Kemper has announced not one, but two distinct upgrades for its Profiler Player amp modeler/effects processor, as it looks to take the fight to the compact all-in-one rig competition following the arrival of the Nano Cortex.
Last week, Neural DSP took on the Line 6 HX Stomp, IK Multimedia TONEX and Kemper Player Profiler by unveiling only its second hardware product.
The Nano Cortex, as per its maker, promises “an infinite number of amps and pedals on your pedalboard”, and was positioned as the ultimate ultra-portable rig replacement currently on offer.
Now, Kemper – whose timing may or may not have been influenced by recent developments – has sought to make its own compact amp-and-pedal offering even better than before by unveiling the LVL II and LVL III upgrade packages.
Naturally, these offer varying levels of new features, but the message from Kemper is clear: these updates will supposedly create “the mightiest guitar tone and performance monster per square inch”.
Such verbiage is telling: with the Nano Cortex placing huge emphasis on its tone-for-size superiority, Kemper is clearly swinging back with a statement of its own.
“The Profiler Player is the most powerful package from Kemper in terms of tone per device and size,” says the firm. “Now, the time has come to add some extra gravitas, and increase the impact of the Player’s footprint.”
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At the base, LVL II offers “exactly what guitar players wished for”, including all the FX types the Profiler is famous for. That means all the reverbs, delays, pitch shifters, shapers and modulations that can be found on other Kemper products are now available on the Player platform.
There is also the Kemper Driver System, Kemper Fuzz System and a raft of corresponding EQs, as well as the Morphing feature – a neat function that combines two rig settings in a single preset, and allows for 'rig spillover'.
LVL III, though, “is a dream”. This lifts the Player to Profiler Stage league, expanding the humble pedal to accommodate a greater number of rigs. Namely, LVL III offers 125 banks with five rigs each, offering a total amount of 625 rigs from the tiny pedal.
It also offers a Looper (a hugely attractive tool) and Parallel Path routing options.
It’s a very smart move indeed, especially when the timing of the launch is considered. For all its perks, the Nano Cortex was noted for the inflexibility of its signal chain and the fact its effects options are very limited.
By vastly increasing its own effects pool – and combating Neural’s promise of “infinite” amps by bolstering its own rig count to over 600 – Kemper has kindly reminded everyone that they are a serious player in this race, and made its own product even more desirable in face of growing competition.
However, unlike Line 6 and Boss firmware updates, these upgrades from Kemper will both cost you a fair amount: $179 for LVL II and $149 for LVL III. Both can be purchased as a package for $299.
So, while the upgrades look great on paper, it remains to be seen how players will react to the upcharge – and whether it will be enough to tempt players away from rival devices.
Visit Kemper for more.
