I get $10 every time someone comments XYZ is better before watching the whole video. 😂 NOTE: This video was not paid for or sponsored in any way whatsoever. I bought all of the equipment with my own money and these are my own opinions.
As a singer/guitarist, the Kemper Stage was a gigging godsend the week it was released. I set five different sounds per band/gig/venue from crystal clean, Matchless clean, maybe an 80's chorus or funk sound, Marshall rhythm, and Soldano solo... then I use the morph as "More" so each sound will have a combination of solo boost, wetter delays or whatever is needed to step forward when using that tone (without having to look down and tapdance). What also made a huge difference was loading up Michael Britt profiles that were gig ready with some favorite Matchless or Soldano tones even before the Rig Exchange was a thing. I've also changed the order of the delay/reverb/always on effects loop in the effects block so I can easily patch my external looper for solo gigs and each looped track is after the cab sim. ☮💜🎶
@@mattwright466 Absolutely! When I'm not running direct to FOH, I run the monitor out to the FX return on a Mesa tube combo so I have a guitar cabinet over my shoulder instead of an FRFR and everything feels natural with knobs and not like I've been poking at menus in an application. ☮💜🎶
I absolutely feel the same about the Kemper. It's so much easier to use because you don't have to tweak a lot. But nonetheless it's incredibly versatile, if you want.
At this point pretty much everyone has an opinion of what works best for them. The beauty of the age we live in is there are so many choices. Go full stack traditional with traditional pedals, go hybrid, go Kemper, L6, Fractal, ToneX, Headrush, QC and everyones ear thinks one of these is best and if that works for you then it is the best.
1. Haven't had a hands on with it yet. Eager to though. 2. It's a little new so it's not as developed as other systems. 3. Either all of the people using it just like these really artificial sounding tones, or the tones I hear from it just sound really artificial. Not a fan of this aspect.
I love my Kemper with paid profiles (e.g. MBritt). I am just using 2 additional effects to be completely fine. I do not see any chance to change in the near future.
I feel like paid profiles for Kemper are often cheaper. You really get more. Like the SinMix stuff I like will come with like 20-30 captures all slightly tweaked. This makes it easy to find something that works for YOUR guitar. Fractal presets are extremely hit or miss.
I left digital preamps behind some time ago. Use Fender and Marshall Sansamps now along with few real pedals and a TC Electronic Plethora (which includes some decent cab sim) and my tone is better, more responsive, and feels more "real" than it ever has aside from using real amps (and all the issues that go along with that). I encourage everyone who is frustrated with digital preamps to give Sansamps a try. .Tech 21 has been doing their thing for much longer than any of the digital companies and make things happen with real analog circuits. They.may not have the newness and glamour like they did back in the 80's and 90's but the stuff just damn works at any volume level, and situation, and with zero latency. To me all the digital stuff just feels like.a solution to a problem that is really an illusion because it doesn't really exist. I get how some people may personally want a "do it all box with tons of options" but I ain't that guy myself and I think most people are like me weather they want to admit it or not.
For a lot less money you could get ToneX and VP4 though, to have superior captures and the best effects - on a smaller board. (You may need to add a Mimiq for the doubling but it's still not much money or space). If you ever had stage divers you would not want that huge exp. Kemper board out front.
The problem with that setup is if you need to switch multiple amps and effects instantly. You cannot do it with that setup. For example: Distortion guitar + chor and delay on --> Acoustic only.
@@mattwright466 I don't think I understand? You just need a simple midi board out front (with a single cable or even Bluetooth if you dare) which saves your gear from getting trampled on. I think it was in 89 I learned that the hard way playing the metal club circuit. Anyway, just a suggestion.
Yes, all hand crafted. Much cheaper this was. Seismic audio also makes very good tables and come in a lot more colors which can help you keep track of signal flow.
The reason why I asked is because I can hear the mid range on your tone. I recently discovered that after 15 years I using Mogami cables they have a nasty mid bump that I associated to pickups, pedals, amps you name it. Recently I tried a Planet waves cable I had a round and noticed that those mids where not there any more. My guitar sounded more natural. I got so upset because I thought that those mids were part of my pickups or tone overall. I’d would encourage you to try a Planet Waves/Daddario cable. I got no affiliation to them. I also made a short clip in my channel, demonstrating this. Feel free to check it out.
You don't need an external expression pedal to fade in and out effects on a Fractal device. There are internal modifiers that can be mapped to effect parameters and you can control the ramp rates and whatnot. It is a more advanced bit of programming, but totally doable if you take a few minutes to read the manual or watch a RUclips tutorial.
