KEMPER PROFILING AMP MARCEL YAMMOUNI
We’ve all read the sensationalist claims of various guitar amp simulator/emulator manufacturers suggesting they have the upper hand with this new technology… some assert their products are even better than the real thing. Before going any further, I feel compelled to let you know I’ve always been a tube amp guy, with brands like Fender, Vox, Marshall, Mesa/Boogie and even some of the more boutique brands like Ulbrick and Badcat being among my favorites. I love the purity of tone that a good quality valve amp provides and have been lucky enough to have heard and own quite a few in my time.
The Kemper Profiling Amp is quite different from all of its so-called competitors, as it’s genuinely the first of its kind. The KPA allows you to capture (profile if you will) the sound of any amp and quicker than Usain Bolt runs a 100-metre sprint. This is a new and unparalleled approach to guitar tube amp sounds. You can profile all and any amps you have, with your favorite sounds and/or cabs. You can even swap profiles with others on the net. There are already a number of people with vintage amp collections who have shared their profiles. I’m already thinking about two of my mates’ amps I’d love to profile - Shannon Bourne’s Gretsch Amp and Vinny Mancuso’s (Freestate) Modified Mesa.
Well I’m that guy (like most guitarists) that is too excited to read the manual and likes to get straight into a new piece of gear headfirst. Lucky there’s an array of presets. So with its multiple output options, I plugged into my studio setup and got going. I immediately found Plexi and JCM 800 profiles (two of my favorites in the Marshall range) that brought a smile to my face (good start KPA). In the past when using a Simulator/Emulator I’ve always found that where they were lacking was in the sound of the air that only a mic’d amp gives you. I love that I can profile an amp with a mic other than a 57 or a 421 and can now use some of my favorite ribbon mics .
I found most of the preset profiles very usable. So much so, I got straight to work on replacing guitars I recorded on a Jimmy Cupples track I was producing. I found it easy to modify the profile, adding and subtracting gain, highs, lows, mids, etc. The KPA even has a number of onboard effects Delay, Reverbs, Mods, etc, that are very easy to control My recording setup/studio is in a residential area. Out of respect to my neighbours, I usually halt drum recordings at 6pm and guitar recordings no later than 9pm. The KPA comes in very handy for those late night sessions. Anyone who has recorded guitar knows the variables of mic placement on a speaker cone. Sometimes you come up with a killer sound in an unlikely way i.e. a room mic and a close mic and so on. It’s quite cool that I can take a snapshot of my recorded rig and use it at anytime. So you’re all getting the gist that I want one, right? Well you’d be correct. In fact I think you’re going to be seeing the KPA in a lot of recording studios in time. I think once you get over that it looks like a machine you’d see in an Intensive Care Unit and use your ears to judge, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Will it replace real amps in the future? Probably not, but I think they will co exist peacefully.
Written by Marcel Yammouni
