but im sticking to tube amps. I have been to and played shows where other acts had modelers and even 1 modeler and the other guitarist on tube heads, unless all of those sound guys were trash, there was a noticeable difference between real amps and a processor.

You should re visit the POD HD500X on the channel.

2021 - 5 years,.... 2014! Got it.

Good profiling is a skill, there are MANY shitty profiles out there... amp/sound tweaking is also a skill and all of that is not the fault of the device, i revisited the vetta 2 head and was blown away how much better it sounded just because i learned a thing or two about tweaking sounds ... i think the kemper is a fantastic tool for the studio and live ... i played in a bad where everybody used helix ... so i profiled the tone of the other gutiarist and done !

That's why I got rid of my Headrush Pedalboard. the high gain tones were just garbage and had the same weird high frequency thing going on

I am not impressed by those profiles at all. It sounds like someone covered their speaker cab with a wool blanket. Undefined and muffled. If you’re into it, that’s cool. We just can’t be friends though! Lol ✌️

Quad Cortex early adopters experiencing the same thing Kemper users had for the first few years. More fool me as I'm an early adopter of both 🤣🤣

Dragged under tab book when?

Have these tones been tweaked or straight out of the box?

If anyone is looking for an incredible high gain profile I can't recommend the SLO100 pack from Gold Lion Studios. It's become the only one I use and it blows away anything the bigger guys have put out in the past few years in my opinion.

They just keep making better and better