@@mattwright466 Yes! I have both Fractal and Kemper units, and I agree. Fractal is extremely granular and capable, IF the user has the time/knowledge/patience to chase down the multitude of parameters and ways to change them. When I first saw the original Kemper "toaster," I thought it was goofy looking, but when I tried it, I concluded that it was designed with the mindset of a musician, not a computer programmer. I think this still holds true.
Congrats on finding the gear that works best for you. I did the opposite. I had a Kemper Stage and then got a Fractal Axe FX III. I sold my Kemper the next day. I purchased the kemper for the profiling. It did that job horribly, which can be summed up in one word...inconsistent. I have a Tonex and it does the profiling thing ...perfectly.... every time. The key to using a Fractal are 3 things: 1) find the right IR (factory ones IMHO-Suck), 2) Make sure you are using the correct Speaker Impedance Curve for the IR you choose and 3) roll tubes and adjust bias as you would in a real amp.
@@mattwright466 That is understandable. There is just so much that it can do it could be overwhelming to some users. When it comes to sculpting amp/cab tones with the Fractal it helps a lot if you have real world experience. For instance, I have been a long-time real Marshall amp user. When I looked at the power tube bias at the factory setting of 50% I knew that was wrong. They may ship new that way but bumping that bias up to 65-70% does the job. If you want to do that AC/DC thing then bump that bias up to 85-90% and don't have to worry about blowing your tubes.
Kemper added a fixed latency around 12 years ago, at the time some people were complaining that when reamping using different profiles with the same stem there was a phasing issue when combined as the latency would change pending on what you had loaded so Christoph added the constant latency mode
Hi Matt! I was stoked when receiving your mail when releasing a new Video! I saw a high quality picture with the Kemper and Fractal in it!! Soooo I pushed immediately on the link. The first thing you mention was spot on! A lot of players buy Fractal because of their guitar heroes! Petrucci, Dave Murray,Metallica, Def Leppard… list goes on! because all those big artist using it! Yeah they are 100’s of different amps to use,a lot of effects .. but a HUGE amount of parameters! You can tweak.. and tweak.. and tweak.. -> years later… hmmm 🤔 I think I’ve got my sound… then there is a new update… so re-tweak everything.. You made very interesting topics on difference in Kemper/Fractal! I see why a lot of people makes the change on that. Like useage on footswitches.. also Kemper can used with an mobile App something what fractal doesn’t have (not officially) So big thanks for making things clear! So when thinking by myself.. Will Matt doing an Comparison! And YES Offcourse! I was blown away on the Kemper test! That sound was huge! I thought that the fractal would sound better! But 🤔.. it was so thin.. not really what I expected! Blown away by that Kemper sound! So Matt! Thanks for this video! I really enjoy it! Please keep making those! for people who didn’t know that much about Matt! He is a very honest and a very great guitar player! He has also a course on “Perfect Picking”! His knowledge is HUGE! His videos are not just a post! It’s always with the intention to make you a better player! He shows a lot of what to do and what not! Like holding everything correctly. He talked to a lot of neurologists. Every moves you make is because of bones and muscles. To it’s very cool to listen to his talk! If I had known this man so many years earlier! I would definitely be a better player! I support Matt on his work! Please give him a follow on RUclips,Instagram.. he also responds very quickly! Big respect! Jason.
The "Morph" feature is actually more powerful than described. It can change multiple parameters simultaneously. I use it in all my patches. Line 6, Headrush, Axe FX, & Quad Cortex don't have it. I could never use another unit that doesn't have this feature. It's a must have feature for live playing. Probably not necessary for studio use.
I get your pain I spend more time trying to dial in tones on digital stuff when I went right back to my tube amps then I can capture montonexe or whatever when I want but I definitely get where you're coming from
Key word...! Adds! So you still end up with the same latency advantage. Shop by your needs. If you get a chance to really spend time with a Kemper, I highly recommend it. If I was lying, I wouldn't have stories of three other experienced musicians to reference... Plus measurement data.
with time latency will be 1ms. for now it all adds up. The more stuff you add to your preset, the slower it gets on most modellers. Add to that the latency from the digital mixer, to PA or your in-ears....
@@mattwright466 I'm not saying you're lying. I'm a sound guy, not a guitarist. I would challenge people to spend time listening at 3 feet vs. 9 feet to see if they can percieve that latency difference. If 2 sounds are playing simultaniously with differing latencies, it will be percieved as smearing the sound, or adding something funky to the sound. But to actually notice the differences when listening only to 1 sound at a time, with different latencies... I don't think I personlly could detect a 5 ms difference. 30ms probably. But then again, if one feels the guitar vibrating, and hears the sound coming 5ms later... That could account for the perception.
