The Kemper Profiling Amplifier is without doubt the biggest innovation we think we've seen in the last few years in amp technology. Emultating a classic amp is one thing but this is somethign quite different. Instead of relying on a company to do the profiling for you, choosing which amps you might want and what settings you'd use, you get all of that technology INCLUDED in the Kemper itself! That means YOU chose what amp you want to emulate, put a mic to the amp and let the kemper go about its business. It's a little bit like that bit in Ghostbusters where they catch the ghosts in that box. All the soul and subtly of the amp is sucked into the Kemper and stored digital allowing you to sound exactly like that exact amp any time anywhere. Trying to describe it in words is tough so take a look at some of the videos and you'll quickly understand why we're so excited about this piece of gear.
Don't worry if you don't have vintage amps just lying aroudn your house though because the Kemper already coems preloaded with loads of awesome profiles and any user can share a profile with another, it's as simple as sending an email! You can get swapping profiles all over the globe!
It's worth noting that while Kemper call this an 'amp' is doesn't have its own power section so you'll need to plug it into a PA or some active speakers. The reason for this is that the Kemper also profiles Cabinets and if you could use the Kemper with a cab your cab would colour the sound and it would no longer sound like the cab that was being modelled! So really it makes more sense to plug straight into a PA/mixing desk and cut out the cab all together!
Inputs and Outputs
- Front Mounted HiZ Guitar input
- Front Mounted Headphone output
- Direct Send Jack (with Ground Lift)
- Return Jack (with Ground lift)
- Return Female XLR (with Ground lift)
- Motitor Output jack (with Ground lift)
- Footswitch Jack 1
- Footswitch Jack 2
- Midi In
- Midi out
- Midi Thru
- S/PDIF Out
- S/PDIF In
- USB out
- USB in
- Network Port
- Master Output Left XLR (one Ground Lift shared by mast outputs)
- Master Output Right XLR
- Master Output Left Jack
- Master Output Right Jack
Here's what Kemper say about the Kemper Profiling Amp
Any Amp, Anytime, Anywhere
The new Kemper Profiling Amplifier enables you to do what generations of guitar players have been waiting for: to capture the soul of all your amps (and so many more) inside a lunchbox-sized amplifier.
So, how does it work- We use cutting edge digital technology to capture the sonic DNA of virtually any guitar amp. The resulting Profiles are as living, vivid and dynamic as the original amps. Imagine you've used some sweet-sounding, well-maintained vintage tube amps in your last studio session. With the Kemper Profiling Amplifier, there's no need to leave those sounds behind anymore. Simply create your own Profiles from these amps and take them with you to use anywhere you like. Variations with alternative amp settings can be created and even the cabinet of a profiled combo amp can be exchanged at any time. Dozens of pro-grade onboard effects and stomp boxes can be used to spice up the Profiles. We even give you Profiles of many exceptional signature amps. Any amp. Any time. Anywhere. We mean it.
Stomp Boxes
The Kemper Profiling Amplifier offers 4 independent stomp effects slots which can host a full arsenal of stomp box effects including painstakingly modeled famous overdrive and distortion stomp boxes, compressor, reverb, several delays and LoFi algo- rithms, and a beautiful rotary speaker emulation.
The Archive
The Kemper Profiling Amplifier makes it easy for you to share your personal library with other users. It already holds a vast number of rigs. Sharing a profile or rig is as easy as sending an e-mail.
Profiling
Amplifier profiling is a new and unique way to extract the sound and feel of a tube amp and store it away for later use. Profiling doesn't just create a static snapshot; it can give you a deeper control of your sound than your original amp can provide. The response to your playing, dyna- mics and all other details are captured by the profiling process.
The Input Stage
Thanks to a Hi-Z input optimized for passive guitar pickups, the Kemper Profiling Amplifier offers a crystal clear signal path.
The Stack
The Stack section of the Kemper Profiling Amplifier consists of the profiled amplifier, equalizer and cabinet. You can mix and match any amp with any cabinet in your library. You can even creatively change the sonic behaviour of any recently profiled amplifier.
Master FX
The master effects section features reverb, delay and additional slots for stomp boxes to refine your amplifier’s tone. The six knobs on the front panel offer convenient access to the most important settings. The reverb section features a dense and lively reverb algorithm which won’t mask the original signal. The delay section features several tape and stereo delay algorithms which can be synched to MIDI clock.
