****WARNING, DIGITAL MODELLING AMP USERS WILL BE BUTT HURT BY MY OPINIONS... AND COVER BAND MUSOS TOO, WARNING, WARNING....RED ALERT*****... And they will call me and aural snob. Nothing new.
Firstly, I am sorry that you are having issues with your Kemper. There is way, way less issues with a Tube amp, far easier to fix 90% of the time just by replacing a valve. In 26 years of my band, Dark Order, I have only had 2 sets of power tubes fail, 3x preamp tubes, all in V3 of my amps fail, and was informed on this forum yesterday why this happens (increased voltage).
Anyhow this post is my experience and point of view from 26 years of playing live, writing 4 albums, three released the forth is being worked on now.
This is NOT me saying I'm right/your wrong, or vice versa. It just my experiances.
I have never been a cover band musician in 26 years, could never stomach making money from other peoples music. There is a lack of soul, craftmenship, pride, expression, and the will to conquer which just pisses me off to no end. BUT, each to their own. Obviously if you're happy to play in Covers, and own and use a Kemper or any other modeler, then good on ya....but that will not covert me over nor convince me.
1/ Kempers and all modellers are just tools of CONVENIENCE. My ears don't lie, they don't sound, respond, feel like a *good* tube amp. And YES, I ALWAYS hear the difference, every gig. My blessing and my curse. I also hear differences in cable brands, tone pots/no tone pots, valves, speaker cables, different picks, string brands.... like I said, it both a blessing and a curse, never f-n stops. These things I hear often stops me dead in my tracks when all I want to really do is write songs and play gigs etc.
Yes, amp modellers they are light weight (you whimps hahaha), yes they are flexible with all their sounds. But those points don't win me over because of what me ears have heard.
6 times have we played with bands using Kempers, and 6 times have I been SHOCKED and blown away how my Marshall TSL100, I gig with TWO, have not just sound a 'little better' and different, but in actual fact, they have totally blown every kemper out of the water in so many ways, how STAGGERINGLY different, clearer, punchier and better my sound has been from the Kempers. Staggeringly different. And of coarse this makes me super happy, on the inside. I never walk around at gigs gloating verbally about what I hear. I am not American, hahaha. I just concentrate on playing the best show I can, which is a struggle in it self always.
Recently, I was also blown away by this occurrence of difference with the Kreator / Vader gig at the Manning bar. i have never been more angry and disappointed with a gig that I have attended, and wanted my refund.
Vader, who's music I know nothing of, blew me away, I could understand EVERY RIFF, EVERY NOTE, along with the rest of the bands sound. I was blown away with their music and their performance, all because of the clarity of their TUBE amps rigs, Mesa Duel Rec into Orange Cabs. And I am a Marshall nut, not Boogie. I am not a fan of Vader, but after that show I was.
Now, I AM a fan of Kreator. And their set was super dissapointing. Why? Because all I heard was a 'kick drum and vocal show'. They were using Kempers into the PA. IT SOUNDED LIKE A SWARM OF BEES! Couldn't understand ONE riff, especially with my favourite classics . I was seething with anger.
When you say that punters don't care what amp and sound you have, you can be dead wrong.
Clarity, punch of guitar sound in the make or break of whether you grab a new fan, or not, as was the case for me.
Plus the fact of how many times have I seen amp modeller users fiddle with their sound WHILST playing a gig, is so unprofessional.
It pisses me off.
I with my rig, a road case that has TWO Marshall TSL100 heads, and a 6-space rack above that has a GLXD14 wireless, Mxr smartgate, mxr 10EQ, Ibanez RC99 chorus, all wire up with Colossal Cable, just roll up to the stage, flip my front and rear lids off, plug my power cable, footswitch and speaker, and I am done, ready. I never have to touch my EQ or volume. I am on and off stage in under 3-4 minutes. No joke. Never have clarity issues, never am too loud or too soft, NEVER sound like a swarm of bees. Just great tight sounding Thrash Metal riffage that everyone aurally understands and comprehends, and so they then can really decide if they like my music/songs of not. Instead of struggling to understand what we're playing.