@@GrantConklin Great insight. I guess a counterargument to that would be... What kind of smearing happens when I'm playing with my band? Keyboards is running a laptop with Kontact patches. I'm running Kemper. Singer is a mic DI, and drums are not mic'ed for now. Interesting q... Typically, my Headrush cab is just pointed directly at me and I'm spending time quite close to it. To be clear, I don't expect the Headrush to be sound-accurate like my Yamaha monitors... I want it to be cheap and loud. lol
I have not! None of my local friends have had them, but what I've seen on Headrush looks great. Latency is low and a good friend of mind in a touring band uses Headrush live. I'm always open to trying something new, but plenty happy on Kemper for now. :-)
I've never used any Fractal products, id like to tty some at some but, i love my Kemper. I switched from Helix, which is an amazing piece of kit. I think Kemper is capable of sounding incredible but, in its only as good as the profiles you use, and trust me, there are thousands and thousands of absolutely useless profiles out there (many are by well known companies who charge a substantial amount of money for them) but, once you find a few good ones, the Kemper sounds awesome. The lack of flexibility in the expression pedal assignment system is very annoying on the Kemper. Finally, I could still happily use Helix, with 3rd party ir's, not with stock cabs.
Agreed on the expression pedals. I just hate the exponential throw of them, but for all the other benefits I get... I'm fine with it. Generally, I like the global assignment. The flipside of Kemper profiles is it's dramatically easier to sift through what's good an bad very quickly. No tweaking a bunch of stuff. Ply it for 2 seconds and then move on. Which is why I put a bunch of sound demos at the end of the video.
Nice. Check out the tone demos at the end of the video and lemme know your thoughts. They're Revv Generator, not Mesa, but I'm not really a big fan of how a lot of the Mesa stuff sounds in low mids.
You know the Kemper has a 'Transpose' effect both in the 'Rig' section and as a stand alone Stomp effect? One of my bands detune a half step on everything, and i don't detune my guitars. I use the Transpose effect in the Rig section. Honestly no need for a DigiTech Drop for detuning just a couple of semitones. Plus, the Transpose can tune up, as well as down. Perfect for all those people who want to play 'Run To You' in the correct key, without using a capo. I hate capos 😁
Yes! And the transpose function is quite good! I chose the Drop for 2 reasons. 1. FAR easier to tell if it's on or off versus Kemper display. 2. Just routing for a potential other pedal later.
On the Kemper Player you have five switches, 1/2/3 and dual 1/2 and 2/3. Plus if you add a two switcher pedal for $20.00 you'll have seven switches. And that's the stock Player with no paid upgrades.
You're totally correct - The only reason it doesn't work for me is if I add an external switch, I block the MIDI in function. So, the Stage makes more sense for me. :-) Also, call me crazy, but 1/2 and 2/3 is absolutely silly. They should just do hold functions like virtually every other pedal on the market lol
It's sad we have to defend our rigs. We are all different. The people that bark the loudest are the ones that don't have a clue. Great video. Love my Kemper because it works for me!
@mattwright466 nah, i will save up further. For the moment i have several amps and cabs plus vsts for recording. Nothing beats my Jim roots Terror with my k100 loaded framus 4x12. :) Maybe the Kemper will replace the VST for recording someday.
Axe change is available directly inside Axe Edit. You can audition other people presets without any of the complications you mention here. Not saying other peoples presets are any good though. Sounds to me like you just want to play rather than faff around.
To me, there is only one prio: The amp sound. Kemper, to this date, for me, is #1. Then, why does PLINI not play one? One of the greatest instrumental song writers and player? Well, because for the longest time he never played a tube amp (got that from an Intevals interview). What happens, if you are young, and don't have the budget, today you use plugins, as it is the most affordable entry point. Therefore THAT sound you hear of a "Marshall" model becomes your REFERENCE. So, the whole perception on what a good amp tone is changed for the generations to come. Mind you, I am not criticizing. I remember what an immense effort it was to buy my first Marshall Artist 30W / cab back in 1987. After decades playing tube amps and transistor amps, in rehearsal, loud and very loud, recording more or less successfully, of course my reference is the real amp, not the modelled / emulated one. I cannot undo this. And I do not need to, ha ha. One advantage in being an old fart is you can just buy what you want (and the wife allows). Cheers from Germany!
He may not play one for sheer convenience. Fractal just came out with the VP4... So now you can have Fractal FX with Kemper amp sound. Theoretically, you could send MIDI commends to a Kemper player AND to a Fractal VP4 on one rig... It would just be stupid complicated. I have spent a little time on real amps. The latency is interesting. They're faster because there's no oversampling. Also, size is a huge factor for a lot of people. A huge driver for me not using a real amp is 1) flexibility 2) direct recording (and limited processing after the fact) and 3) size. -------- I've got a German pedalboard and now a German car. Can't wait to visit one day!
