NPAD - Kemper

Now here is the million dollar question. We all know how our favorite artists sound through whatever gear they use/used to record and perform.
So, since we are talking about the tones the Kemper amp profiles, let's pick the Hiwatt since I brought it up. Does the Kemper give us the Pete Townshend tone, or the Gilmour tone? Does it add colors to the tones like when the artists sound is often colored by pedals and as mentioned things like a Leslie, EQ, and other factors that make up the sound we listeners hear vs the sound the performer hears?

 
Lyon, France 1971.

David used only two Hiwatt heads throughout the autumn of ’69 and the more familiar three heads setup appeared sometime during the summer in 1970. David later got these placed in a custom rack in early 1971. Two main heads powered four 4×12†WEM speaker cabinets while the third head was a spare. David would also scale down his rig for TV-appearances in 1970-’71 using only one Hiwatt head and a WEM cabinet.


– Hiwatt DR103 All Purpose 100W heads with Mullard 4xEL34 power tubes and 4xECC83 pre-amp tubes. Controls for normal volume, brilliance volume, bass, middle, treble, presence and master.


– WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets with 4×12†Fane Crescendo speakers with metal dust caps.


1973 – 1977
When Phil Taylor was hired as chief of Pink Floyd’s backline during their summer rehearsals in 1974 he bought several new Hiwatt heads and WEM cabinets for David – “I went down to Hiwatt in Kingston and saw Dave Reeves and bought two 100 watt heads which are still in Dave’s rack today.” (Guitarist ’95). During the Dark Side of the Moon tour David would have four Hiwatt heads on a custom rig to his right on the stage. Two heads powered the four WEM cabinets, one was a spare and the fourth head was used to power David’s front stage monitors.
 
Mr Grumpy said:
View attachment 42243







It appears that Bobby-Ray Vaughan has finally lost his mind. Most professional recording studios (probably...) have less equipment, most TV broadcasting station have less monitors, most guitar shops have less pedals, most national electricity grids have less wires... :p
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There are 5 more amps on the other side and the room...and 3 more attenuators...and other stuff. I will check myself in promptly
 
LMAO, I wonder what David would have done with his " Kemper" tone.

David had over ten Hiwatt heads on the Dark Side of the Moon tours in 1973-75 and he always performed soundcheck on them all himself to make sure they sounded right. A roadie tells a story from one of the shows that David complained about one of the heads but no one could hear a difference. Annoyed, the roadie carried the head backstage and brought it back. David replied, “Well, this is the same head!†and the roadie had to replace it with an apology!
 
RVA said:
New Profiling Amp Day -

We recently had a very cool thread on the future of tubes/tube amps which inspired some great points and divergent opinions. So for the sake of science (not because I wanted new gear - Hi Honey!), I got a Kemper. It will probably arrive tomorrow (not TODAY as scheduled - grrr). Anyway, I am always up for some science experiments. I intend on profiling my amps and then posting clips of both the real amp and the Kemper for everyone's evaluation. Any other experiment requests are welcome.
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Congratulations on your new piece (when it arrives)
Cheers
 
Don O said:
And then you run that through the power section of any amp? Wouldn’t that alter the profile some ?
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It doesn't seem to, but there are other ways to run it. You can go directly to a powered FRFR speaker. A lot of people do that.

You can run direct out to a mixer or FOH. There are so many ways to use the thing it's just ridiculous. You may not get the
exact sound as the amp profiled, but it's so close you can tweak it to work for you.

There are many people who can explain it better than me, but a lot of Pro's are turning to modelling either with a Kemper,
Helix or AXEFX. With all the home recording direct to a PC DAW it's really a game changer IMO.
 
Don O said:
And then you run that through the power section of any amp? Wouldn’t that alter the profile some ?
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I have the unpowered. I ran it through monotors and through a power section last night. It altered the tone, but they were both great. I am confounded by this obsession with the original tone. As long as it results in a great tone, all is well. Besides, there is great merit in a unique tone that is good, which may be desirable over the original tone when you are not trying to do a cover.

I presently have monitor speakers and 8 power sections to run the Kemper through, and I intend to try them all!
 
Sp8ctre said:
I get the sound "I" want with my Kemper through a Crown power and and various guitar Cabs. I gave up on the Powered
FRFR a long time ago. I never liked them and I tried three of the best out there.
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What Crown amp are ya using?
 
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