Kemper vs Mesa BLIND TEST

[Melodeath]

I heard a bunch of changes in the first video, and thus, a clear difference. Listen to the air and possibly upper mids or treble depending on your definition. As for which is which, I have no idea, but I certainly hear a difference.

 

[dcb]

well, what you're hearing in this comparison is the mic'd amp NOT going through the Kemper!
2 seperate reamping sessions.

thats pretty intersting ... i did these tests a year ago, maybe they improved the profliling process OR the a/d on the rack version is different (which i doubt)... i gotta try this with the new firmware. btw. tone is incredibly good.

 

[PaoloJM]

Close enough to not give a fuck.
There would be no difference at all in a mix, and that's the only place in matters.

 

[tempe]

In the comparison clips, I actually preferred the Kemper by a country mile, the mesa felt extremely loose in the lower mid-range. Turns out however that this fluidity in the mids is what made me prefer it in the mix, the guitars pocketed themselves with the bass slightly better and the whole thing felt smoother. I guess this is what everyone means when they refer to "stuck" mid-range in Digital guitar tones, personally I hadn't even picked up on it until this comparison. However, would I be happy working with the Kemper tone instead of the real amp? Damn fucking straight I would.

Great work putting this up Lasse.

 

[Clark Kent]

This is amazingly close. If only everyone was capable of profiling this accurately... I can admit that I was not. Also even those profiles that are being sold really give the Kemper a bad rep. If only they were this good. Is there something special you did to make it more accurate? I'm sure people would like to know.

 

[Trevoire520]

Yeah must be said I was quite surprised as some of the other attempts at profiling I've heard were quite far off. This is easily the closest profile I've heard, and what makes it more impressive is that Lasse had only got the unit a day or two before the comparison.

 

[Line666]

So on the spot the changes round nobody had a clue but on a 50/50 split with a much higher probability of being right everybody can suddenly tell the difference...

Really feeling your critical listening skills guys

 

[Lasse Lammert]

So on the spot the changes round nobody had a clue but on a 50/50 split with a much higher probability of being right everybody can suddenly tell the difference...

Really feeling your critical listening skills guys

it's actually much funnier on some othe rforums and yt comments....
almost everyone was like "oh, it's obviously the green/purple one" everyone was rather sure....then when I revealed what's what it was pretty much a 50/50 split...and the 50% that were right were like "yeah, I knew it, was easy to tell if your ears don't suck" I thought it was rather funny that they didn't realise that pretty much exactly 50% were wrong/right with their answer...and the chances were 50/50.
I don't doubt that some were able to tell (especially on this board), but how really sure everyone in that "correct" 50% group was was funny....didn't really occour to anyone that a 50/50 result in a test like that is much more likely the result of just fucking guessing right...yet everyone was convinced it's their awessome ears

 

[Mago]

^I guess that if you own a kemper it would be a bit easier to make out which was which.

I guessed right, and I say guessed cause I wouldn't have bet any money on it.
I thought that the "forwardness" as Jeff called it (the thing with the himids, highs and less low end) was something that reminded me of various amp sims and other modellers, so I thought that this could be the kemper.
Could have also been that the kemper ate some highs, and that would have made the kemper track the real deal, cause it still had more highs in it.
But I guessed right in that case lol

I thought the blind test was a bit mean, cause honestly I thought I heared changes, but I thought that was due to you playing different notes/strings/frets.
I expected the sound to change once at some point, not that you had a switch every 5 seconds. So I immediatly concentrated on the totally wrong thing, and missed the real switches, even if I was going back and forth at some point thinking "huh, those palm mutes sound a bit different, but I guess it's because he digs in different at the lower strings".

Only goes to show how sublte the differences are, if you profile it right.

Dunno how much voodoo is part of the perception of the comparsion in the full mix, but even tho I thought the kemper sounded cooler on its own, I thought the mesa made the mix nicer. And that also with my eyes closed lol

Still would like to know if the kemper works for you in a mixing situation or if it is behaving different than real reamps Lasse? Would you use it as main guitars on an album?

 

[Clark Kent]

Comparisons are always like this. When I made the Axe-Fx Ultra vs Axe-II comparison clips everyone was saying how the II sounded better and had more twang and a better dynamic range etc. but then when I made a clip that didn't state which was which even Cliff got it wrong. For some reason people on these music related forums wants to prove that their ability to hear is better than average. Still I bet none of them would bet money on their guess.

Just think about how small the difference is. Let's say it's around 5% and mostly audible in the low end and presence area. Then put those guitars in a mix where guitars are just one element out of 3 or more instruments where lows are buried by bass and kick and presence by overheads and vocals. So the difference in the end product will be like 1%. So if you still give a f*** about the difference then get a life. Seriously... it's just guitar. To average people it sounds like noise.

 

[StefTD]

As long as it sounds good it doesn't matter to me if you're using a huge fucking rig
or a 20$ stereo, I had no clue which one was the Kemper or the Mesa.
So it doesn't matter to me, Kemper is cheaper, has built in effects and can sound
like other amps, too, the "normal" listener will never tell a difference... I am sold.

 

[Trevoire520]

So on the spot the changes round nobody had a clue but on a 50/50 split with a much higher probability of being right everybody can suddenly tell the difference...

Really feeling your critical listening skills guys

Spot on.

 

[crillemannen]

For me it was rather easy to hear the difference, the graphic helped ofc But which one was the kemper/mesa i had no idea. I prefered the kemper, but i didnt listen in a good system, only at home with crappy speakers.


Kemper seems to be awesome and if i had a band i would rather have a kemper then a real amp, cause you dont need more then the box right to make it sound good? No preamp, no cab? If so it is truly a magic box