“The professionally recorded Profiles are highly authentic and augmented with quality effects”: Kemper Profiler Player review

With the pedalboard user in mind, Kemper has downsized for its compact new Profiler Player

Kemper Profiler Player
(Image: © Future / Olly Curtis)

Guitar World Verdict

Aimed at dedicated amateurs and professionals, while perhaps best-suited to existing Kemper users, we think it’s good value for money and well worth a look.

Pros

  • +

    Impressive, authentic real amp tones.

  • +

    Tones cover a wide range of musical genres.

  • +

    High-quality effects.

  • +

    Wide dynamic range.

  • +

    Super-low noise performance.

  • +

    Rugged build quality.

Cons

  • -

    Initially bewildering controls for non-Kemper users.

  • -

    No graphical text display.

  • -

    No integral effects loop.

  • -

    Multi-coloured LEDs may be an issue for colour-blind players.

  • -

    Unusually high current power specs reduce third party power supply choice.

You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

It’s fair to say that the arrival of the Kemper Profiler amplifier in 2011 was a disruptive event in the digital amp modeling niche market. Up until that point, we’d been happy to take the software and hardware we’d been given by manufacturers and use it with varying degrees of success. 

Christoph Kemper’s radical approach was to use his proprietary software to extract the DNA of any amplifier’s sound and save it as a unique model (the Profile) that could then be tweaked with EQ, effects and so on.

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Nick Guppy

Nick Guppy was Guitarist magazine's amp guru for over 20 years. He built his first valve amplifier at the age of 12 and bought, sold and restored many more, with a particular interest in Vox, Selmer, Orange and tweed-era Fenders, alongside Riveras and Mark Series Boogies. When wielding a guitar instead of soldering iron, he enjoyed a diverse musical career playing all over the UK, including occasional stints with theatre groups, orchestras and big bands as well as power trios and tributes. He passed away suddenly in April 2024, leaving a legacy of amplifier wisdom behind him.