Kemper is better...as someone who had both. Also, Kemper is assembled in Germany, not China (like Fractal). The selling point for Kemper are the great profiles, liquid profiling, Kemper Kone (cab in the room simulation), and clear/simple workflow. The Player is also amazing, with wireless/bt editing. I can also confirm that the latency is much better with Kemper...feels more "real".
One company wants to force you to pay for updates after they purposely kept their device limited when they didn’t need to in the first place. The other company is renowned as the most realistic modeler and sends out updates FOR FREE. This is why I will ALWAYS be a Fractal user.
@ So what? It’s still a weak move IMO and I’d never support a company that played their customers. Imagine if BOSS or Line6 did the same exact thing Kemper did with paid updates to a smaller unit.
I have an FM3. I absolutely love it. the best tone I’ve ever had I think what it boils down to is. Everyone is different and has different needs. I thought about using the Kemper player for church, but as I looked into it, they charge you for upgrades or levels of upgrades
Only on the Player are there paid upgrades. As a marketer, I really don't love the way they rolled it out... I think it's unclear especially to prospective users of the system..
My bad. Never new. I'm aware of the audition feature. It's clunky. They should just add a damn "next" button to increment and decrement the cabs... And that same critique goes to Kemper.
I ran both for quite awhile, back in Axe FX 2 days. I kept to the Fractal for several actual reasons. 1. The Kemper's limited routing capability just wasn't sufficient. 2. It was only as good as the profiles and profiler that made them. SO, SO many that are just awful, including those I made. 3. Needing multiple Profiles to get the true range of eq interaction, gain structure and response of an amp. 4, No abilty in Kemper to more or less create my own FX pedal, or even amp. With the fractal having toe ability to change down to essentially the circuit level I could.5. Kemper software was just useless.
And that's why this video isn't about one being better than another - It's about decision making, and how I made my decision. Routing on the AXE FX III is definitely superior to any Kemper unit, but it's beyond what I need. I am very happy with the outputs I get from Stereo + SPDIF and the different stack options.
Congratulations, you found the "reasons" to stay with Kemper. I suggest doing a blind AB test to see if you can really notice the difference in latency.
Odd, you start off, denigrating lookg at who uses a particular device. Then you give a 'pro kemper' story touting how a 'pro musician' liked the Kemper better. Just going to point out there are incorrect statements in this video, One doesn't need an expression pedal to do the equivalent of a morph. Axe exchange can be accessed from Axe Edit, just like mentioned for Kemper.
1. Why do you not like the Kemper high gain tones? I am very happy with them. Lots of demos at the end of this vid too. 2. All tone dialing was done on the Yamaha HS5's. :-) 3. All recordings in this video were done direct into DAW.
Are you talking about their pricing for the Player? Size is not connected to value in any way. I think a lot of people are seeing it that way and it's silly. **That said, I do think the general starting price should be lower for the Player.** BUT, after paying for upgrades, it classes ridiculously close to the FM3... And it's smaller. And you won't hit processing power limits.
@@mattwright466 Charging extra for capabilities that a unit already had is a wretched business practice and you're absolutely kidding yourself if you think that's good for the market. No other manfucaturer has done that, only Kemper. They are uniquely scummy.
@@mattwright466 That was a joke on my part, of course. 😊 I bought the FM9 for about a year and a half ago and haven't used a physical tube amp since there. The sound of the amp simulations is fantastic. However, if you "only" want to use the incredibly good effects from Fractal Audio on a real amp, the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard is now/soon available. In the end, I think it's a matter of taste which system you choose.
I get $10 every time someone comments XYZ is better before watching the whole video. 😂
NOTE: This video was not paid for or sponsored in any way whatsoever. I bought all of the equipment with my own money and these are my own opinions.
As a singer/guitarist, the Kemper Stage was a gigging godsend the week it was released. I set five different sounds per band/gig/venue from crystal clean, Matchless clean, maybe an 80's chorus or funk sound, Marshall rhythm, and Soldano solo... then I use the morph as "More" so each sound will have a combination of solo boost, wetter delays or whatever is needed to step forward when using that tone (without having to look down and tapdance). What also made a huge difference was loading up Michael Britt profiles that were gig ready with some favorite Matchless or Soldano tones even before the Rig Exchange was a thing. I've also changed the order of the delay/reverb/always on effects loop in the effects block so I can easily patch my external looper for solo gigs and each looped track is after the cab sim. ☮💜🎶
It's so EASYYYYYYY, right? :D
@@mattwright466 Absolutely! When I'm not running direct to FOH, I run the monitor out to the FX return on a Mesa tube combo so I have a guitar cabinet over my shoulder instead of an FRFR and everything feels natural with knobs and not like I've been poking at menus in an application. ☮💜🎶
I absolutely feel the same about the Kemper. It's so much easier to use because you don't have to tweak a lot. But nonetheless it's incredibly versatile, if you want.
