Just when I thought I was out...

    Quote from Gasp100

    Lol Hoth, I'm back too :D
    Sold all my II rig, my CLR was returned because UPS scraped it up. I've been playing primarily acoustic gigs but just picked up a number of full band shows. Tried a real JVM, pretty nice but needed work, Bogner Atma, very cool a little small sounding and then a Shiva - incredible cleans, overdrive solid but not perfect but way too big and heavy to cart. Plan is to profile the crap out of Shiva and JVM and have it all while using the CLR, will see ;)


    I think you're a pathological modeler switcher. I hope you're better with women :P. I played the KPA for a long time last night. I have to say it was really fun and the feel was superb. There are definitely aspects of the AFXII that I will miss but I have to say that there are certain things in the KPA that seem better. I won't go into detail lest I start a flame war.

    Quote from Gasp100

    Lol Hoth, I'm back too :D
    Sold all my II rig, my CLR was returned because UPS scraped it up. I've been playing primarily acoustic gigs but just picked up a number of full band shows. Tried a real JVM, pretty nice but needed work, Bogner Atma, very cool a little small sounding and then a Shiva - incredible cleans, overdrive solid but not perfect but way too big and heavy to cart. Plan is to profile the crap out of Shiva and JVM and have it all while using the CLR, will see ;)


    Try these Shiva Profiles, done by Profile legend r u sirius
    There's only 6 of them...all great.


    https://dl.dropboxusercontent.…gner%20Shiva%20crunch.zip

    Thanks everyone for the well wishes. This is really a great community. But I have to say, I may not be back for good. This is really a horse race between these two boxes!. Ugh, I wish it was easier. Just when I think I have made my decision, something seems to change.

    So in case anyone here still cares, I will be bothering you guys on this board for some time to come :). I went with the KPA for various reasons and now that that's over I can get back to just enjoying playing music.

    Quote from hoth

    So in case anyone here still cares, I will be bothering you guys on this board for some time to come :). I went with the KPA for various reasons and now that that's over I can get back to just enjoying playing music.


    :thumbup:

    Go for it now. The future is promised to no one. - Wayne Dyer

    Quote from hoth

    So in case anyone here still cares, I will be bothering you guys on this board for some time to come :). I went with the KPA for various reasons and now that that's over I can get back to just enjoying playing music.


    I thought you were selling your Kemper yesterday? :)


    What changed in the past 24 hours?

    I look at tone and gear as if I am a full-time musician. I spend top dollar to get the absolute best of all gear. I spend tons of time working on music. However, I am not a professional musician anymore. I am a husband, father and professional. My "true" needs are therefore somewhat different than my "aspirational" needs. I need a simple interface (all important controls easily gotten to), small footprint (small box that is fully functional without a footcontroller), as cheap as I can get, getting as good a tone as possible as fast as possible; all while not sacrificing tone and feel. After tons of A/B back and forth and going nuts, I realized the strengths of the KPA seemed more in line with my needs.


    Talk to me next week and it will be different. I hope that none of this is taken as a knock against either of the products. The fact that the decision was so hard is testament to what a truly sensational job these companies have done.

    You talk like a Human! ha ha


    I don't know what musicians YOU hang out with, but the ones I know are pretty cheap with their gear.
    They get stuff that works and make it last. Not interested in "top of line" and not frivolous. I see them get the bare minimum to get the job done.


    Maybe that's because they save their money for THEIR hobbies! ;)

    I know a few "full time" musicians and none of them have the disposable cash required to snag a Kemper (or AxeFX II), especially when you factor in full featured foot controller and FRFR or high quality power amp cab. Some of them do take their tone seriously, but they do well with mid-level stuff (modeling or otherwise). I'm quite frugal with gear -- one piece of gear in, another piece has to go -- but, I can afford to have ONE really nice rig. I find that for my uses (live, acoustic/electric, home recording / silent practice and recording, no micing) the KPA or the II is best of breed.
    When I decided I would not lift my newly acquired Bogner Shiva out of the basement for even one live gig I immediately knew I had made a huge mistake ditching modelers to go back to tube amps. Especially knowing that I would keep / gig the crap out of my Atomic CLR with the Zoom G3X.
    I will say I was astonished to find a new KPA jumped in price to almost $2200 and that a "standard" new AxeFX II is STILL OUT OF STOCK.
    Finding a used KPA that same day I jumped on it -- I prefer the blackface one but color is not that important at this point :)
    I'm looking forward to testing the Shiva profiles linked in this thread along with some of the new(er) ones listed and some tried and true amp factory profiles.
    One thing is for certain, I'm OVER getting a modeler to sound exactly like an amp in the room. That's not what I need, I need great tone through FRFR that translates at live gigs and doesn't cost a fortune to retube, bias, change speakers, etc...

    I doubt I'd trade my KPA for an Axe FXII. There are desirable aspects in the second box, but I really don't have a lot of disposable income to go for second-best, imho. Not a father, no children. No liabilities. I still think of myself as a professional musicians, I have drums, a keyboard, a bass, guitars, recording equipment. Software. I don't think of any of it as throwaway gear, it was all hard-earned.


    I often find that semi-professional equipment that is well looked after will be indistinguishable from a rig worth thousands of dollars to 99 per cent of audiences, especially in the right hands. There is additional tone from more expensive equipment, but there's also a diminishing return from the money you put into equipment. Even those guys that buy just a guitar, a Boss pedal or two and a solid state amplifier have the right idea. If you're not making money from the music, you're just a guy taking thousands worth of equipment to a $500 bar gig and chances are your jeep might even get robbed outside.


    The way I see it, I took a calculated gamble with the Kemper and I lucked out. The tone is exactly what I'm looking for. In future years, I'll plot an upgrade strategy, starting with something like a Switchblade for positioning analog in front of and behind the Kemper.