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Holy sh*t! That Kemper Profiling Amp is for me!


zorrow

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My latest installment:

I footswitched the Kemper's harmonizer effect in and out live, no overdubs.

Well played!
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Are you using the actual pickups or the modelled pickups? Either way, sounds great.

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Austin

For that clip, I'm using the actual DiMarzio Virtual Solo that I installed in the bridge position. I also installed Area 67s in the middle and neck and a Roland GK-3 internal kit. It's a true Swiss Army knife instrument:

IMG_8710_zpskvu4xgul.jpg

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/jtv-69s-variax-mod.1533892/

Amazing work. You may have written about it already, and I may have missed it. It looks like you're using a Variax, what do you think of it?

I really like it. Brand new the frets were in terrible shape, but once that got sorted out it's been a blast to play. The acoustic sounds in particular beat anything else I've heard for live acoustic performance. Check this out:

https://soundcloud.com/burningyen/wywh-jtv-variax-demo

Tyler's whammy design is brilliant, although the knife edges are already showing some noticeable wear.

...is excellence, per usual.

Thanks!

Well, okay, I have seen several clips of the Kemper, I admit the sounds are nice. Yet, I am the kind of guy who likes to have a nice clean sounding tube amp, and a nice gain channel, some stomp boxes and that's it. A thing like a Kemper might give me headaches with it's possibilities. When I do some recording I use Amplitube, it sounds great to me. But even with all it's possibilities I end up with the kind of similar sounds which other people wouldn't hear any difference. While I am not a tube amp purist I like simplicity that I find in the amps I have (which are tube amps, guitar AND bass).

Simplicity comes in different varieties. To me this:

IMG_3197_zps9bb51869.jpg

is simpler to carry, gig, and troubleshoot than my old rig:

P1010625.jpg

bruno1.jpg

And what's funny/sad is that I sound much better with my digital rig than I ever did with my old rig. I'm using profiles of the actual Hiwatt DR103 that Gilmour used on Dark Side and The Wall. How crazy is that?

The trick to avoiding feature paralysis with these things is to decide what you want to accomplish before you dive in. These days my guitar playing time is too limited to explore all the different sounds available on the Kemper. Maybe when the kids are older I'll have the luxury of that problem.

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My latest installment:

I footswitched the Kemper's harmonizer effect in and out live, no overdubs.

Gotta say the sound is phenomenally great there, though in no small part aided by your playing it so well.

And off topic, I'm reminded of why I love Gilmour's solos even though I never really got into Pink Floyd.

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Are you using the actual pickups or the modelled pickups? Either way, sounds great.

-

Austin

For that clip, I'm using the actual DiMarzio Virtual Solo that I installed in the bridge position. I also installed Area 67s in the middle and neck and a Roland GK-3 internal kit. It's a true Swiss Army knife instrument:

I had a Virtual Solo in a Vintage S I had for a while. A great pickup!

-

Austin

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Amazing work. You may have written about it already, and I may have missed it. It looks like you're using a Variax, what do you think of it?

I really like it. Brand new the frets were in terrible shape, but once that got sorted out it's been a blast to play. The acoustic sounds in particular beat anything else I've heard for live acoustic performance. Check this out:

https://soundcloud.com/burningyen/wywh-jtv-variax-demo

Sounds great. Aided, in no small part, by some fine playing. Nice work.

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  • 4 months later...

I may be nearing the end of my Kemper ownership. I have a Line 6 Helix incoming and will Thunderdome the 2 of them to see which one emerges. The UI on the Helix looks just as easy to navigate as the Kemper's, but more powerful, with ridiculous routing possibilities. Other big pluses relative to the Kemper:

  • It can handle vocal FX (so I could potentially get rid of both my Kemper AND my VoiceLive Play)
  • Smaller form factor, with footswitching and expression pedal built in
  • Scribble strips!
  • More available FX
  • USB audio
  • The expression pedal can not only be assigned to different things per patch, it can be assigned to multiple things per patch
  • 3-oscillator synth
  • Variax integration (this used to be a big attraction for me, but I haven't been playing my Variax much now that my tribute band folded)
  • Dual amp models

The big question is whether the amp tones are convincing enough for me to be willing to part with the Kemper. That's a tough fight to win, I've really be enjoying my tones lately.

If I do get rid of the Kemper, the biggest feature I'm going to miss is the harmonizer. Hopefully Line 6 adds more programmability to the Helix'.

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If there ever was a company known for over hyping products, I've been pretty disappointed by two out of the three Line 6 products I've had and the other was just OK. Basically decent features at a price point. The interface and routing capabilities look pretty impressive but my guess is that they won't compensate for the sound quality. Still look forward to your comparison between the two.

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For me, I think, if I'm ever going into computed stuff it'll be computer based, like iPad or notebook. Until now the old Rockmann XPR does it pretty well while it's not real tubes.

