After playing my JCM800, I sold my Kemper

[ShatteredVitreous]

@patrice

7 Marshalls... Nice, bet the resale value is better too. Lol

@yafal

I'm interested in the DSL, and it's top of my list. I need to start a new thread as I believe a few had issues. Loads about for sale too.

 

[Dirty-D]

All

Well after 4 years of loving the Kemper and simultaneously being frustrated with the quality of the profiles on offer I finally sold it. I know we have some Kemper lovers on this board and I am certainly not mocking the product, its a fantastic digital device, but there were in the end too many things that annoyed me about it.

My frustrations:

Variation in profilers was drastic so if you wanted continuity between recorded tracks you needed to stay within a very small offerings from various profilers who all profiled the same (mixing Deadlight with Choptones was fine, MBritt with Top Jimi was fine but mix any of them up and its night and day in terms of application)

Having to surgically eq every profile to remove the over hyped bass, fizz or with some profiles a flat and apparent lack of body, to only thin the sound out too much was frustrating.

Stacking profiles just turned the results to mush.

Rig Manager since the introduction of an editor became so unstable from one minute to the next you could not use it. Performance mode, which is what I used to organise my patches by song, just did not work since version 6.

i took stock and decided to really question if I liked it enough to slow down my workflow. After realising I only used the JCM800 and AFD100 profiles I decided to try the real thing.

Off I went and purchased a JCM800 2203x (£700), Two Notes Reload (£500), a Slash wah (£150) and a GTOD (£80) plus a Twin City (£80) so I could split my signal to the JCM800 and my SJ.

A few things I noticed which was immediately apparent:

The lack of options had a huge impact on workload. No longer was I scrolling through thousands of profiles to find what would fit.

What sounded good out of the speaker sounded good in the mix. The overhyped profiles sounded amazing in isolation, to much fighting when recorded.

No longer, beyond a simple low pass, did I need to surgically eq the guitars.

Stacking guitars just made the sound huge and using the eq to make space for certain frequencies was quick and easy.

Sound experimentation was zero. Want a different delay? well buy it and really think about if you want to spend the cash rather than scrolling for hours and never getting anything done because it is all freely avaliable.

Its not all amazing.

I now have a clutter of cables, the fizzy sound from the reload is annoying at times but its a much better work flow and.......well thats it. Tucked the cables under the rug, put my headphones on when writing and I am in tone heaven.

I can honestly say at this point in time, and don't take my word for it, I am done with the digital world. With only the Axe left for me to try I really don't see the attraction in having so much choice whilst having very little time.

Now I just need a modern voiced Marshall to compliment my JCM800 and SJ that is not a JVM.

Boring story I know but I thought I would be nervous or reluctant on the day to sell, definitely not the case.

You know whats better than convenience, the sound of a tube amp....don't compromise

Mike

Absolutely Damn Right!

 

[solarburn]

@patrice

7 Marshalls... Nice, bet the resale value is better too. Lol

@yafal

I'm interested in the DSL, and it's top of my list. I need to start a new thread as I believe a few had issues. Loads about for sale too.

Just grab on some gear and play. A Marshall in its power section is the place to be. Too many don't know how to play there. Volume seems to be an enemy. If volume is a problem get whatever you need to keep playing. Enjoy playing.

 

[Bobby D]

that answers every question i had, thanks.. have asked a few people now and overwhelming response is that nothing beats the real deal if you are a tone junky.. had a couple programmable effects and its really not my thing..gimme a knob i can twist,, the fewer the better

 

[Neale Dunham]

In my opinion, Kemper have lost their way as a viable means of guitar technology. Lack of improvements and updates have rendered the Kemper virtually obsolete.

If you want a professional system that stands up, and in some cases outperforms the real life amps it models, then invest in a Fractal Axe Fx III. The Kemper doesn't even come close. To me the Kemper is just a toy.

Possibly a little better than a Line 6 Helix at best.

Why mess around trying to re-tweak other guitarists "perfect" sound with a Kemper, when you can create your own perfect sound on the Axe Fx with every single tweakable parameter you can think of?

