Interesting Kemper/Matchless Comparison.

bodia

bodia

Authorities said.....best leave it.....unsolved
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Gtrbldr

Gtrbldr

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dmatthews said:
They both sound awesome BUT...
The error in this demo/test is that he didn't profile the actual Matchless and cab that he bought. He's comparing the Matchless to somebody else's profile.
Apples and eggs...
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László said:
Perhaps.

But the difference between real and modeler still comes through.

Not apples and eggs. Maybe Honeycrisp apples and Fuji apples.

On the other hand, if you'd care to model one of your real amps, and do the comparison, I'm all ears! :)
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I'm with dave here. There is no way of knowing what post processing tools the makers of the profile had. He should have made his own. Saw the clip some time ago and after noticing this "flaw" turned it off.

I am using my own profiles of my TA15, no commercial profiles anymore, with IRs from York Audio. Works very well. There is a noticeable difference though. The low end is cleaner on the kemper and the note decay has an emphasis on higher frequencies than the amp. Also, the dynamic range is on steroids. Where the amp compresses in terms of amount of gain and volume, the Kemper does a lot less so, especially gain wise. Means more sounds to be had with a controlled pick attack and I like that a LOT. I am not a fan of compressors, and adore this flaw in my kemper.

Today I had to do half of the service in church with my kemper, the other half with the more accurate helix. That was not nearly as much fun
 
László

László

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11top said:
I think this is a big part of the discussion. I mainly care about live sound, so the Kemper and Headrush meet my needs well without weight issues and multiple pedals. The other factor is the genre of music. I play mostly classic and hard rock. If I were concerned with cleaner tones, I’d probably gravitate more towards tube amps.

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend several sound checks and gigs with Lonestar lately. The live tones Kemper guru, Michael Britt, gets are just killer!
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I think the Kemper and other modelers are great for live work, for a number of reasons. I'd just go direct, modeler into mixer. The weight savings alone would be worth the small sacrifice in tone.

But yeah, the genre of music is also an important consideration!

I suppose I could get by with something like my Fillmore head and a load box with IRs as well; the Fillmore 50 is only 26 pounds, which isn't too bad. But there's still the issue of the pedalboard, and whether the sound person has decent mics and knows how to mic an amp, and on and on.

What you're using seems like a very smart choice.

For my recording purposes, different story - provided I either have the right amp on hand, or can rent or borrow one if the music is a different style from my 'usual'. But then, I'm miking up a cab with multiple mics most of the time. And that lends an 'in the room' vibe that's hard to model, though I once tried running a modeled track a session player sent me through my studio monitors, and miking my monitors to get a room sound.

I would like to say it worked, but...the modeler sounded better by itself.
 
JasonE

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I profiled the amp that I have been gigging for the last 7 years with my Kemper Stage after I bought it. I set the amp at the same volume that I typically set it to for the gigs I play. I then used the same SM57 mic that I use at gigs to mic it. I then put a PA cabinet in my room on a stand next to the amp. I created the profile and refined it. I had this all setup so I could switch between the amp and the speaker. I turned the speaker up to the same volume as the amp. If I didn't look at which one was active, I couldn't tell. The profile sounded and felt the same to me as the amp. This is a modified Vibrolux circuit so it is pretty clean.

I then profiled it again with a Red Dirt OD turned on in front of it set to a light OD. Again, it came to where I couldn't tell the difference with my back to them. I have been more than happy with how this thing copies my amps.

I do have a few purchased profiles. I am able to get what I want from the Kemper with a few purchased profiles as well as the ones I made of my own amp. I have been very happy with my purchase of this device. I like it better than some other digital devices I have. It does a better job of duplicating what I get from the amps themselves.

One reason I may be having the results that I like is that I don't run the amp really hard. I am not able to turn it up that loud at the places I have played. I use OD pedals to get me to that edge of breakup or light breakup tones that I like. My amp and pedals are very touch sensitive and the Kemper has copied that well.
 
László

László

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JasonE said:
I profiled the amp that I have been gigging for the last 7 years with my Kemper Stage after I bought it. I set the amp at the same volume that I typically set it to for the gigs I play. I then used the same SM57 mic that I use at gigs to mic it. I then put a PA cabinet in my room on a stand next to the amp. I created the profile and refined it. I had this all setup so I could switch between the amp and the speaker. I turned the speaker up to the same volume as the amp. If I didn't look at which one was active, I couldn't tell. The profile sounded and felt the same to me as the amp. This is a modified Vibrolux circuit so it is pretty clean.

I then profiled it again with a Red Dirt OD turned on in front of it set to a light OD. Again, it came to where I couldn't tell the difference with my back to them. I have been more than happy with how this thing copies my amps.

I do have a few purchased profiles. I am able to get what I want from the Kemper with a few purchased profiles as well as the ones I made of my own amp. I have been very happy with my purchase of this device. I like it better than some other digital devices I have. It does a better job of duplicating what I get from the amps themselves.

One reason I may be having the results that I like is that I don't run the amp really hard. I am not able to turn it up that loud at the places I have played. I use OD pedals to get me to that edge of breakup or light breakup tones that I like. My amp and pedals are very touch sensitive and the Kemper has copied that well.
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Awesome!
 
Gtrbldr

Gtrbldr

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ViperDoc said:
How do you guys like the onboard effects, particularly the dirt/OD?boost? Do you use the Kemper cab? Footpedal? I'm researching....
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I do not particularly like them. But I don't like drives in general, so they probably are just fine ;-).
 
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