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Oh my! :o

Was again searching to to find listings for the Fuchs amp I've been looking for, but ran across the Helix demos. Gee, about the same price...

If this needs to be a new thread I can accommodate, but the Kemper discussion seemed to be turning to include the new Helix.

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I spent some quality time with the Helix last night. There are pluses and minus compared to the Kemper. Here's what I found (all of this is obviously IMHO, to my ears, through my headphones, etc.):

  • Overall, the quality of the basic amp tones is equivalent to the Kemper. The models I focused on last night were the Dr. Z Route 66, AC30 Fawn and Roland JC120. I didn't feel I was giving up anything with the Helix (see clips below). And for me, the process of turning an idea into a finished patch is faster with the Helix than it is with the Kemper. Of course, a lot of that is due to the incredible variety of profiles available for the Kemper. With the Kemper, if you want a JTM 45 sound, you first have to figure out which JTM 45 profile to use. With the Helix, the choice is already made for you. The Helix does require some effort in terms of testing different mics (16) and distances (1"-12", there's no parameter for on/off axis), and I find that significant high cut is needed for almost every model. But that process is faster than finding profiles. I will say, though, that there are a few extra-special-to-me profiles from TheAmpFactory and MBritt that I don't think I'm going to be able to replicate on the Helix. And there is no Pure Cab. I was happy with my tones through my headphones but will have to wait to see whether that holds up at band volume.
  • The quality of the FX is mixed. The wahs, distortions, delays and modulations are equivalent to the Kemper's to my ears. (I haven't dug into the fuzzes yet.) The Pitch Whammy (transpose) effect is glitchier than the Kemper's (as you can hear in the U2 clip below). The Twin Harmony effect in the Helix pales in comparison to the Kemper's Harmonic Pitch. No user scales, no Pure Tuning. The compression and reverb sound quality is equivalent, but I like the subcategories on the Helix a lot better than the presets on the Kemper.
  • It's probably unfair to compare workflow when I've spent 3 years with my Kemper and only a few hours with the Helix. I found the Helix UI easy to navigate (lightyears better than the POD HD500 UI!) but still not quite as easy as the Kemper's. For example, to add or swap an effect on a Kemper, you click the FX slot button, turn the Type knob to the effect you want, and (with Autoload on) you can go straight to tweaking. On the Helix, you need to push the joystick knob (JK) a few times to move the cursor to the desired slot, press to select the slot, push or spin the JK to scroll down the menu of FX categories (Distortion, Dynamics, EQ, Delay, etc.), push the JK right to go to the Mono/Stereo submenu, push or spin the JK to choose Mono or Stereo, push it right again to go to the FX submenu (Digital Delay, Multitap 3, etc.), push or spin the JK to scroll to the effect you want, push the JK to select it, and then you can start tweaking. On the other hand, selecting amp models on the Helix is a little easier since the selection is clearly much more limited compared to the Kemper, and there aren't any submenus to navigate. With both units getting to the deeper dive parameters is simple, so no difference there. And with both units, with more power comes more complexity.
  • The capacitative footswitches are awesome. Setting up the switches for FX is super easy.
  • Somehow the Helix' 14.6 lbs feels a lot heavier than the Kemper lunchbox' 11 lbs, maybe because of the larger size. The size of it was kind of daunting at first. But it's well-designed. The curved sides make it very easy to pick up. And when you take into account the weight of the expression pedal and footswitch I use with my Kemper, the weight difference is only about a pound.

So there you have it. Biggest question marks right now are whether I can dial up Gilmourish sounds I can live with, how everything sounds at band volume, and whether reliability issues get resolved. I've seen some reports of freezing up and don't think I'll be gigging with the Helix just yet.

The clips:

AC30 Fawn, 1st with Pitch Whammy for 1/2 step down, then without:
https://www.soundcloud.com/burningyen/helix-u2-edge-test-all-i-want-is-you

Dr. Z Route 66 plus flat EQ boost pre:
https://www.soundcloud.com/burningyen/helix-zz-top-test-waitin-on-the-bus

JC120:
https://www.soundcloud.com/burningyen/helix-police-andy-summers-test-every-breath-you-take

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Clips sound pretty good and I'm guessing that in a mix they might sound even better. Of course like Bill mentioned, some people can make anything sound pretty damn good.

It's a great time for guitarists with all of the different options out there these days. Luckily I've never been happier in 40+ years than with my current setup so while it's nice to see and hear demos of new gear, my setup isn't going anywhere. Unfortunately I've also been burned by Line 6 as many times as Carvin so those brands are off the table for me. Thanks for the clips and reviews!

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okay, I'll take the other side. Are we all about sounding like something/someone else?

What's wrong with getting our own personal sound? And, how many "different" sounds do we need? Don't we want to sound like a mish-mash of our influences instead of a digital emulation of them? So, if I was a vocalist, why would/wouldn't I want to feed my signal into an autotune/emulator to sound like Freddy Mercury?

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