Cliff at Fractal updates the software almost every other week and somehow the Axe just sounds better and better each time.

I really think the days of true valve amps are numbered, and I'm saying that after having used some of the finest valve amps ever made religiously for over 30 years now.

Where Fractal are now in their technology, there are very few amps circa my price range of $4000+ that can sound better than an Axe fx. Even if there are, they are not worth the money and you certainly wouldn't want to gig them on a regular basis.

Sadly, the machines are taking over.

So, unless you are prepared to spend huge money on a single ridiculously priced Boutique amp. For just over $2000 you can have 265 accurately modelled amplifiers that all sound incredible! You are literally spoilt for choice!

Sell your Kempers, Sell your cheap valve amps. Buy a Fractal......Simple.

Jeez, with Spchiel like that, you would think I own shares in the company. Lol.

......I don't ......But its true!

 

[junk notes]

In my opinion, Kemper have lost their way as a viable means of guitar technology. Lack of improvements and updates have rendered the Kemper virtually obsolete.

If you want a professional system that stands up, and in some cases outperforms the real life amps it models, then invest in a Fractal Axe Fx III. The Kemper doesn't even come close. To me the Kemper is just a toy.

Possibly a little better than a Line 6 Helix at best.

Why mess around trying to re-tweak other guitarists "perfect" sound with a Kemper, when you can create your own perfect sound on the Axe Fx with every single tweakable parameter you can think of?

Cliff at Fractal updates the software almost every other week and somehow the Axe just sounds better and better each time.

I really think the days of true valve amps are numbered, and I'm saying that after having used some of the finest valve amps ever made religiously for over 30 years now.

Where Fractal are now in their technology, there are very few amps circa my price range of $4000+ that can sound better than an Axe fx. Even if there are, they are not worth the money and you certainly wouldn't want to gig them on a regular basis.

Sadly, the machines are taking over.

So, unless you are prepared to spend huge money on a single ridiculously priced Boutique amp. For just over $2000 you can have 265 accurately modelled amplifiers that all sound incredible! You are literally spoilt for choice!

Sell your Kempers, Sell your cheap valve amps. Buy a Fractal......Simple.

Jeez, with Spchiel like that, you would think I own shares in the company. Lol.

......I don't ......But its true!

Perhaps in a business move they would drop their hardware department, and moving their software interests to expanded technologies similar to a protools or nuendo types with their exceptional modeling? guessing Or, would you say that they have ran their course, and that other technologies might be surfacing that the industry will favor? edit - making them obsolete?

 

[OllieVoss]

All

Well after 4 years of loving the Kemper and simultaneously being frustrated with the quality of the profiles on offer I finally sold it. I know we have some Kemper lovers on this board and I am certainly not mocking the product, its a fantastic digital device, but there were in the end too many things that annoyed me about it.

My frustrations:

Variation in profilers was drastic so if you wanted continuity between recorded tracks you needed to stay within a very small offerings from various profilers who all profiled the same (mixing Deadlight with Choptones was fine, MBritt with Top Jimi was fine but mix any of them up and its night and day in terms of application)

Having to surgically eq every profile to remove the over hyped bass, fizz or with some profiles a flat and apparent lack of body, to only thin the sound out too much was frustrating.

Stacking profiles just turned the results to mush.

Rig Manager since the introduction of an editor became so unstable from one minute to the next you could not use it. Performance mode, which is what I used to organise my patches by song, just did not work since version 6.

i took stock and decided to really question if I liked it enough to slow down my workflow. After realising I only used the JCM800 and AFD100 profiles I decided to try the real thing.

Off I went and purchased a JCM800 2203x (£700), Two Notes Reload (£500), a Slash wah (£150) and a GTOD (£80) plus a Twin City (£80) so I could split my signal to the JCM800 and my SJ.

A few things I noticed which was immediately apparent:

The lack of options had a huge impact on workload. No longer was I scrolling through thousands of profiles to find what would fit.

What sounded good out of the speaker sounded good in the mix. The overhyped profiles sounded amazing in isolation, to much fighting when recorded.