At this point pretty much everyone has an opinion of what works best for them. The beauty of the age we live in is there are so many choices. Go full stack traditional with traditional pedals, go hybrid, go Kemper, L6, Fractal, ToneX, Headrush, QC and everyones ear thinks one of these is best and if that works for you then it is the best.
Somebody gets the point of the video! Gold star for you! ⭐
What made you choose the Kemper over the Quad Cortex? or, said another way, was there a reason you didn't choose the QuadCortex?
1. Haven't had a hands on with it yet. Eager to though.
2. It's a little new so it's not as developed as other systems.
3. Either all of the people using it just like these really artificial sounding tones, or the tones I hear from it just sound really artificial. Not a fan of this aspect.
I love my Kemper with paid profiles (e.g. MBritt). I am just using 2 additional effects to be completely fine.
I do not see any chance to change in the near future.
I feel like paid profiles for Kemper are often cheaper. You really get more.
Like the SinMix stuff I like will come with like 20-30 captures all slightly tweaked. This makes it easy to find something that works for YOUR guitar.
Fractal presets are extremely hit or miss.
@mattwright466 I really like most of the MBritt stuff and some of the Tone Junky profiles.
In comparison to the HW they are absolutely cheap.
I left digital preamps behind some time ago. Use Fender and Marshall Sansamps now along with few real pedals and a TC Electronic Plethora (which includes some decent cab sim) and my tone is better, more responsive, and feels more "real" than it ever has aside from using real amps (and all the issues that go along with that).
I encourage everyone who is frustrated with digital preamps to give Sansamps a try. .Tech 21 has been doing their thing for much longer than any of the digital companies and make things happen with real analog circuits. They.may not have the newness and glamour like they did back in the 80's and 90's but the stuff just damn works at any volume level, and situation, and with zero latency.
To me all the digital stuff just feels like.a solution to a problem that is really an illusion because it doesn't really exist.
I get how some people may personally want a "do it all box with tons of options" but I ain't that guy myself and I think most people are like me weather they want to admit it or not.
For a lot less money you could get ToneX and VP4 though, to have superior captures and the best effects - on a smaller board. (You may need to add a Mimiq for the doubling but it's still not much money or space). If you ever had stage divers you would not want that huge exp. Kemper board out front.
The problem with that setup is if you need to switch multiple amps and effects instantly. You cannot do it with that setup.
For example: Distortion guitar + chor and delay on --> Acoustic only.
@@mattwright466 I don't think I understand? You just need a simple midi board out front (with a single cable or even Bluetooth if you dare) which saves your gear from getting trampled on. I think it was in 89 I learned that the hard way playing the metal club circuit.
Anyway, just a suggestion.
Hey there, random question but are you using Mogami cables by any chance?
Yes, all hand crafted. Much cheaper this was.
Seismic audio also makes very good tables and come in a lot more colors which can help you keep track of signal flow.
The reason why I asked is because I can hear the mid range on your tone. I recently discovered that after 15 years I using Mogami cables they have a nasty mid bump that I associated to pickups, pedals, amps you name it. Recently I tried a Planet waves cable I had a round and noticed that those mids where not there any more. My guitar sounded more natural. I got so upset because I thought that those mids were part of my pickups or tone overall.
I’d would encourage you to try a Planet Waves/Daddario cable. I got no affiliation to them.
I also made a short clip in my channel, demonstrating this. Feel free to check it out.
Great video! btw I did same for me Kemper sounds great. I owned all fas products and never worked for me.
You don't need an external expression pedal to fade in and out effects on a Fractal device. There are internal modifiers that can be mapped to effect parameters and you can control the ramp rates and whatnot. It is a more advanced bit of programming, but totally doable if you take a few minutes to read the manual or watch a RUclips tutorial.
Exactly- More advanced programming.
@@mattwright466 Yes! I have both Fractal and Kemper units, and I agree. Fractal is extremely granular and capable, IF the user has the time/knowledge/patience to chase down the multitude of parameters and ways to change them. When I first saw the original Kemper "toaster," I thought it was goofy looking, but when I tried it, I concluded that it was designed with the mindset of a musician, not a computer programmer. I think this still holds true.
Congrats on finding the gear that works best for you. I did the opposite. I had a Kemper Stage and then got a Fractal Axe FX III. I sold my Kemper the next day. I purchased the kemper for the profiling. It did that job horribly, which can be summed up in one word...inconsistent. I have a Tonex and it does the profiling thing ...perfectly.... every time. The key to using a Fractal are 3 things: 1) find the right IR (factory ones IMHO-Suck), 2) Make sure you are using the correct Speaker Impedance Curve for the IR you choose and 3) roll tubes and adjust bias as you would in a real amp.
