Kemper Profiling Amplifier for Pedal Steel Guitar

[Michael Hartz]

I got a Kemper about two months ago and absolutely LOVE IT! I use a Michael Britt profile of a Little Walter 50 and have stuck to that as the base profile for all my steel sounds. I created my own dobro profile using a Boss GE- 7 eq pedal into a Fishman Spectrum Aura DI that sounds killer. I used set up a dual digital delay with different times to create a pretty cool double track effect and a great sounding harmony profile for doing the Highway 40 Blues intro that sounds very convincing. There is no end to the capabilities of this device. I found the profiles extremely easy to tweak. After loading M Britt’s profiles I had some awesome steel sounds within minutes. I’ve had several Line6 modelers and digital rack effects processors over the years and found all of them to be frustrating to program to get the sound I wanted or heard in my head. The Kemper was shockingly easy imho to dial in exactly what I wanted and quickly. The tone knobs are extremely responsive, start turning up the bass, mids, or treble and you hear the results immediately. I also play my tele, mandolin, and 6 string banjo through it on stage. It all goes in one zip up camera bag so I’ve cut back the amount of gear I haul by half. If Michael Britt with Lonestar and Jimmy Olander with Diamond Rio are using one on stage as discriminating as they are with their signature sounds then it must be a pretty good box.

[Greg Cutshaw]

Kemper now has its profiler combined with a pedal board, all in one unit with a few added things like dual stereo effects loops.

I understand that both units use IR technology to model amps. I'm on the fence between getting the Kemper or Fractal Axe III units. The MBritt profiles include most of the classic Fender, Little Walter and classic Peavey amps but are only offered for the Kemper.

Kemper Profiler Stage:

https://www.kemper-amps.com/stage

[Chris Bauer]

As much as I've come to like the Kemper - which is a lot - there's so much firepower in both the Kemper and the Fractal that I'm not sure the sonic differences actually are as important than your comfort with their respective interfaces and connectivity. My guess would be that once you master either interface, you can come mighty close with either to any sound you're after.

FWIW, I have many of the Britt profiles and have actually found that I like one of the stock bass amp profiles (an Ashdown) for steel better than any of the others. YMMV.

[Mike Holder]

I have long thought the Kemper is the answer to in ear gigs for direct playing. Then I actually heard it as an amp with a speaker, as a guitar rig with Michal Britt then a steel rig with Mike Bourque. I also really like trying different amps like Little Walter or The Carvin Legacy V3, a twin, or a Webb etc. Michael Britt was gracious enough to spend a Day profiling all the amps at my house one day . A Webb, Twin, Randall, Carvin Legacy V3, Peavey Session 500 & Vegas and finally the famed rack system of a Mesa Boogie Studio Pre into a Mosvalve 500 power amp and a Simul satellite combo. All these amps were profiled twice using either an Eminence PF-350 or PF-400 speaker so we ended up with about 25 different combinations which seemed to profile quite nicely. You’re not supposed to be able to profile a solid state amp but the 500 sounded amazing! As did many others. I re profiled the same amps again with my friend Scott Neubert to try to control the input distortion we sometimes got. Bottom line is many of them are incredibly workable sounds and make the Kemper an incredible working tool for live or recording. I also just took a Boss Katana 100 watt combo and installed a PF-350 in it and now have a 40 pound killer steel guitar amp that’s smaller than a Mesa Boogie. ...1000 amps in one,..very cool!

[Godfrey Arthur]

I think the Kemper and Fractal profilers do a good job with effects. But as an amp, I hear latency issues with certain frequencies that don't react as a normal amp would. It's like some of the frequencies don't appear at the same time so there is this "sag or lag" where they would be there with a regular amp at the same time.

Lot's of musos are using them, but mainly they spout convenience as a plus vs a chain of many other boxes and connections. But then there's the diving through menus issue so choose your poison.

[Jos Roderkerken]

kemper user here where did you find the little walter profile? Britt seems to have only huge packs for sale and i cant seem to find it

[Bill McCloskey]

Jos if you are a member of Paul Franklin's Method, they provide a couple of Little Walter Kemper profiles as a download. Here is a full list of profiles available on Paul's site:

Mesa Studio Pre/ Carvin TS-100 Power Amp/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350
Mesa Studio Pre/ Carvin TS-100 Power Amp/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400

Fender Blackface Twin Reissue/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400
Fender Blackface Twin Reissue/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350


Carvin Legacy 3 / Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350
Carvin Legacy 3 / Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400


Mesa Boogie Simul Satellite Combo/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400
Mesa Boogie Simul Satellite Combo/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350


Peavey Vegas 400 loaded with Peavey 15" Black Widow


Peavey Session 500 loaded with Peavey 15" Black Widow
Peavey Session 500 loaded with Peavey 15" Black Widow in String Mode (Dirty Slide)


Webb 6-14 GP loaded with 15" JBL E-130
Webb 6-14 GP/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400
Webb 6-14 GP / Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350


Evans FET 500 Combo loaded with 15 Eminence EPS-15C Neodyne
Evans FET 500 / Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350
Evans FET 500/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-400


Randall Steelman 500 Combo loaded with Peavey 15" Black Widow
Randall Steelman 500/ Little Walter loaded with Eminence PF-350

Profiles were created by Scott Neubert & Mike Holder . . . 2019

[Mike Holder]

Jos; These profiles were first offered as a bonus to MMM Franklin Method members for their membership but they are now also available to anyone via the Forum under either “Recording” or “ Electronics” headings. This particular Little Walter profile is from my personal P.F. 89 & Speakers, no Britt profiles are in my package but his are absolutely amazing, but weren’t designed for pedal steel, they were mostly for guitar…thanks..Mike