Amp Controls
The Kemper Profiling Amplifier includes the standard Gain, Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence controls that you would expect from a guitar amplifier. However, in contrast to many vintage amps, we have kept the gain control neutral, so you are able to find the sweet spot of your amp, and run this optimal sound at any gain level.
More about profiling
"Profiling" is what we have named our proprietary technology that captures the sound and feel of a specific tube amplifier. In other words, the Kemper Profiling Amplifier doesn't simply give you a list of static digital amplifier reproductions - instead, profiling creates a vivid, living, dynamic and multi-dimensional image of your existing tube amp. Profiling is as simple as plugging your tube amp into the Kemper Profiling Amplifier and pressing 'record.' Just insert the Kemper Profiling Amplifier into the recording chain and it will do its magic. Test signals will be sent from the Kemper Profiler Amplifier into your tube amp and recorded by the microphone in front of your cabinet. You don't even have to play your guitar. After less than a minute the Kemper Profiling Amplifier acquires the sonic DNA of your tube amp and offers you the resulting custom profile. You can then use the A/B comparison mode to compare original tube amp sound with the profiled sound. This gives you a fast and convenient way to make final tweaks to the profile to get it exactly right.
Imagine if you could change the sonic character of a profile way beyond what's possible with the amp itself. What if you could change the sonic age of the amp, or the bite of the pick- What if you could modify the power supply of your profiled amp in order to benefit from power sagging- The Kemper Profiling Amplifier allows you to dynamically adjust key aspects of your favorite amps which would otherwise be impossible or require hardware modifications. Make it larger than life. You can do anything from minor tweaks, such as making a profile sound a bit more vintage, to more radical changes such as adding some modern high-gain chunk
Whats new in Firmware 1.5 - Announced November 2012
The Profiling Amp was originally designed to faithfully recreate the sound of a tube amplifier, the corresponding cabinet and the microphone in front of it. For recording or stage PA situations, this is the perfect solution for getting the full guitar amp sound reproduced. But the Profiler still needed a solution for playing through a standard guitar cabinet. The CabDriver feature now allows for doing exactly that! CabDriver retains the tube power amp characteristics and speaker action of the original amp, which is coded in the profile, and translates it perfectly to the speaker cabinet. No additional tweaking of the sounds required!
To get the perfect "amp in the room" sound on stage or in the rehearsal room, simply amplify the signal from the Profilers monitor output with any neutral solid-state power amp into a standard guitar cabinet. And now for the nifty bit: you can run the full profile to the main PA of the venue while simultaneously "cabdriving" your guitar speaker cabinet for monitoring on stage. This makes the Kemper Profiling Amp the perfect all in one sound solution for any guitar player that travels from the rehearsal room to the studio and to the stage.
Also new in Version 1.5 is a convenient new method to load amps, cabs or stacks from any other rig into the rig that is actually loaded. When browsing in the cabinet section you can now choose to scroll through all the other rigs and pick the cabinet included in those. Following the same principle you can also select an amp or complete stack from any rig. That makes it easy to combine amplifier profiles with cabinet profiles. The software version 1.5 is a free download from the Kemper Amps Website: http://www.kemper-amps.com.
Sound on Sound Review Quotes
Review by David Greeves & Paul White. Read it in full in Sound On Sound volume 27 issue 6
- I decided to create two profiles of the small valve amp I often use for recording, set at its clean and overdriven 'sweet spots'. Not only was I impressed by how quick and easy this was, but once refined, the resulting profiles were literally indistinguishable from the miked up tone.
- What makes the KPA truly unique is that these profiles are not digitally modelled presets that I've created and saved. They are my amp, in my studio, miked up the way I like it, and at my disposal 24/7.
- It's hard not to feel excited about the Kemper Profiling Amplifier. There's still some work to do, in making it a little easer to browse profiles and assemble rigs... Even so, the KPA is a compelling sonic platform for electric guitarists and undoubtedly a major new player on the scene.
- There's an impressive sense of depth, detail and realism to the amp sounds on offer, both in terms of tone and the way they respond to playing dynamics. But it's the ability to create new profiles that's most exciting, especially if you don't have access to a soundproofed live room around the clock.
- The result was impressive. The KPA really does what its makers claim. - Paul White
AMP FACTORY PACKS - click here to find out more about buying professionally recorded Kemper Amp Samples from the Amp Factory