Sure - But where would I find any of that info? lol
Fractal does a horrible job educating their customers about this stuff.
@@mattwright466 That is understandable. There is just so much that it can do it could be overwhelming to some users. When it comes to sculpting amp/cab tones with the Fractal it helps a lot if you have real world experience. For instance, I have been a long-time real Marshall amp user. When I looked at the power tube bias at the factory setting of 50% I knew that was wrong. They may ship new that way but bumping that bias up to 65-70% does the job. If you want to do that AC/DC thing then bump that bias up to 85-90% and don't have to worry about blowing your tubes.
@@2550marshall Amazing comment! :-)
Kemper added a fixed latency around 12 years ago, at the time some people were complaining that when reamping using different profiles with the same stem there was a phasing issue when combined as the latency would change pending on what you had loaded so Christoph added the constant latency mode
Hi Matt!
I was stoked when receiving your mail when releasing a new Video! I saw a high quality picture with the Kemper and Fractal in it!!
Soooo I pushed immediately on the link.
The first thing you mention was spot on! A lot of players buy Fractal because of their guitar heroes! Petrucci, Dave Murray,Metallica, Def Leppard… list goes on! because all those big artist using it!
Yeah they are 100’s of different amps to use,a lot of effects .. but a HUGE amount of parameters! You can tweak.. and tweak.. and tweak.. -> years later… hmmm 🤔 I think I’ve got my sound… then there is a new update… so re-tweak everything..
You made very interesting topics on difference in Kemper/Fractal! I see why a lot of people makes the change on that. Like useage on footswitches.. also Kemper can used with an mobile App something what fractal doesn’t have (not officially)
So big thanks for making things clear! So when thinking by myself.. Will Matt doing an Comparison! And YES Offcourse! I was blown away on the Kemper test! That sound was huge! I thought that the fractal would sound better! But 🤔.. it was so thin.. not really what I expected! Blown away by that Kemper sound!
So Matt! Thanks for this video! I really enjoy it! Please keep making those!
for people who didn’t know that much about Matt! He is a very honest and a very great guitar player!
He has also a course on “Perfect Picking”!
His knowledge is HUGE! His videos are not just a post! It’s always with the intention to make you a better player! He shows a lot of what to do and what not! Like holding everything correctly. He talked to a lot of neurologists. Every moves you make is because of bones and muscles. To it’s very cool to listen to his talk!
If I had known this man so many years earlier! I would definitely be a better player!
I support Matt on his work! Please give him a follow on RUclips,Instagram.. he also responds very quickly!
Big respect!
Jason.
I think we found Matt’s second account.
The "Morph" feature is actually more powerful than described. It can change multiple parameters simultaneously. I use it in all my patches. Line 6, Headrush, Axe FX, & Quad Cortex don't have it. I could never use another unit that doesn't have this feature. It's a must have feature for live playing. Probably not necessary for studio use.
I get your pain I spend more time trying to dial in tones on digital stuff when I went right back to my tube amps then I can capture montonexe or whatever when I want but I definitely get where you're coming from
Awesome information! Thanks
If your ears are 6 feet away from the speaker, this adds another 6.6 ms of latency. Is this really perceptible?
Key word...! Adds! So you still end up with the same latency advantage. Shop by your needs.
If you get a chance to really spend time with a Kemper, I highly recommend it. If I was lying, I wouldn't have stories of three other experienced musicians to reference... Plus measurement data.
with time latency will be 1ms. for now it all adds up. The more stuff you add to your preset, the slower it gets on most modellers. Add to that the latency from the digital mixer, to PA or your in-ears....
@@mattwright466 I'm not saying you're lying. I'm a sound guy, not a guitarist. I would challenge people to spend time listening at 3 feet vs. 9 feet to see if they can percieve that latency difference. If 2 sounds are playing simultaniously with differing latencies, it will be percieved as smearing the sound, or adding something funky to the sound. But to actually notice the differences when listening only to 1 sound at a time, with different latencies... I don't think I personlly could detect a 5 ms difference. 30ms probably. But then again, if one feels the guitar vibrating, and hears the sound coming 5ms later... That could account for the perception.
@@GrantConklin Great insight. I guess a counterargument to that would be... What kind of smearing happens when I'm playing with my band?
Keyboards is running a laptop with Kontact patches. I'm running Kemper. Singer is a mic DI, and drums are not mic'ed for now. Interesting q...
Typically, my Headrush cab is just pointed directly at me and I'm spending time quite close to it. To be clear, I don't expect the Headrush to be sound-accurate like my Yamaha monitors... I want it to be cheap and loud. lol
Hey Matt, have you tried the Hedrush Core or Prime? I'm looking at the Core and a SurfyBear Metal Spring reverb.