No longer, beyond a simple low pass, did I need to surgically eq the guitars.

Stacking guitars just made the sound huge and using the eq to make space for certain frequencies was quick and easy.

Sound experimentation was zero. Want a different delay? well buy it and really think about if you want to spend the cash rather than scrolling for hours and never getting anything done because it is all freely avaliable.

Its not all amazing.

I now have a clutter of cables, the fizzy sound from the reload is annoying at times but its a much better work flow and.......well thats it. Tucked the cables under the rug, put my headphones on when writing and I am in tone heaven.

I can honestly say at this point in time, and don't take my word for it, I am done with the digital world. With only the Axe left for me to try I really don't see the attraction in having so much choice whilst having very little time.

Now I just need a modern voiced Marshall to compliment my JCM800 and SJ that is not a JVM.

Boring story I know but I thought I would be nervous or reluctant on the day to sell, definitely not the case.

You know whats better than convenience, the sound of a tube amp....don't compromise

Mike

Thanks for sharing, I was thinking about getting a Kemper, because I am so frustrated with my Line 6 Helix. While the Helix is great for the basement, headphones and practice, whenever I dial in that perfect tone, and spend hours touching up every darn signal path, as soon as I get it up on stage, it sounds nothing like it sounded in my basement, and I find myself adjusting the sound on stage, during the frickin gig. I went back to the Marshall for live shows and use the Helix just for practice. I was thisclose to getting a Kemper, but I'll just stick with my trusty Marshall...thanks for saving my $1600!!
Appreciate the post!

 

[jamvu]

So let me sum this up for everyone....digital sucks and tube amps rule....ok, got it!

Marshall Vertical Input....other than the Plexi...is the one.

Jamvu

 

[Sacalait]

Amen man. It's what I've ALWAYS disliked about modeling amps- menu diving and tweaking to the point you lose contact with what's real.

 

[marshallmellowed]

So let me sum this up for everyone....digital sucks and tube amps rule....ok, got it!

Marshall Vertical Input....other than the Plexi...is the one.

Jamvu

Yes, exactly. Anyone looking to dispose of one of those POS Axe Fx II XL+ devices, please PM me. I won't charge for the disposal, and I'll even pay for shipping.

 

[Neale Dunham]

Junk,

Fractal are so far ahead of the game now its ridiculous. Moving to the software arena could be seen as a very astute move for Kemper. No doubt their modelling technology is unquestionable, but trying to market the hardware version as "Plug and Play" definitely didn't not work. Its just so inflexible. Guitarists need total control over their precious tone and "Downloading" a tone with very limited options is borderline commercial suicide?? Was it not obvious to Kemper that a One Guitar sound suits all approach was gonna fall on its ass faster than a granny running from Covid.

Dont get me wrong here either Ollie, The Axe FX isn't exactly perfect right outta the box. Ive had mine close on 2 years and im still learning. However, that is the point, Buying a Marshall Amp (Depending on Choice) You should do two things. Firstly, Keep the preamp on the Low side and crank the PA. Secondly, Forget about any serious EQ as the Tone stack is place after pre-amp stage rendering it fairly useless. Luckily Marshall have learnt a thing or two over the last 60 years and have produced a few gems along the way to help with this.

Not to say, Being a uk citizen and living 30 Miles from the Marshall Factory. I can safely say Marshall are Floundering. They are in serious trouble. Name me one decent product they have developed and produced in the last 10 years?? 20 Years even?

Why? Because times have changed and folks realise that they dont need 100w SLP in their bedroom!!

5 watts is plenty.

That said, Marshall can get down to those low wattage levels but, only by using pre-amp gain (which incidentally) is not their signature sound. Randall Smith at Mesa Boogie first pioneered this cascading gain technology in his Mark Series amps. Mesa/Boogie Rely heavily on pre-amp gain.

This is why Marshall Amps now sound shit to my ears and The Mesa Stilletto Which uses EL34's is an absolute abortion of an amplifier. DONT DO, WHAT YOU DO DONT DO WELL GUYS!!!