And the punters hearing the clarity and punch of my riffs, coupled with the rest of the band, my vocals and the quality of my songs, we always win over a few new fans, without fail. Guitar Rig sound clarity and punch, only with a good tube amp.
If people in the crowd CANNOT understand your riffs, they cannot get into your music. Period. And Kempers, in my many experiences, fail to do this important thing.
So yes, the amp rig you have is CRUCIAL, AND MATTERS TO CROWD.
2/ Kemper do NOT profile Amps. They only profile a 'signal chain', a mear digital snapshot. Putting a digital signal chain 'photo' into another signal chain live is ridiculous. You're loosing harmonics, and struggling to get clarity. Having said that I have heard better results from Line 6 helix and Ax fx than Kempers, but still no cigar compared to a tube amp. Still that swarm of bees sound.
Please, by no means am I also saying that ALL tube amps are clear and tight, no way. But, I'd say about 80% of tube rigs I have heard at gigs, I have been impressed in many ways over the 26 years.
3/ Buying a Modeller is buying into the 'iphone' problem.
Kempers cost, depending on the model, between $3000-$4000AUD. Holy **** balls! Imagine the high end tube amp you could get for that money, in my case thats TWO or Three tube amps. The point being, is that once you buy digital tech, computers etc, that tech becomes 'old' tech in about 6 months. Every time Axefx or Kemper come out with a new model, their users **** bricks, trying sell the old unit cheap then forking out another $4000 for the new model. Crazy. And to add, when computers, which is exactly what they are, go beyond a certain age, there is no longer parts for them, you're stuffed then. In my case, my TSL100 amps are 18years old, and 12 years old, always have replacement parts available, always fixable. And in 18 years, how many gigs and album recording have they served me?
Where will your modeller be in 18 years?
4/ Tube amps are too big and heavy for fly gigs.
RUBBISH. I bought recently a Marshall DSL20HR. Problem solved.
5/ 100w tubes cannot be cranked at home to record my album, so a digital amp modeller is better.
RUBBISH. I purchased both the RIVERA silent sister isocab AND Rivera Rockcrusher Recording attenuator/analogue speaker emulator. Problem SOLVED.
6/ No person cares about you having a unique tone and sound, so just use digital profiles of cool rigs.
RUBBISH!
All the greatest bands, Queen, Metallica, Slayer etc have unique recognisable guitar sounds. Part of what makes them great bands with impact. The problem withmodern bands is that they all sound alike, like Siamese twin, because of digital modellers, drum triggers. Just PURE laziness in not trying to build you own tone.
Every tube amp has imperfections that add to the uniqueness of its tone. So, in my case, my two TSL100's sound different from one another, and of course any backline TSL rig that I have played at fly gigs.
Yes, this is where a Kemper has an advantage, you can take YOUR SOUNDS in a USB to a fly gig and plug into another Kemper and do your show. Right? WRONG. THE SIGNAL CHAIN HAS CHANGED. Look at my experience at the Kreator gig.
7/ And my last point. Digital Modellers will kill tube amps.
Axe fx came out in the 2000's and Kemper has been around since 2010. A whole decade has passed, and still I see heaps of bands STILL using tube rigs, especially probands. Why? Because they sound better still, the modellers are not the answer, especially with all the small tube amps on the market.
Plus I am exited that BRIMAR WILL START MAKING Valves in the U.K. soon, using modern computer tech for superior valves to those of current production Russian, Slovak and Chinese valves.
At the download festival earlier this year, of the 40 bands on the bill, I saw ONE Kemper in a LOCAL band, and all the international bands, anthrax, slayer, alice in chains, judas priest, behemoth.... All were using tube rigs, and they sounded great, punchy and full of life. The two bands I saw using modellers, sounded lifeless, like listening to a CD through a PA.
MY EARS DO NOT LIE, but please remember that I am not saying I'm right and you're wrong, or telling you what to use, thats up to you. I am merely stating the pros and cons I have seen, heard. My ears don't lie.