I have not! None of my local friends have had them, but what I've seen on Headrush looks great. Latency is low and a good friend of mind in a touring band uses Headrush live.
I'm always open to trying something new, but plenty happy on Kemper for now. :-)
I've never used any Fractal products, id like to tty some at some but, i love my Kemper. I switched from Helix, which is an amazing piece of kit. I think Kemper is capable of sounding incredible but, in its only as good as the profiles you use, and trust me, there are thousands and thousands of absolutely useless profiles out there (many are by well known companies who charge a substantial amount of money for them) but, once you find a few good ones, the Kemper sounds awesome. The lack of flexibility in the expression pedal assignment system is very annoying on the Kemper. Finally, I could still happily use Helix, with 3rd party ir's, not with stock cabs.
Agreed on the expression pedals. I just hate the exponential throw of them, but for all the other benefits I get... I'm fine with it.
Generally, I like the global assignment.
The flipside of Kemper profiles is it's dramatically easier to sift through what's good an bad very quickly. No tweaking a bunch of stuff. Ply it for 2 seconds and then move on. Which is why I put a bunch of sound demos at the end of the video.
I use my Mesa Mark IV and one pedal (delay), I am glad did not fall for the modellers hype. I just want one tone well done, Mesa gives me that.
Nice. Check out the tone demos at the end of the video and lemme know your thoughts.
They're Revv Generator, not Mesa, but I'm not really a big fan of how a lot of the Mesa stuff sounds in low mids.
You know the Kemper has a 'Transpose' effect both in the 'Rig' section and as a stand alone Stomp effect? One of my bands detune a half step on everything, and i don't detune my guitars. I use the Transpose effect in the Rig section. Honestly no need for a DigiTech Drop for detuning just a couple of semitones. Plus, the Transpose can tune up, as well as down. Perfect for all those people who want to play 'Run To You' in the correct key, without using a capo. I hate capos 😁
Yes! And the transpose function is quite good!
I chose the Drop for 2 reasons.
1. FAR easier to tell if it's on or off versus Kemper display.
2. Just routing for a potential other pedal later.
I am a fan of scribble strips, once you use them, they are just so convenient
On the Kemper Player you have five switches, 1/2/3 and dual 1/2 and 2/3.
Plus if you add a two switcher pedal for $20.00 you'll have seven switches.
And that's the stock Player with no paid upgrades.
You're totally correct - The only reason it doesn't work for me is if I add an external switch, I block the MIDI in function. So, the Stage makes more sense for me. :-)
Also, call me crazy, but 1/2 and 2/3 is absolutely silly. They should just do hold functions like virtually every other pedal on the market lol
@mattwright466
I agree the Stage is definitely a better option for you. 👍
It's sad we have to defend our rigs. We are all different. The people that bark the loudest are the ones that don't have a clue. Great video. Love my Kemper because it works for me!
At the end of the day you should use what works for you and what inspires you to play.
The kemper us still no 1 out there.
I love modellers like the fractal and especially kemper but they are just too expensive for me. :(
I got my FM3 kit financed through Affirm. :-)
Interest is very tolerable and applications are easy.
Just don't get yourself in too deep!
@mattwright466 nah, i will save up further. For the moment i have several amps and cabs plus vsts for recording. Nothing beats my Jim roots Terror with my k100 loaded framus 4x12. :)
Maybe the Kemper will replace the VST for recording someday.
And if i really wanted, i could buy a Kemper. But i think i use it not enough to justify such a big purchase.
Axe change is available directly inside Axe Edit. You can audition other people presets without any of the complications you mention here. Not saying other peoples presets are any good though.
Sounds to me like you just want to play rather than faff around.
Fractal fanboys are gonna rip you apart :D
🫡🫡🫡
Truth. 😂
To me, there is only one prio: The amp sound. Kemper, to this date, for me, is #1. Then, why does PLINI not play one? One of the greatest instrumental song writers and player? Well, because for the longest time he never played a tube amp (got that from an Intevals interview). What happens, if you are young, and don't have the budget, today you use plugins, as it is the most affordable entry point. Therefore THAT sound you hear of a "Marshall" model becomes your REFERENCE. So, the whole perception on what a good amp tone is changed for the generations to come. Mind you, I am not criticizing. I remember what an immense effort it was to buy my first Marshall Artist 30W / cab back in 1987. After decades playing tube amps and transistor amps, in rehearsal, loud and very loud, recording more or less successfully, of course my reference is the real amp, not the modelled / emulated one. I cannot undo this. And I do not need to, ha ha. One advantage in being an old fart is you can just buy what you want (and the wife allows). Cheers from Germany!
He may not play one for sheer convenience. Fractal just came out with the VP4... So now you can have Fractal FX with Kemper amp sound. Theoretically, you could send MIDI commends to a Kemper player AND to a Fractal VP4 on one rig... It would just be stupid complicated.