Marshall Amplification are a mere shadow of themselves now, and are reduced to making terrible re-issues of amps that weren't even that great to start with such as the JCM900!

To my Ears, The 1959 SLP will never be beaten as the greatest Rock amp ever made, but who has the necessity to turn a 100watt amp up to Eleven any more??

Enter the Axe FX, With their modelling capabilities, the sound of a Cranked Marshall can be generated relatively easily and accurately but at far more acceptable levels for todays modern musician.

So to me, Its a no brainer, I can have all of the benefits of the worlds greatest amps, and then tweak them to my hearts content until they sound perfect to my ears. Hell I can even drop out the tone stack, Swap out the Transformer and change the valve set if I so wish.

Whether it sounds any better is all subjective and that's not my point. My point being that toys like the Kemper and Line 6 should be avoided at all costs if being used professionally in a live situation. Im sure they have their place but it does make my ears stand up when I hear folks saying they are unhappy with their modeller. The answer is you just cannot buy decent modelling unless you are prepared to spend. But trust me you won't look back.

 

[Carlos G]

I hear you, too many options are distracting and you have to spend half of the time playing computer kid instead of playing the guitar. You go to a gig and need to change parameters to fit the room, its a hassle, doing it while onstage playing, forget about it. At the end of the day, all I need is 3 or 4 killer sounds, so why mess with hundreds that, to be truthful are not as real and great sounding as what I can get from a good tube amp. Congrats on your new gear..... Definitely the kind of gear that makes a man happy

 

[solarburn]

Junk,

Fractal are so far ahead of the game now its ridiculous. Moving to the software arena could be seen as a very astute move for Kemper. No doubt their modelling technology is unquestionable, but trying to market the hardware version as "Plug and Play" definitely didn't not work. Its just so inflexible. Guitarists need total control over their precious tone and "Downloading" a tone with very limited options is borderline commercial suicide?? Was it not obvious to Kemper that a One Guitar sound suits all approach was gonna fall on its ass faster than a granny running from Covid.

Dont get me wrong here either Ollie, The Axe FX isn't exactly perfect right outta the box. Ive had mine close on 2 years and im still learning. However, that is the point, Buying a Marshall Amp (Depending on Choice) You should do two things. Firstly, Keep the preamp on the Low side and crank the PA. Secondly, Forget about any serious EQ as the Tone stack is place after pre-amp stage rendering it fairly useless. Luckily Marshall have learnt a thing or two over the last 60 years and have produced a few gems along the way to help with this.

Not to say, Being a uk citizen and living 30 Miles from the Marshall Factory. I can safely say Marshall are Floundering. They are in serious trouble. Name me one decent product they have developed and produced in the last 10 years?? 20 Years even?

Why? Because times have changed and folks realise that they dont need 100w SLP in their bedroom!!

5 watts is plenty.

That said, Marshall can get down to those low wattage levels but, only by using pre-amp gain (which incidentally) is not their signature sound. Randall Smith at Mesa Boogie first pioneered this cascading gain technology in his Mark Series amps. Mesa/Boogie Rely heavily on pre-amp gain.

This is why Marshall Amps now sound shit to my ears and The Mesa Stilletto Which uses EL34's is an absolute abortion of an amplifier. DONT DO, WHAT YOU DO DONT DO WELL GUYS!!!

Marshall Amplification are a mere shadow of themselves now, and are reduced to making terrible re-issues of amps that weren't even that great to start with such as the JCM900!

To my Ears, The 1959 SLP will never be beaten as the greatest Rock amp ever made, but who has the necessity to turn a 100watt amp up to Eleven any more??

Enter the Axe FX, With their modelling capabilities, the sound of a Cranked Marshall can be generated relatively easily and accurately but at far more acceptable levels for todays modern musician.

So to me, Its a no brainer, I can have all of the benefits of the worlds greatest amps, and then tweak them to my hearts content until they sound perfect to my ears. Hell I can even drop out the tone stack, Swap out the Transformer and change the valve set if I so wish.

