New Kemper User coming from a Fractal

    Hello All,

    I just purchased my first Kemper (stage ). I’ve previously been a fractal user since 2011. I’ve always heard great things and can’t wait to try it out. My main goal has always been getting a great feel of a tube amp why easily being able to dial in a solid tone. I’m primarily a stereo In ear user live. I’ve always had a decent tone over the years but really struggled with the overall feel of a real amp. I’m hoping this will get me closer to what I’ve been searching for.


    any good tips or starting points are greatly appreciated.

    Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. Enjoy this incredible machine as much as most of us here do

    Quote from Amcolan

    I’ve always heard great things

    Those are all true ...tip from my end is only: If you start trying it out and initially it does not sound overwhelming as expected... then don't give up and don't go for quick judgements or decisions. Despite the fact that I personally find it mostly intuitive to use it still is a complex system with many variables in the game to get your sound. But one can work this out... so start playing around with it and let us know how it goes. This forum has an incredible bunch of knowledgeable and polite people... happy to help!


    So enjoy and rock on!

    Welcome! Get your computer & Stage connected to Rig Manager > plug your guitar into your Stage > plug in your headphones > then start sampling the 10's of thousands of Rigs uploaded. When you find something even close to sounding good, you can learn to tweak from there. Book several hours ahead of time.....

    I will be interested to hear how you are doing with this journey and how you feel about the tones you are getting. I also use Fractal as well as Kemper. Coming from the Fractal world, you should find this unit more straight forward and easier to use. It has some deep parameters but nothing like the Fractal units have. I find it easier to get the sound and feel I want from the Kemper. There are a few things that Kemper gets beat up for. Solutions to those things are here in the forum in posts where others have brought them up.


    If you have an amp that you have gigged with that you really like, you can profile it. That is one of the biggest benefits of the Kemper. I profiled an amp that I have gigged with for 7 or 8 years and the profiles came out great and sound as well as feel like the real deal.

    Quote from JEverly

    I will be interested to hear how you are doing with this journey and how you feel about the tones you are getting. I also use Fractal as well as Kemper. Coming from the Fractal world, you should find this unit more straight forward and easier to use. It has some deep parameters but nothing like the Fractal units have. I find it easier to get the sound and feel I want from the Kemper. There are a few things that Kemper gets beat up for. Solutions to those things are here in the forum in posts where others have brought them up.


    If you have an amp that you have gigged with that you really like, you can profile it. That is one of the biggest benefits of the Kemper. I profiled an amp that I have gigged with for 7 or 8 years and the profiles came out great and sound as well as feel like the real deal.

    This!


    Personally I don't tweak much...I try a profile, if I don't like it, move on.


    With regards to profiles, don't go and buy loads yet, look for the types of amps you like on the rig exchange and try them ( no downloading needed - click on it and the sound pops up). The Kemper packs are also pretty good.


    Have fun!

    The biggest mistake is to drag too many profiles onto the device at the beginning, then it's easy to lose track. You should mark the profiles that you particularly like as favorites. You can then filter on the device so that only the favorites are displayed.
    The easiest way to test unknown rigs is via the Rig Manager.

    It takes some time, at least it did for me, to sort through the seemingless endless profile choices. There are many on the Rig Exchange. Perhaps through my own character fault, Also, I just had to buy 3rd party profiles to know what the differences were between the free and paid for profiles. I have to admit that I mainly use 3rd party profiles. I did not find the categorizing of profiles to be all that useful. I tried many and some just naturally rose to the top. If a profile didn't stick in my brain, then it wasn't worth categorizing or ultimately remembering. I also don't tweak much, but I do find the definition, presence, and treble controls very useful to adjust for different guitars/pickup types. YMMV.


    It is also important to decide how you are going to listen. Headphones aren't my thing. It came down to guitar cab or PA FRFRish. This is important to decide on because the sound is highly dependent on how you monitor. I started with guitar cab and it was OK, but something was missing. Switched to FRFR, actually just a good JBL monitor I have owned for many years, and my 'conclusions' based on the guitar cab changed drastically. In the end, I basically repeated the profile auditioning process a second time with the PA monitor. I gig with that monitor live and it gives results very similar to what comes out of the PA system. This is the only way to go for me.


    Despite all the historical complaints, some of which are actually fairly recent, RM is a VERY useful tool. I recommend it highly. I don't use the front panel much at home, but it pays to learn it. I need it on gigs and proficiency pays off when under fire and experiencing issues.


    Oh and don't overlook the hi and lo cut filter. Indespensable in my experience.

    For me, Kemper is like Cubase, I love it, work with it, but will (be able to) use at most 50% of the possibilities.

    The reason is that I need a lot of time to practice and deal with theory etc. with the guitar, and especially with jazz. Mainly I don't reproduce repertoire, but deal with harmonic concepts and improvisation.
    But time is fleeting and you only have it once.
    A dozen really good profiles is actually more than I really need.
    But of course, it may be different for others.

    "New Kemper User coming from a Fractal"? Well I'll be darned. I come from a "Wormhole" but anyway wellcome.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

    Like 1

    Welcome! You absolutely cannot do anything wrong with a Kemper, tone and feel wise.


    But I am initially curious what your experiences were with the fractal and will be in comparison with the Kemper. I have been a very happy Kemper user for many years and will always be. But I also bought an FM9, last October. I must say that, yes, I still prefer my Stage for an immediate amp sound and feel without big tweaks. Period. But I can come pretty close with the FM9. I mean very close. Yes, It took me some months (not very talented, maybe) to get there and I almost sold it again. And I am only talking about one satisfying live AC30 and one Plexi sound, as I was used from my Kemper. But once you understand what you are doing you can get almost the same results regarding amp tone and feel (if the last 1% is not that important ). Anyway. Have fun!

    Better have it and not need it, than need it and not have it! - Michael Angelo Batio

    Like 1