I have spent a little time on real amps. The latency is interesting. They're faster because there's no oversampling.
Also, size is a huge factor for a lot of people.
A huge driver for me not using a real amp is 1) flexibility 2) direct recording (and limited processing after the fact) and 3) size.
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I've got a German pedalboard and now a German car. Can't wait to visit one day!
Plini doesn't play one because he is a neural dsp artist (quad cortex)
@@Vertigo504 this😀😀
Kemper is better...as someone who had both. Also, Kemper is assembled in Germany, not China (like Fractal). The selling point for Kemper are the great profiles, liquid profiling, Kemper Kone (cab in the room simulation), and clear/simple workflow. The Player is also amazing, with wireless/bt editing. I can also confirm that the latency is much better with Kemper...feels more "real".
One company wants to force you to pay for updates after they purposely kept their device limited when they didn’t need to in the first place. The other company is renowned as the most realistic modeler and sends out updates FOR FREE. This is why I will ALWAYS be a Fractal user.
Kemper updates have always been free aside from the Profiler Player.
@ So what? It’s still a weak move IMO and I’d never support a company that played their customers. Imagine if BOSS or Line6 did the same exact thing Kemper did with paid updates to a smaller unit.
Whatever works best for you, cool...but I can't imagine making such a move.
I have an FM3. I absolutely love it. the best tone I’ve ever had I think what it boils down to is. Everyone is different and has different needs. I thought about using the Kemper player for church, but as I looked into it, they charge you for upgrades or levels of upgrades
Only on the Player are there paid upgrades.
As a marketer, I really don't love the way they rolled it out... I think it's unclear especially to prospective users of the system..
Sometimes you just have to get a hands on and try it out.
eh, buddy, fractal has the Axe Exhcnage built right into the interface of axe-fx-edit. It also has "AUdition"
My bad. Never new.
I'm aware of the audition feature. It's clunky. They should just add a damn "next" button to increment and decrement the cabs...
And that same critique goes to Kemper.
I ran both for quite awhile, back in Axe FX 2 days. I kept to the Fractal for several actual reasons. 1. The Kemper's limited routing capability just wasn't sufficient. 2. It was only as good as the profiles and profiler that made them. SO, SO many that are just awful, including those I made. 3. Needing multiple Profiles to get the true range of eq interaction, gain structure and response of an amp. 4, No abilty in Kemper to more or less create my own FX pedal, or even amp. With the fractal having toe ability to change down to essentially the circuit level I could.5. Kemper software was just useless.
And that's why this video isn't about one being better than another - It's about decision making, and how I made my decision.
Routing on the AXE FX III is definitely superior to any Kemper unit, but it's beyond what I need.
I am very happy with the outputs I get from Stereo + SPDIF and the different stack options.
XYZ floor is better!
😆
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Congratulations, you found the "reasons" to stay with Kemper. I suggest doing a blind AB test to see if you can really notice the difference in latency.
Odd, you start off, denigrating lookg at who uses a particular device. Then you give a 'pro kemper' story touting how a 'pro musician' liked the Kemper better. Just going to point out there are incorrect statements in this video, One doesn't need an expression pedal to do the equivalent of a morph. Axe exchange can be accessed from Axe Edit, just like mentioned for Kemper.
Kemper modern high gain tones are terrible comparatively. Having a Headrush turd in your jam room isn't helping your argument.
1. Why do you not like the Kemper high gain tones? I am very happy with them. Lots of demos at the end of this vid too.
2. All tone dialing was done on the Yamaha HS5's. :-)
3. All recordings in this video were done direct into DAW.
I never liked the sounds from Kemper and I can’t support them in any way after their scummy business decisions.
Are you talking about their pricing for the Player?
Size is not connected to value in any way. I think a lot of people are seeing it that way and it's silly.
**That said, I do think the general starting price should be lower for the Player.**
BUT, after paying for upgrades, it classes ridiculously close to the FM3... And it's smaller. And you won't hit processing power limits.
@@mattwright466 Charging extra for capabilities that a unit already had is a wretched business practice and you're absolutely kidding yourself if you think that's good for the market. No other manfucaturer has done that, only Kemper. They are uniquely scummy.
„Why I ditched Fractal for good“. Maybe you're paid for this statement. Right?😊
No. Not paid.
@@mattwright466 That was a joke on my part, of course. 😊 I bought the FM9 for about a year and a half ago and haven't used a physical tube amp since there. The sound of the amp simulations is fantastic. However, if you "only" want to use the incredibly good effects from Fractal Audio on a real amp, the VP4 Virtual Pedalboard is now/soon available. In the end, I think it's a matter of taste which system you choose.