Whether it sounds any better is all subjective and that's not my point. My point being that toys like the Kemper and Line 6 should be avoided at all costs if being used professionally in a live situation. Im sure they have their place but it does make me ears stand up when I hear folks saying they are unhappy with their modeller. The answer is you just can buy decent modelling unless you are prepared to spend. But trust me you won't look back.

The selling point with these digital offerings like fractal or kemper offer volume control. Sterile playing cause players don't really care if the live performance means anything other than did I sound decent. So much is lost with these. Makes boring players and pros sound safe. Surrounded by yes cheerleaders that really don't care.

Play your 10's. I'll walk away feeling how forgettable was that performance.

One thing for sure is these modeler players are lazy, uninspiring players. I may be way off. Most players care more about how they look and play. Dem boxes got you covered.

 

[LoudStroud]

All

Well after 4 years of loving the Kemper and simultaneously being frustrated with the quality of the profiles on offer I finally sold it. I know we have some Kemper lovers on this board and I am certainly not mocking the product, its a fantastic digital device, but there were in the end too many things that annoyed me about it...

...You know whats better than convenience, the sound of a tube amp....don't compromise

Mike

Your last sentence says it all. I have never owned a Kemper and doubt I ever will. I have enough amps and it's too quick and easy for me and any other engineer to get a REAL sound within minutes. Or more elaborate mikings within a relatively short period of time. I've been impressed with the Kemper guitar parts I've heard recorded, but I've heard from everyone about the arduous and time consuming task of modifying the profiles.

But, the main thing...Digital to me is like listening to your electric guitar as if it was a flat piece of paper. Where the sound of a real amp is dimensional. That goes for both recording and live when I've heard guitarists using them for their live rig.

I recently did a session and brought in my '86 Marshall Studio 15 and a few pedals. The producer/ engineer put a couple of mic's on it and we had the sound within 2 minutes. He had previously been recording all guitars with a Kemper. He just turned around and said, "Damn, there it is." commenting further that regardless of how convincing and well a Kemper records, you can still immediately hear the difference with a real amp. We also pulled mic's back for parts and up close for other parts to create more depth and dimension in the track. Au naturel!

I too use Marshall's for the majority of my recording, both clean and crank.

 

[OllieVoss]

The Outlaw Josey Wales!

 

[ShatteredVitreous]

@Neale Dunham

I can't speak for Fractal as I have never used there device but I have to completely disagree regarding Kemper.......and actually agree but for a different reason.

Kemper do not charge for there updates and they release a lot. The technology has not reached its limit so, unlike most if not all other manufacturers, they have not released a Kemper 2.0 and cashed in. This is something that should be applauded not condemned. It's always evolving and that's where I disagree with your statement.

Now here is what started with me disliking the Kemper. After about 2 or 3 years of ownership the sales appeared to dramatically increase. I say appeared as this would be my assumption from the amount of new people that joined the forum.

Now old timers or early adopters treated the Kemper as an amp head first and foremost. This is what attracted me rather than Fractal as the Kemper is very plug and play, very simplistic to use and the front end was designed to not need a software editor.

Now updates where steady and new features introduced all the time but they where delivered tested and working 90% of the time in beta. Then the new kids wanted everything that other devices had so 15 new distortions, 500 delays etc it was like giving a kid a Christmas catalogue.

Now three things happened:

The Fucking editor: sorry for the language but to me this was the start of the end for me. Kemper where aggressively attacked for not having an editor. A lot moaned because they didn't research a £2000 investment before purchase so no one had any sympathy. Now I used Rig Manager to manage my Performances when recording tracks or playing live. Kemper gave into the kids screaming and gave them what they wanted...an Editor. But instead of providing a tried and tested platform they provided absolute garbage which in turn broke Rig Manager. Now this is a problem that has never been resolved and in fact has just gotten worse. So my work flow went from start Kemper, open cubase, selech inputs, select rig in Rig Manager and record to open Rig Manager, Open Cubase, select Inputs, select rig in Rig Manager, Rig Manager Crashes, restart Rig Manager, Rig Manager Crashes, Restart Kemper, Rig Manager works, Add profiles to Performance, Rig Manager Stops working, Performance didn't save, Restart Kemper, Find profiles I used for other recordings, add to performance, rig manager crashes........ That right there was the end for me.

