Kemper brings hot new overdrives into play on Profiler FX in its latest update

Kemper Profiler
(Image credit: Kemper)

Kemper's latest update to its Profiler operating system sees some very tasty options added to its compendium of overdrive pedals.

The Profiler OS 8.0 update – free to users – welcomes some little green TS box magic from Ibanez/Maxon, a Klon Centaur, Horizon Precision Drive, Boss's industry standard OD-1 and SD-1 drive boxes, the Analogman King Of Tone, Timmy Overdrive and Marshall Bluesbreaker MK1 and an OCD-style distortion to the Profiler FX platform.

As with all of Kemper's tech, these go a little further than simply modelling the effects. 

Quite how to describe the science behind the algorithmic programming of analogue overdrive pedals is beyond our ken, but Kemper says it has created an an "Uber-Drive“ that has captured the clipping mojo of all these stompboxes and housed them in one easy-to-use package.

The Kemper Drive section of Profiler FX allows you to morph seamlessly between overdrive and distortion voices, as demonstrated in the above video. While the update offers 20 presets to get you started in the new Kemper Drive section.

Expect this to change over time. Kemper describes its new drives as being a work in progress. More distortion is coming in the next update, so watch this space.

See Kemper for more details.

Jonathan Horsley

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.