Now if I want stability I can copy all profiles to the Kemper. Now 4 amps can easily take up 500 profiles. That's a lot of damn scrolling.

So I removed Rig Manager and used less amps.

Then due to the issue with the editor the device appeared to constantly require updating. Now this rushed OS for the Editor meant that each update introduced a new issue, which was patched which in turn introduced a new problem..... Think Microsoft.

Now to make matters worse they released the floorboard version. Wow that was a mistake, they couldn't even design the thing so it didn't wobble on a flat surface never mind the buttons breaking, the OS crashing, etc etc etc. It was just all too much for the kids who moaned and moaned and moaned and rightfully so....... This said to me that they had started to get a little ahead of there capabilities.

Now every update added a new feature, some welcome like high/low pass filters, and other not so welcome such as another batch of reverbs/delays/stomp boxes, basically crap I just didn't need and now had to scroll through to find a damn DS1 pedal.

This also meant that pages upon pages of options started to open up. When you had an issue you would be scrolling for ages trying to figure out the issue. This also meant that a 3 knob stomp boxes would have 3 pages of options:

"I would like to take the delay, filter the last 4 delays with one filtering up and the other filtering down whilst resonating at 60htz and I want it now!"

Here you go another page of options no fucker is going to use.

Now to me Kemper stopped focusing on the user friendliness of the interface and gave into the screaming kids and ended up serving up a half cooked meal.

This is not to say that Kemper are bad, it just developed in a way that moved from my needs.

What would I have liked?

Folders within the interface so I could search for an amp, then a Profiler and then the profiles so I didn't have to scroll for 10 minutes trying to find a particular profile.

That's it, that's all I wanted but instead I got a good then broken version of Rig Manager with an editor I never used as the interface is so simple and a system that constantly crashed. Apart from the software I started to experience the hardware crashing too with updates..... Time to go.

One more thing I will disagree with. If you think the Kemper sounds only matginally better than a Helix, you need to spend more time with the Kemper. They are not even comparable in terms of amp quality. Not saying one is better but if you want great amp like tone Kemper is hands down the best option.

As for AXE, I got the impression the guy developing it was a bit of a knob and the forum quite aggressive. That's just what I got from researching the two products. I also didn't like that they develop one device, release a new one and stop developing the old one. Simple economics bur Kemper didn't do that so it was more of a long term investment. At the same time I would really love to try one, just for the sake of it. From what I hear the sounds are not as close as the Kemper but they are awesome in there own right.

Best way to look at digital modeler is like Quorn. If you think it's a chicken substitute you are going to be sadly disappointed, if you eat it for what it is you will enjoy it more.....but you will always crave chicken.

 

[solarburn]

@Neale Dunham

I can't speak for Fractal as I have never used there device but I have to completely disagree regarding Kemper.......and actually agree but for a different reason.

Kemper do not charge for there updates and they release a lot. The technology has not reached its limit so, unlike most if not all other manufacturers, they have not released a Kemper 2.0 and cashed in. This is something that should be applauded not condemned. It's always evolving and that's where I disagree with your statement.

Now here is what started with me disliking the Kemper. After about 2 or 3 years of ownership the sales appeared to dramatically increase. I say appeared as this would be my assumption from the amount of new people that joined the forum.

Now old timers or early adopters treated the Kemper as an amp head first and foremost. This is what attracted me rather than Fractal as the Kemper is very plug and play, very simplistic to use and the front end was designed to not need a software editor.

Now updates where steady and new features introduced all the time but they where delivered tested and working 90% of the time in beta. Then the new kids wanted everything that other devices had so 15 new distortions, 500 delays etc it was like giving a kid a Christmas catalogue.

Now three things happened:

The Fucking editor: sorry for the language but to me this was the start of the end for me. Kemper where aggressively attacked for not having an editor. A lot moaned because they didn't research a £2000 investment before purchase so no one had any sympathy. Now I used Rig Manager to manage my Performances when recording tracks or playing live. Kemper gave into the kids screaming and gave them what they wanted...an Editor. But instead of providing a tried and tested platform they provided absolute garbage which in turn broke Rig Manager. Now this is a problem that has never been resolved and in fact has just gotten worse. So my work flow went from start Kemper, open cubase, selech inputs, select rig in Rig Manager and record to open Rig Manager, Open Cubase, select Inputs, select rig in Rig Manager, Rig Manager Crashes, restart Rig Manager, Rig Manager Crashes, Restart Kemper, Rig Manager works, Add profiles to Performance, Rig Manager Stops working, Performance didn't save, Restart Kemper, Find profiles I used for other recordings, add to performance, rig manager crashes........ That right there was the end for me.

Now if I want stability I can copy all profiles to the Kemper. Now 4 amps can easily take up 500 profiles. That's a lot of damn scrolling.

So I removed Rig Manager and used less amps.

Then due to the issue with the editor the device appeared to constantly require updating. Now this rushed OS for the Editor meant that each update introduced a new issue, which was patched which in turn introduced a new problem..... Think Microsoft.

Now to make matters worse they released the floorboard version. Wow that was a mistake, they couldn't even design the thing so it didn't wobble on a flat surface never mind the buttons breaking, the OS crashing, etc etc etc. It was just all too much for the kids who moaned and moaned and moaned and rightfully so....... This said to me that they had started to get a little ahead of there capabilities.

Now every update added a new feature, some welcome like high/low pass filters, and other not so welcome such as another batch of reverbs/delays/stomp boxes, basically crap I just didn't need and now had to scroll through to find a damn DS1 pedal.

This also meant that pages upon pages of options started to open up. When you had an issue you would be scrolling for ages trying to figure out the issue. This also meant that a 3 knob stomp boxes would have 3 pages of options:

"I would like to take the delay, filter the last 4 delays with one filtering up and the other filtering down whilst resonating at 60htz and I want it now!"

Here you go another page of options no fucker is going to use.

Now to me Kemper stopped focusing on the user friendliness of the interface and gave into the screaming kids and ended up serving up a half cooked meal.

This is not to say that Kemper are bad, it just developed in a way that moved from my needs.

What would I have liked?

Folders within the interface so I could search for an amp, then a Profiler and then the profiles so I didn't have to scroll for 10 minutes trying to find a particular profile.

That's it, that's all I wanted but instead I got a good then broken version of Rig Manager with an editor I never used as the interface is so simple and a system that constantly crashed. Apart from the software I started to experience the hardware crashing too with updates..... Time to go.

One more thing I will disagree with. If you think the Kemper sounds only matginally better than a Helix, you need to spend more time with the Kemper. They are not even comparable in terms of amp quality. Not saying one is better but if you want great amp like tone Kemper is hands down the best option.

As for AXE, I got the impression the guy developing it was a bit of a knob and the forum quite aggressive. That's just what I got from researching the two products. I also didn't like that they develop one device, release a new one and stop developing the old one. Simple economics bur Kemper didn't do that so it was more of a long term investment. At the same time I would really love to try one, just for the sake of it. From what I hear the sounds are not as close as the Kemper but they are awesome in there own right.

Best way to look at digital modeler is like Quorn. If you think it's a chicken substitute you are going to be sadly disappointed, if you eat it for what it is you will enjoy it more.....but you will always crave chicken.

Hey it ain't the hardware. However the hardware makes many things easy for players I'd walk away from.

if you get the audience to ennjoy? Doesn't matter what I think. Just to let you know though? I'm getting those red panties. With a crude light bulb box. But I'm old. All your words on current tech went south. I won't play safe.

 

[solarburn]

The Outlaw Josey Wales!

My mutherfucker!

 

[solarburn]

Fux sakes.

Some of you are wordy.

 

[solarburn]

Well...welcome to the forum where you can say anything and have not an ounce of cocaine.